Inside the Dolby: What you didn’t see on TV on Oscars night
LOS ANGELES (AP) – It’s during commercial breaks that the audience inside the Dolby Theater really comes to life on Oscar night.
The stars will happily play for the cameras in their faces during the global broadcast – they are actors after all – but too often it seems like most would prefer to talk to their fellow actors in the room.
For people watching the Oscars at home, the breaks can go on for an eternity, but at Dolby, they never last long as stars on the main floor abruptly end their conversation and rush to take their seats again. Are.
The start of the show is always a scramble as security, organizers and a loud voice of God all try to get the attendees to their seats in time for the live broadcast to begin. Some barely made it, like “The Last of Us” and “The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal, whose handlers pleaded to let him go because of his appearance in host Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue, while others, like Elizabeth Banks, Seems out of place from the opening moments. He was ushered into the room during the first break, walking ahead of supporting actor named Brian Tyree Henry, who made his way a few rows ahead of Cate Blanchett.
A few minutes later, Henry was one of the first to jump to his feet to cheer for Ke Hui Kwan, who won her category, as Kwan’s co-star Michelle Yeoh cheered from the front row. Wiped away tears. One man even stood up at the end of Quan’s speech: Harry Shum Jr.
After his defeat, Henry was in a good mood in the lobby. He made his way to Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh. He asked for a picture with Waller-Bridge, which McDonagh dutifully broke down.
Back in the room, as Jamie Lee Curtis took the stage to accept her supporting actress award, Cate Blanchett put her hands over her mouth and prayed toward the newly anointed Oscar winner.
Audience members were briefly alarmed as a plume of smoke appeared to rise in front of Curtis during his speech. But everyone breathed a sigh of relief to realize that it was only part of the next act, a performance by Sophia Carson.
During the next break, Blanchett proceeded to hug fellow Australian Nicole Kidman, and Kidman later did the same to Austin Butler.
Miles Teller hung out with his wife near the bar in the lobby outside the theater, while Bill Nighy took a quick bathroom break. And in the other side of the room, filmmaker Rian Johnson shared a laugh with Hugh Grant, who had a cameo in his eponymous film, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”
The lobby was chilly, but at least some came with layers prepared: Rooney Mara had a red coat over her dress and Andrea Riseborough wore a black leather jacket over her pale pink gown, which she wore for the ceremony. Worn till the end. ,
At the bar, Best Actor nominee Paul Mescal took a moment to make some new friends. As they debated whether or not they should order tequila, a fan approached mescal in line to ask for a picture.
“Is a selfie OK?” Mescal asked, snapping the picture himself.
A few feet away, Charlotte Wells, director of Mescal’s “Aftersun,” spent most of the ceremony in the lobby, sipping beer.
In another corner, Rooney Mara chats with her “Women Talking” co-star Jessie Buckley. And on a hard-to-reach sofa, “EO” director Jerzy Skolimowski, 84, seated himself, snacking on popcorn and trail mix provided to guests.
In the ladies’ room, Yeoh and Sandra Oh scrambled to get out, while Florence Pugh was briefly delayed. She needed a little help drying her hands in her bulky dress.
“I’m dripping, I’m dripping,” she said laughing, her arms stretched out as far as they could go in front of her.
Moments later at the bar, Pugh leans next to Cara Delevingne, with both trains trailing their legs as they whisper to each other. The act of turning to leave was not as straightforward as they might have anticipated.
Pugh said, “It takes ten minutes for one to follow the other.”
As the night goes on, the lobby gets a little brighter as more and more winners come out with more and more Oscars in hand, but it also gets a little less starry as the big names of the night make their way back into the room. made their way. final categories.
Some, hungry from long shows, took advantage of a “snack box” under every seat with a pretzel, a bottle of water, and a variety of movie theater candy, from Junior Mints to raisins.
During one of the last breaks, Kerry Condon hugged “Everything Everywhere at Once” directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert as they walked back into the room, the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in hand, as Michelle Williams walked a few feet He spread his legs far away.
Michelle Yeoh was the one who didn’t have time to go back to her seat between winning Best Actress and when Harrison Ford announced that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” had won Best Picture. So, she emerged from the wings of the stage to join her cast and crew at the microphone for the final award of the night.
Many people chose to stop by the Dolby Theater for a while, but others were eager to attend the Governors Ball, Vanity Fair, and various other events where the press and photographers are not invited. For stars on Oscar night, the show is often the first stop.
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