Back Stage at the Academy Awards

Datleline Hollywood; time - about a week ago. Time flies on an expense account. Kids - this town is still abuzz over the Paul Haggis film, Crash beating out Brokenback Mountain for picture of the year. Kudoes have to go out to Haggis who has proved that if you have enough grit and determination to get the hell outta London, Ontario, you can accomplish your dreams and that anything is possible. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if that boy doesn't become President one day. Only in America! ///////////////// And kudoes to the Academy for having the courage to nominate Brokenback Mount. for a best picture award. But in the end, who needs awards anyway when you are doing boffo box-offo? The producers chose a good director, a sensitive story-line and took a chance on a couple of good looking young actors who don't even look gay - which accounts for the film's breakthrough with non-gay audiences, particularly with heterosexual young girls. As with everything in Hollywood, the bottom line is - it's all about having a great looking ass. I bet now the producers are glad they didn't go with their original choices of getting Clint Howard and Dennis Franz for the roles of the love-doomed cowboys. ///////// Congrats too to Ang Lee who won the best director award for the film and the Oscar win has created a buzz that has made Brokenback, the most successful gay cowboy film of all time. I'll admit, I didn't really think much about her handling of the complex story material in her other movie, The Hulk, but apparently she knows how to make a good old-fashioned gay cowboy movie. Way to go, Ang!!! ///////////////////// The big news of the night, however was the completely unexpected upset in which Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit beat out King Kong as Best Animated Feature Film. Who knew? Apparently, the Academy are real suckers for that sophisticated "anything from Britain" stuff. //////////////// Most puzzling award of the night has to go to Best Original Song in which the rappin' hippin'& a-hoppin' hard-luck story of It's Hard Out There for a Pimp from a movie that no one ever heard of Hustle and Flow (?) beat out anything from the soundtrack to Walk the Line. Yo - word tuh muh bruthas in the Acadmy - Johnny Cash is the original gangsta, dig? /////////////////// Of course it just wouldn't be the Academy Awards without some back-stage back-stabbing and bitchiness. I won't even tell you what Terri Hatcher said about Reese Witherspoon's dress. But early in the evening before the Award for Best Actor was even presented, someone backstage was musing aloud and asked the question, "Has anyone noticed that from that cast of hundreds in Crash, not one of those big-names even got an acting nomination? At that point, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who would inevitably win for Capote, placed his fingers of his left hand gently upon his cheek and with his other hand gestured languidly to the room and said this about the performances in Crash - "Oh, that's not acting. That's just swearing." ///// I leave you with that kids. Toodle-ooo from La-La Land and see you in another four years!