Backstage Chatter at The Oscars
LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2006 — -- Journalists crammed in once again to talk to all the winners of the Oscars as they were brought backstage after their big win.
When the reporters weren't busy stuffing their faces with sandwiches, pasta and cookies, they were chugging Powerade and Full Throttle energy drinks to keep themselves going for the very long day and the long night they had ahead.
While they were sitting down filing their reports on cell phones, computers and various phone lines, their questions were sometimes insightful, and sometimes silly.
Ang Lee received a lot of questions in Taiwanese, which were hard for everyone else to understand. The same can be said for the Frenchmen of "March of the Penguins," not speaking in Taiwanese, but in French, of course. Other than that, we, the many journalists from around the world, laughed heartily at Jon Stewart's many jokes when we could hear him, but most of the time, we paid close attention to the folks backstage as we applauded their successes during the night. Here are comments from some of the big winners as they joined us backstage at the 78th Annual Academy Awards:
Regarding his win for "Syriana," Clooney said he will continue to do movies that reflect what is going on and important in today's society. Someone called him "Mr. Clooney," which he said is only happening now that he's won an Oscar. He handed out compliments and told the journalists that asked him questions how nice they looked.
Early in the night, someone said "in the unlikely event that you don't win again, I need to ask you something about "Good Night, and Good Luck," everyone laughed -- especially Clooney. He said that producing movies out of the mainstream doesn't mean you won't get people to see your movie. About Ang Lee, Clooney joked: "I don't like that guy. I've seen him a lot. I've seen him stealing." Seriously, he said to be in the category with the likes of Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg as a director is a real pleasure and honor.
Weisz said none of them had big-budgets, but they all grossed enough to cover costs, so they were, in fact, commerically successful. She said the baby was going crazy in her belly when they were announcing the category, but when she got up to give her acceptance speech, the baby was calm. When asked what the man next to her whispered when her name was called, she replied that he said, "I love you." Asked if she'd name the baby "Oscar," she said there were many names considered, but Oscar wasn't one of them. She said she'd be going to the Governors Ball and then to the Vanity Fair party, but then she might have to put on flat shoes before continuing.
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