Oscar’s high-flying highlights
Lots to see and hear, backstage and onstage
Though silent films were a hot topic at the Oscars this year, the ceremony itself is rarely short on words — especially when it comes to speeches. Still, there is as much to see as there is to hear on the carpet, during the show and backstage. Some of the highlights of the 84th Academy Awards:
Picture this.
Taking a break at the bar, Brad Pitt was bringing a flute of bubbly to Angelina Jolie when Sean Young ( No Way Out, Blade Runner) appeared and asked the couple to pose for a picture with her — a request they graciously fulfilled. “Darling, we have the same hairdresser, and girls like us need help with our hair,” Young, sporting a black fur stole, told Jolie.
Lotsa amore for Marty.
Hugo took five early technical awards — which meant a love fest for director Scorsese. First, cinematographer Robert Richardson declared him “a genius — as usual.” Then production designer Dante Ferretti, who won his third Oscar with wife and set director Francesca Lo Schiavo, gave a “special thank you to an exceptional director.” Lo Schiavo added: “This is for Martin and for Italy.” There were three more helpings of hugs and kisses with wins for the sound editing and mixing categories as well as visual effects. While presenting for short films, Bridesmaids stars Melissa Mccarthy and Rose Byrne even continued the Scorsese drinking game that Mccarthy introduced at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The maid is served a trophy.
Even though her win was hardly a surprise given the array of honors that came her way this season, Octavia Spencer of The Help needed help to make it up to the stage and was teary-eyed during a standing ovation that greeted her. “Oh, thank you, academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,” though she could have been referring either to Oscar or to her presenter, Batman actor Christian Bale. What was going through her mind as she was going up the stairs? “Really and truly, I was just trying not to fall down,” she said backstage.
Streep wins again.
Meryl’s last Oscar was in 1982, though she has been nominated 17 times. How does this win, for The Iron Lady, feel? “I was thrilled,” she said backstage. “I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call your name and you go into a white light. I was like a kid again. I was a kid when I won this before. Two of the nominees weren’t even conceived when I last won.”
Cirque du scary.
Nobody was seen running for his life when Cirque du Soleil acrobats dressed like Cary Grant from North by
Northwest hung from the ceiling and flew into the audience, Spider-man: Turn Off the
Dark- style, followed by seemingly Matrixlike stunts. Quipped Billy Crystal: “I pulled a hamstring just watching that.”
Un-bleeping-defeated.
One of the winners for best documentary Undefeated, codirector TJ Martin, was bleeped for the same word that was introduced for the first time on the Oscars by last year’s supporting-actress winner, Melissa Leo. Backstage, Martin apologized: “It did come from the heart, and it was absolutely spontaneous.”
No beginner he.
At 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest acting winner for his supporting role as a father who comes out as gay late in life in Beginners. Basking in a standing ovation, he proceeded to charm the crowd, looking into his Oscar’s eyes and saying: “You’re only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?” Backstage, he declared the honor was invigorating: “It’s sort of a renewal. Not a beginning exactly, but it has recharged me, and I hope I can do it another 10 years.”
One froggy evening.
Once presenters Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis stopped playing with cymbals, Bret Mckenzie accepted the best-original-song Oscar for Man or Muppet from The Muppets. The New Zealand native declared himself starstruck meeting Kermit the Frog, although “like many stars here tonight, he’s a lot shorter in real life.”
A bark-out for Uggie.
Though reluctantly, directing winner Michel Hazanavicius ( The Artist) felt compelled to thank his canine breakout star, even though, he noted, “I think he doesn’t care. I don’t think he knows what I say. I don’t think he’s that good.”