Last one from this year’s Oscars (I promise)…here’s a little story I did that was picked up nationally…

Leo wins the big one.

The Oscars take an awards ceremony and elevates it to a level that all other events can only dream of; at least on television. More people watch television than go to movies, especially now with movie prices nearing twenty dollars. The levels of fashion, the A-listers, and the venue all combine to deliver nearly a billion sets of eyeballs to the ABC telecast of the show. Here we go backstage and show you the life of a reporter behind the scenes.

The 88th Academy Awards telecast was a unique experience from the get-go because of the entire diversity / #OscarsSoWhite issue that plagued the usual positive vibe that the promise of a golden, 8.5 pound, 24K statuette will usually deliver. The tone started on the unusually muted tone of the red carpet and continued all night. The diversity issued was imbued throughout the evening and into the press room.

Host Chris Rock

All of the reporters that were in attendance were literally on the edge of our seats. We simply didn’t know where the issue was going to take us. Oscars telecast host, Chris Rock, made no public statement after the controversy broke out and stayed silent all the way through to curtains up on the telecast. The controversy heightened on the speculation he was going to address it, gloss over it, or maybe make a serious statement and move on. Turns out, he hit the ground running and it was a full throttle assault on the controversy…

• “Man, I counted at least 15 black people on that montage. I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards.”
• “This is the wildest, craziest Oscars to ever host, because we’ve got all this controversy. No, no black nominees, you know, and people are like ‘Chris, you should boycott. Chris, you should quit. You should quit.’ How come there’s only unemployed people that tell you to quit something, you know? No one with a job ever tells you to quit.”
• “It’s the 88th Academy Awards. It’s the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times. O.K.?”
• “…in the 50s, in the 60s … we had real things to protest at the time, you know? We had real things to protest; you know, we’re too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer. You know, when your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about best documentary foreign short.”
• …and on he went, a 14-minute monologue and every word had to do with diversity.

There was a very tangible impact from the controversy that spread to the media room. Backstage, there were more African-American reporters in the press corps than we had ever seen. Most were from outlets we had never heard of, or had ever attended an Academy Awards.

From the minute the issue became a controversy, the Academy was very self-conscious and that was evident from what we saw last night. They bent over backwards to admit there was a problem. They took blame for it, saying collectively, “Yes, there is a problem and we plan to do something about it. We are going to change things.”

Eddie Redmayne and Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Indeed, President of the Academy Board of Governors, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, said, “…there’s a brand new world coming…”  alluding to their four-year plan to double the minorities in the voting members contingency and the Board of Governors.

Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, and Academy President, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, on the red carpet.
The telecast took shots at themselves during the telecast. Some of the nominated films for Best Picture were altered via CGI to insert black actors into the films’ lead roles. In the media room, there were laughs, but after a while their was a backlash and complaints that the Academy was too over the top, where it was actually making fun of the controversy. Ah, sometimes there is no winning.

As soon as we exhaled, the moans started coming about the political pontifications of the show:

Kerry Washington and Henry Cavill backstage.

Best Costume Design winner Jenny Beavan championed for environmental water issues during her acceptance speech. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, but actually it could be horribly prophetic, Mad Max, if we’re not kinder to each other, and if we don’t stop polluting our atmosphere, so you know, it could happen.”

Adam McKay, winner for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short at the took the opportunity to warn voters of candidates who take money from questionable places, including “weirdo billionaires,” during his acceptance speech. His movie, a financial dramedy that warns against big banks and corrupt financial systems. McKay continued, “Most of all, if you don’t want big money to control government, don’t vote for candidates that take money from big banks, oil or weirdo billionaires: Stop!”

Even Leonardo DiCaprio jumped on his soapbox to discuss global warming.

Backstage McKay was asked if  he had someone in mind during his speech and he replied, “No, I was speaking about both parties.” He elaborated in detail about the big corporations, the banks and the problems with America to the point where the press covering it tuned out to the point where they were murmuring about their wishes that people would go back to just thanking their agents and their families.

