Peek inside our reporters' Oscars notebooks
On Hollywood's biggest night, stars stopped to chat with Paste BN's Andrea Mandell, Ann Oldenburg and Arienne Thompson on the red carpet and later backstage.
Rain on Oscar's parade
The plastic tenting above the red carpet is leaking as rain pours on usually arid Hollywood. Crew members with long poles with wash cloths on one end tried to push the water off the tent roof so it would stop leaking on the red carpet. Many people got wet, but Boyhood director Richard Linklater avoided a soaking. He offered water clean-up critique as he watched crew members work. "Maybe they're trying to push the water that way," he speculated.
Asked how he thought the reception for Boyhood might affect his next film, That's What I'm Talking About, Linklater says, "I'm not sure. I think it's all good."
It took two umbrellas
Meanwhile, Kerry Washington seemed to be staying dry. "I had two people helping me with umbrellas when I got out of the car."
'British Invasion' also means rain
Selma star David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr., took the rain in stride and appeared relaxed in it, as a native of England would. "Could we do the interview in the rain?" he said when the downpour forced reporters onto the red carpet. "Because I'd be fine. ... If the Brits are going to invade (Hollywood), the weather might as well, too."
Maybe she's an avatar?
When Zoe Saldana came down the red carpet looking utterly perfect in peach Versace, Paste BN's Arienne Thompson did a double take "because for a moment there, we thought she was Beyoncé! Those hips, that pose, that glam! The new mom (Saldana had twin boys Dec. 8, with husband Marco Perego) looks amazing," and her curve-accentuating dress would surely make the fishtail queen herself, Mrs. Carter, quite proud," Thompson said.
Arquette didn't see Streep cheering
Patricia Arquette, best-supporting-actress winner for Boyhood, didn't see Meryl Streep's enthusiastic reaction to her call, in her acceptance speech, for equal wages for women, "but I heard about it. She's the queen of all actresses, the patron saint of all actresses. It is time for us. Equal means equal. … It's inexcusable we go around the world talking about equal rights for women in other countries. … and we don't have equal rights for women in America. The truth is even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America, there are huge issues that are at play that really do affect women. It's time for all … the gay people and people of color that we've all fought for to fight for us now."
Arquette added, "My mom worked for civil rights and this is who I am."
Modesty becomes her
Julianne Moore, best-actress winner for Still Alice, said backstage after her win, "My husband has been amazing. ... He's the first person to see the movie. We walked out and he said 'you're going to win an Oscar' and I said COME ON."
"I like stories about people, about real people and real relationships and real families. This movie had all of those things in it. It's about a real issue and relationships and who we love and what we value. I think at the end of the day, it's the work. It's about being able to do work that is so rewarding. This is JUST amazing."
'Sister has some hips'
Ava DuVernay, director of best-picture nominee Selma, was wearing custom Prada. "Miuccia Prada called me up and said she would personally design a dress for me before I was even nominated," DuVernay said. Two seamstresses worked on the dress because "sister has some hips."
'Great art develops empathy'
John Legend, winner with Common for best original song for Glory, from the Martin Luther King Jr. movie Selma, said backstage afterward, "What great art is able to do is to develop empathy in people. … That's what we're able to do as songwriters and that's what great filmmakers do, too."
Simmons admires 'passion,' but...
Does J.K. Simmons, best-supporting-actor winner for Whiplash, think Academy voters admired his character, Fletcher, and is that a positive thing? "That's a very loaded question. I think there's much to admire in Fletcher's passion for art — in his case, specifically, jazz music. I don't find much to admire in his pedagogy."
So will Simmons finally join Twitter now? In a word: "No."
Stripes, and oh, that hat
Rapper Will.i.am, on a red carpet surrounded by stars in designer fashions, wore a striped shirt, rolled-up trousers, and a hat that he confessed was from an Army surplus store. It didn't set him back too much: "It was, I don't know, $15? Don't write that down!" he said, laughing. So of course we did.
'Birdman' v. 'Boyhood'
Alejandro González Iñárritu, best-director winner for Birdman, didn't think much of the political campaign atmosphere that seems to have pitted Birdman against Boyhood for best picture. "It's so absurd. All of the films are magnificent."
Hey, who's the comic?
Foxcatcher best-actor nominee Steve Carell was savoring his first Oscar nomination. "I'm trying to remember soundbites from every moment of the day," he said. Asked if his wife, Nancy, was treating him like a nominee, she piped up: "Our whole marriage I've been treating him like a nominee."
'You think about the music'
Alexandre Desplat, nominated for the eighth time for The Grand Budapest Hotel, finally took Oscar home. Each year there's five scores nominated, and you do the best work you can, he reasoned. "You don't think about the Oscars; you think about the music and the film you're working for. Then you get the nominations. ... And you know, I'm not the only composer in the world. I'm not the only one to write film music." But, he added, "I hope I will win the next 20 Oscars!"