The Oscars 2013 - Part 5: Vanity Fair Party

If I didn’t know about the Governors Ball, I was totally aware of the Vanity Fair Party. 
And I was really looking forward to going there. 
The problem was, half of Hollywood was going there at the same time, and reaching the Sunset Tower Hotel, where the party is held every year, was more difficult (and longer) than we expected. The jet lag hit us in the Limousine and we had to keep talking to each other to arrive at destination still awake.
But then, there we were, at the most fabulous party of the year in LA!
As usual, we immediately understood there were two different kinds of entrance: one for the common people like us and the other one for the stars. The wall of TV journalists was particularly astonishing here: photographers were piling up one above the other and the flashes of their cameras were incessant as well as their requests to the stars passing by. We arrived at the same time of Jennifer Lawrence (who changed her dress, in the meantime) and the moment was absolutely frantic. Everybody was screaming, taking pictures and going crazy:

Once inside, I had troubles recognising the place. I have been at the restaurant of the Sunset Tower Hotel few years before, but now it looked like a completely different location. Maybe it was the number of stars per meter that made the difference.
At this party, the sensation I felt at the Oscars was even more intense: it looked like one of those dreams where you could see people but people can’t see you. Do you know what I mean? I walked around bumping into any possible star I used to see on a silver screen, feeling invisible. Casey Affleck was talking to somebody in a corner, Jennifer Aniston was walking in front of me and I had to be careful not to step on her red long dress, Robert De Niro was just arrived with his young son, Jason Gordon Levitt (by far one of the nicest people I saw that night) was smiling and having fun, in another room, absolutely packed, the slim and tall figure of Adrien Brody was mesmerising the crowd around him.
It was probably a bit too much. 

After a glass of wine, we decided the overdose of stars had to stop.

The funniest part, though, was just about to start. 
We called our driver, saying that he could pick us up, but we didn’t realize it was rush hour on Sunset Boulevard… hundreds of stars were waiting for their cars as well, and so I enjoyed looking at them in a “normal” situation.

Zooey Deschanel (with a lovely vintage dress!) had both her arms around her boyfriend, and was pretending to be already asleep, Octavia Spencer, her high heels shoes in her hands, was making a TV interview barefoot, Jason Clarke (again!) was looking around hoping to find a lift, Vin Diesel couldn’t count on any super-power to find his limousine, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, in an ethereal pink dress, was standing there, pretending to be admired for her stunning beauty while waiting for someone to fly her elsewhere. But the funniest scene was seeing Jane Fonda, in an improbable leopard dress, grabbing a couple of hamburgers from the little van at the roadside that was trying to feed all the stars (knowing that, as a matter of fact, they don’t really eat at parties and so, in the end, they’re starving).

The night was really over, I felt a bit of sadness at the idea that the most magical night of the year was gone, but immediately afterwards I felt happy and lucky, because I knew I could write about it in my blog…

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I really need to thank many people who made my dream come true.
First of all, the Academy people: my eternal gratitude goes to Dawn Hudson, for inviting me, to Heather Cochran for introducing me to Daniel Day Lewis (and much more!) and to Debbie Peters for her precious help.
A big GRAZIE! to my colleague Susanna who offered me to share the hotel room as well as the entire experience with her, and to the Dream Team (Emanuele, Gigi & Jonathan) who drove me anywhere in Los Angeles and supported me every day.
And to my boss, who’s been putting up with my cinema passion for almost 13 years, not only the usual Grazie, Capo! but the reassurance that the procedure for his canonization already started!
Now, guys, the only problem is that it won’t be easy to convince me to let the OSCAR go...

The Oscars 2013 - Part 4: The Governors Ball

I have to confess I didn’t know about the existence of a thing called Governors Ball until the previous day, when I received the invitation to attend it. On the card there was written: Hollywood & Highland, Ray Dolby Ballroom, Immediately Following the Ceremony.

Once the Oscars were over, in fact, we have been invited to reach the top floor of the theater building: before entering the hall, there was the usual wall of journalists and photographers waiting for the stars, and those immense reflectors that, believe me, are the most annoying things on planet earth. The life of a star is a tough one…. how can you resist making an interview under those liquefying lights? The Governors Ball was taking place in an enormous, quite dark space, with an orchestra on the far left side, round tables elegantly set up everywhere and few big tables on the corners covered with food. I guess a place like El Morocco in the 20s should look like this.

