(Also read: "Hurt Locker" Wins Top PGA Honor")
When “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow arrived at the Hollywood Palladium for the Producers Guild of America Awards on Sunday night, she figured the location of her table – near the back of the floor, well behind the tables occupied by the “Avatar” and “Inglourious Basterds” filmmakers – was not a favorable omen.
“I saw where we were sitting and thought, that’s not a good sign,” laughed Bigelow after the show had ended, and after her film had scored a shocking upset and taken home the PGA’s top prize over her ex-husband Jim Cameron’s prohibitive favorite, “Avatar.” “I absolutely wasn’t expecting this.”
I was sitting one table away from Bigelow, with the producers of “30 Rock” – one of whom, David Miner, had already concluded the same thing.
“Last year, we were lucky enough to win, and our table was close, and right on the aisle,” he said with a griin. “Looking at where we’re sitting this year, I guess that means we’re not going to win.”
In fact, “30 Rock” did win – and, moments later, so did a visibly shocked Bigelow.
The victory, she said afterwards, was bittersweet: Mark Boal, the writer of the film and one of its producers, couldn’t attend the ceremony because his father had died the day before. “I’m really excited by this,” said Bigelow as she received congratulations from guests like “Up” producer Jonas Rivera, himself a winner in the Animated Theatrical Film category. “But I’m sad that Mark can’t be here.”
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Other moments from the evening:
The show began at 5:30 p.m., which coincided with halftime in the football playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints. And the first presenter of the night, Greg Kinnear, wasted no time in referencing that fact:
“I’m so happy to be here tonight,” he said, “and not in the green room watching the NFL playoff game, to determine who goes to the Super Bowl.” A pause. “14-14 at halftime.”
A few minutes later, presenter LL Cool J delivered an update: “21-14 Saints, by the way.”
And then an hour later, when Will Smith took the stage to deliver a special award to Sony Pictures executives Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton, his opening lines were succinct: “28-28 in overtime. Thought I’d share.”
And then … nothing. Apparently, none of the evening’s final presenters were football fans – or maybe they figured that anybody in the audience who was interested would have used their iPhones or BlackBerrys to find out that the Saints had won in overtime.
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The competitive awards made headlines, but the five honorary awards provided some of the liveliest moments of the show. In Smith’s intro of Pascal and Lynton, for instance, he lauded the duo for caring about quality and supporting the environment – plus, he said, “again and again they show the wisdom and uncanny foresight to simply pay me what I ask for.”
