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Home , Eric Barba, Eva Marie Saint, Freida Pinto, Goldie Hawn, Laurence Mark, Melissa Leo

taipei times

P A G E 1 6 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2009 Hollywood’s top dogs aren’t slumming it

efined but unapologetically glamorous, supporting actress Oscar for Vicky Cristina Hollywood’s biggest stars strode the red Barcelona, and her fellow supporting actress R carpet at the Oscar awards on Sunday nominee Taraji P. Henson of The Curious with white dresses, bold necklaces and one- Case of Benjamin Button wore voluminous shoulder gowns among the night’s top trends. strapless white gowns. Despite an economic recession that has Best actress nominee also many Americans pinching pennies, stars didn’t wore a white gown, studded with sequins, that pare back their finery, delivering the glitz for style expert Jennifer Fisher called “perfect which Hollywood is known. Hollywood glamour.” “If I turn my head, I don’t see any change,” Asked on the red carpet why she had designer Valentino said on the red carpet, chosen the Armani gown, Hathaway said: adding that any toning down of Oscar style “Wouldn’t you want to wear this dress?” would be “very, very bad.” Other light-colored gowns included Sarah Style experts called the night a return to Jessica Parker’s belted light mint green clean, sophisticated Hollywood style, saying strapless dress by Dior. actresses such as best actress nominee Kate Chunky, collared necklaces were also one Winslet and star Freida of the night’s big trends, with best supporting Pinto went for classic looks. actress nominees Henson and of Winslet achieved her retro look in a grayish Doubt, garnering the most buzz with their Fred blue one-shoulder gown with black details by Leighton designs. Yves Saint Laurent that she told reporters was “Thank God the necklace returns to “quite comfortable,” a swept-back hairstyle and Hollywood,” style expert Michael O’Connor said. diamond earrings. Other necklaces that stood out on the Pinto donned a darker blue beaded one- carpet were best actress nominee ’s sleeved gown by John Galliano. Winslet and spider-shaped diamond pendant, designed by Pinto stood out for the choice of blue, as many her friend Katherine Wallach, and best actresses favored white and other light colors. nominee , who wore a picture of Pinto’s pint-sized Slumdog Millionaire his Chihuahua, Loki, both around his neck and co-stars wore custom-made outfits by Brooks in a pin on his lapel. Brothers. “I was going to bring her with me,” Rourke The big stars went with a Jolie and Brad Pitt looked very much the said of the dog, who died six days ago. “But she clean, sophisticated look on part of the red carpet’s golden couple at the is with me.” Kodak Theatre in classic, almost retro, styles. Fashion misses for the evening for Fisher Oscar night, but one- She wore a black sweetheart-neck strapless included supermodel Heidi Klum’s bright red shoulder gowns and chunky gown by Elie Saab, accessorized with green Roland Mouret futuristic gown, which she drop earrings, and he wore a classic bow tie. paired with big, chunky diamond earrings and necklaces topped the bracelets by Lorraine Schwartz. broader fashion trends “It looked like it should have been on Star NIGHT OF WHITE Trek,” Fisher said. By Nichola Groom For O’Connor, best actress nominee Meryl , LOS ANGELES Pinto looked “flawless,” said stylist Mary Streep missed the mark with her gray off-the- Alice Stephenson. “Everything is right!” But shoulder gown. “It was just not the right Jolie, Stephenson added, was disappointing. shape for her,” he said. “ is always beautiful but boring Additional reporting by AP and ho-hum in that black dress. It is just too Top looks on the red carpet: Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto, right, made many best-dressed lists at the 2009 Academy drab, dour and depressing for the Oscars.” Awards in her beaded John Galliano gown with a bejeweled lace sleeve; while fashionistas gave the asymmetrical Roland Penelope Cruz, who picked up the best Mouret dress worn by supermodel Heidi Klum, left, mixed reviews. PHOTos: Reuters

