GREEN & SLEEVES
Sustainability and bold sleeves were the two biggest red-carpet trends this year. Joaquin Phoenix wore the same tuxedo to each awards show, while Jane Fonda recycled a six-yearold dress, and says she’ll never buy another.
Making his way into the Dolby Theatre for the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Brad Pitt was thrilled to be wrapping up his winning awards season. “It’s exciting to get to the end,” he told reporters. “It’s exciting for it to be the biggest of the biggest.”
His Once Upon A Time in Hollywood co-star Julia Butters, 10, was ready for anything, packing a turkey sandwich in her purse. “It’s the Oscars,” she told WHO. “There can’t be any regrets. There’s no going back!”
Pitt, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron all brought their mums (“I won the award for best date for sure,” bragged Theron), while Joker winner Joaquin Phoenix made it a date night with actress fiancée Rooney Mara. Leonardo DiCaprio made things award show official with his girlfriend Camila Morrone sitting beside him in the front row. Inside,
Janelle Monáe and Billy Porter kicked off the host-less show with an electric song-anddance number, and a jab at the lack of diversity. “I’m so proud to stand here as a black queer artist telling stories,” she said. Accepting the first award of the night for Best Supporting Actor, Pitt praised director Quentin Tarantino and co-star DiCaprio. “I’ll ride on your coattails any day, man,” he quipped. “The view is fantastic!” He added: “I’m not one to look back, but this has made me. To all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way to stand here now. Once upon a time in Hollywood, ain’t that the truth. This is for my kids, who colour everything I do. I adore you.”
Backstage, the actor opened up about the possibility of his six children following in his footsteps. “I want them to follow their bliss,” he said. “They get to try everything on and find out where their passion lies.” While Pitt’s run-in with ex Jennifer Aniston set tongues wagging at the SAG Awards last month, this time it was best actress winner Renée Zellweger catching up with her ex Bradley Cooper during an
ad break, nine years after two years of dating.
Best actor winner Joaquin Phoenix used his speech to champion his passion for animal rights. “I think we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world … we feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.” He ended with a poignant quote: “When he was 17, my brother [River] wrote this lyric. He said: “run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.”
The sweetest moments of the night came courtesy of the humble and heartfelt team behind the night’s surprise winner, South Korean comedy thriller, Parasite. The crowd favourite nabbed awards for original screenplay, director and international film before becoming the first non-English speaking movie to win best picture. “It still feels very surreal. I feel like something will hit me and I will wake up from this dream,” director Bong Joon-ho said through a translator, before breaking into English. “It’s literally f--king crazy.”