Love, laughs and bedsheet couture
Your recap of the Hollywood Film Awards.
LOS ANGELES – There was no awards drama at the Hollywood Film Awards.
The winners were announced, with no competition or criteria, even before the stars entered the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday for the event billed as the official start of awards season.
But there was life drama and entertainment during the night in which Brad Pitt made a surprise (and healthy-looking) appearance.
These were the evening’s highlights:
Nicole Kidman got weepy and thanked her true love
Nicole Kidman teared up as soon she took the stage to accept the Hollywood Career Achievement Award.
“I get emotional these days, so much more than I used to,” Kidman said, dabbing the waterworks away.
Kidman is at the top of her awards game with the dramas “Boy Erased“and “Destroyer.” But when the actress took a victory lap, she thanked the professional team that has made her career possible.
“Then I met the man who I love, the love of my life, Keith,” Kidman said, looking at husband Keith Urban in the audience.
As the married couple, 12 years strong, gazed at each other from across the auditorium, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Michelle Yeoh was amped about diversity
The cast of “Crazy Rich Asians” crowded onto the stage to accept the Hollywood Breakout Ensemble Award. Star Constance Wu pointed out how important the milestone film was for diversity, saying, “Have you ever seen this many Asians onstage at a Hollywood awards show?”
Michelle Yeoh, the film’s impervious matriarch, gave an impassioned rallying cry for more. “This is only the beginning,” she said. “The doors are open, let’s just kick (butt).”
Anne Hathaway laughed about her awards outfit
Anne Hathaway brilliantly skewered (but mostly complimented) her “Les Miserables” co-star Hugh Jackman from the podium. But first, she made fun of her own outfit.
“I’m basically wearing a pleated couture bedsheet,” Hathaway said before chiding Jackman with her tale.
Glenn Close felt the audience’s love
The room filled with Hollywood movers and shakers showed powerful affection for Glenn Close. The audience spontaneously rose for a standing ovation as she took the stage to receive an actress award for “The Wife.”
In the case of the HFA, it’s not the awards that matter – it’s the reaction to the stars getting the awards.
Ever the diplomat, Close thanked her British co-star Jonathan Pryce for playing husband Joe Castleman in a movie about a more talented spouse:
“There was no American actor who wanted to be in a movie called ‘The Wife.’ We had to go to Britain.”
‘Black Panther’ director talked about inspiring kids
Accepting an award for “Black Panther,” director Ryan Coogler acknowledged he hasn’t had the chance for many date nights with his wife, Zinzi Evans. But they went out last Saturday.
“We went to Target,” he said, drawing laughter.
While shopping, he was struck by the influence his groundbreaking film has had on the culture – especially watching a young Hispanic boy asking his mother to buy a “Black Panther” costume. He wanted to be T’Challa, the king of Wakanda, for Halloween.
“That was me, talking to my mom about getting a Ninja Turtle costume, and now it’s this Hispanic kid, dressing up like a powerful superhero,” Coogler said.