The People’s Choice Awards are not your typical Hollywood award ceremony. Usually, the trophies are doled out by critics and reporters who insist on access to the stars they honor or by their Hollywood peers who love to put on a big show of entertainment industry unity on the red carpet. Instead, these awards are bestowed by, well, the people—the fans who decide which films and TV shows are bona fide blockbusters and which actors cross the line into star territory. To perpetuate their popularity with the fans, most of the nominated stars are smart enough to show up for the people watching them at home on TV. What they don’t feel compelled to do, however, is mingle with each other or hobnob with the press. Hollywood.com’s reporters found out the harsh facts the hard way. Just ask our own Lindzi Scharf, who spent the night on the arrivals line and backstage in the press room:
What’s in style at the 2006 People’s Choice Awards? Skipping the red carpet! With only 30 minutes to show time, there still wasn’t a celebrity in sight… Unless you count E! Entertainment’s Joel McHale. (And he certainly was entertaining in the meantime. Chatting with McHale is like having your own interactive episode of The Soup.)
Eventually, Doris Roberts trickled in, followed shortly thereafter by her former castmates Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, and Ray Romano. The Everybody Loves Raymond crew seemed to get it the value of the PCA drive-by: They did limited interviews, but apparently recognized the power of a good photo as they posed for paparazzi.
Commander-in-Chief’s Mark-Paul Gosselaar politely obliged most conversations while his pregnant wife stood by his side. Upon prompting Gosselaar to discuss his crush growing up, I couldn’t help silently giggling, as I was there, chatting with mine!
As we concluded our conversation, I heard paparazzi desperately calling out to Nicollette Sheridan and Marg Helgenberger, deep in a private chat of their own. “Oh, come on!” Sheridan said to Helgenberger, coaxing her into posing for the shutterbugs. And just in time.
As the show began, the lights shut down on the red carpet. Literally. Last minute celebrities walked the line in darkness, but that didn’t stop the paparazzi and press, who continued to call for Kelsey Grammer, Kelly Clarkson and Eva Mendes’ attention.
Behind-the-scenes, the trend in limited press continued. Who knew Reese Witherspoon (our Favorite Leading Lady winner) was in the house? If it hadn’t have been for a monitor featuring the show, I never would’ve realized. Just when I began to lose faith in celebrity involvement….Jenna Elfman joined us, wearing a Vera Wang two-piece ensemble. “I thought it was beautiful, timeless, and simple,” she explained. If I only I’d gotten the name of her gorgeous bling-ing bracelet, the perfect addition.
Ms. Clarkson also brought her fashion A game. Dressed in a blue Randolf Duke tube dress and Anthony Nak necklace, Clarkson joined us to discuss her win (as Favorite Female Performer). As someone congratulated her, Clarkson teased, “On which one? Winning the award? Or meeting Matthew McConaughey?”
Speaking of McConaughey, the night’s Favorite Male Action star arrived with a champagne glass in one hand and award in the other. Having won against Brad Pitt and The Rock, Matthew asked what he thought he had that his competitors didn’t. His response? He proudly held up his award, as he noted, “Life’s not about winning every day. When you do, you appreciate it.”
Matthew’s former A Time To Kill co-star and friend Sandra Bullock joined in on the fun. Upon winning Favorite Female Movie Star, she reflected, “It is a category that I don’t think most people think of me in.” Dressed in a shoulder-revealing lace dress with a flower accent, Bullock didn’t know what designer kindly provided it. She admitted, “It’s something that felt like me. I don’t know who I’m wearing, but I chose it because I put it on and I loved it. Usually the first thing you love is what you need to stick with.” Good advice for next time I’m choosing between designers.
Further pressed for fashion details, she added, “I know it’s a very important question: ‘Who are you wearing?’ I don’t know, but we’ll get back to you. Just give your name and number to my publicist. She’ll let you know.” (I couldn’t decide if it was refreshing to note that Bullock was clueless about the designer or if it was a crying shame for the designer who generously provided it.)
Moving on, the cast of My Name Is Earl, our Favorite New TV Show, kept us company in the press room. Star Jason Lee held a bag lunch and ham sandwich normally reserved for petty press members, declared (in a thick redneck Earl accent), “I was quite hungry. So I’m going to eat it.”
With the evening coming to an end, I was a bit disappointed I’d opted for the backstage area of The People’s Choice Awards. It seemed to me I could’ve gotten a better look at celebrities, for once, from the comfort of my own home.
