César Freak-Out: Foster, Deneuve, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND

Here's a little treat for y'all from infrequent TFE contributor Julien who gave us a few Cannes tidbits last summer. This is the opening speech from the César Awards (The French Oscars as previously discussed). It's not subtitled but it's still tres drole to hear Jodie Foster's perfect French intoning the names of two of the greatest movie stars of all time in the audience: Catherine Deneuve and two time Best Actress Olivia de Havilland who gets a standing ovation! 

Merde that's exciting.

You can see de Havilland at :30 and again at the big moment happens around 1:18ish when Jodie calls her out and she's totally surprised by it. Olivia de Havilland, our "Melanie", our Heiress, our Maid Marian is 94 years old and still going to Awards shows! She's been living in France since her retirement in the 1950s. The Oscars should be so lucky to have her. Although even if they did, they probably wouldn't honor her properly like this. (At least they hauled Kirk Douglas out last night for the best moment of the show.)

Here's the video. Merci Julien

Mark Ruffalo and Sandra Bernhard on Oscar Night 2011

Mark with his wife Sunrise<--- Obviously this is not Sandra Bernhard. We'll get to her in a minute.

To fend off the silly depression that can often follow depressing Oscar outcomes, it's good to remember that anyone nominated for an Oscar just got a huge career boost. The "Losers", especially the first timers, won. They now have that "Oscar Nominee" stamp to throw around at the contract table and they also get a place in the history books. Oh sure, if you ask the general public to tell you about so and so's nominated turn in 1978 they won't know what you're talking about, but it's still a historical document of worth in your chosen profession. It's a win.

Before the Oscars last night I meant to post this acceptance speech that Mark Ruffalo tweeted "in case I lose". It went like so (spread across several tweets of course).

Thank You Sunrise. My wife and my partner in crime and fun and hard times and joy and sadness in heartbreak and healing and dinners and kids. Lisa Cholodenko, Thank you so much in your belief in me and allowing me. You love Actors and create a work place where we are free. Adore U.

I must thank my dear fellow Actors. Especially the Glorious Julianne Moore. Any recognition must be shared with her. It was all in the dance. Annette, Mia, Josh, Thank you for making it so easy to react off you and live off your brilliant naturalistic performances. Honored. The crew, thank you for being such a great team. We all had a hell of a good time and you didn't skip a single beat in 23 days of no sleep.

I would like to thank Stuart Blumberg and Lisa for creating a beautiful script with real people doing real and human things. Paul kicks ass. I would like to thank all the producers but especially Jeffery Levy-Hinte who is an unsung hero. You carried this movie to the finish.Thanks. James Shamus and the folks at Focus Features, Thank you. You have given this movie every opportunity and supported us in cash and spirit. XO.

Mom and Dad, Thanks for telling me I would be okay if I left home and went to LA. Thanks for helping me when you couldn't afford it. Love U. Keen, Bella, Odette my dearest ones, my little teachers. Thank you so much for being patient with Papa having to be away so much. Last but not least. The people who came out to see the movie and support it and talk about it and send your friends. You are being honored 2. I know I must be forgetting someone. IF I am I will amend my twit-speech. I would like to also shout out to all actors. 5000yr tradition!!

Sweet right?

Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem hug it out.

If you put yourself out there in the world, you open yourself up to those who snark or scoff but you also are putting yourself out there in the world. Sorry to get all Marianne Williamson on ya but I just go with my moods and it's a good one this Monday morn'. Feel the love.

In another tweet, responding to a fan's note on Julianne Moore, the Ruffster said "Julianne Moore you are a film Goddess" That's so true. I'm glad her peers know it.

We lived on farms. We lived in cities. Now we live on the internet.
-"Sean Parker" via Aaron Sorkin in The Social Network.

I've been an online presence now for a decade and it's been thrilling to watch the world change and shrink in a way. Unfortunately this new "closeness" hasn't changed our capacity to hate or war or any of that stuff -- hate travels just as fast as love  -- but it has definitely shifted celebrity and entertainment culture in interesting ways. You wouldn't have Lady Gaga without the virtual community of the internet. And you wouldn't have exchanges like I had with Sandra Bernhard last night.

Oh sure, that happened for a few seconds and it was over and it meant 11,000,000 times more to me than Sandra or anyone listening in but it's still a fact: Someone I have admired and followed and supported with my purchases who has made me laugh and think countless times since the late 80s "heard" something I said and responded.

It was a kick.

And if you've never seen The King of Comedy (1983) you really should. It's one of Martin Scorsese's best films and Sandra is riveting and scary and hilarious in it.

Which celebrities put smiles on your faces last night? Are you feeling love this morning or something else entirely in the way of SpeechGate ;) ?

Right Track? "Born This Way"

Lady Gaga's latest short "Born This Way" has arrived. It's se7en minutes of gooey births, nonsensical mythology ("Mother Monster"!  She must have been watching the Oscars. They do so love a Monster Mom), and simple dances that look complicated via editing that everyone can learn for the clubs. Not quite sure what to make of the Madonna gap teeth at the end, though.

Perhaps she should give the Madonna homages/taunts(?)/riffs a rest? Although speaking of homages. I love that the head in the jar, assembly line thing reminds me so much of Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! or cheesy sci-fi movies in general  ack ack

For what it's worth the Evil that is birthed (the skeleton faced guy, Canadian Rick Genest) also starred in the Thierry Mugler fashion short that Gaga did the German-language music for. That's actually his face. It's not makeup but tattoos.

