Tag: Oscars

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Sylvester Stallone savoring Oscar nomination

Sylvester Stallone doesn’t have many ”really special moments” left.

The 69-year-old actor is delighted to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards for his role in ‘Creed’ and is savoring his first recognition at the prestigious ceremony since 1977.

He said: ”This is a really special moment in my life because there are not that many moments left. You know they are really getting very special.”

But Sylvester admitted he almost turned down the role in the ‘Rocky’ revival movie.

He explained to Robin Roberts for the ABC News special ‘Journey to the Oscars’: ”I never wanted to do this movie. I thought sick Rocky is exactly what is so counter-intuitive to what the optimistic aspect of what Rocky really is designed for … If you’re afraid of something, that’s the commitment of the artist. That’s his duty to pursue the unknown, to go someplace where he’s literally at odds with himself.”

Despite his years of acting success, the veteran star struggled in the early days of his career, with his lowest point coming when he was turned down as an extra in iconic movie ‘The Godfather’.

He laughed: ”I couldn’t even get cast as an Italian. I’ll never forget, there’s a party scene – it’s 300 guests! They said no. I said, ‘What part of me didn’t pass the Italian identification aspect?’ ”

But instead of giving up, he decided to pen his own screenplay and wrote the script for ‘Rocky’ in less than four days, before refusing to sell it unless he could star in the title role.

The movie went on to be nominated for 10 prizes at the 1977 Academy Awards, scoring wins in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing categories.

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Neil Patrick Harris won’t return to Oscar hosting

Neil Patrick Harris’ ”family and soul couldn’t take” him presenting the Oscars again.

The ‘How I Met Your Mother’ actor – who has twins Harper and Gideon, with husband David Burtka – hosted the Academy Awards for the first time last month but insists he won’t take the helm again because it took up so much time.

He said: ”I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it.

”It’s a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don’t know that it’s a delightful balance to do every year or even again.”

The 41-year-old star experienced a mixed reception to his hosting stint but he insists he hasn’t paid too much attention to the response.

He said: ”I didn’t keep up with it obsessively, but it was interesting to see just what people thought landed and didn’t. realise just how much time and concession and compromise

”It’s so difficult for one who’s simply watching the show to and explanation has gone into almost every single thing.

”So my job was to try and keep things as light and specific to this year’s set of films as possible.

”And if people are critical of that, it’s a big giant platform, so I would assume that they would be.”

While he isn’t too worried about the audience’s response, Neil is just pleased those who attended the ceremony, which took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, seemed to have a good time.

He said: ”I was glad we got through it, and I thought that those in the audience at the Dolby [Theatre] seemed to be enjoying themselves more as the show went on, when I was told that the opposite would be true.

”I was told that as the room fills, with you know it’s four-fifths of the room didn’t win, and you get further into the award giving they get less enthusiastic and less excited. And I felt while we were doing it that people were enjoying themselves more and more, so for that I’m happy.”
 

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Neil Patrick Harris’ Oscar preparation

Neil Patrick Harris has been drinking fresh juices to prepare himself for the Oscars.

The ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star – who has previously hosted the Emmys twice and the Tony Awards four times – will front the Academy Awards on February 22 and has already begun his preparations, which include taking steps not to look bloated on the night thanks to a blend of apple, carrot, ginger and beetroot.

He said: ”It’s important to be focused on the show, and not on digestion or stomach bloating. I’ll save my In-N-Out burger for after the last award.”

The 41-year-old actor has also been doing a number of vocal exercises because he thinks the way he speaks is one of the most important aspects of the job.

He told the new issue of People magazine: ”I’ve always been keen on diction. And inflection. And pitch. And pace. We reveal a lot about ourselves by the way we communicate verbally. So there’s quite a bit of vocal warming up.”

And Neil has also sought advice from husband David Burtka – with who he has four-year-old twins Harper and Gideon – by running through his prepared material with him.

He said: ”He is a tough critic. But his notes and ideas are uniformly excellent. Many will be implemented on the 22nd.”

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the goodie bag received by each Oscar nominee will contain items worth over $125,000.

Among the gifts the lucky stars will receive are a number of vacations, including three nights in Tuscan worth $1,5000, a luxury train ride through the Canadian Rockies worth over $14,500 and a $12,000 ‘glamping’ trip.

