OSCARS SPECIAL
Ryan’s red carpet hell Stars’ secret perks Winner predictions
RYAN Seacrest won’t just be asking the questions on this year’s Oscars red carpet. The E! mainstay will the question. Rob Silverstein, executive producer of the syndicated entertainment-news show “Access,” will prep his hosts Scott Evans and Kit Hoover to grill nominees and other celebrities about the #MeToo movement and the politics surrounding it. “And then,” he added, “we will ask them whether or not they will talk to Ryan Seacrest.” In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the red carpet has gone from pretty dresses to a political battleground — and Seacrest is public enemy No. 1. On Monday, less than one week before the Academy Awards, Variety ran an exclusive article detailing the E! host’s alleged sexual harassment of his former stylist Suzie Hardy from 2007 to 2013. Among other charges, Hardy claims that Seacrest groped her, slapped her behind so hard it left a welt still visible hours later and forced her head into his crotch multiple times while she tied the TV star’s shoes. On Feb. 1, E! announced that the network was standing by Seacrest after an independent investigation into Hardy’s claims absolved him. But with new details now out in public, industry insiders are won- dering how Seacrest can possibly survive the Oscars — the biggest red-carpet event of the year — in an age where who you stand by is more important than who you’re wearing.
One New York City power publicist who represents A-listers said she’s advising her clients to skip interviews with Seacrest altogether.
“I’ll be shocked to see who stops to talk to Ryan,” she said. “He’s in trouble.”
(On Friday, E! reconfirmed to The Post that Seacrest will be hosting and that they “completely trust our investigation and have complete faith in it.”)
Even Jennifer Lawrence, who is not nominated this year but will be attending, admitted on Howard Stern’s show this past week that she’s unsure if she’ll give Seacrest the time of day on Sunday.
“I don’t know about the Ryan Seacrest thing,” she told Stern. “I don’t know . . . That is where this stuff gets tricky.” Lawrence added: “There is a lot to think about with E!”
This isn’t the TV network’s first brush with red-carpet controversy in the #MeToo age. In December 2017, “E! News” host Catt Sadler announced she was leaving because she was being paid nearly half that of her male colleague. At the January Golden Globes, Debra Messing attacked the channel in an interview with another E! host, Giuliana Rancic, saying she was “shocked” that “E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male cohosts.”
While E! is already on the defensive, the entire industry is scrambling to prep for Oscar curveballs.
Sources told The Post that celebrities have been practicing answers to the inevitable barrage of questions involving alleged abusers Harvey Weinstein and Woody Allen, and publicists have been working overtime to make sure their clients “don’t step in a pile of s - - t” during interviews, as one Los Angeles publicist with Oscar-nominated clients said.
“You don’t want your client caught off-guard and hijacked or ambushed. You want them to be well-prepared, and if they want to give their opinion, you want them to voice it in such a way that it will get their message across, but that it won’t get them in hot water,” said the LA flack.
A T the annual nominees’ luncheon, hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Feb. 5, actor Patton Oswalt joked to the A-listers assembled that prudence was paramount this year when it came to acceptance speeches.
“Maybe think twice before you mention your agents and managers,” the comedian said, according to a Vanity Fair article. “I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on this last year in Hollywood. I’m just saying, cover for yourself. You don’t want to have to explain to your grandkids why you thanked someone who ‘Dateline’ just did a four-part series on.”
The LA publicist said he tries to keep his clients abreast of recent scandals and #MeToo developments so that they aren’t caught off- guard, but in the end, it’s their decision whether or not they speak with Seacrest on Sunday night.
“You give them the information and let them know what you know,” he said.
“But Ryan’s employers are having him there because he’s been cleared and you have to remember, Ryan has relationships with a lot of people personally,” he said, pointing to Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel’s recent announcement that he will let Seacrest interview him: “Listen, you know, we should at the very least afford people the opportunity for truth, what the facts of the story are before hanging them out to dry,” Kimmel told Variety.
But personal relationships might not withstand the call to end sexual harassment.
After all, how do you talk about #MeToo with someone like Seacrest when the question on everyone’s mind is, “You, too?”
“This thing has continued to gain momentum,” Silverstein said of the movement.
“This isn’t slowing down by any stretch of the imagination. You have Jimmy Kimmel hosting, who has almost become the late-night conscience. With an activist host, you’ll have people who feel more free to make their feelings known onstage and on the red carpet.”
The NYC publicist says that three of her clients were offered to be presenters at the Oscars and declined — so as to not become embroiled in all the controversy on the red carpet.
“They don’t want to be involved,” she said. “They don’t feel like it’s the year they need to be there. Truthfully, it’s hard to be funny or crack jokes. It’s going to be serious, a little uptight and I don’t think there will be a lot of stars there. I doubt you’ll see Matt Damon.” The actor came under fire from feminists — and Minnie Driver, a former co-star and exgirlfriend — after he stated in January that sexual misconduct should be judged on a “spectrum of behavior.”
