Night of Firsts for Stars of All Ages

Gwyneth Paltrow said she drew a “holy blank” the moment her name was uttered as best actress at this year’s Academy Awards.

Roberto Benigni, bounding to the microphone backstage, said he was totally unprepared at winning best actor and best foreign language film for “Life Is Beautiful.”

The princess and the clown prince were in their element as the world press gathered at the 71st annual Academy Awards to question them about one of the biggest moments in an actor’s life.

Paltrow looked out upon the roomful of journalists and was asked why she had been so emotional on stage earlier when she accepted the Academy Award for best actress in “Shakespeare in Love.” After all, reporters noted backstage, there was not a dry eye in the house during her acceptance speech, including the press room.

“Come on, you all are a bunch of hardened cynical journalists” Paltrow shot back. “Don’t try to pull that on me.”

The comment provoked a round of laughter, just as minutes later, Benigni would when he tried to explain in broken Italian-English how he was totally unprepared for winning best actor as well as best foreign language film for his film.

Benigni, the first foreign language actor to win an Oscar for best actor since Sophia Loren, said he was unprepared to win, in part because of the prejudice against comic actors but also because he thought the other actors in the category wree so extraordinary.

It was a glorious night of triumph for Harvey Weinstein, the feisty co-chairman of Miramax Films, as he reveled in the Oscar for best picture captured by “Shakespeare in Love.”

But Weinstein was clearly upset by questions backstage about the company’s multimillion-dollar Oscar marketing campaign for the picture.

“I think the most amazing thing we found out from Warren Beatty today was that ‘Saving Private Ryan’s’ pre-Oscar nomination and post-Oscar nominations spent more money in the [Hollywood] trades than we did. Warren spoke to [DreamWorks co-partner] Jeffrey Katzenberg and they both confirmed that to me. It was fairly amazing for us.” Katzenberg was not available backstage for comment.

DreamWorks SKG, which with Paramount Pictures produced Steven Spielberg’s World War II battle film, had engaged in an aggressive Oscar race with Miramax, in which some press reports accused Weinstein of bad-mouthing “Saving Private Ryan.” Then Weinstein, also one of the producers of “Shakespeare in Love,” declared that he saw nothing wrong with aggressively supporting the films he released.

“You know what? I believe in supporting films,” Weinstein said. “People on my movies work so hard. . . . Isn’t it good that somebody goes out and supports you for a change? I think you should get in trouble in this town for not supporting your movies. That’s the problem with a lot of these places. Something that is eccentric, idealistic and different doesn’t get supported.”

Weinstein, nevertheless, agreed that some sort of monetary cap should be placed on future Oscar campaigns. “I’m all for that.”

“Whoopee! It’s nice!” said a relieved James Coburn, cradling the golden statuette in his arm as he basked in winning the supporting actor award for his role as an abusive, alcoholic father in the small independent film “Affliction.”

Winning on his first nomination in a career that spanned four decades, Coburn, 70, said backstage, “You can’t describe the feeling. You can’t really describe it because it’s not even an emotion. It really hasn’t settled in yet. I was moved so much I could hardly talk up there.”

Judi Dench, who won her first Oscar for her supporting role as the imperious yet droll Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love,” said she was “taken aback” because she was only on screen for eight minutes.

“It’s wonderful to get this,” she said. “If I told the whole story about that women in that time I’m thrilled.” She said she had seen three of the other nominated performances and was certain one of them would win.

Dench, who was made a dame of the British empire in 1988, was nominated last year for best actress in “Mrs. Brown.”

Andy Nelson, part of the team that won the Oscar for achievement in sound for “Saving Private Ryan,” also was nominated for his work on another World War II best picture nominee, “The Thin Red Line.”

“It’s completely different,” he said of the two directors’ approaches. Terrence Malick went for a more poetic approach in “Red Line” while Steven Spielberg’s instructions were to try to be as realistic as possible. “His instructions were to put you in the middle of an experience that is horrifying,” he said.

Gary Summers, another member of the team, said Spielberg had very distinct ideas from the beginning. He wanted realism, yet he also had the idea to use sound effects subjectively in scenes such as one in the opening sequence that took place underwater and another that occurred when the character played by Tom Hanks lost his hearing.

Also sharing the award were Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins.

Stephen Warbeck, who captured the award for best original musical or comedy score for “Shakespeare in Love,” said the biggest challenge he faced was that “it jumps from one scene, one theme, one mood to another

Norman Jewison, recipient of the Irving Thalberg Life Achievement Award, won an ovation for his comments on stage decrying the emphasis on profit and the corporate influence on films. Backstage, he continued in that vein. “When you get into corporate thinking, I think quality sometimes goes out the window and everybody reaches for the golden ring,” he said. “Unless we get back to stories about people, we’re going to start losing the audience.”

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Post-Oscar Parties

Hollywood’s parade of glamour continues at Oscar parties around town, Tuesday in Southern California Living.