One of the best parts of awards season being broadcast in HD is recoiling in horror as an otherwise beautiful actor, coated in fake tanner, is allowed to leave the house by a sunglasses-clad publicist who's regretfully coked to the gills. But with more attendees at last night's Oscars choosing to embrace paler shades, former Orange winner Charlize Theron respectfully deferring to the new guard, and Bradley Cooper nowhere to be found, the few contenders left for Movieline's "Most Orange" prize stood out like umber, unnatural beacons. Let's meet our nominees and our winner!
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This year's Oscarcast wasn't as critically adored as last year's, but at least it improved upon it in the ratings. The ceremony attracted 41.3 million viewers, up 15% from last year and the best result since 2005. It would have done even better if ABC and Cablevision had resolved their dispute before the show began airing in New York, but on the other hand, at least those viewers had Neil Patrick Harris's superfluous opening trimmed by default. Bright sides! [The Wrap]
USA Today has a delightful look at this year's backstage Oscar shenanigans. Among the highlights: 1) Robin Williams attempted to wring a courtesy laugh out of Mo'Nique with a curling joke, 2) An ABC page enlisted the help of Oscar winner Geoffrey Fletcher to find...Geoffrey Fletcher, 3) The eternally self-effacing Sandra Bullock decided "Oh, I better double-check the name" and peeked into her envelope to make sure, 4) Jeff Bridges stepped on Carey Mulligan's dress, and 5) Helen Mirren and Miley Cyrus were backstage BFFs. As it should be. [USA Today]
One of last night's biggest Academy Award upsets came when Geoffrey Fletcher's name was called as the winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, beating out heavily tipped frontrunners Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air. Fletcher was clearly moved by the win, as he was on Friday when he won Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards for his work on Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
Movieline spoke with Fletcher this weekend about his awards season ride, which ended with those two dramatic high points.
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There was only one real shock during last night's 82nd Annual Academy Awards -- more specifically, a shock of orange hair that bum rushed the Kodak Theater stage during Music by Prudence director Roger Ross Williams' acceptance speech for Best Documentary Short. Perhaps more stymying than the onstage assault was the one detail that separates the woman underneath the orange hair, Elinor Burkett, from the other delinquent stage-rusher she is being most compared to today, Kanye West. Unlike West, who crashed Taylor Swift's acceptance speech during this year's VMAs to proclaim that another artist deserved the honor, Burkett was actually attached to the category's winner, Music of Prudence, as a producer. So what's the big deal?
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You know which nominee is awfully hard to find on the post-Oscar photo wires this morning? One guess...
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Without question, Sandra Bullock's Oscar speech yesterday was the best of the night, incorporating laughs, class, tears, and a sad realization that the speech may have been better than the actual movie she was winning for. Then again, the more difficult acceptance may have been the one Bullock delivered the night before, when she showed up to the Razzies to collect her Worst Actress trophy in All About Steve. I mean, she produced the movie and starred in it (so she's a bit partial), but is it just me, or is Bullock utterly unable to admit the film may have been a bit disastrous?
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Aside from a surprise appearance by Music by Prudence co-producer Elinor Burkett -- the "Kanye of the Oscars" -- no more scandalous event occurred than the omission of Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur from the annual "In Memoriam" montage. Or... was it scandalous? While I've got to say their exclusion threw my In Memoriam pool ballot into a tailspin, there's a case to be made today for leaving out two actresses not exactly best-known for their big-screen work.
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Ahh -- the morning after the Oscars. Hollywood's brightest nurse Moet headaches on their chartered flights back to the set in Vancouver, underpaid assistants scrub champagne stains out of Marchesa gowns and Movieline staffers sweat off their Andre hangovers in a Hollywood & Highland storage closet. Alas, Movieline has a quick remedy for those of you that missed Movieline's live Oscarcast and even those mother's rights advocates out there who boycotted the show because of co-host Alec Baldwin -- the full list of winners from last night's 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
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The ballots have been tabulated, the rule-breakers have been barred, and Mo'nique has finally decided between three equally gorgeous gowns. That's right, everyone -- Oscar Night 2010 is here! Join the whole gang from Movieline as we parse, sass, celebrate and bemoan the choices made by the Academy electorate on this momentous day for movie history. And what the hey -- we'll throw in our expert armchair fashion critiques for free. It's all right this way...
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Precious director Lee Daniels recently caused a bit of head-scratching when he talked to USA Today about his next film, the civil rights drama Selma: "I have to really start casting the movie because we're shooting it soon. The only person I've nailed in for sure is Hugh Jackman." Last night at the Indie Spirits (where Daniels memorably took home the Best Director prize), I asked if that meant that Robert De Niro had fallen out of the film, since the project had been announced with De Niro playing governor George Wallace. "He always has been cast, yes," Daniels clarified. "He's working."
When word broke yesterday that actor Adam Scott might be leaving the Starz sleeper Party Down to become a new regular on the increasingly overstuffed Parks and Recreation, it came as some surprise. Sure, Parks offered network exposure, but as Scott had told Movieline in December, he loved working on Party Down so much that he was devastated when the second season finished filming, stating that he "could keep doing it forever."
So will he? Movieline cornered Scott last night on the Indie Spirit red carpet to clarify the situation.
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After taking home the Best Actress prize at yesterday's Independent Spirit Awards, all eyes are on Gabourey Sidibe's next move, and actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson would like that move to land her on his sitcom Modern Family. "The one [guest star] I actually have gone after -- because she'd be so brilliant -- is Gabourey Sidibe," Ferguson told PopWrap last week. "I think she would be fantastic as a nanny we hire. She's just so bubbly and sweet and a fan of the show. I think this would be a seamless fit for her."
Movieline caught up with Sidibe last night prior to her win -- did she know that Ferguson was going all out to woo her for a guest stint?
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The Independent Spirit Awards used to be held the day before the Oscars on a beach in Santa Monica, and while sticking to that paradigm would have made for a rainy, muddy day today in Los Angeles, moving it to last night and setting it in downtown's cavernous LA Live was just as ill-advised. The team from Precious was happy since the film picked up the lion's share of awards (such as Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best First Screenplay), but grumbling over the corporate feel and red carpet gauntlet dominated talk among the attendees. Carly and I will have more from that carpet for you this weekend, but in the meantime, here is the full list of winners:
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Hey there, all you Avatards, Blind Siders, District 9iacs, An Educationados, Hurt Lockeroonies, [DEEP INHALE] Fan Basterds, Preciousites, Serious Man-hards, Upsters and Up in the Air-icans! [PANT, PANT.] What are you doin' Oscars, Oscars eve? If you live in the greater New York area, we strongly suggest you swing over to our Oscars Viewing Party at 92YTribeca, where Stu VanAirsdale will be slinging hors d'oeuvres like a champ while your hosts/expert commentators Michelle Collins, Sara Benincasa and Sara Schaefer will preside over the insanity. If you're trapped elsewhere in the lower 48, or anywhere else on the planet with an internet connection, you can still feel like you're hanging out with your friends at Movieline, as we'll be having another tweetstravaganza like the one we held for the Golden Globes. Feel free to comment, too! It's going to be totally drunk! Uh, I mean fun! It's going to be fun.