♪ He was inked this way-hey ♫!

If you missed the Muglier short, that's here.

The 83rd Oscars. Complete Winners List / Biggest Loser Stat

PICTURE The King's Speech
DIRECTOR Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
ACTRESS Natalie Portman, Black Swan
ACTOR Colin Firth, The King's Speech
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Melissa Leo, The Fighter
SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale, The Fighter

Your Acting Winners. I hope Melissa Leo is telling Amy she owes her 200 dollars.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY David Seidler, The King's Speech
FOREIGN FILM Denmark, In a Better World
FILM EDITING Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
CINEMATOGRAPHY Wally Pfister, Inception
ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland
COSTUME DESIGN Alice in Wonderland
MAKEUP The Wolfman
VISUAL EFFECTS Inception
ORIGINAL SCORE The Social Network
ORIGINAL SONG "we belong together" Toy Story 3
SOUND MIXING Inception
SOUND EDITING Inception
ANIMATED FEATURE Toy Story
ANIMATED SHORT The Lost Thing
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Inside Job
DOCUMENTARY SHORT Strangers Among Us
LIVE ACTION SHORT God of Love

Tallies: THE KINGS SPEECH: 4; INCEPTION: 4; SOCIAL NETWORK: 3; THE FIGHTER: 2; ALICE IN WONDERLAND: 2; TOY STORY 3: 2;  BLACK SWAN: 1.

Best Picture Nominees Without A Win: 127 HOURS, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, WINTER'S BONE and TRUE GRIT which becomes one of the biggest "Oscar Losers" of all time with a 10/0 tally. Only The Color Purple and The Turning Point beat it with 11/0 in nominations to losses.

Oscar Live Blog. Hour #3 FINALE

ARRIVALS | HOUR 1 | HOUR 2 | HOUR 3 (YOU ARE HERE)

10:52 We're almost done. And we'll be like that was so long!" and then next week we'll feel sad that it's so far away.

10:53 SNIFFLE. in memoriam. Sally Menke :( among other greats. But that one is so fresh and still sting because of such unexpected tragedy. I'm glad Celine is singing SMILE. I misheard that she was singing SHINE. oops. And i thought why does that non nominee get sung but not Cher's song? I love the song " STORMY WEATHER" so much.  And Lena Horne is awesome yes.

It's not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it.
-Lena Horne.

Great quote.

11:03 sigh. DIRECTOR = TOM HOOPER. Where is Cate Blanchett to say "that's gross" Heh. Sorry. Tom Hooper has great hair.  "The triangle of man love" er... i think that was Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law plus TFE reader (see previous poll).

11:08. I've been neglecting the comments.

11:10 I was just telling an angry tweeter -- Fincher's loss will go down as a blight on Oscar -- that many great directors never won: Altman, Kubrick, Hitchock. The ones who don't make warm movies basically. It's like Directors are Actresses!

poll by twiigs.com

11:15 BEST ACTRESS. They're choosing good clips. Natalie's best scene in BLACK SWAN "he picked me mommy" Hearing Jeff Bridges say "michelle" freaked me out a little. You know why. and it's NATALIE PORTMAN who we knew it would be.

I feel bad for Annette Bening. I guess she's the new Deborah Kerr / Glenn Close / Julianne Moore. Great company to be in. And even though Natalie Portman wasn't my personal choice (I think Kidman was best this year) can we all agree that it's nice when people win for their best performance. So there's that. Congratulations, Nat!

11:21 Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges presenting these awards makes me happy for some reason. Maybe because they're both so damn likeable. BEST ACTOR COLIN FIRTH. Again people: why does everyone say that Oscar don't like to be told who to vote for. They so rarely vote against something that's won everything. All the acting winners have been the same all season.

11:28 I like Colin Firth a lot but he was just named Best Celebrity Neighbor as well. The King's Speech's hard sell is just SO irritating. And now it's going to win. The least ambitious of the five films.

11:35 BEYOND TACKY. Using The King's Speech speech as the voicevoer for the montage of ALL the nominees? So so tacky. And in Spielberg's preamble in which he mentioned "and the other nine will join the ranks of Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, etcetera"  he basically exccused them from voting for all the new classics each time. TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY. Best Picture = The King's Speech

11: 38 James Franco "Anne and I have had an amazing time tonight."

11:43 Credits rolling and such. My takeaway. I don't even care that great stuff lost so much as that they chose SPIELBERG to do Best Picture again. Christ on a cracker how is it that THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY has no imagination about this? They work in the imagination department. Would it kill them to let a legendary actress do it once in awhile and not just the rotation of Spielberg/Hanks/Streisand/Nicholson. This almost makes me angrier than lame wins on account of it's such an easy fix. Less fixable is the taste level of the Academy voters.

11:46 One thing I forgot to mention. If only Anne Hathaway's penultimate dress had been a little less dark blue and a little more light turqouise it woulda totally been a tribute to Madonna's Ray of Light cover.

11:47 Okay. Another Year. The 83rd Oscars are now part of history.

11:49 To all the "losers"... It's not the load. It's the way you carry it. Remember your awesomeness.

BACK TO BEGINNING 

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR MORE REACTIONS. We'll try to get going by Noon.