Results tagged “oscars”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this afternoon that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the 82nd Academy Awards next year. Martin earned an Emmy nomination after he hosted the 73rd Academy Awards. He also hosted the 75th ceremony. Baldwin has never hosted the show. The Oscars will be aired on ABC on Sunday, March 7, 2010, from the Kodak Theatre. As for the Golden Globes next January, Ricky Gervais will host.

The Emmys are still over a week away, but the time to start thinking about the Oscars is now. Beginning Monday at noon and continuing for about a week, anyone from around the world may enter into a random drawing for one of the 700 available seats at the 82nd Academy Awards red carpet (we sat there last year, here are our photos).

Many a Hollywood hopeful or star has come and gone from the headlines in the past five decades, but one name always remained rooted in his by-line at Daily Variety. Army Archerd, the industry rag's longtime columnist died yesterday at 87. "Archerd collapsed at home in Westwood on Monday afternoon and died Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center," notes his LA Times obit. Five years ago Archerd was diagnosed with a rare form of mesothelioma, "which doctors ascribed to his exposure to shipyard asbestos when he was in the Navy during World War II."

The Cocoanut Grove, a supper club where the rich and famous dined and danced, opened 3 months after the Ambassador Hotel, in April 1921. It was designed in Moorish style. The palm trees that decorated the room were rumored to have come from the Rudolph Valentino film, The Sheik and they had stuffed monkeys hanging from them. The ceiling was painted midnight blue and sparkling stars were strewn across its firmament.

Big announcement from the academy today. No longer are days of five competing movies for Best Picture, but ten. “After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same - one Best Picture winner - but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.”

While watching the Oscars at home in my bedroom, I got an email informing me that I was invited to Prince's Post-Oscar party. Me? The guy who was sitting in his room watching the Oscars in a sweaty t-shirt and shorts thanks to some much needed time at the gym was now going to be partying with Prince at his ultra-exclusive post-Oscar party.

              

Here's a little of what we saw while on the red carpet at the Oscars...

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support," Sean Penn said in his acceptance speech for actor in a leading role last night at the Oscars. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

                               

LAist editor Zach Behrens, who is at the Kodak Theatre, and Gothamist editor Jen Chung will be liveblogging Hollywood's biggest night.

Last year, Prince threw an ultra-exclusive invite-only post-Oscar bash that brought out big names like Stevie Wonder, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Javier Bardem and Eva Longoria. This year, the Purple one is opening the doors to his party to everyone.

In the past, celebrities have helped bring awareness to HIV/AIDS when they've grace the red carpets in their fashion clad gowns and suits donning a small red ribbon. Since then, differently colored ribbons and other accessories have appeared, from pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness to Lance Armstrong's Live Strong yellow bracelets.

Tonight marks the last broadcast of Conan O'Brien on "Late Night..." and what a ride it's been. From being a virtual unknown in front of the camera, O'Brien is now a staple of late night television. O'Brien's resurrection of NBC's "Late Night" after the departure of David Letterman to CBS was not easy and the first few years were very tenuous ones for the wild haired funnyman. With support from Lorne Michaels, O'Brien was given enough time to build an audience, something almost unheard of these days.

The nice weather we've been getting will continue through today and Saturday and hopefully Sunday. "We're kinda in between storms," explained Jamie Meier of the National Weather Service. That rain could possibly hit Los Angeles by Sunday, but it's more likely the Oscars will be kept dry and rain will come later. And when it does Meier says that "all areas should at least get what." Expect temperatures in the 70s--as high as 78--today and tomorrow from the beach to the valleys.

Between special screenings, TV tapings & incestual industry conduct, filmmakers are a common appearance in this town. When the New Beverly hosts a filmmaker, it's truly special. Eclectic personalities take complete control of the theater's programming, spotlighting elements of their own work, their influences, or simply their favorite, lesser-known films. Previous hosts include Edgar Wright, Patton Oswalt, Joe Dante & Peter Bogdanovich, and now writer-director Rian Johnson has the slate. A new kid on the block compared to those names, Johnson's hard-boiled sleeper Brick is one of the most unique & enjoyable films of the last few years. His "Festival Of Fakery" (running through the end of February) features advance screenings of his new film, The Brothers Bloom, and a cadre of con men, criminals, thieves & scoundrels.

