Not everything that happened at Saturday night's Governors Awards ceremony fit into theWrap's initial report on the evening. Herewith, more random happenings, tidbits and musings from the lengthy, emotional evening, the first of its kind and the first significant Oscar event of the season:
Given the event's low profile and only 550 guests, the usual Oscar crowds were nowhere in sight – not that the public could have gotten a glimpse of any of the attending luminaries, whose cars were routed through a roundabout path, entering from the back of the Hollywood & Highland complex and traveling down the ramp that leads to the Kodak Theater's loading dock, before entering the underground parking garage. Since guests had been warned that the entry required making a turn too tight to accommodate a stretch limo, the big vehicles so prevalent on Oscar night were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the valet line was full of BMWs, Lexii, Priuses, and enough smaller vehicles that my Honda Accord didn’t even seem out of place.
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Once out of the car, guests never set foot in the public areas of Hollywood & Highland. Instead, they entered the Kodak Theater lobby from the garage, and immediately took a theater elevator to the fifth floor, where the Grand Ballroom is situated. Any shoppers hoping to catch a glimpse of, say, Jack or Tom were out of luck.
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Speaking of Jack Nicholson, he slipped into the pre-show reception late, and lurked inside the entrance in shades and a black shirt. He sat at Roger Corman’s table until Corman received his honor, then immediately left. Steven Spielberg, on the other hand, didn’t arrive until the middle of the Corman tribute.
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During the reception, Rick Rosas of PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the two partners who supervises Oscar voting and knows all the results, mingled with other guests. When I mentioned that he didn’t have to do any counting for these particular Oscars, Rosas nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “but I’ve memorized the layout of the room, just in case.”
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Francis Coppola, who directed one of his first movies for Corman and used Gordon Willis for all three “Godfather” films, did not attend the event. But he was there in spirit, or maybe in spirits: the wine served at the event came courtesy of the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.
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Ron Howard, who toasted Corman to begin the awards presentations, had ties to three of the four honorees. He played Lauren Bacall’s son in “The Shootist,” directed “Grand Theft Auto” for Corman, and made a couple of movies for John Calley. Of Gordon Willis, Howard said, “I offered him movies, but he turned me down.” (Photo of Howard's toast, above, by Richard Harbaugh/AMPAS)
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Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, the producers of the main Oscar show on March 7, were on hand as well. Although they haven’t announced any hirings beyond set designer David Rockwell, the pair spent time with two of the key personnel at every Oscar show for the past three decades: associate producer Michael Seligman, the show’s longtime money man, and executive in charge of talent Danette Herman, who has been booking and attending to the stars for just as long.