They will also receive $1,5000 French Mediterranean sea salts, a $14,200 lifestyle makeover package, a custom silver necklace inscribed with the latitude and longitude coordinates of the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles – where the ceremony takes place – from Lat & Lo worth $150, a $800 gift certificate for a candy buffet and a $20,000 gift certificate to have Enigma Life founder Olessia Kantor fly out to meet with each nominee to analyse their dreams, read their horoscopes and teach them mind control techniques.

 

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Tina Fey wants Neil Patrick Harris to sing

Tina Fey wants Neil Patrick Harris to sing at the 2015 Oscars.

The ‘This Is Where I Leave You’ actress, who is set to host the Golden Globe Awards for the second time with close friend Amy Poehler in January, has no doubt the ‘Gone Girl’ actor will do a great job of presenting the prestigious rival ceremony in Los Angeles on February 22.

Asked if she had any advice for the 41-year-old actor, the former ’30 Rock’ star told E! News: ”My advice, though, is sing! Sing because you can. Just sing the whole time. He can really sing.”

Neil – who has previously hosted the Tonys and Emmy Awards – opened the Oscars in 2010 by performing a song and dance routine celebrating that year’s hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

The actor recently said he wants the upcoming 87th annual ceremony to be a ”classy” affair.

He said: ”I don’t want them to be super derivative of other shows that I’ve done. I don’t want it to seem like I’m doing the same award hosting gig that I did on the Tonys, just now on a different stage …

”I want to also just make sure that it’s a classy event. I’ve always loved the Oscars and have great respect for its history, and the gowns, and the classiness of it.”

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Neil Patrick Harris to host Oscars

Neil Patrick Harris is set to host the 2015 Oscars.

The ‘Gone Girl’ actor, who has previously emceed the Tony Awards and the Emmys several times, will present the star-studded 87th annual ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 22.

The 41-year-old star announced the news on Twitter on Wednesday (10.15.14) by posting a video clip of himself telling an unidentified person ”I’m in” during a phone call.

The ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star, who recently married his long-term boyfriend David Burtka, with whom he has four-year-old twins, Harper and Gideon, is then seen consulting his bucket list, which includes having children, getting married and meeting the president, and circling the final item that reads ”host the Oscars” with a black pen.

In a statement, he added: ”It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year’s Academy Awards. I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show. To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true.”

Talk show queen Ellen hosted this year’s ceremony in March, which scored the best ratings in 14 years, but declined an offer to take on the job again.

‘Veep’ star Julia Louis-Dreyfus was also offered the role and turned it down, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Bill Murray blasts the Oscars

Bill Murray says wanting an Oscar feels ”like a virus.”

The 64-year-old star admits he ”had been infected” by Oscar fever in 2004 when he convinced himself that he was going to win the Best Actor trophy for ‘Lost in Translation’ before he losing out to ‘Mystic River’ star Sean Penn, and now believes winning the prestigious accolade can ruin acting careers.

Asked if he plans to campaign for his new Harvey Weinstein-produced movie, ‘St Vincent,’ ahead of next year’s ceremony, the 64-year-old actor told Variety magazine: ”I’ve never done that. I know that’s something Harvey does — he forces you to do these things. I’m not that way. If you want an award so much, it’s like a virus. It’s an illness.”

But Bill also believes Oscars often put too much pressure on the winners after all the excitement has died down.

He said: ”People have this post-Oscar blowback. They starting thinking, ‘I can’t do a movie unless it’s Oscar-worthy.’ It just seems people have difficulty making the right choices after that.”

The actor claims he is ”normal” and insists fame hasn’t changed him.

He said: ”I was kind of formed early on. People go, ‘Oh you act like that because you’re a big shot.’ No, I always acted like a jerk. I came from a big family.”

The ‘Monuments Men’ star doesn’t have a manager or an agent, and only recently got a smart phone so he can communicate with his six sons, Homer, Luke, Cal, Jackson, Lincoln and Cooper, ages 13 to 32.

He said: ”I got it to communicate with my sons, because they will not answer a phone call, but they will answer a text.”

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Oscars selfie ‘breaks’ twitter

The star-studded Oscars audience ”broke twitter” last night (03.02.14).

A ‘selfie’ picture organized by Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres, who handed her phone to Bradley Cooper to take the photo, became the most retweeted post ever on the social networking website, amassing over 1.1 million reposts in just half an hour.

As well as Ellen and Bradley, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Lupita Nyong’o and her brother Peter all crammed into the photograph, much to the excitement of fans.