She hit the stage at the Grammys a couple of weeks ago 9 months pregnant, gave birth to her son with boyfriend Benjamin Bronfman a couple of days later, and now is working with organizers of Sunday's Oscars telecast to arrange how she might perform live on the awards show. The Guardian UK explains:

According to reports today the rapper is keen to fulfil her commitment to perform her Oscar-nominated song from Slumdog Millionaire, "O Saya," at the awards ceremony. She is said to be trying to find a way to overcome the physical issues of performing so soon after giving birth, including, it's alleged, an appearance by hologram or, failing that, one delivered from a bed live on stage.

If you live or travel near the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, the street is getting a little crowded with the Academy Awards set up. As of yesterday, all lanes of Hollywood Boulevard are closed from the southeast corner of Orange Drive to Highland Avenue and will be until at least a week from today at 6 a.m. There are more closures, too, as we get closer to the ceremony on Sunday.

The Oscars is over two weeks away, but the international event takes weeks to set up for. Here's what's going this weekend:

The 61st annual Directors Guild of America Awards were held here last night at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. The DGA named Brit import Danny Boyle as Best Director for his inspiring film Slumdog Millionaire; Boyle is up for the Oscar in the same category, and many believe these awards are "one of the most reliable indicators for the Academy Awards," which take place at the Kodak Theatre on February 22 this year, explains the LA Times. "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the guild have disagreed only six times in their selections in the last 60 years."

As programs get stripped and fees get higher for residents in Los Angeles, is this a case of the rich getting richer or a good business move on the part of the city? Tomorrow, the City Council will go through their ritual of approving special event fee waivers (see page 16 of the council agenda in .pdf). These giveaways practicably happen on a weekly basis, giving special events a break on the costs for street closures, personnel and whatever else it costs the city to adjust its landscape for an event taking place in public space.

Oscar statues are actually made 2,000 miles away in Chicago. So sister site to LAist, Chicagoist, made a visit to the factory. Here's a sample: "Oscar starts life as an ingot of britannia metal (think high-class pewter). Always the achiever, he receives his first casting call early. The ingot is melted in a small furnace and the molten metal is then poured into a mold bearing the familiar pose. The casting process is an art in itself, requiring precise temperature control, timing and mold manipulation..."

                                   

For 15 years Wofgang Puck has been the official caterer of The Governors Ball, the celebration that follows the Academy Awards. And this year, LAist was there for the preview. This time we get to show you pictures of Oscar-shaped chocolate statues. We also had the opportunity to test-taste a few of the treats and the cocktails that will be served at the Ball.

       

Nomination day is an early day in Hollywood. Media outlets arrive at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater as early as 12:30 in the morning to start setting up. The rest of the press corps arrives at 3:30 a.m. for the press breakfast, and some stragglers creep in as late as 5 a.m. Jockeying for position is not as aggressive in a room full of mixed media. But once it is the photogs' turn to rush the theater, watch your toes.

"The Academy Awards is this wonderful, huge phenomenon, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know what that is," Executive Administrator Ric Robertson of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said. "In a way, that makes it difficult for us to let the world know all the other stuff the academy does." And that's why the Academy overhauled their website, which was released today. The websites about their upcoming Hollywood museum, edcucational programs, grants, their library and much more.

       

Even though Southern California is the nexus of the adult industry, next week the industry and its fans will convene in Las Vegas for AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this morning that Austrlian actor Hugh Jackman will host the 81st Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22nd at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. He's presented at the ceremony before, but this will be his first time as a host. "[Jackman] has style, elegance and a sense of occasion," the producers said of the star, who was recently named one of the sexiest men alive by People Magazine, in a joint statement. He's starred in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, the X-Men movies and the upcoming and most anticipated X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Jackman won an Emmy in 2005 for his hosting skills at a Tony Awards ceremony. He also won a Tony in 2004 for Best Actor in a Musical.

Now with The Emmy Awards over, it's time to think about the 78th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22 at the Kodak Theatre. As they do every year, the Academy will hold a lotto drawing for people to win one of the coveted bleacher seats at the red carpet.

In 2007, Curbed LA named Hollywood and Highland the ugliest building in Los Angeles. From many (if not most) angles, they have a point. But In the center of this ode to modern consumerism is a secret, a reference to the glamor and debauchery that are Hollywood's past. It started, as all the best secrets do, a long, long time ago.

105 people were invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to become voting members today. Among those were actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Marion Cotillard, Allison Janney, Cody Diablo and Jet Li.

Normally, the Academy Awards making the news this early in the Oscar-year calendar doesn't make sense. That is, until the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday in a press release the key dates for next year's show on Sunday, February 22nd. And after listing those dates (below if you care), the last sentence of the release mentioned why there was a slight change.