Monday, February 28, 2005
SUNDAY Feb 27th OSCAR DAY!
After weeks of pounding rainstorms and mudslides LA on Oscar Day was dry and sunny. Bill & Sue Kroyer, Chris Buck, Bruce Morris, Denis Venizelos, Greg Manwaring and myself with our lovely ladies all pile into an absurdly long white stretch SUV Limousine for the ride to the Kodak Center on Hollywood Blvd. W e looked like a cross between the Godfather and a circus clown car. The traffic around Hollywood Blvd is so congested this seems the most sane way to get there. Bill Plympton, who is nominated for his short GUARD DOG, declared he was coming in a pedalcab! It reminds me of 1995 when Nick Park won for A CLOSE SHAVE. Nick came to the ceremony in a bright red motorcycle and sidecar a` la Wallace & Gromett. Traveling the few short blocks to the theater he was stopped by the LA police and given a ticket for not wearing a helmet!
We have to get there pretty early as the ceremony gets going around 5:00PM so it can be seen prime time on the East Coast. So you are usually on the road by about 1:45PM. Since Sept 11th the amount of sun-glassed police lining the Hollywood streets make it seem like a coup d`etat in a small country.. This was the first year they put concrete obstacles out to discourage car bombers.
Exiting your limo on to the red carpet at the Oscars is a pretty chaotic experience. As soon as you step out there are glaring lights, screaming people, valets urging you to move on and not hold things up and religious zealots screaming from across the street how we are all going to Hell for our iniquity. For one split second there are two thousand cameras pointed at you, until they determine you are nobody and turn away. "Hmmm, he`s too big to be DeCarpio -.maybe it`s MeatLoaf?" They confiscate all our cameras and cel-phone cameras so all you have is a chance for a quick snap then toss it back into the limo. Crowds in the bleachers were screaming: ORLANDO! ORLANDO! Orlando Bloom was behind us. Hmm, Leonardo DeCaprio is taller than I expected.
For us non-celeb types the trick is to walk slowly down the red carpet and stand behind some big shot being interviewed, so maybe you`ll get on TV back somewhere your family can see you. Meanwhile the ushers know what you`re up to and keep urging you along At times it has the finesse of a cattle drive. After a few years here you begin to recognize friends in the media wall. Former Disney-Amblin animator Raul Garcia does a syndicated commentary for Spanish radio as Raimundo Hollywood.
After the madness on the red carpet once inside the large hall there is plenty of time to get a drink and schmooze with some biggies. Last year I got to meet classical composer Phillip Glass and ask Antonio Banderas where my seat was! This year I said hi to Quincy Jones. The PIXAR crowd was there in force. Brad Bird, Steve Jobs, Ed Catmul, Joe Ranft. INCREDIBLES producer John Walker was passing out small lapel pins with the Incredibles logo "I" on it for all us true believers. Lots of other great animators were on hand to cheer on their friends like Mike Cedeno, Jay Jackson, Jim Beihold, and Jim Hillin. Brad Bird looked great when he accepted and did a great speech. Best regards to Chris Landreth for his animated short RYAN. It was a tough choice this year because all the other shorts nominees like LORENZO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and GUARD DOG were terrific too. It was weird watching Chris Rock go for so long without any swear words. I kept hoping Chris would break into some dialogue from my favorite movie OSMOSIS JONES, but oh, well, at least he didn`t goof on it like POOTY TANG. He`s going to be a voice in Dreamworks MADAGASCAR this summer.
You have to get in your seat quickly since when the show commences they lock the doors, only opening them during TV commercial breaks. Huge lights shine in your face and a big loudspeaker announces `TAKE YOU SEATS PLEASE, TEN SECONDS, NINE, EIGHT, APPLAUSE!" In 1981 when Polish animator Zbigniew Rybcysnski won for his short TANGO, he stepped outside for a smoke. Suddenly unable to get back in he grew agitated and security guards subdued him. He shouted the only English he knew:" I have Oscar!" but was arrested anyway for fighting and spent the rest of the evening in a police station. By the third hour of the evening more of the audience is in the lobby at the bar then sitting down. The show went on pretty smoothly, although Best Actress Hilary Swank was still thanking people when they cut her mike off for a commercial.
There are lots of parties around town afterwards, if you know someone. The Governors Ball is for the bigshots and winners by invitation only. The former President of Disney Animation recalled once when at the Governors Ball getting an elbow in the back by rabid photographers intent on getting a better shot of Meryl Streep. Brad and his crew went to the Vanity Fair Party to celebrate. My posse went to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for dinner. That`s the hotel that is supposedly haunted by actor Montgomery Clift and it is where Clark Gable used to meet Carole Lombard for their assignations. For you young folks Gable & Lombard were the J.Lo & Ben Affleck of the 1930s.
