TROPHY CASES
Stars weigh in on their favourite award statuettes
TORONTO Another star- packed awards show is on the horizon — the Tonys, set for June 11 — promising shiny new statuettes for the winners. The made-in-Canada musical Come From Away has a chance to win seven of the prizes, for which Neil Patrick Harris has an affinity.
“I do like that Tony spins,” said Harris describing the trophy, which consists of a large medallion that sits atop a black pedestal. “The little plate thing that’s on the Tony is actually movable. You can spin it around and that’s always exciting ...”
The stars’ statuettes have long been a point of fascination in the entertainment world, with reporters often asking where celebs keep them. Harris’s Tony is displayed with a multitude of awards, including four Emmys.
Many stars ponder what to do with a big award: Do they proudly put it on display for all to see, or will it look like they’re taking it too seriously and bragging?
Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, and Jodie Foster have famously said they’ve put their Oscars in the bathroom.
Quebec director Philippe Falardeau, whose trophies range from Genies to Jutras and a Canadian Screen Award, said his are mostly in storage.
“Not that I disregard the trophies that I’ve won, but you find that the acknowledgment from your peers is what’s important,” he said.
However, Falardeau does have one of his statuettes on display in his living room: the Berlin Film Festival’s Crystal Bear trophy for It’s Not Me, I Swear! “I think it’s the most beautiful trophy to display because it’s neat. It’s not in your face, it’s not golden.”
Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie said she’s “very proud” of the Oscar she won in 1983 for best original song for Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. And she keeps it in a prominent place.
“I keep it in a little glass case of awards — which includes some Junos and (National) Aboriginal Achievement Awards — in my kitchen,” said Sainte-Marie. “I have a little entrance to my kitchen, a little nook.”
This Hour Has 22 Minutes creator Mary Walsh has her many Geminis lined up on display on a shelf.
“If they ever fall, somebody will die,” she joked. “When I used to get a lot of awards, I used to think nothing of it. And then when I didn’t get any awards, I’d think, ‘Oh my God, how could I not have enjoyed those awards when I was getting them?’”
This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown keeps his six-pound (three kilogram) Emmy in the garage because the trophy — which features a winged woman — is too pointy to keep around his two young children.
“I go hang out in the garage quite a bit, probably more often now that there’s an Emmy there,” said Brown, who won for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
Actor Christopher Plummer’s statuettes are “sprinkled around” his house. And his Oscar, which he won in 2012 for Beginners, surprisingly isn’t his favourite.
That distinction goes to his Lescarbot Award (a.k.a. the Prix Lescarbot), which honours Canadians for their contributions to commu- nity cultural activities. Plummer cherishes it because he got it for a challenging French-language performance in a Moliere play in Quebec. When they called to tell him he’d won it, he thought they said something else.
“I thought they meant Prix Escargot,” Plummer said with a laugh. “I thought it was some sort of chef’s award, but I thought, ‘I’m not a cook.’ They said, ‘No, no, you fool.’ ”
Oscar- nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan admits he has some statuettes that “are really quirky and odd.”
“Nothing quite matches one of the first awards I ever won, from a film festival in Sweden named Uppsala, for my second feature, Family Viewing,” said Egoyan.
“It’s half a carved wooden crow coming off of a wooden plaque. It’s kind of a scary, threatening award, but it’s kind of interesting.”
Such trophies aren’t inexpen- sive. Canada’s Juno Award, for instance, costs about $450.
The eight-pound (7 kg) crystal tower, containing an image of a human figure wrapped in an upward spiralling musical staff, was designed by late Hamilton glass artist Shirley Elford.
And it seems to have a blackmarket value.
“I know that there have been artists who have had them stolen,” said Jackie Dean, chief operating officer of the Juno Awards and CARAS, which pays for the trophies. “Dan Hill’s was stolen and he had to meet a guy in a back alley.”
I go hang out in the garage quite a bit, probably more often now that there’s an Emmy there.