While Lindzi’s night was wrapping up, Hollywood.com’s Scott Huver’s was just beginning at the afterparty. Unfortunately, even a few cocktails failed to significantly loosen the celeb’s lips:
I grabbed my spot on the red carpet outside the People’s Choice Awards official afterparty in time to spy early arrival George Lucas, whose dual victory at the ceremony. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith nabbed Favorite Movie and Favorite Drama. Surely Lucas would be ready to talk about the flood of fan-love his flick received, right? Nope, the Jedi Master blew by faster than the Millennium Falcon rocketing into hyperdrive. Okay, how about Josh Lucas, who’s got a brand new film, Glory Road, to promote? Hey, Josh? Nope. Hmm. Must be a “Lucas thing.”
Surely I could count on the other big winners to let me know how much they love their fans, though. Except Reese Witherspoon never showed… Okay, I reasoned, she does have kids to put to bed. And Jennifer Garner? She never made it to the Shrine at all, but…new baby and all, it’s understandable. But what about Brad Pitt? At home making babies, apparently. Johnny Depp? Let me guess–in France? The CSI posse? The real mystery is where they took off to. Geez, I thought at least Ellen DeGeneres would have danced down the red carpet.
Aha! I spotted a real superstar. Jessica Simpson, in her first public outing since becoming an ex-Newlywed, appeared at the top of the red carpet, along with an entourage that included her always proud papa Joe, her hairstylist and CPF (Close Personal Friend) Ken Paves, her ginormous blonde extensions as well as a prominently displayed duo I like to call Beau and Luke leading the way (and I ain’t talking about those two unshaven dudes from Dukes of Hazzard). Sensing my moment to make my big impression on the newly-single pop star (she and Nick first met at some goofy awards show, right?), I moved in for the kill, only to be Jess-blocked by no less than Kelly Clarkson, who chatted up the object of my intentions and lured her into some super-secret VVIP area, leaving me one red wristband away from paradise.
Time to take my chances inside the party (sponsored by Nice ‘N Easy, Olay Total Effects, I’m honor-bound to inform you) itself–just in time to miss Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey, who secretly slipped in and just as elusively slipped out.
Fortunately, I found a big name ready to talk to me in Geena Davis. I believe I said, “You look fabulous. What are you wearing?” And as I recall she said, “Kevan Hall.” And that’s pretty much how that went. Geena found the Winter Wonderland-themed afterparty (which featured babealicious cocktail waitresses clad little fur-trimmed mini-skirted ice skater outfits and big fluffy white boots delivering Bombay Sapphire) a little too on-the-nose, because it was frickin’ freezin’ (my words, not Geena’s) in there, and she made a quick exit.
Still, Geena was a step in the right direction for me, because I found myself toe-to-toe with her Commander In Chief co-star, the Amazonian blonde beauty Natasha Henstridge, who looked like a giant-sized Grace Kelly in her old school, icy-cool chiffon Randoph Duke gown. Natasha, it seems, loves the show’s fans because she’s one herself: “It’s such an amazing feeling to be part of a show that I can’t wait to tune into every week, and I can’t wait to read the script every week.” And her terrific co-stars? “Working with Donald Sutherland—it’s amazing,” she gushed. “Talk about learning a LOT and making me a better actor–with someone of that caliber, who is such a perfectionist and knows his craft and really makes you want to show up and be great. And also, I finally caught on after ten years, when you work with good people you end up looking better, because whenever you have a bad moment, they cut to the other person. And if they’re good, the scene can still be okay.”
I moved past the dance floor, where the always underdressed Bai Ling was getting PHFUHNK-HAY to a Stevie Wonder tune, and finally hit paydirt when I entered the outside smoking patio. Nearly the entire cast of Prison Break, the People’s Choice for Favorite New TV Drama, was outside, although none of them were actually smoking.
I heard straight from the show’s big kahuna himself, Wentworth Miller, about how gratified they were to get some love from the fans. “It’s a tremendous night for us,” he said. “Obviously we don’t do it for the awards. Our main interest is putting on a great show, but to be acknowledged like this is an incredible honor. What we do, we do for them, so we thank them. I thought we had something extraordinary on our hands, but you never know what America’s in the mood for. So to be so well-received, and right out of the gate, is just like winning the lottery.”
And with those choice words safely in hand and a genuinely cool sentiment from one of the Peoples’ Choice to bring back to you, the people, I finally knew how he felt.
Lindzi Scharf and Scott Huver contributed to this story.
