84th Academy Awards Wrap-Up

By Michelle McCue | February 27, 2012

For the category Best Motion Picture of the Year, the Oscar® went to “The Artist”, produced by Thomas Langmann. Thomas Langmann; Jean Dujardin, Oscar®-winner for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role; Michel Hazanavicius, Oscar®-winner for Achievement in Directing; James Cromwell; Bérénice Bejo; Penelope Ann Miller; Missi Pyle, and Uggie the dog pose for the media backstage following the 84th Academy Awards® presented live on the ABC Television network from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

It’s the one night that Tinseltown gets to reach out to people at home to show them the films over the past year and no one but The Academy puts on this type of grand show. Each February, the entertainment community and film fans around the world turn their attention to the Academy Awards. Interest and anticipation builds to a fevered pitch leading up to the Oscar telecast when hundreds of millions of movie lovers tune in to watch the glamorous ceremony and learn who will receive the highest honors in filmmaking.

Once again it took the whole WAMG team to cover Hollywood’s biggest night. I was there in the pressroom for a second year to watch and listen to all the winners from the evening. I even asked Meryl Streep a question! (see below). It was thrill to see all these artists, both actors and filmmakers, with their Oscar statues and heartwarming to know that some of the smaller movies (Docs and Shorts) who were crowned with an Academy Award will see some love at the box office. Host Billy Crystal did a marvelous job as emcee, but would you like to see him return next year or someone new? This coming weekend when you’re looking to get out of the house to play catch up on tonight’s Oscar winners, visit your local cinema for a night at the movies.

Stayed tuned for more on the Academy – both the Oscars and public events – in the year to come.

Below are excerpts from the Q & A that happened between the winners and journalists immediately afterwards backstage.

Best Motion Picture of the Year, The Artist

Q.      Hi.  Congratulations.  When your costume designer was in here earlier who won, he said that part of the texture that he did was because of film was shot in color.  I’m curious to know, now having won this award, what are you going to do with all of the footage in color?  Is there going to be another life for THE ARTIST perhaps in a different color?
A.      No.  Sorry, but…

Q.      No.  Fair enough.

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.

Q.      You know, this was one of the best run campaigns that I’ve seen.  I just wondered if you had any political ambitions because it was a wonderful campaign for the film.  But more than that, you made history tonight in terms of this being the first film in I don’t even know how many years to come out that’s black and white and win Best Picture honors.  So, for you, how does it feel to be part of that particular part of history in terms of bringing back a style of film that we haven’t seen in a long, long time?
A.      Well, it’s    it’s been an amazing journey.  When we started this movie, you know, all the meetings that we had were very short.  No one wanted to help us making a silent black and white movie.  But I was convinced that Michel Hazanavicius was a very gifted director, and I thought that if we were giving him the money that he needed, if we could come and shoot in LA and with an American cast, American crew I was hoping that the movie    I knew because it was silent black and white would be different, original.  And all the weakness that were at the beginning became strength.  So, now, of course, with all the award season and this amazing evening here at the Oscars and for us to be French, even if we come to American French movie, yes, it’s thrilling, it’s amazing.  I’ll never forget this evening.

And I remember I was thinking about my family because I    my dad won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, and an Oscar, and he was nominated 30 years ago for producer for TESS, by Roman Polanski, and he didn’t win, but he won it in ’66 for a short film.  So, now I have all those beautiful objects that I can put next to his.  So, for me it’s very personal, and it’s a beautiful evening.

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.

Q.      Can you talk a little bit about the Weinsteins’ contribution to the film?
A.      Yes.  But do you have enough time?  Talking about Harvey takes a lot of time, but no, he’s been very good to us.  I asked him to come a month before Cannes, and he flew to France, watch a movie with the director he never heard of with the cast.  He barely heard of Jean Dujardin because he knows about French cinema, but he came.  And I was supposed to leave him alone in the screening room, and I stayed just to check the beginning was going okay.  And I heard him laugh and laugh.  So, I stayed through the whole screening.  And he loved the movie, and I knew that Harvey sometimes say something very enthusiastic.  So, he can be one day, and not the next day, but I saw in his eyes and his attitude that he really cared for the movie, and he really believed that we could be maybe here today.  And I must say that I think he’s the only distributor, even with this very special movie, who had been able to take it to where it is today.

Q.      Hi, congratulations.  I actually spoke with Richard Middleton yesterday, and he was talking about how no one was quite sure what was going to come of this film.  When did you know that you had something special?
A.      Well, day after day, watching the dailies, and first, read the script and then watching the first cut, and yeah, I was superstitious, right.  People around me said there was something special, but I needed to show it.  And the first real screening was in Cannes.  So, in watching in Cannes, the reaction of the press, and I must say thank you to all of you in this room and all the countries, because this is typically the kind of movie that couldn’t speak for itself.  It had so many weaknesses, and you are ones with the press that made this movie what it is today.  Because if there were no    if there weren’t all those articles saying how special the movie was and how it was justified for audience and for people to go and watch black and white, and silent, nobody will have gone to see it.  So, thank you.

