“Now those look like comfortable shoes,” says Jane Fonda to a reporter in the Beverly Hilton hotel’s bathroom as she enters an adjoining stall, tossing her bejeweled bag on the floor and moments later emerging to fix her makeup just before hitting the red carpet to tout son Troy Garity‘s nod for best supporting actor in a miniseries (Soldier’s Girl).
It’s moments like these that make awards shows meaningful to the admittedly typically jaded press, who faithfully make it to events like the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the AFI Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, etc., etc., year after year. All honorable honors, to be sure…but still. Ultimately it’s those peeks behind the artificial curtain that is Hollywood that are most worth waiting for:
Like…some random person yelling in the hallway, “Bill Murray ROCKS!” as Mr. Murray himself attempts to give a modulated and ever-so-appropriate speech backstage. Of course, he had to stop and grin with everyone else.
Like…everyone from Peter Jackson to Diane Keaton backstage answering questions before a surprisingly sparsely populated pressroom about how great it felt to win, in the face of blinding lights that pretty much hid the reporter asking the question. (“Where? Where? Where are you?” asked more than one winner, shading his/her eyes from the camera lights and searching for a face to match the voice hollering questions at them.)
Like…Michael Douglas, in the midst of offering kudos to wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children for “being there,” and pausing to wait just like everyone else watching to see if his prediction for best director would win (Peter Jackson), as it was projected to a gaggle of reporters also waiting with bated breath. (Guess he figured, hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.)
“What flashed through your mind when you were on your way here?” asked one, of Douglas.
“Well, a lot,” he replied amiably, “but after taking an extra 25 minutes to get through security, a lot more…a bathroom was pretty big on my mind,” he said.
In between all the hoopla and the huffing and puffing about how the stars felt about winning a Golden Globe (“Wonderful!”) and whom they forgot to thank (“My agent!”) in their televised acceptance speeches, were the more awkward, inelegant moments when the stars show they’re really just people too.
Like…the stars who wanted to party. Said Frances Conroy, best TV drama actress: “I just hope this is over soon so we can get some champagne!” Declared Diane Keaton: “I’m going to drink a lot of wine!” (We just hoped she wouldn’t spill any on her button-popping, all-white Richard Tyler outfit.)
Meryl Streep, best miniseries actress, looked as askance as always at the fact she was awarded (really? Meryl Streep won, you say?)–and this year she seemed particularly weighed down by a pair of 30 carat Fred Leighton diamond earrings. “I suggested buying them, and my husband looked at me like I was crazy,” she said, laughing.
As Moet-sipping reporters sitting in the pressroom ducked out of the way of the boom mike leveled to those asking questions, most stars were more than genial (then again, maybe it was the free-flowing drinks).
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Maybe it was the drinks, too, that had actors typically in command of language stumped by lowly press people. Best actor in a miniseries winner Al Pacino was positively ebullient until asked what this particular award (best actor) given for this particular movie (Angels in America) meant to him. A ponytailed Pacino was stumped for more than a few seconds. “The meaning comes to me later,” he finally said after stumbling for words. Then, with a more genuinely honest expression than one could imagine on the face of Michael Corleone: “I wish everyone could get one of these [holding up his statue]. It’s a great experience.”
It’s always the odd-man-out who’s the most fun to see win. Sure, we’ve seen Al and Meryl and Diane before, and as always we love ’em–but this year’s highlights definitely were the newcomers–people like Bill Murray, his Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola, Return of the King director Peter Jackson and best actress winner Charlize Theron (Monster), who was, quite simply, overjoyed.
Radiant and glowing in yellow ruffles, Theron quickly became emotional when asked if she had any doubts about carrying off the role of serial killing prostitute Aileen Wournos. “I had doubts the whole way,” she admitted.
When asked if she would continue to “get ugly” for roles, she only sighed in response (“I need a drink!” she declared.) “Gaining weight and all that, the transformation was just an aspect of playing the part.”
Sofia Coppola emerged, slight, dark-eyed and most definitely Italian. And most definitely sedate–she was either playing her emotions close to the vest, or maybe she didn’t have any emotion at all about winning best screenplay and best comedy/musical.
“I’m not that extroverted,” she exclaimed.” I don’t think it’s hit me yet.”
Some, like Renee Zellweger, were more than happy to talk to the press. “I’m a little discombobulated. I just flew in from London,” admitted Zellweger, who won best supporting dramatic actress for Cold Mountain (a virtual shutout in all other categories).
By the end of the three-hour ceremony, however, stars and reporters alike looked ready to take their leave. As several stars who shall remain nameless stood in the lobby discussing their next move, someone said, “I’m here to get my drink on.”
That just about says it for the ’04 Golden Globes. We’re off to the bar, too–see you next year.