After a long night in Tinseltown our stretch limo dropped us home and we got
back around 1:00AM. Then I had to write this out fast because tomorrow morning
I have to go pitch some TV projects! Hope you all had fun watching the Oscars and I hope your favorites won. See you next year on the Red Carpet.
TS ¶ 4:08 AM
We have to get there pretty early as the ceremony gets going around 5:00PM so it can be seen prime time on the East Coast. So you are usually on the road by about 1:45PM. Since Sept 11th the amount of sun-glassed police lining the Hollywood streets make it seem like a coup d`etat in a small country.. This was the first year they put concrete obstacles out to discourage car bombers.
Exiting your limo on to the red carpet at the Oscars is a pretty chaotic experience. As soon as you step out there are glaring lights, screaming people, valets urging you to move on and not hold things up and religious zealots screaming from across the street how we are all going to Hell for our iniquity. For one split second there are two thousand cameras pointed at you, until they determine you are nobody and turn away. "Hmmm, he`s too big to be DeCarpio -.maybe it`s MeatLoaf?" They confiscate all our cameras and cel-phone cameras so all you have is a chance for a quick snap then toss it back into the limo. Crowds in the bleachers were screaming: ORLANDO! ORLANDO! Orlando Bloom was behind us. Hmm, Leonardo DeCaprio is taller than I expected.
For us non-celeb types the trick is to walk slowly down the red carpet and stand behind some big shot being interviewed, so maybe you`ll get on TV back somewhere your family can see you. Meanwhile the ushers know what you`re up to and keep urging you along At times it has the finesse of a cattle drive. After a few years here you begin to recognize friends in the media wall. Former Disney-Amblin animator Raul Garcia does a syndicated commentary for Spanish radio as Raimundo Hollywood.
After the madness on the red carpet once inside the large hall there is plenty of time to get a drink and schmooze with some biggies. Last year I got to meet classical composer Phillip Glass and ask Antonio Banderas where my seat was! This year I said hi to Quincy Jones. The PIXAR crowd was there in force. Brad Bird, Steve Jobs, Ed Catmul, Joe Ranft. INCREDIBLES producer John Walker was passing out small lapel pins with the Incredibles logo "I" on it for all us true believers. Lots of other great animators were on hand to cheer on their friends like Mike Cedeno, Jay Jackson, Jim Beihold, and Jim Hillin. Brad Bird looked great when he accepted and did a great speech. Best regards to Chris Landreth for his animated short RYAN. It was a tough choice this year because all the other shorts nominees like LORENZO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and GUARD DOG were terrific too. It was weird watching Chris Rock go for so long without any swear words. I kept hoping Chris would break into some dialogue from my favorite movie OSMOSIS JONES, but oh, well, at least he didn`t goof on it like POOTY TANG. He`s going to be a voice in Dreamworks MADAGASCAR this summer.
You have to get in your seat quickly since when the show commences they lock the doors, only opening them during TV commercial breaks. Huge lights shine in your face and a big loudspeaker announces `TAKE YOU SEATS PLEASE, TEN SECONDS, NINE, EIGHT, APPLAUSE!" In 1981 when Polish animator Zbigniew Rybcysnski won for his short TANGO, he stepped outside for a smoke. Suddenly unable to get back in he grew agitated and security guards subdued him. He shouted the only English he knew:" I have Oscar!" but was arrested anyway for fighting and spent the rest of the evening in a police station. By the third hour of the evening more of the audience is in the lobby at the bar then sitting down. The show went on pretty smoothly, although Best Actress Hilary Swank was still thanking people when they cut her mike off for a commercial.
There are lots of parties around town afterwards, if you know someone. The Governors Ball is for the bigshots and winners by invitation only. The former President of Disney Animation recalled once when at the Governors Ball getting an elbow in the back by rabid photographers intent on getting a better shot of Meryl Streep. Brad and his crew went to the Vanity Fair Party to celebrate. My posse went to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for dinner. That`s the hotel that is supposedly haunted by actor Montgomery Clift and it is where Clark Gable used to meet Carole Lombard for their assignations. For you young folks Gable & Lombard were the J.Lo & Ben Affleck of the 1930s.
After a long night in Tinseltown our stretch limo dropped us home and we got
back around 1:00AM. Then I had to write this out fast because tomorrow morning
I have to go pitch some TV projects! Hope you all had fun watching the Oscars and I hope your favorites won. See you next year on the Red Carpet.
TS ¶ 4:08 AM
