Rail station’s a platform for stars to shine
The rail deal.. audience in the station
Selfie with a shelfie... Reese snaps backstage
THE Academy Awards ceremony may have switched from its usual ritzy Hollywood theatre to a train station but the film world still pulled out all the stops.
And actress Reese Witherspoon couldn’t resist a selfie with a backdrop of golden statuettes behind the scenes at the 93rd Oscars presentation evening on Sunday.
The bash would normally be attended by 3,000 people but only 170 were allowed at the socially distanced event at Union Station in LA.
The usual array of award presenters had also been whittled down. However, it still included Witherspoon, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Regina King, Renée Zellweger, Brad Pitt, Marlee Matlin, Laura Dern, Joaquin Phoenix and Harrison Ford.
Stars arriving at the 82-year-old train terminal had to take a Covid-19 test.
Organisers wanted to adapt to the demands of the pandemic and avoid the Zoom format other award shows adopted.
So the show went on...with no host or public audience – despite California having the lowest virus case rates in the US.
And the invited stars were asked to skip visits to crowded places like gyms or restaurants for 10 days beforehand.
Budget
The impact of the pandemic on the cinema industry was reflected by the fact that the Best Picture winner – Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland starring Frances McDormand – is the lowest-grossing film in Oscars history. The recession-era tale grossed just £1.8million. It beat 2009’s bomb disposal drama The Hurt Locker which had taken £12.2million at the time it won. Nomadland also had one of the lowest budgets of the Best Picture winners. Zhao’s film, made mainly using non-actors, cost less than £3.6million to make. Her next film, Marvel’s Eternals, has a budget of £145million.
The 39-year-old became the first Asian woman – and first woman of colour – to win Best Director.
She was only the second woman – Kathryn Bigelow was the first with Hurt Locker. Zhao said: “This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves.”