Bizarre and ‘Beautiful’ Moments
Elia Kazan got off pretty easy. If his enemies really wanted to torment and humiliate him Sunday, they should have dragged him over to be interviewed by Joan Rivers.
Rivers’ pre-Oscar show on the E! Entertainment network continues to be the most bizarre element in the annual gridlock of gush outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where celebrities and other VIPs en route to the awards navigate a media receiving line more ravenous than any other.
It’s here where a red carpet and Rivers’ tongue are rolled out simultaneously. There are other such shows too. But it’s Rivers who is especially famous for turning these star interviews into exotic out-of-body experiences, such as her adventurous encounter Sunday with Mariah Carey.
“Everybody said you gained weight,” said Rivers. “Gained weight?” said Carey. “Aren’t you tired of all the same rumors?” Rivers said.
Rivers probably would have said to Kazan: “I hope you win. Who are you wearing?”
As for the real Kazan moment?
It was preceded in the telecast by some cheap cracks about him, the nastiest from presenter Chris Rock. Rock coulda been a contender, he coulda been somebody, but instead chose a low road by telling the audience he’d just seen Kazan backstage with Robert De Niro.
“You better get Kazan away from De Niro,” Rock said, “because you know how De Niro hates rats.” Of course, it was De Niro, along with director Martin Scorsese, who presented Kazan his lifetime achievement award Sunday night.
When that happened, this “poetic realist” and “angry romantic,” as Scorsese described him, received what appeared on the screen to be a generally enthusiastic reception in the hall, with notable exceptions. As promised, the movie-academy-controlled ABC cameras cut to some of the crowd who were protesting by not applauding, including Oscar nominees Ed Harris and Nick Nolte.
It was a dramatic moment for the telecast and for Kazan, whose award was opposed by many who have not forgiven him for his 1952 appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee when he named some of his colleagues as having had links to the Communist Party, helping drive a stake through hearts, career-wise.
But Scorsese hugged him, and De Niro kissed him, after which Kazan said: “I think I can just slip away.”
If there was another moment even more indelible than the Kazan controversy--and certainly more universally euphoric--it was Roberto Benigni beaming down from another planet to accept best foreign film and lead actor Oscars for his “Life Is Beautiful.”
For the first Oscar, he began his journey to the stage on chair backs and finished by hopping his way to presenter Sophia Loren and the statuette.
“It is wonderful to be here,” he declared, adding that he wanted to “dive in this ocean of generosity.” The ocean grew when Benigni got his second Oscar. “Dis is a terrible mistake cause I usa up all my English,” he told the crowd. Not quite.
“It’s a colossal moment of joy,” he said, mentioning something about “making love with everybody,” before adding: “I don’t deserva dis, but I hope to win some other Oscars.”
That didn’t happen, but Benigni left deep footprints on the evening anyway.
The ABC telecast had a curious host in the person of Whoopi Goldberg, who provided some good, self-effacing fun by dressing up like some of the characters in films nominated for best costume design. Costumed as Queen Elizabeth, she called herself “the African Queen.” And Goldberg had some other nice moments too.
But they were outnumbered by her gratuitously coarse language and one-liners, and cheap political jokes. Some of us would have applauded, but we were sitting on our hands.