It was no surprise when Anne Hathaway’s name was called up to the stage to accept the Oscar for heartbreaking turn as Fantine in Les Miserables, but the actress still had to fight back tears when she was asked to elaborate on what she meant when she said “it came true” when she first held the Oscar in her hands.
“I had a dream and it came true,” said Hathaway. “It can happen, and it’s wonderful. It can, and it did. Excuse me, that’s not articulate.”
Though her view of life is centered on beauty, Hathaway can’t help but see room for improvement in her work, even with the pivotal scene in Les Miserables that won her the Oscar.
“All I can hear now are the notes that I didn’t quite hit,” said Hathaway, making note that she pays more attention to the achievements of her costume and makeup designers when rewatching the film.
Every person who listened to Adele’s Skyfall for hours on loop when it was first released (read: this writer) can tell you that she was destined for Oscar glory, forever securing herself a top position in Bond theme history.
As a reporter pointed out, the singer is well on her way to the coveted EGOT, (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), a distinction held by a precious few. “Maybe I’ll do an HBO special like Beyoncé did,” said Adele when asked how she plans to pursue her EGOT. “A Tony, I’m not so sure, maybe one day someone will want to do a musical, musicals aren’t my thing though,” she said, laughing. “No offense.”
After expressing her desire to go back across the Atlantic to see her babies, Adele was ushered off of the stage, but not before exclaiming her excitement for the latest winner, whom was announced through the press room before the singer took the stage. “Jennifer Lawrence just won best actress!” said Adele.
Sure enough, the 22-year-old actress had just won one of the night’s highest honors, and she entered the room with her standard charm and true-to-life smile. Upon seeing the giant cards that the journalists were holding in an attempt to keep the press room organized and democratic, she laughed. “This isn’t like an auction is it?” said Lawrence.
Once the first question was asked however, Lawrence dropped her natural levity to get serious about mental illness. According to the actress, mental illness will only get better once the stigma behind it is gone. “You have asthma, you take asthma medication, but as soon as you take medication for your mind, there’s such a stigma behind it,” said Lawrence.
She then dropped the pretense and brought back the humor that has thrust her into the limelight as America’s sweetheart. She took a moment to detail the morning that would lead to her first Oscar win. “I woke up, tried on the dress. It fit, thank God. Then I took a shower. That’s what I did. Then I got my hair and makeup done. Then I went to the Oscars.” When the audience of press burst into laughter, Lawrence admitted why she was being so adorably frank.
“I’m sorry, I took a shot before I…Jesus.” said Lawrence. “I’m sorry.”
Then someone grabbed the opportunity to ask about the fall that warranted a standing ovation from the crowd.
“What do you mean ‘what happened’?” said Lawrence. “I tried to walk up stairs in this dress, that’s what happened.” The press pushed the question further and asked what went through her head when she tripped and fell on the biggest night of her life.
“What went through my head when I fell down? A bad word,” said Lawrence. “One that starts with an ‘F’.” The laughter continued when Daniel Day-Lewis hit the stage for his record-breaking Presidential turn in Lincoln.
His first question was about the beard he wore for the film, and whether or not wearing it for long periods of time annoyed him. “What do you mean wearing?” said Day-Lewis, clearly confused by the question since he didn’t have the makeup department fabricate his whiskers for the film. “Do you wear your hair? No, it was mine. My very own beard.”
The historic actor has been known to remain in character as part of his acting method, and he was asked if he was still in the mindset of our sixteenth President. “I’m definitely out of character at this moment,” said Day-Lewis. “But if I slip out of it, you can take an intervention of some kind, do the Heimlich maneuver.”
It was also revealed that Day-Lewis was a little terrified to play such a beloved American figure and not be an American. “I got plenty of grief from myself,” said Day-Lewis. “[It was] a paralyzing quality in that if we got it wrong I could never show my face in this country again.”
We doubt very much that this would be the case, as Day-Lewis is the only actor in history to win three Best Actor statues. He’s also the only actor, American or non-American, to win an Academy Award for a portrayal of an American President.
Whereas Day-Lewis was worried that his internationality would have people looking at Lincoln differently, director Ang Lee truly believes that his “foreign” nature is his distinct advantage.
“I spoke in broken English during Sense and Sensibility,” said Lee after winning his second Oscar, again without a Best Picture win.
“After that I thought, I can do this,” said Lee. “You have to be diligent. Sometimes I think it can be an advantage. Being from another culture makes me special. It’s actually an advantage. I encourage you all, Asian film makers, to give it a try.”
Lee then took the opportunity to bring the conversation back to the visual effects artists that were picketing outside the studio, on the same theme of them being true artists, and not just technicians. “I refuse to think they are technicians,” said Lee. “They create something that is visual art.”
Lee also mentioned that he was heavily inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, another film from a novel that was thought to be impossible to commit to film, and yet a movie that is diametrically opposite of Lee’s spectacular exploration of faith and wonder. “It’s a visual experience and a psychological journey,” said Lee. “That’s a movie at its purest.”
This year’s Best Picture race has been a true roller coaster of possibility. From the heartfelt dramedy about mental illness, to the massive story about stories, to the musical about freedom and the movie about making a fake movie, different films peaked and most were favorited, at one point or another, to win the highest honor of the night. Though many saw an Argo win in the cards, director and producer Ben Affleck said that he didn’t feel a tipping point until he felt the award in his hands.
“When they gave us the trophies, I was confident we would win,” joked Affleck. “Even then, I was like, is this a prank?” Though many websites and Oscar scientists had predicted a win for Argo, Affleck said that he couldn’t pay attention to the hype. “I never get much into the Oscarology,” said Affleck. “It doesn’t help me to read up on that stuff.”
In a suprising and frankly strange move, the Best Picture award was presented by none other than the First lady, Michelle Obama. This didn’t seem strange at all to Affleck, who said that his head was spinning anyway, so everything was able to pass for normal.
“I was hallucinating by that point,” said Affleck. “It’s like, oh there’s a purple elephant, oh there’s Michelle Obama. In retrospect, the fact that’s it’s the first lady is an enormous honor. It was very cool.”
With the highest honor of the night in Affleck’s hands, the room couldn’t help but ask how he felt about being snubbed, not even nominated, for his directing work for the year’s Best Picture.
“I wasn’t aware you were left off,” joked fellow Argo producer George Clooney. “Really?” Affleck responded with an extraordinary amount of humility, regardless of the fact that he had just said that he was through with being humble.
“I was excited to make it, excited to work with these guys, and excited to let the chips fall where they may,” said Affleck. “You’re not entitled to anything. I’m honored to be here, honored to be among these extraordinary movies, and honored to win an Academy Award.”
As the end of the Oscar’s telecast mentioned, there are always more losers than there are winners by the end of every Oscar night, but any film nut can agree that 2012 has been one of the best years for film in the past decade. Every actor approached the winner’s stage with the knowledge that they won out of a particularly strong group of contenders.
In a year that saw superheroes rack up billions, a year that saw James Bond break his own record, and a year where the Best Picture nominees actually reflected what audiences got out of their houses to see, it truly was an honor just to be nominated.
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