Every year, The Oscars bring emotions out of Hollywood players that they tend to reserve for their next Oscar-bait drama. The anticipation, the honor, and the – well – hype that surrounds this hallowed event can be enough to bring any professional make-believer to their knees.
Then, when the music sounds and the winners have to wind down their speeches, they still have plenty they want to say. That’s why the backstage press room exists, so that the latest legacy of Oscar winners can pour their hearts out to a selection of journalists that have been specially trained to talk to people that have just received the greatest honor of their career.
And Hypable. We were there too.
Due to momentary technical errors and the incomparably heart-breaking people at AT&T (monopolizing the press room of a world-class event near you!), we were unable to impart the winner’s immediate reactions as they were happening, but we at Hypable see it as our honor – nay – our duty, to give you your own all-access pass to the backstage of the 2013 Oscars.
One of the most vicious races of the night came first in the form of the Best Supporting Actor category, where Cristoph Waltz, yet again, won the Best Supporting Actor statue for playing a character written by Django Unchained director Quentin Tarantino.
Hypable had the distinct honor of asking Mr. Waltz the second question of the night, which concerned the third installment in Tarantino’s self-titled “Revisionist History Trilogy,” and whether or not the acclaimed director had approached him for another role.
Referencing his shiny new Oscar, Waltz said “No, again this [the Oscar] is seven minutes old. Somehow I failed to capture the moment to remind Quentin that I’m around.”
As a close personal friend of Tarantino, we doubt that the director needs reminding of the talented actor’s existence. In fact, judging by how he read the script, (page by page from Tarantino’s printer) it seems that Waltz is enough of a fan of Tarantino’s writing to always accept his roles.
“When I read the script for the first time, I realized there was something special about this film,” said Waltz. “Quentin writes poetry and I love poetry.”
Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman took the stage next to accept the honor of the best animated film of the year, Brave. “Getting the nomination for Brave has been a very exciting ride, that journey of making a movie, it’s a battle, it’s a war, so getting known for our work has been a remarkable, remarkable and thrilling surprise,” said Andrews.
He then mentioned that he’s been keeping very, very busy, and after the longest pause on Earth, added that it’s a secret. A secret that probably definitely maybe has nothing to do with the rumored Toy Story 4.
At this point, it’s important to note that Visual Effects artists and representatives could be found picketing near Hollywood and Highland, where the Oscars took place. In an age where blockbusters rise and fall based on their visual effects, a great number of visual effects artists are storming the gates for their basic working rights, as many visual effects houses are suffering due to shameless underbidding and low-balling of VFX budgets.
Claudio Miranda, the winner of Best Cinematography trophy for his work in Life of Pi, was the first winner of the night to make mention of the event. “I would hope that we can really support the effects companies and that they don’t just ride the hairy edge of profit,” said Miranda. “That tiger looked amazing, and I would hope that we could support them.”
The theme continued when Bill Westendhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donal R. Elliot, the visual effects artists that brought Life of Pi to life, took the stage. “We’re not technicians, we’re artists,” said Westenhofer. “If Life of Pi shows anything, it’s that (VFX) is artistry.”
“There are some things I did want to say that got cut off, so I’ll say them here,” added Westenhofer. “We’ve got to figure out how to make this business model work, because there are artists struggling. There is artistry involved, and we could lose some of the quality of what we see on stage if we’re not careful.”
It’s not often that the biggest surprise of the evening is the result of a tie between two competing films (how does that even happen?), but this year, the Oscar for Best Sound Editing went to two sets of artists, the magic-makers behind Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall.
Paul N.J. Ottonson, the man behind the sound of Zero Dark Thirty brought some charming levity to the stage when asked about why he continues to work with director Kathryn Bigelow, with whom he won an Oscar back in 2008. “Because we keep getting these,” said Ottonson, holding up his second Oscar.
Meanwhile, the second Best Sound Editing winner (that just sounds weird, doesn’t it?), illustrated the tightrope walk that director Sam Mendes was able to walk with Skyfall.
“He’s [Sam Mendes], one of the great storytellers in movies right now, and that works a lot with emotion and feeling and subtleties,” said Per Hallberg. “That’s not what Bond is normally about. We ended up at this great middle ground of giving the audience a Bond movie, and still the emotional quality that Sam needs and wants in his movies.”
Director Quentin Tarantino, who won for his original screenplay for Django Unchained, didn’t so much discuss how he felt about his win, as much as discussed the bits from the screenplay that he wishes could’ve made the theatrical cut.
In particular, he discusses a scene between his character, an Australian indentured servant, and Django. “He goes [imitating Django’s voice] ‘well I know how much I get paid, how much do you get paid?'”
Tarantino then put on his Australian accent and said, “They paid for my passage from Australia to here…I’m payin’ them back for the boat trip.” To that, Quentin’s Django makes a great point. “You a slave too!” said Tarantino. “At least they didn’t make us pay for the boat ride!”
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