Q.      A question and a half actually.  Could you sum up what this means to you, five Oscars, Best Picture, and you just said you were superstitious.  Did you have any kind of a good luck charm with you tonight?
A.      Did I have any

Q.      Have a good luck charm.  You said you are superstitious.
A.      I must say my daughter gave me a coin and that I had in my pocket.  I didn’t think we would win the Cesar, and we win.  So, a few awards before Jean Dujardin, I told him, put this in your pocket.  Then he win.  And I went back to see him, and I said, “Give me back my daughter’s coin,” and it was in my pocket.
And I must say, winning five Oscars, you know, even before we win, when we heard we were nominated ten times, I mean, it was    I don’t think you even imagine how proud and happy we were.  I mean, this is    we did this movie as a tribute to Hollywood.  A tribute to cinema and especially American cinema, but we never expected that in return, we would get so much care and love, and of course these awards that mean so much to us.

Q.      Hi, congratulations on your win tonight.  I was just curious, your film kind of recaptured the golden age of Hollywood cinema, and I was wondering what your thoughts are as to where cinema will be heading in the future?
A.      Well, it’s interesting to see in the present day with all those 3D movies, and I love all kind of movies, and I must say that as a producer mostly we do print movies, I do, and I’m proud of doing what you could call popcorn movies.  And if I had not done movies that are easier for audiences to go and see, I will have    I will have not the money in my company to put the risk.  So, I think every kind of cinema helps another kind.  And if this movie    if THE ARTIST can help an independent producer and to be audacious, this is a great thing, because I’ve shown this movie to kids, and some of them had never seen a black and white movie, and they thought it was    it would be really boring.  And they said they watched it, and after five, ten minutes, they enjoyed it.  So, as Michel Hazanavicius, the director said, silent is a way of telling the story.  That is not maybe from the past that it’s an experience and it’s maybe as big as a 3D experience, even if it’s    was different.

So, we are really proud of this and all kind of cinema should exist.  And I must say that it’s amazing that it’s here in America that all the fuss came and    and all the great reports came about THE ARTIST.  Even when we had success in France and Europe, but now because of your reaction, it’s getting bigger and bigger in Europe.  So, it’s great.

Q.      Thank you so much.  Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.  Thank you.

Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.

Q.      I’m going to ask the question in English.
A.      Sure.

Q.      And if you don’t mind, you can answer in French and then translate it in English, since it’s got to go in the news in, like, ten minutes?
A.      Are you sure?

Q.      If you don’t mind.
A.      Okay.

Q.      We thanked Billy Wilder three times and not once.
A.      Yes.

Q.      [Speaks in French]  If you don’t mind translating, please.
A.      Yeah.  So I    I thanked Billy Wilder three times, because I had to make it short, but I could thank him, like, a thousand    a thousand times, because I think he is the perfect director.  This is the perfect example and he’s the soul of Hollywood, and most of all, I wanted to thank him.  And I love him.

Q.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      Michel?
A.      I don’t speak French.  Sorry.

Q.      All right.  And I don’t speak English either.
A.      Okay.

Q.      But we are going to try.  What was for you the most challenging anecdote, if you consider the road is over as a foreign director, what was the most challenging for you to make it here in Hollywood, if you can give us a little bit    some kind of anecdote, what it is the most difficult to make it here?
A.      Actually, it was not so difficult, because I think because of the movie and because of the connection between people and the movie.  I mean, from the very beginning, it was in September    end of August and September.  I’ve been in three festival, Telluride, Toronto and New York.  And then I realized that people really enjoy the movie and really love the movie.  So when people love the movie, it’s not very difficult because you are not selling, you’re not promoting.  You just smile and say “thank you,” and it’s not so difficult.  You    I mean, you can do that.  And maybe the most difficult thing was to the back and forth and being here while the kids were in Paris.  But this is a personal difficult    I mean, difficulties    it was for professional part it was not so difficult.

Q.      [Speaks in (French)]

Q.      Hollywood, next step Hollywood.
A.      It’s not next step.  I mean, I    this movie bring me some opportunities to meet people and some of them propose me send scripts, or told me that they wanted to work with me.  And if there’s a chance to make a good movie I will do it with    really with honor and great pleasure, because people know how to make movies here.  So there’s some beautiful actors, beautiful scriptwriters and, yes, I hope I will make a movie here once.  It won’t be the next one.  And also, I    I have a wonderful producer who is French and I want to work with him again.  And when you have that kind of producer you don’t drop him off.  You stay    you stuck to him.  You stick to him.  That’s better I think.

