Julianne Moore accepts the award for best actress in a leading role for “Still Alice at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES—Backstage in the press room with the Oscar winners on Sunday night (Monday morning, Manila time), the talk ranged from women’s rights to men’s tighty whities.
Best supporting actress Patricia Arquette was asked if she saw the spirited reaction of Meryl Streep and other actresses when she said in her acceptance speech: “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Arquette said she heard about Streep’s reaction “and I hugged Meryl afterward. She’s the queen of all actresses, patron saint of actresses. So, it’s amazing.”
“But it is time for us. It is time for women. Equal means equal,” Arquette said. “It’s inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries.”
‘Time to fight now’
Arquette added: “One of those Superior Court justices said two years ago in a law speech, ‘We don’t have equal rights for women in America and we don’t because when they wrote the Constitution, they didn’t intend it for women.’”
“So … it’s time for all the women in America and all the men who love women, and all the gay people, and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for, to fight for us now.”
No more Barbies
Arquette mentioned E!’s “Mani-Cam” and the trivial fashion questions on the red carpet.
“There are these things, the Mani-Cam and so on and what are you wearing. I’m wearing a dress my best friend (Rosetta Getty) designed. We have been best friends since we were 7 and 8 years old. I think she was the first person who ever said to me, ‘What do you want to be when we grow up?’ We were standing next to her Barbie Dream House.
“I made fun of my friend because she played with a Barbie and my mom wouldn’t let us have Barbies. I said, ‘I want to be an actor. What do you want to be?’ She said, ‘I want to be in fashion.’ And she became a great fashion designer and she designed my gown so it’s like wearing love.”
Helping millions
Arquette welcomed the chance to talk about her charity work through an ecological sanitation project.
“We started an organization, GiveLove.org. Instead of getting a manicure, which I was supposed to do this morning … I ended up trying to pull pictures because we started a sweepstakes this morning for our charity to do ecological sanitation in the world.
“Now when I saw Harry Belafonte’s picture up there, I remembered my mom. She was an equal rights activist. She worked for civil rights. And this is who I am. I love my business. I love acting and I love being a human being on earth and I want to help.
“I never saw this moment [of] me winning an Academy Award. I never even thought I would be nominated and I was OK with that. I saw many things that have come true in my life. One of them was helping thousands of people, and I have … I will help millions of people.”
Keaton’s whities
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, whose “Birdman” won him the best director prize and three other trophies, including best picture, was asked to confirm if he was really wearing Michael Keaton’s white briefs in the movie’s famous Broadway scene, for good luck, as he mentioned in his acceptance remarks.
Onstage, Iñarritu said, “In the DGA (Directors Guild of America) Awards, I was wearing a Raymond Carver shirt, a Billy Wilder tie and I won. But tonight, I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities. They are tight, smell like balls. But it works. I’m here. Thank you, Michael.”
Backstage, the Mexican filmmaker answered, “We should be in a more intimate context to show you, which I don’t think will happen.”
On his career, Iñarritu stressed: “I don’t have a career. I have a life. And I have it today. I’m living it fully and beautifully, enjoying completely. I don’t know what will happen, but today is great.”
‘I owe this to mom’
The director made a moving plea to the assembled journalists: “Please say something that I didn’t say on the stage because everything in my little brain that is now the size of a noodle couldn’t really think.
“I owe this to my mom who was watching TV …. My mom is part of this journey. She is very old and I would like her to know that.”
The Inquirer asked Eddie Redmayne—who bagged the best actor award for “The Theory of Everything”—if he had spoken recently to genius astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, whom he portrayed in the film.
“I saw Stephen at the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts),” Redmayne answered. “I saw Jane (Wilde Hawking, Hawking’s first wife), Jonathan (Jones, Jane’s husband) and Stephen and Jane’s children there. One of the loveliest things about this process has not only been meeting them, but also getting to spend time with them …
“They are extraordinary people and just getting to spend time with them is wonderful. I hope to speak to them soon, and certainly e-mail them tonight.”
Husband’s prediction
Redmayne had no time to slow down and enjoy his Oscar win.
“We started filming ‘The Danish Girl’ two weeks ago,” he said. “It’s an incredibly beautiful and passionate love story. It’s also a story about authenticity and bravery. I was filming on Friday night, got on a plane yesterday and I go back tomorrow … go straight to the set. So this feels like a wild, weird dream that I’ll wake up from in a few days, and go, ‘Did that happen?’ I’ll pinch myself, but it’s amazing. I’m having fun.”
Best actress Julianne Moore shared something for the first time about her luck with the film “Still Alice,” which saw her sweep the best actress honors in this awards season.
“My husband (director Bart Freundlich) has been amazing,” Moore said. “This is the first time I’ve told anybody this. He was the first person to see the movie. The first time I saw the cut, he came with me. And I told the story about how I heard him crying, and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’
“When we walked out of there, he said, ‘You’re going to win an Oscar’ … I swear to God, that’s what he said to me. I just couldn’t believe he said that. But anyway, that’s how much he supported me from the very beginning.”
OSCAR WINNERS
Best picture
“Birdman”
Best director
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu,
“Birdman”
Best actor
Eddie Redmayne,
“The Theory of Everything”
Best actress
Julianne Moore,
“Still Alice”
Best supporting actor
J.K. Simmons,
“Whiplash”
Best supporting actress
Patricia Arquette,
“Boyhood”
Best original screenplay
“Birdman”
Best adapted screenplay
“The Imitation Game”
Best foreign language film
“Ida” (Poland)
Best animated film
“Big Hero 6”
Best documentary feature
“Citizenfour”
Best cinematography
“Birdman”
Best original song
“Glory” (from “Selma”)
Best original soundtrack
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best costume design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best make-up/hairstyling
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best production design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best documentary short subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans
Press 1”
Best live action short film
“The Phone Call”
Best animated short film
“Feast”
Best film editing
“Whiplash”
Best sound mixing
“Whiplash”
Best sound editing
“American Sniper”
Best visual effects
“Interstellar”
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