And the Oscar goes to...

On Sunday, February 26th the much deserved statuette will be awarded to a lucky production designer, set decorator and costume designer at the 84th Academy Awards presentation or as I like to call it, Hollywood's Super Bowl Sunday.

In the event you need a recap for the nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, be sure to check out my articles Behind the Scenes: Oscar's Best Costume Nominees for Fox News Magazine and Oscar's Preview: The Year's Best Sets for Architectural Digest.

While Hugo appears to be the favorite for Art Direction and W.E. for Costume, I think The Artist may take home the lion's share of awards.

Costume Designer and nominee Mark Bridge's designs and sketches
for Peppy above and below in The Artist

Production Designer Laurence Bennett's homage to
the twenties classic Our Dancing Daughters in The Artist

Los Angeles designer Waldo Fernandez created this year's Architectural Digest Greenroom (where the winners go to relax and not sure if the losers make an appearance). I particularly love the hand-painted book jackets of film images from Rocky and Butterfield 8 created from the Academy of Motion Picture Archives by Juniper Books. For the 99 percent of us who will not be backstage, you can catch a glimpse here.

Best of luck to all the nominees and happy Oscar weekend!!!

P.S. Many thanks to all of you who attended my lecture at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art last night. What a great event and very impressed with your city and loved all the Arthur Elrod houses.

Photo Credits: Architectural Digest, Weinstein Company

Backstage in the Green Room

I just received these behind-the-scenes images from Baker, Knapp and Tubbs who supplied many of the furnishings for Architectural Digest's Green Room. For the uninitiated, the Green Room is where nervous presenters, hopeful nominees and ecstatic winners hang out during the awards show. And while the Oscar hoopla is over, I thought they would be of interest to those of us who were not walking around with a statue in our hands a couple of Sunday nights ago.

Interior designer Michael  Smith designed the luxe looks with a nod to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Furnishings from Baker, wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries, and fabrics from Cowtan and Tout were used to create a forties library look. Smith, a native Californian,  is no stranger to high level prestigious projects, having been named by President Obama to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

Lion's Head Pull Up Chair #5205

Michael Smith's Voltaire Server #9832

Regency Side Chair 5159 from the Stately Homes Collection

Hibiscus Wall Scones flank the sofa inset

The Green Room's popular watering hole

For more on these items see the Baker, Knapp and Tubbs website or my favorite salesperson Melissa Knott in the Atlanta showroom.

Photo Credit:  Baker, Knapp and Tubbs

The Oscar Speech

The Academy Award  acceptance speech is a funny thing. It can be spontaneous (ok, you have had several months to prepare so don't act like you jotted it down on a napkin on the limo ride over), cringeworthy (Angelina Jolie and her brother), boastful (director James Cameron's "I'm king of the world" fell a bit flat), short and sweet (Joe Pesci uttered six words) or grateful to the point of thanking everyone in the family tree. Here are a few classic moments that were not drowned out by the orchestra:

Cate Blanchett (above) as she accepted the Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator (2000) "Thank you to Martin Scorsese. I hope my son will marry your daughter."

Adrien Brody lays on one a startled Halle Berry when he won the award for Best Actor for The Pianist in 2002. Audiences gasped. "I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag," Brody quipped.

"You like me, you really like me" was Sally Field's exclamation when she won Best Actress for Places in the Heart in l985. The comment was the butt of Oscar jokes for years to come. To her credit, it was a reference from a line from her first Oscar winning role in Norma Rae. Unfortunately, no one got the point.

Grace Kelly said "This is one of those times I wish I smoked and drank"upon acceptance for her Best Actress award in 1954 for The Country Girl.

Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting in 1998 and humorously remarked,
"It's like winning the golden dude. A great honor. Before I didn't have the chance of the Jamaican bobsled team of winning...now I do."

While he was actually introducing Elizabeth Taylor and not accepting an award, who could forget David Niven's priceless observation as a streaker ran past him...."Well ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen. But isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"

Tom  Hanks chose the moment to thank  a former teacher who was "one of the finest gay Americans" when he accepted his award for Best Actor in Philadelphia. Problem is the teacher had not come out of the closet. Oops. Wasn't this recreated in a film with Kevin Kline years later?

"Hello Gorgeous." Pure Streisand as Babs accepted her Best Actress award for Funny Girl in l968.

"This is the only naked man who will be in my bedroom" noted Melissa Etheridge for her Best Song win ("I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth).

Forget the speech...  City Slickers actor Jack Palance chose to do push-ups instead.

And while it the moment didn't involve speeches, I would have to vote for Rob Lowe and Snow White's opening number at the 1989 Oscars possibly the most cringeworthy moment in Oscar history. The twenty minute dance number of Proud Mary was excruciating and left audiences wondering, "what were they thinking?" Thankfully Lowe's career survived.

Only in Hollywood...

Happy Oscar weekend and many thanks to The New Yorker for the Designs on Film review!

For Your Consideration

For some it's the Super Bowl, Wimbledon or perhaps March Madness while others live for American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. For me, the best time of the year (competition wise) is the Hollywood awards season which starts next Sunday, January 16th with the Golden Globes and concludes Sunday, February 27th with the 83rd Academy Awards. And sandwiched in between for your viewing pleasure is the Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit awards. Let the handicapping begin.

While much is forecasted, predicted and generally dissected ad nauseum over who will get the plum awards -- Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress -- or who will wear what on the Red Carpet -- I naturally find the design related awards (Best Art Direction and Best Costume) to be of particular interest.