“I think it’s going to be a lot more somber and calculated,” the NYC publicist continued. “I think there’s going to be a lot of canned answers and I think there will be a lot less people stopping [for red-carpet interviews] unless they are there to talk about the movement.” S ILVERSTEIN said he’s prepared for more actors than normal to skip red-carpet interviews this year. Especially those who have worked with the likes of Weinstein and Allen.
“If you’ve worked with Woody . . . you might be a little bit more on edge,” said Silverstein, who added that he will have “Access” hosts question those who have worked with the disgraced director about their decision to do so.
As a result, the LA publicist will advise his clients to walk on by.
“Probably going to skip ‘ Access,’ ” he said after being told by The Post of the show’s red-carpet game plan.
“People are not on the red carpet to make political statements or comment on [someone else’s] mishaps or concerns or sensitivities,” he added. “It doesn’t celebrate the evening, which is a celebration of the arts and people’s work.”
But according to Silverstein, it all makes for great television.
“If there are awkward moments, there are awkward moments. I’m not afraid of awkward moments,” he said.
“Could [the red carpet] be a little bit more tension-filled? Yes — and I think that’s great.” I’VE GOT A QUESTION FOR YOU: E! red-carpet host Ryan Seacrest (right) is in a potentially awkward position this Sunday, as some publicists don’t want him interviewing their clients. Jennifer Lawrence (top left) has said she’s not sure she’ll stop to chat, and it remains to be seen what Oscar nominees Margot Robbie (from bottom left), Allison Janney and Mary J. Blige will do.
It’s an honor just to be nominated, the cliché goes. But earning an Academy Award nomination is much more than that. Even the actors and actresses who won’t win an Oscar on Sunday still walk away with booty — from exotic vacations to free cars — as well as a paycheck boost.
One of the most coveted perks is, of all things, a sweatshirt. Like the Oscar itself, you can’t buy the top, which is embroidered with the Oscars logo and the word “nominee,” and doled out to everyone up for an award.
Sound engineer Greg P. Russell has 14 of the prized shirts (he’s been nominated 17 times for Best Sound and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing but has never won an Oscar). He said the clothing is a sign that you’re a member of “the hardest, most exclusive club to get into.”
Typically, the tops are handed out at the annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). But panic spread this year, when the 2018 class showed up at the Beverly Hilton in LA on Feb. 5 — and received only a certificate.
“There was a lot of grousing,” said one studio employee who attended. Sources close to the academy told The Post that Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and the other nominees should have received their cozy swag this past week.
Otherwise, they’re not getting anything from AMPAS, which cut out official Oscar gift bags a long time ago. But that doesn’t stop other outlets from picking up the slack. For 16 years, the company Distinctive Assets has been distributing gift baskets — said to be worth at least $200,000 — to those in the acting and directing categories.
This year’s basket includes a $40,000 trip to Tanzania, a stay at a villa in Greece, a week in Hawaii and another at the Golden Door spa in Southern California (not to mention such humble items as pepper spray and Jarritos soda). In the past, the gifts have included a year’s worth of Audi A4 car rentals, private walking tours of Japan and even plastic-surgery procedures.
While each company pays $4,000 just to be included, “They get so much social media and press, that’s a drop in the bucket,” said Lash Fary, owner of Distinctive Assets.
And then there’s the wardrobe upgrade. While it’s common knowledge that stars are lent outfits for the Academy Awards red carpet, nominees also have free clothes coming their way for all the other events in the weeks leading up to the ceremony. And if you’re a big star, you don’t necessarily have to send any of it back.
“It depends on the level of A-list-ness,” said one celebrity fashion stylist. “Does Emma Stone have to give her dresses back? I don’t think so.”
Some actresses even turn the red carpet into a payday. According to celeb stylist George Kotsiopoulos, “If you’re the type of person who just wants to make money, you can get paid to dress up and go to every single thing.”
Jewelers often make cash deals for nominees to don their ice. And while celebs return the major necklaces and earrings, they often get to keep smaller pieces.
Event-marketing guru Ted Kruckel recalled how, when he was hyping luxe jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels, he went to the Four Seasons Hotel to drop off ruby earrings Sigourney Weaver had requested. “When I called her from the lobby, she said, ‘I changed my mind — but can you leave the small Van Cleef gift with the concierge?’ ’’ The biggest payoff? Future paychecks. “It depends on the actor,” an agent explained. “If Meryl Streep wins another Oscar, it wouldn’t move the needle — her quote’s already high. If Timothée [Chalamet, 22, nominated for Best Actor for “Call Me by Your Name”] or Daniel [Kaluuya, 29, nominated for Best Actor for “Get Out”] win, their quotes would double or triple.”
If Timothée [Chalamet] wins, his quote could double or triple. e Hollywood agent on how newbie nominees like Chalamet (right) score a salary boost if they win