on movies’ strong commercial appeal: The ‘Slumdog’ best picture candidates — The Curious Case 81st annual winners CONTINUED FROM page 1 of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The After Penelope Cruz won for best supporting Reader and Slumdog Millionaire — altogether Best picture actress for her role in Vicky Cristina had fewer than half the viewers of The Dark Slumdog Millionaire Barcelona, she gave part of her speech Knight, an audience favorite that was praised by Lead actor in Spanish — she said backstage it was a many critics but still did not make the cut. in Milk dedication to the and people of Spain In the end, The Curious Case of Benjamin Lead actress — and then suggested backstage that the Button, which had been the evening’s most- in The Reader movies had to grow beyond the bounds of nominated film, with 13 nominations in all, Director strictly American stories. won for its art direction and make-up but not for Slumdog Millionaire “We are all mixed together, and it has to be in the crucial acting and directing categories. Foreign language film reflected in the cinema,” she said. Frost/Nixon, directed by , was the Departures (Japan) The supporting actress award, the night’s only best picture nominee to come away with no Supporting actor first, was presented by no less than five past prizes at all. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight winners of the prize, , Tilda Slumdog Millionaire, though it had no Supporting actress Swinton, , and actors nominated for prizes, swept many Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona . The heavy show of star awards other than those on the top line, Original screenplay power was meant to make good on a promise including prizes for cinematography, sound for Milk that the broadcast would deliver entertainment mixing, score and film editing. Adapted screenplay value that reached far beyond that offered by Slumdog’s eight Oscars was the largest Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire the nominees. total won by a single film since The Lord of the Animated feature Heath Ledger, in a widely anticipated devel- Rings: The Return of the King won 11 in 2004. Andrew Stanton for WALL-E opment, won the best supporting actor prize Phillipe Petit, the French tightrope walker Animated short film for his performance as the Joker in The Dark from Man on Wire — which won for best docu- Kunio Kato for La Maison en Petits Cubes Knight. Ledger died unexpectedly of a drug mentary feature — walked into the ceremony Art direction overdose early last year, before Dark Knight on the carpet and said, “I haven’t been looking Donald Graham Burt for art direction and Victor was released. French high-wire artist Philippe Petit balances the best documentary Oscar for Man on Wire on his chin after accepting the at the red carpet, I’ve been looking above and J. Zolfo for set decoration on The Curious Case of Ledger’s parents afterward said his Oscar prize at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Sunday. PHOTo: AFP thinking of what it would be like to be on a wire Benjamin Button statuette would be held in trust by the Academy above all this.” Costume design of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. laughs from the crowd inside the Kodak Theater. with themselves, as songs, cinematic retrospec- In one of the night’s few surprises, the best Michael O’Connor for The Duchess Many other awards also went to those , the evening’s host, started tives and actor after actor working Hollywood foreign language film went to Departures, Make-up favored in the preshow betting. with a very short comic monologue that poked in-jokes crowded the screen. One sequence, a drama about an unemployed cellist, from Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Dustin Lance Black won the best original fun at his own failure to get nominated for his directed by Bennett Miller, of Capote, was Japan. Many observers had predicted Waltz Cinematography screenplay Oscar for Milk. Black, who is performance in Australia. He then plunged into squeezed out altogether but was shown to the With Bashir, an Israeli animated drama about Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire openly gay, said Milk’s story had given him a comic song-and-dance number that poked fun in-theater audience during a commercial break. that country’s past war in Lebanon, would take Live action short film hope that one day he might “fall in love and at serious movies that were nominated for best In keeping with the self-referential tone of that prize. Jochen Alexander Freydank for even get married.” picture, including Milk and Frost/Nixon, and the night, the best live action short was teed up The glittering event at the Kodak is generally Spielzeugland (Toyland) Beaufoy, whose Slumdog screenplay was less serious movies that were not, including The with a live action short from Judd Apatow, with a pretty grown-up affair, but this year children Documentary feature based on a novel by , rattled off Dark Knight. Seth Rogen and , in character from from halfway around the world made a splashy James Marsh and Simon Chinn for Man on Wire a list of places he never expected to be — “the An early appearance by the screenwriting their Pineapple Express film, in starring roles. appearance. The kids from Slumdog Millionaire Documentary short moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium winners helped give the evening a story line of “This is almost a surreal moment to me,” had no trouble adjusting to the head-snapping Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki and here” — as he accepted that award for his its own: the awards categories were arranged in said the German filmmaker Jochen Alexander cultural shift from to the red carpet. Visual effects work on a film that captured many of the movie blocks intended to reflect the process of build- Freydank as he accepted the award for his “I want to see , Robert De Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, and industry’s pre-Oscar honors and was widely ing a film, beginning, in the first segment, with Spielzeugland, which had not much to do with Niro, and Jack Nicholson, Robert Downey,” for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button viewed as a preordained winner of the evening’s a blinking cursor tapping out the beginning of a the antics that preceded it. said Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, who played the Sound editing final award, for best picture. script on a blank screen. A reconfigured auditorium made it much young Salim in the film. “Seeing any of them Richard King for The Dark Knight Also in the first wave of awards, WALL-E In another departure, the celebrity present- easier for the celebrities to mingle during would be cool.” Sound mixing was named best animated film, though it had ers were not identified in advance, partly in the commercial breaks. The mood was lively and He was surrounded by seven co-stars who , Richard Pryke and for been denied the best picture nomination that hope that a larger-than-usual audience would chaotic. Rourke sat on the edge of the stage played the main characters at various ages. Slumdog Millionaire its backers at the Walt Disney Co and its Pixar tune in to see who actually showed up. kicking his legs over the side during several When asked how they felt about their film being Film editing unit had sought. Last year’s broadcast, with the smallest breaks, with a stage manager coming to shoo among the nominated, they all backed up as if Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire Overall, Sunday evening’s Oscar show domestic audience in the ceremony’s history, him back to his seat. on cue and shouted, “Jai ho,” which translates Original score became a struggle between the ambitions of a had only about 32 million viewers in the US. Jackman came across less as comic than roughly as “victory.” A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire producing team — headed by the veteran film The show’s stage sets, overseen by the New as cabaret performer. Along the way, he did Another child from India was Pinki Sonkar, Original song producer Laurence Mark and the filmmaker York architect David Rockwell, were bathed his best to try and keep the troops entertained whose cleft palate repair was the story behind Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, music by A.R. — that aimed for an evening full much of the time in blue and included a vast during the commercial breaks, serenading his Smile Pinki, which won the documentary short Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar of surprises and the apparent determination of crystal curtain. And the show was punctuated by dad in the audience, reading a note from his film category. Source: Reuters 5,810 voters in the academy to bestow honors deliberate references to movies that had played wife (“you’re doing good so far, babe”) and , the 82-year-old largely where they were expected to go. well with ticket-buying audiences last year but even going up and down the aisles handing out who has devoted much of his time to raising Nutty Professor. A much-discussed new format for the show were often not in the running for awards, the cookies. money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, “The humility I feel will stay with me for the opened with a loosey-goosey showbiz number nominations for which went overwhelmingly to Still, all the showmanship seemed only to received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award rest of my life,” Lewis said. “To all of you people and proceeded along very self-referential lines, movies that were little-seen. highlight the basic challenge of a ceremony from , who had successfully from the movie business, it is such a joy being with lots of inside jokes that drew substantial To some extent, the show’s elements collided whose producers were hoping to capitalize reprised one of Lewis’ most famous roles, The part of you and of everything you do.”