I immediately understood that all the stars, sooner or later, would be passing by. And I was right. 
As a matter of fact, there were too many stars arriving. Helped by the first glass of champagne (at empty stomach), I started walking around: Jean Dujardin was the first in my line of vision. He was by himself, and I knew he doesn’t speak English super well, so I thought I could talk to him in French. Yes, good idea! but when I started walking towards him, Alexander Payne crossed my path. Oh, I love your cinema! I wanted to tell him. Yes, but just in front of him there was George Clooney with an absolutely irresistible beard, smiling.

What am I supposed to do now??! It was impossible to choose, believe me, so I just walked around enjoying the funny scenes I had the opportunity to look at, like Adele, Barbra Streisand and Shirley Bassey drinking and laughing all together, or Jason Gordon Levitt posing for pictures with Amy Adams and the-most-gorgeous-woman-in-the-universe, Ms. Charlize Theron (and her fabulous, new short haircut!).

 After a while, it was pretty clear that tables were naturally arranging around every Oscar movie: there was the Argo area, the Life of Pi area, and the Lincoln area, where I was. I was introduced to Steven Spielberg. My boss explained to him I was a cinema freak. Spielberg told me: "I love that you love cinema!" The second glass of champagne didn’t help: I felt like we were old friends and that it was actually normal talking to him.

Anyway, where is Daniel??! I wanted to scream. His family was there, all the actors from Lincoln were there, the director was there. And there he was, all of a sudden, the happiest man I have ever seen in all my life:

I looked at him, completely and utterly mesmerized by his smiling, his joyful expression, his way of walking and talking. Everybody wanted to say something, to shake hands, to compliment him. He was looking around, clearly enjoying every minute of it, distributing with equal magnanimity smiles and thank you. I could have stayed there forever. When I was about to approach him, Daniel Day Lewis looked around and said: "Could somebody bring me to my wife? I didn’t see Rebecca since I had the Oscar!" What a lovely and romantic thing to say… but the problem was that somebody actually brought him to Rebecca and soon afterwards they seated down at a table and started to eat. I was panicking. I missed my chance to talk to him. Definitely. So stupid of me! I was there with a desperate expression on my face when Heather, from the Academy, saw me and asked me what was going on. I explained. She said: "Let’s go, there is just one life, and we have to take advantage of it." And off she went towards Daniel. We arrived from behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder, and Daniel looked up at her: "I’m sorry to bother you Daniel, but there is an Italian woman who would like to tell you something." Day Lewis looked at me, smiling, and making a gesture with his hand, meaning: come, no worries. When I arrived, he gave me his right hand, I took it and I didn’t let it go until the end of my love declaration. Daniel listened carefully to my speech, having - I guess - a lot of fun. When I told him I have been following his career since I was 15 years old, he raised his eyebrow, and he commented: wow! He kept telling me thank you, smiling, and squeezing my hand every time I said something nice (basically every two seconds).

I don’t remember anything about the end of that scene. I was completely blown away by the events, and so I started walking around the place without a destination. 

And it was then that I saw Mads Mikkelsen walking in my direction. Alone.

Before I could even think what I was doing, I walked towards him.

He didn’t have a choice: he had to stop, because I went right in front of him saying: Hello!
Mikkelsen looked at me (down at me, because he is pretty tall): Hello!
- I’m a huge fan of yours!
- Oh, thank you!
- Actually, I have a cinema blog, and every year I give my personal Oscars, and this year you have won the award for Best Actor!
- Oh, really? For which movie?
(Is he really asking me this? I thought in a brief moment of lucidity)
- For Jagten! (are you impressed? – I wanted to add – that I quote the movie's original Danish title?)
- Oh, that’s a very good movie. Did you like it?
- Sure, a lot, this is also why I decided to give you this price.
Mikkelsend looked at me: And the price consists of...?
Dear readers, believe me or not, when he asked me that, I moved closer, I put my arms around him, and I kissed him on his right cheek.
Mikkelsen was puzzled: Oh, well… nice price! Thank you!
- You’re very welcomed!
- I have to go now, because I have friends waiting for me, but it was nice meeting you.
- The same for me! And while I was looking at him disappearing into the crowd, I thought: And you’re lucky I didn’t give you the Man of my Life Award…. Otherwise you wouldn’t make it out just with one kiss, darling!
To celebrate, I took a picture of myself as a real star:

The Governors Ball was over. On our way out we saw Christoph Waltz drinking coffee with the Oscar under his right arm and Tim Burton with a broken arm, and then we started waiting for our limousine to pick us up.

There was one more thing to do… the night was still young!