However, the website was then hit by technical difficulties which prevented further retweets, and Ellen told the audience at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre: ”So this is true. We just crashed Twitter. We got an email from Twitter, and we crashed and broke Twitter. We have made history. See, Meryl, what we did? You and I? It’s amazing, we really just made history. It’s fantastic.

”It’s back up again and it has the most retweets ever–and we’re all winners tonight, that’s what it means, that’s what I was trying to say early on.”

However, Ellen poked fun at ‘American Hustle’ star Bradley insisting they could have crammed even more stars into the photo if his body was different.

Posting the photo, she wrote: ”If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #Oscar.”

The 56-year-old star was a hit as Oscars host, goading the audience with gentle humor.

Early in the evening, she said: ”I think you should think of yourselves as winners. Not all of you, but the people who’ve won before – you should think of yourselves as winners.”

She later added: ”Between all the nominees here tonight, you’ve done over 1400 films, 1400 films, and you’ve gone to a total of six years of college.”

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Jennifer Lawrence fell over at Oscars

Jennifer Lawrence fell over on the Oscars red carpet last night (02.03.14).

The 23-year-old actress, who famously took a tumble when she went to collect her award at last year’s ceremony, slipped again in her heels ahead of the Academy Awards and was helped up by her boyfriend, actor Nicholas Hoult.

The ‘American Hustle’ star, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, fell in front of photographers and fans and held on to a friend as she dropped to her knees.

The shocked beauty, who wore a stunning red Dior gown for the event, threw her head back and laughed before bowing to the crowd as they applauded her.

Jennifer and Nicholas, 24, then made their way into the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres joked about her clumsiness during her opening monologue.

She said: ”If you win tonight we should just bring the Oscar to you.”

Jennifer, who lost out to ’12 Years a Slave’ star Lupita Nyong’o at this year’s awards, insisted she’d tested her gown on the stairs to make sure she wouldn’t embarrass herself again.

After slipping over, she admitted: ”So I guess I’m not safe”.

Jennifer, who fell over after collecting her award for Best Actress for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ last year, claims it’s now all she remembers about the event.

She said: ”I look back to Oscar night and all I think about is falling flat on my face – it’s not a good memory. I feel like a jerk.”
 

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Seth MacFarlane turns down 2014 Oscars

Seth MacFarlane has confirmed he will not be hosting next year’s Oscars.

The actor-and-comedian hosted this year’s 85th Academy Awards and was asked to return in 2014 despite being criticized for his divisive humor making for a controversial show in February.

However, the ‘Ted’ director has taken to his Twitter account and announced he will not be returning to join this year’s producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for a second year.

He wrote: "Traumatized critics exhale: I’m unable to do the Oscars again

"Tried to make it work schedule-wise, but I need sleep. However, I highly recommend the job, as Zadan and Meron are two of the most talented producers in the business. My suggestion for host is Joaquin Phoenix."

When news broke last month Seth had been offered the chance to lead next year’s ceremony, he was said to be unsure whether to accept – particularly after he dedicated four months in preparation for this year’s event.

The ‘Family Guy’ creator’s controversial brand of humor – which included his "boob song" skit noting actresses who have appeared topless on screen – was proven a success with viewing figures up to 40.3 million viewers in the US, a three per cent increase on last year’s ceremony.

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Tina Fey won’t host the Oscars

Tina Fey has no desire to host the Oscars.

The ’30 Rock’ writer and star was tipped to take on the high profile job in 2014 by last Sunday’s (02.24.13) presenter Seth MacFarlane, after she won rave reviews for co-hosting the Golden Globes alongside her friend Amy Poehler earlier this month, but she thinks the job would be too stressful.

Speaking to The Huffington Post, the 42-year-old star said: "I just feel like that gig is so hard. Especially for, like, a woman – the amount of months that would be spent trying on dresses alone . . . No way."

The ‘Admission’ actress admitted that while she "had fun" presenting with Amy, it is unlikely she will change her mind about the Oscars.

She said: "I wish I could tell you there was."

This year’s host Seth, who spent five months preparing for the event, previously revealed he will never take on the job at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood again.

The ‘Family Guy’ creator – who has received a mixed response for his anchoring of the prestigious ceremony – had a lot of "fun" at the helm of the Academy Awards, but insisted it isn’t an experience he wants to repeat.

He tweeted: "Would you host the #Oscars again if asked? No way. Lotta fun to have done it, though. (sic)"

Previous hosts have also included Billy Crystal, James Franco, Anne Hathaway, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Hugh Jackman, Jon Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres.