It’s that time of year again: AWARDS SEASON. The glitz, seek the glam, the gossip: it’s the time that just keeps on giving. Me? I’m a movie fanatic. Love, live, long for movies, and what better time of year gives us the time and cause to curl up in front of the cinema screen other than that mopey month of January between Christmas and Spring. We’ve been thoroughly spoiled for choice the last few weeks, between the spellbinding Les Miserables, the compelling Lincoln, and the down and dirty Django Unchained. It seemes there’s been something for everybody.
Likewise, the awards season provides a little something for everyone too. If the movies aren’t your thing, maybe the fashion is: the Oscars in particular leave little to be desired in the dress-coveting stakes and god knows that E! Entertainment are only waiting to suck you in with their 24-hour coverage. However, if you’ve ticked neither of the above, then you fall into the last category, and it’s the category, I feel, which has the most universal appeal and amighty staying power.
The speeches:
It would seem that award-accepting is a very emotional and confusing time for a star. They’ve built themselves up in their heads and they’ve knocked themselves down. They’ve practiced their dignified oh-yeah-they-deserved-to-win faces in the mirror, and have even squeezed in a humble oh-you-shouldn’t-have face as well, just to cover all bases. They’ve worked so hard and they’ve dreamt so big and now is their time to show just how articulate and witty and appreciative they really are.
However, it would seem that whatever careful planning and construction goes into the creation of an acceptance speech is pretty much forgotten or rejected once the incredulous star realises that they’ve actually won. Having Googled my day away on old Youtube clips of grateful winners, I came to the conclusion that there must be something in the lights on those stages, ‘cause people most definitely do be cray.
Case in point? Roberto Benigni. When accepting his Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1988, not only did he jump into the crowd and onto people’s seats, but he ws quoted as announcing that he “would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and take them to the firmament and make love to everybody”. Mm-hmm: cray cray.
Then we have the more emotional breed of star, and here I refer to Ms. Gwyneth Paltrow. On accepting the Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love in 1999, Paltrow reacted not unlike someone who had just been told they had three months to live. Sobbing thoughout her speech, and thanking nearly everyone she’d ever known, her performance merited an Oscar of its own!
Topically enough, considering her Oscar nomination this time around, Sally Field has also gone down in speech-making history as a lady who may have lost the run of herself a little on stage. Having humbly received an Oscar in 1980, it seemed that Sally had really felt the power of her second award in 1985, in proclaiming “I haven’t had an orthodox career, and I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it and I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!” Respect? Not so much. Ridicule? Well that’s a different story…
There’s so many I couldn’t fit in, but then that’s what Youtube’s for. If these have wetted your appetite for a bit of acceptance-speech bashing, let’s hope that February 24th doesn’t disappoint us this year. My money’s on Anne Hathaway to lead the way…
-Lisa Gorry
