Sacha Baron Cohen's stunt of spilling ashes on Ryan Seacrest on the Oscar red carpet earned the comic a quick visit from Academy president Tom Sherak and Oscar show producer Brian Grazer, who went to Baron Cohen's dressing room to make sure he didn't have any more disruptions planned for Oscar night.

The stunt began when Baron Cohen appeared on the red carpet as the title character from his upcoming film "The Dictator," an appearance that had been planned in advance and reluctantly approved by the Academy.

Also read: Academy Won't Stop Sacha Baron Cohen's Oscar Stunt -- But They'd Rather He Didn't Do It

He did so carrying an urn that he said contained the ashes of...

When Thomas Langmann started work on "The Artist," "no one wanted to help us making a silent, black-and-white movie," the producer said backstage at the Academy Awards Sunday night.

But he said he knew that if we could come and shoot in L.A. with an American crew, it would work.

"We did this movie as a tribute to Hollywood, a tribute to cinema and especially to American cinema," he said. "We never expected that in return we would get so much care and love -- and of course these awards that mean...

While "The Artist" may be groundbreaking, its director played down its impact on Hollywood.

The black-and-white movie paid homage to an earlier era of moviemaking in an age of hyper-charged special effects and 3D technology, and won a slew of awards leading up to the Oscars, where it won five statues.

Just after winning an Academy Award for best director, Michel Hazanavicius said that, "one movie is just one movie -- it doesn't change things."

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Best Actress Meryl Streep said backstage at the Oscars Sunday that after winning her first Oscar in 29 years, she felt like "a kid again" 

Streep, who now has won three Academy Awards, said that "I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call your name and you just go into sort of -- I don't know -- a white light. And it was just thrilling. It was like I was a kid again. I was a kid the first time I won this!"

Read more: Christopher Plummer Backstage at Oscars: Charlie Chaplin Was Older

Streep quoted a poem: "It's as strange to be here once as it is to return," she said. "So that's...