Oscars: Governors Awards presented to Diane Warren, Euzhan Palcy, Peter Weir and Michael J. Fox in an inspiring ceremony

The 13th annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Governors Awards Saturday night brought perhaps the largest crowd of industry heroes, Oscar nominees and others I can ever remember to one of those AMPAS Academy Awards events. It’s a non-televised event, meaning recipients can continue their acceptance speeches as long as they want, and so can presenters. The good news is that these extraordinary four honorees, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipients Peter Weir, Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Michael J. Fox, each delivered some of the most heartfelt and compelling speeches ever heard at the Governors Awards. . It was an unforgettable evening.

Of course, those in the know about this event, which basically kicks off Oscar season and crosses it with the actual Academy Awards (next year on March 12), know that in its prime it will be something you have to stop by. an irresistible opportunity for any Oscar hopeful to browse what is arguably the largest gathering of voters outside of the big night. This year, the Governors Awards, held at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Century City (where road construction made entering the venue a challenge, to say the least), was in full force and with all the signs of a pandemic recently returned years ago was unprecedented (it was canceled in 2021 and drastically scaled back earlier this year when it took place on March 25, days before the Oscars). It might as well have been 2019. No one was worried about Covid in that crowd. It was all party time and people seemed very excited to be together without restrictions for the first time in a long time. Look out for a separate report on the campaign aspect soon, but for now here are some highlights from the main event and the four winners of this year’s Governors Awards. As we waited to pack our tickets into our cars, I met one of the attendees, Cate Blanchett, who told me she was overwhelmed and genuinely excited about the evening, especially as she heard the wise words of her Australian colleague Weir searched for.

Jeff Bridges, who played for Australian director Peter Weir Fearless presented him with an honorary Oscar for outstanding career in films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, The Year of Living Dangerously, Master & Commander, The Truman Show, Dead Poets Society,and much more. Weir didn’t use the teleprompter for his endorsement, but instead spoke freely with a wonderful reminder of what he’s learned about filmmaking throughout his career, especially the importance of teams sticking together and focusing on their work to do what doesn’t is not always easy. . Task. “Making these films is like a journey,” he said. “My team always knew it wasn’t about my ego or their egos, it was about the ego of the film.” He also shared a story about shooting the final Oscar-winning screenplay witness and simply ripping out a few pages of dialogue that he felt were completely unnecessary, opting instead to record wordlessly between Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. Although this caused some consternation, he was right. Weir is a director who always knew what would work for all of his films. The likes of Ford, Ethan Hawke and Mel Gibson also offered glimpses of a video package, and Ford lamented Weir’s retirement from filmmaking, saying he would work with him again “in a minute in New York.”

Filmmaker Euzhan Palcy is best known for films such as cane alley, and special a dry white season, the 1989 film that lured Marlon Brando out of a nine-year retirement (he won an Academy Award nomination) and made her the first black female director to direct a feature for a major studio. Viola Davis gave her a strong introduction, and Palcy, clearly delighted to receive the honor, offered advice such as: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” She even went so far as to ask each table to lend a helping hand as a show of solidarity with those around us. She also said that she would like to make more films to prove some people wrong. “Black is not bankable. Woman is not bankable. Black and female are not bankable,” reveals Viola Davis, proving that just isn’t true. “I want to direct my camera to bring our collective humanity to the screen,” she said.

“My favorite story about Diane Warren is when she followed me to an Al-Anon meeting to play me a new song,” Cher said, presenting the honorary Oscar to prolific songwriter Warren, who has won 13 Oscars. nominations for his 100 songs she wrote. the movies. ‘She’s an asshole. My kind of girl,” Quincy Jones said in the video package, describing her remarkable career. Cher noted that Warren would always call and say, “I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written.” Work is her life, but finally getting an Oscar makes a small difference. “Mom, I finally found a man,” Warren exclaimed, looking up at the sky. “I waited a long time for him to say: ‘I want to thank the Academy’ for 34 years”. She noted that she watched as a child freeborn, and was instantly transformed and hooked on the Oscar-winning song from this John Barry and Don Black film. The rest is history.

It was no surprise that this year’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award went to Michael J. Fox. The only surprise was that it took so long. The man, who was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 29, has raised $1.5 billion through his foundation to help fight the debilitating disease. No eyes remained dry as an extremely well produced video package told the story of Fox and how he took his own Parkinson’s accident and turned it into a great charity. His good friend Woody Harrelson, who met the star while Harrelson was there cheers and Fox did family ties gave the presentation to the actor, who described himself as “80s famous.” His mantra is now Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics: “no repeat, no retreat, no surrender”. After a massive standing ovation, he joked: “You guys make me vibrate.” His entire family, including wife Tracy Pollan, was there to support him and he even took Pollan on stage to take home the new Oscar. “I use Tracy to carry the weight,” he said.

A whole night. As AMPAS President Janet Yang surveyed the ballroom, she asked, “Who wouldn’t want to be here?”