Q.      Hello?
A.      Hello.

Q.      With the popularity THE ARTIST and HUGO, what would you say is your favorite silent film or silent films that you helped guide you through the process of making the film in that era?
A.      Which one of my favorite silent movies?

Q.      Yeah, your personal favorite.
A.      I would say, like, I don’t know, maybe, eight or something.  It’s very difficult to say one, because silent movie is not a genre, you know, that because it’s just a format.  I would say that the Murnau’s movies, the American ones SUNRISE and CITY GIRL, I think I prefer CITY GIRL, because I think it’s more simple, but both of them are really great.  King Vidor’s, THE CROWD.  It’s a wonderful movie.  Everybody can see it.  It’s easy to watch.

It’s very touching.  It’s moving picture and very modern.  Tod Browning’s, THE UNKNOWN GYPSY CIRCUS, which it’s a great, great covert and sexy movie set in a gypsy circus, and it’s really great, a short one like one hour and ten minutes the Borzage movie, the Von Stroheim movie, Von Sternberg movies, like, UNDERWORLD and DOCKS OF NEW YORK.  UNDERWORLD is a great, great movie.  DOCKS OF NEW YORK is written by Ben Hecht who wrote SCARFACE after that.  It’s a great movie.  The great    [inaudible]    old Charlie Chaplin.  You can    you can spend a good week with that.

Q.      When we talked at Cannes and then Toronto, we talked a lot about taking risks and your risk seems to have paid off.  So this is a two part question.  Do you think the success tonight, THE ARTIST, will help people take more risks and do you think it, also, will encourage other people besides those of us who already love silent cinema to pay attention to the real history of cinema including that era?
A.      I don’t know.  I    I won’t be so presumptuous.  I    if it    if it can be something for directors, if directors can take THE ARTIST as an example in discussion with financier and say we can shoot in black and white for example.  We can do something that is unusual and if it can help, I would be very proud of it, really.  But usually, it’s not one movie that can help to change things.  If 10 movies or 20 movies in the same year very different in a way, that can change a little bit.  But it’s not one movie, it’s just one movie.  It doesn’t change things.  But I don’t know.  If it helps, I would be very proud of it.

Q.      Now, that you’ve made an accomplished silent film, what is the next door you’re going to open?  Are we talking about documentary, action, love story and will your beautiful wife be in this next movie?
A.      So far, had my    we’ve always write.  I didn’t have a chance to work and so it just in my mind for now.  And what I want to make now is an adaptation of an American movie named THE SEARCH.  It’s a Fred Zinnemann movie    movie from
’47    1947, I think with Montgomery Clift, and I would like to make an adaptation of this movie and it’s a melodrama with a political background and it would    it would be a modern movie, I mean, today, and it will be with Berenice. [inaudible]

Q.      Often there’s a pattern at Oscar with one film tending to nominate below the line categories and the others doing well in above the line as THE ARTIST did tonight.  Can you talk about some of the contributions that your crew head, department head and key heads in the below the line categories, the ones that were nominated and didn’t win at all?
A.      Well, for the cinematography, I have to say    first of all, it’s my third movie with Guillaume Schiffman who did the cinematography, and we connect together.  He’s very    I mean, we can work together very easily.  One of the best performances in that movie is that we shot it in 35 days and to keep that quality of image in 35 days is really something very special.  I mean, not all the cinematographers can do that, I think, and he did a wonderful black and white.  And he did a wonderful job on that and that film, especially.  And the costume designer for example, Mark Bridges, is a great, great collaborator.

It’s really    he’s a lovely person, and he’s really, really good.  And he did exactly what I mean, I ask    I ask them some things about with the costume, the thing that for me was telling the story, but he did so much more, some things I did    didn’t expect that it will help so much the movie, like, the choice of the texture, the recreation of the dresses and the costumes, and their work on the extras, for example.  It’s a great    it makes things so easy when you can shoot all the extras.  I mean, so    yeah.  I’ve been very lucky, I mean, in the    with the crew and with the cast as well.

Q.      [Speaks in (French)]
A.      [Speaks in French].  I’m sorry, she ask me to answer.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.

Oscar®-winning actress Meryl Streep, winner for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her role in “The Iron Lady”, poses backstage for the media. The 84th Annual Academy Awards® are broadcast live on the ABC Television Network from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

A. Hi.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Gracias.  Thank you.

Q. Any Spanish?
A. No.

Q. Well, it doesn’t matter.  I wanted to ask you about what you said on stage because you said that it would probably be your last time there winning an Oscar?
A. Yes, I’m pushing the tolerance.

