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!

The Oscars 2013 - Part 3: The Ceremony

Our seats were amazing: first row of the first balcony, a place with a view on the entire parterre of stars. One couldn’t ask for more (well… maybe a seat close to Daniel Day Lewis, or directly on his lap, but ok…). The stage was pretty amazing too: an arch of lights, a round big platform in the middle and two others, smaller, on the right and on the left side.
The stars were taking their seats: it was funny to watch and trying to recognize each of them. Everybody was being very polite: it was a question of greetings, kisses and embraces. I was wondering how many of them were sincere, but I guess you had the same percentage in real life at no-matter-what kind of mundane event. 

When the lights got out and a voice announced that the Oscars 2013 night was about to begin, I had one of those stupid thoughts I always have in these occasions. I thought: How is it possible that Zazie from Paris, coming in reality not at all from the French capital but from the most obscure little village of the Pianura Padana, is here at the Oscars night? I held my breath for a second, praying that no beam of light would be pointed directly at me to ask about my incongruous presence... luckily enough, Seth MacFarlane was already on stage, and the big show was about to begin! 

Standing Ovation for Shirley Bassey

I have to make a confession: I was convinced I would have found the ceremony a bit boring. 
I mean: it is long, and there are all those musical breaks, I was really afraid to reach the point of saturation. Well, it wasn’t the case: I was so excited that the almost three hours looked like 30 minutes.

I was particularly lucky, though: the musical breaks were kindly provided by appointment to their majesties Shirley Bassey, Adele and Barbra Streisand, among others. 
The awards started immediately to rain, and the first moment of joy, for me, was the Oscar to the short animation film Paperman by John Kahrs, a super sweet love story involving a lot of paper planes that, to my surprise, started to fly also from the balcony. If you don’t know this movie, you should absolutely see it, here it is:

Paperman - Short Film by John Kahrs par Flixgr
The other Oscar I was incredibly happy about, was the one for Best Documentary, given to the magnificent Searching for Sugar Man by Malik Bendjelloul. When, during his speech, the film maker said that Rodriguez (the singer the documentary is about) didn't come to the ceremony not to steal the scene to him, I really thought how amazing a human being could be. If you missed it, run to see this pure gem:


Have you ever wondered what happened in the theatre during the commercials? I was always curious to know that and I finally had the answer: the people seated on the balconies get out and have a drink at the bar, while the stars get up and talk to each other. The parterre is an ever changing place: actors and actresses are moving around a lot because they can introduce awards or take part into some musical piece. When they have an Oscar they simply disappear... I guess they're stuck in the pictures+interviews machine. 

The stars during the commercials

If you go to the bar for a drink, you have to be very careful: it is essential to be back in the theatre before the commercials are over, otherwise you'll be left outside. I didn't know about this rule, so when I saw my door closing I rushed, but the man in front of it was absolutely inflexible: no, I couldn't go inside. 
I was panicking, because we were almost at the end and I was afraid to miss some important awards. I was complaining about this with Susanna in Italian when a woman approached us: Which beautiful language are you talking in? Italian, we said. Oh, that sounds lovely even when you're unnerved! On a screen placed just outside the door we could see the images but without sound. What's the matter? the woman asked. We explained. Oh, don't worry, there is still time for the big ones. It was like this that we met Doris, a very nice woman who was an Oscar habituée (it was her 15th time at the ceremony!), and with whom we talked and laughed until the end of the commercials.
I wasn't lucky enough to escape the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture to Amour by Michael Haneke, though. As everybody knows, I'm a huge fan of the man. I think he has made the dullest speech ever (surprise, surprise!) and while the others were clapping hands, I remained perfectly still on my seat. Ta gueule! I just wanted to shout at him (but I didn't).

Then, finally, it was time for the one and only Oscar I was really waiting for, the one for Best Actor.

I remembered a day of many months before, probably almost one year, when I saw for the first time a picture of DDL as Lincoln: he was eating something in a cafeteria, dressed in modern clothes, but with the make-up transforming him in the President. I immediately posted the picture on my Facebook page, writing: I can already see an Oscar (the third) in his hands. Well, it wans't difficult to imagine it but, still, I was right. This is the picture:

And this is Daniel Day Lewis receiving his third Oscar at the Dolby Theatre on February 24 (from the hands of Meryl Streep):

And if you want to hear his funny and moving speech:

After Daniel, just two more Oscars were left: the one for Best Director (won by Ang Lee) and the one for best picture (won by Argo). 
Once the ceremony was over, we left our seats but not the theatre: we had in our hands the tickets to go to the Governors Ball... the funniest part of the night was about to start...