OSCARS Hollywood’s biggest night of the year
Stars dodge raindrops on the red carpet
LOS ANGELES — The 87th annual Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles on Sunday night, bringing out the movie industry’s brightest stars. From outside on the red carpet to inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, here’s a look at the scene.
Question of continuity
Ethan Hawke, who played the father in Boyhood, said he was stunned by “the reality of what’s happened with this movie.”
It was shot over 12 years with the same cast growing older in real time and was nominated for six Oscars, including best film.
“This movie started as a dream 12 years ago,” he said on the Oscar red carpet. “What if? What if ? It seemed so ludicrous.
“The biggest challenge is figuring out how to make the people have a continuity to them so they’re changing but they don’t seem like different people,” he said of playing the same character over 12 years.
Quickquote
“About two years ago I got frustrated with what I was seeing coming down the pipeline. I decided I would read some books and bring stronger leading roles (for women) to the screen.” — Reese Witherspoon on why she started her own production company and made Gone Girl and Wild.
Unselfish selfie
Ellen DeGeneres may have taken the selfie of all selfies at last year’s Oscar show. But this year’s Witherspoon snaps were the hit of the red carpet fan bleachers.
In an off-shoulder black and silvery grey gown, Witherspoon took grinning photos of herself in front of the bleachers as fans whooped with delight.
“Wow, she’s so awesome,” yelled Andressa Weber, in town from Miami.
Daughter and dad
It was a father-daughter date for the Oscars: Laura Dern, nominated for her performance as the free-spirited dying mother in Wild, came with her dad, Bruce Dern.
“Amazingly I’ve never come without one of my parents, both as a nominee and as a child supporting them,” said the best supporting actress nominee. “It’s very beautiful to share the history of film and the Academy along with my family.” Her mother is Diane Ladd. Said her father: “I can’t be prouder. She started when she was nine. She wanted to know what was the drill. I said, ‘You gotta learn how to dance and take risks.’ ”
In Wild, Dern’s daughter is portrayed by Witherspoon, who was nominated for best actress.
“I’m proud to (be among) two of the 47 women nominated tonight,” Dern said. “May we see that number double.”
Diversity in every way
David Oyelowo says it’s not just the Academy Awards that need diversifying.
“Every facet of life, whether institutions or the nation in general, should reflect what society is composed of, not just racially, but in terms of sex, women, young, old,” the star of Selma said on the Oscar red carpet.
Although Selma was nominated for best movie, Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr in the film, was passed over, something many considered a snub.
Looking for some laughs
Marion Cotillard, nominated for best actress for her emotional portrayal of a woman struggling with depression in Two Days, One Night, says she’d actually like to start doing comedy.
“I hope we’re going to see more of me in comedies,” she said on the Oscar red carpet. “I wish I can find my way into comedies. Sometimes it’s hard to live with dark … characters all the time.”
She added that she didn’t see the movie as just a woman’s story, although it relates the struggles her character faces to hold onto her factory job.
“She’s a woman, but I don’t think it’s just a struggle of a woman,” she said. “Men and women can face the absurdity of our society’s choosing money over human people.”
Quickquote
“I’m just going to play dark, complex characters from now on, even in comedies. They’re not going to be funny, they’re just going to be dark and complex.” — actor Steve Carell, who’s known for comedy but was nominated for best actor in Foxcatcher, a drama.
Dodging the raindrops
Even rain pouring down on the Oscar red carpet through gaps in the huge tent covering it couldn’t keep stars from Adam Levine of The Voice to comedian Andy Samberg to Birdman star Michael Keaton from giving fans in the bleachers what they wanted: some cheekiness.
Levine, with his striking model wife, Behati Prinsloo, pointed to himself, mouthing “Me? Me” as fans screamed “Adam!”
Keaton smiled and saluted the crowd.
“You guys, there’s a little bit of a drip, so mind the drip,” joked Samberg.
Unfortunately, that drip turned into a waterfall next to television cameras on the red carpet. A blue tarp brought out to block the rain kept it from hitting coiffed actresses such as Marion Cotillard and Zoe Saldana.
The downpour was big enough to impress even people from Ireland.
“We’ve had bad rain, but this is really heavy!” said Emma Cotter, 40, visiting from Cork, Ireland, with her sister Laura.