Q. Maybe you don’t want to give Katharine Hepburn a run for her money?
A. Did she have more?

Q. Four.
A. Oh, well, okay.

Q. No, but really, how did you feel winning this third award, and why did you think
A. Oh, I was thrilled.  I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call your name, and you just go into sort of a, I don’t know, a white light.  And it was just thrilling.  It was like I was a kid again.  I mean, it was    I was a kid when I won this, like, 30 years ago.  Two of the nominees were not even conceived.  So, you know, it was great.  And it was doubly wonderful because my long time collaborative colleague, Roy Helland, makeup man, hairdresser, he won too, and he won for not an outside    he won with his colleague Mark Coulier, who is a great British prosthetics designer, but he won not for some, you know, monster making, but for making a human being, and it’s very unusual in that branch that they give it to somebody who’s just trying to transform people.  And so I was really, really proud for him.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.

Q. Meryl, you said earlier that you were wearing a brand of shoes favored by Margaret Thatcher.
A. Yes.

Q. Do you think wearing those shoes brought you some good luck?  And also, Mrs. Thatcher liked a little whiskey at night.  Are you going to have a couple tonight to celebrate?
A. I am going to start with a couple.  And then we will see if I can walk on the Ferragamos.  Yes.  Mrs. Thatcher wore those shoes.  Yes, thank you.

Q. In researching your role, did you have a chance to meet Margaret Thatcher?
A. No, I haven’t.  Really, she has retired from public life almost entirely now in the last two years.  So, no, I didn’t.  But I studied her, and I studied, you know, there’s so much archival footage.  And then the challenge was to imagine her present life, and that was completely an active imagination on Abi Morgan, the writer’s part, and my part, but there was a lot of freedom in that, but also responsibility to a real person and to history.  So, it was    it was really very, very satisfying as an actor, as an artist, to make a film that starts out about Margaret Thatcher and ends up being really about all of us.  So, that’s all I’ll say about that.

Q. Thank you.

Q. Congratulations, Meryl.
A. Where are you?

Q. Right here, right here.
A. You have to wave your little arm.  Okay.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.  I am coming to Japan.

Q. When?
A. Next week.

Q. Oh, great.
A. Yes.

Q. We love you there, and I’ve been following your career, too, but I am learning that you have very good relationship with a lot of staff member as well as your family.  What is the trick of sustaining such a deep, good relationship in such a busy life?
A. You can ask every working woman that question and get a million different answers because it’s    it’s the juggle and the challenge that we have, but honestly, in my life, because it’s in the arts, I don’t go to work every day.  So my day has been more flexible than other working women.  Even when I was young and broke, I could    I was only working ever for four months at a time, and I was unemployed.  So my children never knew when I was going to be home.  It was very valuable.  But, you know, I think it’s a struggle.  And it’s an ongoing struggle.  Women have to do it all, you know.  And so, the more flexible work becomes, the more engaged the dads become, the better.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you very much.
Q. And my question is, you won for KRAMER VS. KRAMER for the very first time, and then SOPHIE’S CHOICE, and now for IRON LADY.  Which one of those was    this is impossible question to answer, I guess, but talk about, you know, those different experiences in getting up there and accepting, you know, three times now, what was that    you know, what was it like the first time around and the second time around and is this better in some way?
A. I read a poem yesterday, and it had nothing to do with this but it said, one of the lines jumped out and it said, “It is strange to be here once as it is to return.”  So, that’s true.  It is strange, the whole thing is strange.  I mean, if you’re a human being, it’s weird.  If you are not, I don’t know.  Probably fun.

Q. Meryl, over here.
A. Hi.

Q. You had mentioned that it has been a long time since the last time you won.  Were you worried that it never was going to happen again?
A. No.  I have    I mean, I have everything I’ve ever dreamed of in my life.  And no.  I mean, I think there’s room for other people.  Frankly, I understand Streep fatigue.  And it shocks me, it shocked me that it didn’t override this tonight.  So, I was really, really happy but I don’t take anything for granted, that’s for sure.

Q. Thank you.

Q. Congratulations.  In your very moving speech this evening, you mentioned jokingly we might all be sick of you in the future.  I hope that doesn’t happen, but it seems like you have the beginning of a second project in life with The Women’s Museum.  Would you talk a little bit about that?
A. Thank you for asking about that.  There is no national women’s history museum, but there is a lot of history that is not written about the contributions of women in our country and around the world.  And I think it would be really, really inspiring for people all around the world to have this fantastic center where you can learn the stuff that hasn’t been written about women, because for many, many centuries, history was not interested in us.  And yet, and our history is invisible and I think it would be great for boys and girls to go to a place where they could learn about the contributions of their foremothers as well as their forefathers.