(Let’s face it, reporters are complainers at heart.)

One of the fun skits of the night turned out to be the Girl Scout fundraising. Rock spun a nice storyline where his daughters are always finishing second to another parent’s troop. To make up for that, he asked to millionaires in the audience to pony up and help the girls sell more cookies. And sell they did, to the tune of $65,000 plus raised.

$65k to the Girl Scouts!

But backstage there were more under-the-breath whispers asking, “where’s Hispanic Girl Scouts, or the Asian troop? We have the African-American girl scouts out there, so where are rest of the ethnic groups.” In effect from there, it was a collective griping session about what kind of diversity was need. The claws were out on the press corps looking for anything to poke holes into the efforts of healing. So in case you missed it, there is no winning in the press room.

Sam Smith’s grossly inaccurate Oscars acceptance speech (for Best Original Song) produced a profanity-laced tirade that was directed loudly and inward towards himself as the press corps called him out. Many scurried to the buffet served by Wolfgang Puck.

If you found the time, the food in the press room is Beverly Hills chic; and that’s an understatement. On the menu: spring rolls, assorted sandwiches with artisan bread and pretzel rolls, pesto bow-tie pasta, shrimp cocktail, rigatoni, with marinara sauce, beef and chicken empanadas, grilled chicken skewers rolled in sesame seeds, beff skewers, assorted meats including peperoni, capicola, mortadella, and salami, cheeses, assorted nuts, dried fruits, and a dessert table with four different cakes, cookies, and fresh fruit.

There was Oscar-shaped salmon with caviar at the Governor’s Ball.

Hey, where’s Jada? Protests outside the Oscars.

The post Insider: The Oscars appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

“Oh yes barkeep, one vodka tonic, dirty with three olives and chase it with an Oscar…” 

About a year ago, I spent an afternoon with an Oscar winner who took out their shiny new 8.5 pound, 24 carat statuette everywhere we went.

Talk about attention…Uncle Oscar was best attention grabber this side of a Bugatti in South Beach.

Thinking back, I wondered where I would put my Oscar if I ever earned one. Would I take it on a tour, ala the Stanley Cup. Would I put it in safe deposit box? Build an entire room around it and protect it with security laser beams?

I’m still thinking on this one.

But what about the stars who win the magical golden trophy? Where do they have theirs?

Let’s take a trip around the trophy room:

REFRIGERATORS, PIANOS, and SOCK DRAWERS…

Timothy Hutton
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Ordinary People

After taking home the trophy, it was rumored that Hutton threw a party and his sister placed the Oscar in the fridge next to the beer so party guests wouldn’t miss it. Supposedly, its still there.

Tom Hanks
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role, Philadelphia and Forrest Gump 

Hanks has his on the family trophy shelf “next to the soccer trophies,…I think the World’s Greatest Mom trophy from Mother’s Day is up there as well.”

Anna Paquin
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, The Piano

Paquin, only 11 when she took home the big prize, kept it hidden in her “sock drawer”.

Jennifer Lawrence
Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role, Silver Linings Playbook

The perpetual queen of the tripping incident (and my proposed future ex-wife) gave hers to her parents. It now resides on the top of their piano in Kentucky.

…BATHROOMS…

Kate Winslet
Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role, The Reader

Winslet is on record that she keeps her Best Actress Oscar on “the back of the loo…Everybody wants to hold it and go ‘Oh, my gosh’, and, ‘How heavy is it?’ So I figured if I put it in the loo, then people can avoid the whole, ‘Where’s your Oscar?’ thing.”

Jodie Foster, The Accused and Silence of the Lambs
Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role

Before moving her princess treasures to a trophy case in her study, Foster housed them in her bathroom, noting: “They looked good with the faucets.”

Emma Thompson
Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role, Howard’s End
Adapted Screenplay, Sense and Sensibility

Thompson keeps both of her Oscars in her bathroom, because: “They look too outré anywhere else. They’re great big, gold, shiny things.” (Yeah, I had to look up outré too.)

