Nagging Oscar queries solved
HOLLYWOOD ó Well, the young and hip Oscars didn’t translate into peppier numbers (ratings were down about 10% over last year, translating into about four million fewer viewers), but that doesn’t mean the evening didn’t yield less than its usual share of unanswered stuff.
In other words, it’s time for Nagging Oscar Questions: 2011 Edition.
OK, so we know it wasn’t the liveliest Oscar show ever, but at least it wasn’t the longest. What did it actually clock in at?
Even with Kirk Douglas’ high shticking, the 2011 version came in at a remarkably restrained three hours and 11 minutes, making it the shortest Oscar telecast in about 25 years, back when William Hurt, Geraldine Page and Out of Africa were the big winners of ’86. By contrast, last year’s Oscar-cast ran three hours and 37 minutes.
Was Melissa Leo really the first person ever to drop the F-bomb on the Oscar stage?
Yep, in 83 years, not even the likes of Whoopi Goldberg managed to test reflexes of the fast-fingered censors, who, thanks to that handy three-second delay, managed to bleep the offending word. A couple of weeks earlier, one of the barrage that Eminem lobbed during his Grammy performance managed to sneak by the CBS censor.
Well, it looked pretty classy, anyway. How much does it cost to put on one of these babies?
More and more each year, with 2011 production costs amounting to an estimated $30 million, or about twice The King’s Speech budget. Blame part of the problem on the escalating prices of gold and copper, which have effectively doubled the manufacturing cost of each Oscar statuette.
Celine Dion did a nice job singing the love theme from the In Memoriam segment, but why was there no mention of fellow Canadian Corey Haim?
According to an Academy rep, no disrespect was meant to the late Haim, who died at age 38 on March 10, three days after the 2010 Oscar telecast. They usually manage to fit about 26 or 27 names in the allotted five-minute segment, but Haim, along with Eddie Fisher, Maria (Last Tango in Paris) Schneider and Rue McClanahan, were among those who didn’t make the final cut.
Just who exactly was that wild-haired God of Love guy and why couldn’t he have been hosting the show instead of James Franco?
He’s director Luke Matheny, a tall, skinny NYU student whose 18-minute romantic comedy won best live action short. Speaking of keeping it short, his 45-second acceptance speech was one of the evening’s unexpected highlights ó spontaneous, sweet and charmingly goofy. Somebody get this man an agent!
What was with Geoffrey Rush’s bald pate?
The chrome dome was for Rush’s current role, starring in the stage production, The Diary of a Madman, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for which he’s been receiving rave reviews.
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