Q. Hello.
A. Hi.

Q. (WAMG) – Expounding on that idea, with young girls today, young women watching the Oscars, what advice would you give to them if they are thinking about going into filmmaking or acting?
A. Or anything.

Q. Or anything?
A. Or anything.  Never give up.  Don’t up, don’t give up.  I mean, many girls around the world live in circumstances that are unimaginably difficult.  And it’s not, you know, show business is a golf game compared to the way most kids grow up in the world.  But I would say never give up.  On March 8, 9, and 10, Tina Brown is hosting something called Women in the World in New York, a 3 day symposium bringing activists around the world on behalf of issues concerning women and girls, and it’s a great, great thing.  Hope you will write about it and go see it.  And thank you very much.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you very much.

Q. Have you paid tribute to the great work of Roy and Mark on your makeup?  Can you describe that moment when you first looked in the mirror and saw the face of Margaret Thatcher looking back at you?
A. Well, by the time we had achieved the right amount of less, and less, and less, I had become acclimated to not looking at Margaret Thatcher in the mirror and thought it was me, and that was important to me that I wasn’t looking at rubber, that I was looking at me.  You know, I sort, of at that point in the process of creating a character, I’d already sort of morphed in a way, in my head, and in my heart, with her, and her concerns and her interests, her zeal, her mission, her sense of rightness, and all of that.  But honestly, when we first had the old age makeup on, I saw my dad.  You know.  I looked so much like my dad.  Maybe my dad looked like Margaret Thatcher, I don’t know.  So, is that the end?

Q. That is the end.
A. Okay.  Thank you very much.

Oscar®-winning actor Jean Dujardin, winner for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in “The Artist”, poses backstage for the media. The 84th Annual Academy Awards Awards® is broadcast live on the ABC Television Network from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q.      I’m going to do very quickly but maybe something in French really quickly.  [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      Sir, with your great success in this silent movie, are you concerned with the effort to make a transition into talkies?
A.      (JEAN DUJARDIN)  In America?  I’m not American actor.  I’m a French actor, and I continue in France and    but it’s possible.  It’s
A.      (INTERPRETER) If he can make another silent movie in America, he’d like to.  He knows he’ll always be a French actor in America so he should find roles that, you know, those kinds of roles.
A.      (JEAN DUJARDIN) Thank you.
A.      (INTERPRETER) But he has a few ideas that he wants to develop.

Q.      [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      To your right.  Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.

Q.      At the end of your acceptance speech, did you perhaps drop the French equivalent of the F word?
A.      I said it’s amazing.  It’s incredible.  It’s unbelievable.  Thank you.  Ah, yes.  I’m sorry.

Q.      Hello.
A.      Hello.

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Thank you.

Q.      And I’m wondering where your four legged friend is, Uggie, and how you’re going to celebrate with him?
A.      (JEAN DUJARDIN)  Uggie?  Tonight, Uggie is home in Miami, I think.  So but, yes.
A.      (INTERPRETER) He went to bed already.

Q.      [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      Hello, Jean.  I would like to know what was the process of creating this character and was it any different from the way you created other talking characters?
A.      It was not really intellectual, and I’m not an intellectual.  No, I watch    I watched a lot of movies.  Douglas Fairbanks movies, Gene Kelly movies.  I had fun pretending to be a movie star in 1920s.

Q.      [Speaks in French]
A.      [Speaks in French]

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Thank you very much.  Thank you.

Oscar®-winning actress Octavia Spencer, winner for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, poses backstage for the media during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

A. Do I push him down or    oh, sorry.  See, this is me not being the singer.

Q. To your right, Octavia, over here.
A. My right.  My other right.

Q. Hey?
A. Hey.

Q. Congratulations.  Obviously you must be so thrilled with this win.  I was looking at some of the deleted scenes from the film and there was one scene where your character was at the bus stop and she was obviously beat up.
A. Oh.

Q. Are you disappointed that perhaps the film didn’t include that more tragic ending for your character, although it had some low points, it had some, you know, a little bit of a light hearted feel at the end?
A. Well, I think that’s all in your perception.  No, I’m not disappointed that that scene was deleted.  I think that we wanted to make the movie that Kathryn Stockett had envisioned when she wrote the book.  I don’t think there’s anything light hearted about the Civil Rights movement, but somehow it makes it palatable when you see that type of strife.  So if you can have a laugh every other ten minutes while you watch the struggle then, you know, I have no problem with it.  But no, I’m not disappointed with any aspect of the film.