The Art Directors Guild recently announced their nominations for Excellence in Production Design which gives us a  glimpse of possible films in the running for the Academy Awards. Unlike the Oscars, the Guild awards films in a variety of design categories -- period, contemporary and fantasy.  This year's theme is Designs on Film (yes, my book!!!) and the ceremony takes place February 5th in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton.

The nominations for Excellence in Production Design for Feature Film are:

Period Film:

True Grit
Production Designer: Jess Gonchor

The King's Speech
Production Designer: Eve Stewart

Shutter Island
Production Designer: Dante Ferretti

Robin Hood
Production Designer: Arthur Max

Get Low
Production Designer: Geoffrey Kirkland

Fantasy Film:

Alice in Wonderland
Production Designer: Robert Stromberg

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One
Production Designer: Stuart Craig

Inception
Production Designer: Guy Hendrix Dyas

Tron: Legacy
Production Designer: Darren Gilford

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn
Production Designer: Barry Robison

Contemporary Film:

Black Swan
Production Designer: Therese DePrez

The Social Network
Production Designer:  Donald Graham Burt

The Fighter
Production Designer: Judy Becker

The Town
Production Designer:  Sharon Seymour

127 Hours
Production Designer: Suttirat Lalarb


Congratulations and good luck to all! You can read more about the nominations -- as well as those for television here. And if you are interested in purchasing the poster at the top of the blog, they are available for 20.00 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts website here.

And a special thanks to Catrin Morris of Apartment Therapy for her piece on Cinema Style.

Between the book launch, the Christmas holidays and a much needed vacation to the beach,  I am catching up with the current movies and plan to feature several noteworthy and stylish films in the weeks to come. Next up is The King's Speech so stay tuned.

Happy 2010!

The Red Carpet Issue

The Academy Award ceremonies have been around since l929 when a group of 270 guests paid 5.00 each to dine on Lobster Eugenie and "Los Angeles Salad." Back then, it was all about the food....apparently today it's all about the fashion.

For a juicy behind the scenes insider's look at what really goes on with the Academy Awards red carpet, check out the Sundance Channel's documentary The Red Carpet Issue which airs Thursday night at 7PM CST. 

French filmmaker Olivier Nicklaus interviewed numerous designers, stylists, celebrities, editors, and fashionistas as they jockey for position, making sure their frocks land on the backs of a glamorous star. A A few of the engaging interviews include stylist Karl Lagerfeld, Phillip Bloch, Georgina Chapman, Marc Jacobs and Roberto Cavalli. Exposure and press are the name of the game.

For more on my commentary of The Red Carpet, see The Huffington Post.

Fashion stylist Mary Alice Stephenson scours the runways for her clients

Actress Anne Hathaway

Photo Credits: Sundance Channel, Tears of Joy Video

All Things Oscar

With the Academy Awards upon us next Sunday,  I thought conduct a quick history lesson on Oscar, perhaps the most coveted award next to the Pulitzer or Nobel Peace Prize (depending on who you ask!)

He was born in l928 at the hands of celebrated MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the 36 founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Lore has it Gibbons sketched the design on a notepad during a meeting). Gibbons was nominated a record 39 times and won eleven for his outstanding work in art direction. Since the first Awards ceremony in l929, 2,071 have been awarded to date.

The dashing Cedric Gibbons (left)

Legend also has it that Oscar is named after AMPAS librarian Margaret Herrick's uncle Oscar (who remarked on the resemblance after seeing the statue and the name stuck). He stands 13 1/2" tall and weighs 8 1/2 pounds and fifty statues take up to 3-4 weeks to manufacture. Officially known as the Academy Award of Merit, Oscar is actually a  knight standing on a reel of film with five spokes at the base -- each one representing a branch of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers).




The most recognized, coveted, speculated and dreamed about award resides in some pretty interesting places. For some, Oscar is placed proudly on the library or home office shelf (Sidney Poitier, James Stewart, Cecil B. De Mille, John Wayne and George Clooney)  while others honor his presence in the most unlikely of spaces -- the bathroom (Kate Winslet) or a suit closet (Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful award).

James Stewart's Oscars on display in a library niche

Cecil B. Demille's home office houses
his award for The Greatest Show on Earth

John Wayne called this space his "50 Years of Hard Work Wall"

Sidney Poitier's awards reside on the top shelves of his built -in bookcases. His office
was designed by his wife, interior designer Joanna Poiter of JSP Interiors

Winslet quoted "The statue is going in the toilet, next to (husband) Sam's (Mendes)"

Kevin Costner had a specially designed shelf for his Dances With Wolves Oscar. "I used to have my Oscar in my underwear drawer for three or four years until I built the scrrening room. Now they are in a specially designed shelf unit." Barbra Streisand reportedly houses her award in a barn (custom built for her memorabilia collection) at her Malibu ranch).

The little gold man has even found himself orphaned in a pawn shop or given away (father /daughter Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie passed the awards on to their mothers) while Julia Robert's sister became the lucky recipient of her award for Erin Brockovich.


At least the Oscar winners didn't turn their statues into lamps. One day I hope to have a pair to use as bookends (which will of course be after I win the lottery, become Mrs. George Clooney, find a cure for cancer and discover the meaning of life):)

For all things Oscar, take a look at 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards by Robert Osborne (you know him from Turner Classic Movies) and my friend Jim Piazza (truly one of the wittiest people I know) and Gail Kinn's book The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History (Black Dog). Both are available on Amazon.

The Oscars will be telecast on Sunday, March 7th at 8:00 PM CST on ABC.

Photo Credits: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cathy Whitlock, Architectural Digest