The Day Before the Big Day
As a regular contributing writer for blackfilm.com, I was invited to attend the 96th Annual Academy Awards! My Oscars® weekend started out with an invite to attend the rehearsals on Saturday at 8:30am, the day before the big day.
A group of about 20 press, including me, were ushered through air tight security and into the Dolby at Ovation Hollywood by representatives of the PR firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan and Lylis. Credentials were passed out and then we were led in and seated in the front of the balcony looking down at the orchestra section. The seats are lined with cardboard pictures of Hollywoods top actors and actresses. The theater is quiet and also really cold by the way. None of us know what to expect.
The stage is set. An enormous gold image of the Oscar is center stage and the stage is flanked by a huge floor to ceiling display a pink roses. The floor is polished to a high shine. Out onto the shiny floor walks a fab five of veteran Hollywood excellence, Lupita Nyongo’O, Regina King, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rita Moreno and Mary Steenburgen. The powerhouse quintet is dressed casually, smiling and chatting with each other like longtime friends as they stride on stage to rehearse their presentation segment. Five of my favorite people are standing in front of me. I’ve always loved Jamie Lee Curtis for loving herself and showing me how to embrace my 50s. I’ve been a fan of Regina’s since 227 and 1991’s Boyz in the Hood. I even got light brown contact lenses inspired by her. Lupita stole my heart with her powerful acceptance speech at the 2014 Academy Award for her Supporting Role in 12 Years a Slave and continues to steel my heart with her crazy Instagram shenanigans. Rita Moreno has been an idol since West Side Story. At 92, I only wish to be as incredibly full of life and energy as she is. And Steenburgen showed me that you can be sexy at any age with the outfits she wore as a lounge singer in Last Vegas.
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Steven Spielberg is next on stage looking very Spielberg-esque in sneakers, his signature jeans, denim shirt and black denim jacket. And then there’s Zendaya who is brought onto a stage that is now cast in purple hues and placed on her mark wearing jeans, black sneakers and a long elegant black coat to rehearse her presentation speech. A stand-in comes onto stage to accept the Oscar from Zendaya. I don’t know if the stand-in’s they hired were comedian’s but they were all hilarious making up acceptance speeches for fictitious films, thanking fictitious people. Zendaya found it funny too. She has a cute laugh.
America Ferrara and Kate McKinnon in jackets, jeans and casual high heels, fluff their way through their presentation speech messing up a lot, giggling a lot and letting a few curse words slip.
We watch a few more actors and actresses bumble their way through their presenting speeches.
Michael Keaton and Catherin O’Hara are then walked onto a stage bathed in pink hues by a stage director and shown their marks and then quickly ushered away.
We are next being asked to file out of the auditorium. They don’t want us to see whoever or what ever it is that is scheduled to rehearse next. My curiosity is piqued but the reps are not letting us stay in the room. Oh well.
The Big Day
I get my hair and make up done and climb into my black crepe gown from Athropologie’s sale room and hitch a ride over to the Dolby with my make up artist Valezra Earl. On the way into the theater Rob Smith, Managing Director of blackfilm.com, and I see Steven Spielberg, now looking polished in a tuxedo with his wife Kate Capshaw in a gorgeous blue ball gown and we see Colman Domingo, tall and handsome in a double breasted suit, and a parade of other stars dressed to the nines in black tie.
We get out programs and hit the bar before taking our seats. I love the Oscars® because everyone attending is so happy and smiling. Giddy about being dressed up and just grateful to be there. We were all chatty, complimenting each other’s outfits, introducing ourselves, curious about how we are all connected to the world of filmmaking. We met people from Los Angeles, people from New York and everywhere else. Some work for advertising companies, some produce documentaries, some were producers of animated shorts and the couple sitting next to me said they were in the midst of shooting a documentary about Harlem that they hope will be nominated next year. Other journalists were in the house, some we already knew and some we got to know. Shout out to Delaina Dixon representing Ebony magazine and Kelley Carter, ESPN Entertainment Reporter.
We listened to David Alan Grier joke before the show went live. He teased the nominees in the audience about not thanking a crazy- long list of people like their broker, their lawyer, their tax preparer, their agents and their publicists. Leading most of the acceptance speeches to make reference to Grier noting that they had to shout out their agents and publicists anyway because of all of their handwork. Notably Da’Vine Joy Randolph who really gushed on and on about her publicist but neglected to tell us her name. Later we found out she was referring to Marla Farrell of Shelter PR.
We are seated near filmmakers who were players in some of the night’s biggest wins. Areas of our section came alive each time an award winner was announced. The ladies in front of us screamed so loud when American Fiction won Best Adapted Screenplay, that it scared me. The wife of the winner of award for Best Cinematography shouted to her husband on stage as she recorded his acceptance speech. And we all screamed so loud with Da’Vine Joy won, that the theater shook.
We slipped out to the lobby during the commercial break before the Best Supporting Actor winner was announced to sip on some Don Julio margarita’s in mini bottles with little metal straws and nibble on some snacks.
What Was I Most Excited to See
I loved the show’s Fab 5 concept. I was excited to see 5 stunning Hollywood Supporting Actress-winners stride out on stage now all decked out in gowns to honor their follow Supporting Actress nominees. Lupita’s heartfelt words about her friend Da’Vine Joy Randolph were moving as were Jamie Lee Curtis’ kind words about her friend Jodie Foster, one of my favorite actors. Da’Vine Joy took home the award.
I also loved that the show repeated the idea with another group of fab five actors who came out to speak on the accomplishments of the five nominees for Best Actor. With Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker introducing Colman Domingo; last year’s winner Brendan Fraser introducing Jeffrey Wright; Nicholas Cage, who won for Leaving Las Vegas introducing Paul Giamatti; Dallas Buyer’s Club winner Matthew McConaughey introducing Bradley Cooper and Gandhi-winner Ben Kingsley speaking on Cillian Murphy, who took home the top prize.
And the concept hit it big again with last year’s winner Michelle Yeoh, 1980 Oscar-winner Sally Field, Jennifer Lawrence who won for Silver Linings Playbook (one of my favorite films), Charlize Theron (who introduced Annette Benign another one of my favorite actors) and last but not least Jessica Lange, who introduced Carey Mulligan. Emma Stone won the category.
Congratulations to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for her win and all of the other nominated actors of color Danielle Brooks, America Ferrara, Lilly Gladsone, Jeffrey Wright, Colman Domingo, and Sterling K. Brown.