Q. Octavia, over here.  On your left.
A. To my left.  In the back.

Q. Hey, girl.
A. Hi.

Q. So at the luncheon you were singing one particular song.
A. [Singing] Oscar nominee, but now I’m a winner.  Winner.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you so much.

Q. What will you do?  The plans after this movies?
A. Tonight or

Q. Tonight and then after that?
A. Well, tonight I am going to find my cast mates and we’re going to, you know    I’m actually going to have a quarter of a glass of champagne and hang out and    and I think we all start projects, you know, within the next couple of days.  But I’m just going to live in this moment because it’s never happened and lord knows it may never happen again.

Q. Hello, Octavia.
A. How are you?

Q. Good.  How are you?
A. I am very blessed.

Q. There’s something that stuck out to me in your acceptance speech and you thanked your HELP cast for how they helped you to transform into your character.
A. I said that?  I don’t even remember what I said.  I’m sorry.

Q. Can you explain how did they help you to do that or you know what your cast really meant to you when you said your family really meant to you?
A. Well, it’s very rare that you have the type of ensemble that we had.  You know, you don’t get all the Academy Award nominee winners and Cecily Tyson, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek, Viola Davis coming together to do a project.  And then you have the collaboration of Academy Award nominees behind the scenes.  We just left our egos at the door and worked together as one beautiful unit from Emma, Viola, Bryce, Allison Janney.  I mean, it was an award winning cast.  So to be a part of that and to just sort of dissolve into the world that we were representing is something that we’re supposed to do as actors but it was rare that we did it without judgment with each other.

Q. Thank you.

Q. Hi.
A. Hi there.

Q. Hi.  [Inaudible] from Despierta America with Univision.
A. Hello.

Q. Do you remember?
A. I totally remember.

Q. Awesome.  Well, we were so happy that we were able to be in our show.
A. Thank you.

Q. And while you were there you said that if you won the Oscar that you would come back to celebrate with us.  Is that still an open
A. Well, if all of those hot guys still work there, absolutely.

Q. Awesome.  We will be seeing you there.
A. I

Congratulations you were awesome.
A. I would love to go there.

Q. Good evening.  First, congratulations.
A. Thank you.

You originally spoke about overcoming fear in playing your role in THE HELP.  What would you say to a young man or woman about to start in the Army and overcoming their fears?
A. Well, I haven’t really overcome mine.  I’m scared to death right now.  You know, I don’t take what men and women in uniform do lightly.  You guys provide us with the freedoms and the protection that we as citizens sometimes take for granted, so I don’t know that I’m the person that can say because I    I’ve not served in that capacity.  What I will say is I think    I guess I’m reminded of Emerson:  Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  That’s what you guys do for us every day.

Q. Hi, Octavia.  Congratulations.
A. Thank you so much.

Q. Would you sum up this award season for us and tell us about the love affair you had with THE HELP?
A. Well, the word I want to use I can’t, it’s a word in the    well, I want to say fan effing tastic.  But we’ll just leave the effing out.  Fantastic.  It is    it is humbling.  It is    the love affair I’ve had with THE HELP, I am    I’m a benefactor of all of the riches that the real life Minnys, Aibileens, Constantines, Skeeters, Celias, that they basically repeated.  And so I am    I’m very humble because I get to stand here and accept this award and I haven’t really done anything.  So I don’t know.  That’s a tough question to answer.  Sorry.

Q. Hi there.
A. Hi there.

Q. The L.A. Times recently put an article out that showed that after about six months of research that the Academy was mostly white men.  Something like 94 percent white, 77 percent male and mostly over the age of    median age of 62.  I was wondering what your thoughts were about that?
A. I don’t really have any thoughts about it.  It’s not something that I’ve thought about.  I    I wish I could be more eloquent, elegant in answering that question.  But it’s just    I don’t know.

Q. I was wondering if maybe there    you thought    what your thoughts are if there’s a way for the Academy to be more proactively work towards
A. I can’t tell the Academy what to do, honey.  They just gave me an Oscar.  I just hope they continue to do what they do.  I just am not the person to ask that question.  I really don’t know.  I have no wisdom there.  I’m sorry.

Q. You said in your speech that you    that Steven Spielberg changed your life, and I just want to know if you can expound and expand on how he did that in your life?
A. I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to cut you off, and I didn’t mean to cut you off, ma’am.  I just knew where we were going and I didn’t want to get on that bus.  No pun intended.
Well, Steven Spielberg is a luminary and as far as I can remember in filmmaking, he is    every decade of my life has been creating brilliance and he has this little studio called DreamWorks that could have put any zaftig actress with acting chops in my role, but he allowed my dear friend, Tate Taylor, to cast me pretty much unknown to most of you in that role when there were so many others that could have been    could have been chosen.  And that’s the sign of a true filmmaker to allow a true filmmaker to do what he does.  So he and Stacey Snider changed my professional life, and getting the opportunity to play this role changed life personally as well.