She’s not alone – Susan Sarandon (Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role, Dead Man Walking), Lionel Richie (Music, Original Song, “Say You, Say Me” from White Nights) and Sean Connery (Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, The Untouchables) all to keep Uncle Oscar alongside their baths and bidets.

…with the CHICKENS…

Russell Crowe, Gladiator
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role

Hoping his hens lay better eggs, Crowe keeps his in a chicken coop on his ranch in Australia

MEANWHILE…

…setups for the 88th Academy Awards continue:

The post OSCAR WEEK 2016: Bathrooms and Chickens appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

It’s Oscar® Week and who’s more excited than me?

No one, that’s who!

Between hockey games at Staples Center I’ll be spending a whole lotta time at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater participating in the overview symposiums. Take a look at this lineup:

February 23rd – OSCAR WEEK: SHORTS / Hosted by director Jennifer Yuh.

February 28th – OSCAR WEEK: RED CARPET and the LIVE SHOW / Hosted by Chris Rock from the Dolby Theatre.

I’ll try to be prompt sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning to deliver my annual Backstage at the Oscars column that always seems to capture the imagination the readers. (Okay, I may have over stated that one…) As a primer, bone up on the past year’s columns:

2015     2014     2013     2012

Oscars Week has me a little giddy over my Oscars notebook that’s coming in the mail. I highly recommend getting yours:

On an opposite note, I’m still reeling over the Academy suing the Oscar swag bag company over copyright infringement. What of the fitness training sessions with Jay Cardiello (valued at $1,400)? Or the year’s worth of Audi A4 rentals from Silvercar ($45,000)? Or my personal favorite, the $55,000 VIP all-access trip to Israel? My imagination goes wild for what you get for fifty grand in Israel! While my brain cramped up thinking of how I would pay $66,000 in taxes for the $200,000 swag bag was quickly quelled as I got to see how the Oscar statuettes are actually made…

Making of the Oscar Statuettes

All Making of the Oscars photos courtesy of Dorith Mous / ©A.M.P.A.S.

The 3D printed Oscar image is cleaned prior to making the production mold.

A rubber mold of the 3D print is made and used to make a wax pattern for each bronze Oscar casting.

The wax Oscars are reworked as necessary and attached to a plumbing system through which molten bronze flows into the ceramic shell mold.

After molten bronze is cast into the ceramic mold, the Oscars are cut loose from their plumbing systems and sanded and polished by hand.

The statues are then plated with 24 karat gold, given a final buff, and mounted on their bases. Since no one knows who the recipients are at this time, Polich Tallix staff will be on hand at the presentation ceremony to put nameplates on the bases after the Oscars have been presented.

Now, from the classy to the tasteless…


AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER

“You can almost taste the Bush”

Are you kidding me? Are you pulling my leg? Who is the agency that decided to present this ad to Premier Estates Wine? Forget that, who advertising executive at the winery greenlit this series of ads.

I mean, is your wine as tasteless as your advertising? Are the wines as bad as their creepy, sexist, objectifying adverts? Really, what were they thinking?

Thankfully, the Taste The Bush ads, an innuendo-laden throwback to sexist airline ads for the Australian wine maker has been banned for being offensive and objectifying women after making an obvious reference to oral sex. Thank goodness!

The online ad for Premier Estates Wine showed a woman with a strategically placed glass of red wine, using the tagline ‘you can almost taste the bush’.

The ad stars a brunette model saying ‘take this exquisite Aussie shiraz, a mere £5.99 a bottle’ and then taking a sip and adding: “Mmm, Luscious, earthy, bursting with fruit and spice.” She then places the glass down on a table in front of her – right in front of her crotch – and says: “Australia practically jumps out of the glass – in fact, some say you can almost taste the bush.”

UGH!

Not outraged yet, take a look:

Note to Premier Estates: If you want some quality ad concepts, give me a ring. I’ll be happy to present some at no charge! 

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