Q. Congratulations.  Tate was your date, too, right?
A. Well, absolutely.  But now I have a different date.

Q. Hello.
A. Hi.

Q. Congratulations on your award.
A. Thank you so much.

Q. My question to you is, is that when you were walking up those stairs and by the time you got up there, a heartfelt standing ovation was given to you and you went into strictly emotions.  What were you feeling at that moment and what would you say to any young girl who would aspire to be in your shoes tonight?
A. Well, get a great designer because you don’t know if you’re going to be on TV or not.  And really and truly I was just trying not to fall down because I had an incident where I fell at an awards show.  This is one of those evenings in my life that I’ll never forget.  I hope it’s the hallmark of more for young aspiring actresses of color, and by color I don’t mean just African American.  I mean Indian, Native American, Latin American, Asian American.  I hope that in some way that I can be some sort of beacon of hope, especially because I am not the typical Hollywood beauty.  You guys are supposed to go, oh, no, you are.

[Laughter]

There’s crickets, guys, work with me here.  Work with me.

No, I don’t know.  I just think that you have to believe in yourself and you have to work very hard.  You can’t ever think that you’re the best thing since sliced bread because I promise you, there are going to be Viola Davises and Jessica Chastains and Emma Stones who are the best thing since sliced bread.  So take it seriously, but don’t take it too seriously.

Q. So congratulations on your award.
A. Thank you so much.

Q. The outpouring of emotion tonight for you and for your movie has been overwhelming, especially considering that you’re a relative newcomer.
A. Well, it depends on who you ask.  Fifteen years, I’m a newcomer.  Okay, I’ll take it.

Q. Can you explain why you think that room responded the way that they did tonight to your name being called?
A. You know what, I would    I would be presumptuous.  I really don’t know.  Maybe it was that they responded to the message of THE HELP.  I honestly don’t know.  I don’t know how to answer that.  I    I don’t know.  I’m sorry.

We can take another question since I basically just said, I don’t know, I don’t know.

Q. Congratulations.  This is going to open so many doors for you.  In your wildest dreams what is the one role that you want to play?
A. I don’t have one role that I want to play.  I guess you know what, I want to be a producer.  I want to be an activist.  I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls, everybody who is good at what they do and deserve a shot at it.  So I think my role, I want to have a presence both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.  So I can’t say on one particular thing, so I’ll just name them all.  I’ll be the jack of all trades and hopefully decent at one of them.

Thank you.  Thank you, guys.

Christopher Plummer, Oscar®-winner for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “Beginners”, poses backstage for the media during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q. The obvious question:  How does it feel to be the oldest Oscar winner ever?
A. I don’t believe that for a second.  I think that Charlie Chaplin, even though it was an honorary Oscar    wasn’t he 83?  I mean, an honorary Oscar after all is an Oscar, we hope.  I’m not sure, but it feels pretty good anyway.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you very much.

Q. I’m getting married soon, so I would love to talk about your wife.  You’re so romantic when you thanked her for rescuing you.  What does that mean and tell me about your wife?
A. What do you think it means?  I thought it was abundantly clear.  Of course, I’m a naughty boy.  I’ve been bad all my life, and she always puts me in line.  I think it’s great what she’s done.  It’s extraordinary.  But it doesn’t strike you when you hear the phrase, “She rescues me every day of my life”?  What could be clearer?

Q. Good evening.  Congratulations, and I’m curious how you look back at awards of any kind, specifically, the two nominations and now the first Oscar win.  In terms of a measure of a career, because it’s, obviously, not the reason you do things, but what kind of dessert topping does it put on a distinguished career?
A. That’s absolutely a wonderful phrase.  It is a le creme on top, and it’s lovely to be sort of accepted, because you know that beyond the pleasure of working in front of a live audience, particularly, it’s a general acceptance of your work.  So it’s thrilling, and I don’t pretend not to poo poo awards, although there’s so many of them, I can’t keep up.  I mean, they’re inventing a new one every day.

Q. Mr. Plummer, congratulations.  Congratulations, on your role, it was very charming and lovely.  And the Academy has a long history of awarding straight actors for gay roles.  Do you think there’s a double standard for the public supporting gay actors in real life as opposed to on film?
A. Well, I think of actors as being universally the same, gay or straight.  We’re all actors, and a gay actor can play a straight guy beautifully and vice versa.  It’s wonderful, because it cancels out all of the sexual differences and all the sort of preconceived misunderstandings of a sexual existence.

Q. Hello, Mr. Plummer, congratulations.  I just wanted to ask you, for you, is this a beginning for you tonight and what do you think it’s the beginning of?
A. Well, it is sort of a renewal, it’s not a beginning exactly, but it has recharged me and I hope I can do it for another ten years at least.  I’m going to drop dead wherever I am, on stage or on the set.  We don’t retire in our profession, thank God.

Q. Mr. Plummer, congratulations.
A. Thank you.

Q. You always do a good job.  In your long and illustrious career, who stands out as your favorite actor besides yourself?  Who did you look up to?
A. No, not myself.  Tons of actors for different reasons.  In the French cinema we had when I grew up, I saw a lot of French film, because I lived in Quebec    from France, great actors and Pierre Brasseur, Lewis Gilbert, and people who are just extraordinary stage actors, particularly although they did do film.  And the great classical actors that inspired me when I was quite young [inaudible], and then later the whole new school of Marlon Brando.  I lived through all of those various changes, and they all had their    made their mark upon me, thanks.

Q. Hello, Mr. Plummer, congratulations.
A. Thank you very much.
Q. I’m so excited.  I see you’re wearing your Order of Canada pin.  I wanted to know why you decided to wear that tonight?
A. I do because I sort of feel that I’m in a way representing my country here tonight, just as Max was representing Sweden.  And I feel that my country gave me the highest    this is the highest civil honor that a Canadian can get and I’m very proud of it and I think an evening like this deserves to have all the medals and awards showing, so that’s why I did it.

Q. You were born in 1929?
A. Yes.

Q. The same year as the Oscar?
A. Yes.

Q. And you won the award for being an old man, at the age of 70.  So I wondered if it mattered to have a naked man in your own hands.  Are you brave enough to say that you love him?
A. The question is    I’m sorry    do I love the Oscar?

Q. Yeah.
A. Well, if the Oscar is gay, yes, of course.

Q. Just another Canadian question.
A. Oh, God.

Q. Can you bring back anything during the war, growing up during the war that gave you so much strength?  Canada is so much a part of your life and it was such a strength, you know, [inaudible].
A. Yeah, it was great to grow up in Quebec, particularly, because Quebec never closed.  Montreal stayed open 24 hours a day, even jaded New Yorkers would come up and enjoy the night life in Montreal.  I’m glad I grew up in a really racy town, and it was marvelous and the cabaret was so important.  Piaf, Chevalier, we had a young Julie Garland, Frank Sinatra, and you can see these people for nothing, just sitting at a bar and having a beer.  It was a glorious time in Montreal and I was lucky enough to be there.  The courage that you talk about was from my mother who was in the first Great War as a nurse, and anything that    she lived through a pretty horrific time.  I don’t know if that’s funny to some of you.  Oh, there’s two things going on here, all right.  Does that answer your question a little bit?

Oscar®-winning producer Gore Verbinski, winner for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year for work on “Rango”, poses backstage for the media during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q.      Congratulations.
A.      Hey, David, how are you?

Q. Great plug for my book.  Thank you very much.  So you developed this movie completely outside of the studio system completely by design.  I’m wondering if you feel like there’s a message in that for other people who are trying to do really off the wall pictures?
A. It helps when you’re friends with Johnny Depp.  I mean, we needed money and, you know, once Johnny said he was in, it was    things started to happen.  But we didn’t go right to a studio we went to Graham    Graham King who gave us enough money to do the story reel.  So for the first 18 months we were just out of our house, seven artists and John Logan, long walks you know, barbecues in the backyard.  It was great.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.

Q. What is the takeaway for you as a filmmaker having done this and gone back and forth now between live action and animation?
A. This    it’s a pretty profound question.  I mean they’re two completely different hats.  I suppose underneath all of it it’s just, you know, finding a story you want to tell in the same way you would as you were if you were sitting around a campfire or something.  But completely different.  I mean there’s no    there are no gifts in animation.  We have to fabricate everything including the anomalies, you know, and yet now I’m two days into shooting a live action picture.  I actually go back tomorrow to shoot, and you know, there’s chaos and you can’t    you can’t orchestrate things exactly how you want them, but when events happen, they’re set in stone and you’re done.  So completely different hat.  I mean, I don’t know how else to explain it.  It’s just every    every aspect of it is so different.

Q. You did something a little unorthodox in this film.  You actually put all the actors in the same room and had them act.  How much do you think that contributed to the success of the film?
A. Well, I don’t know about the success, but I don’t know any other way to direct actors.  I mean, it’s    I want them to act and react.  I suppose it    I think it made it feel like it was occurring and we encouraged line overlaps and we encouraged people to be out of breath.  So we really were kind of paranoid of the computer making things clinical, and it so lends itself to perfection.  So suddenly you had the feeling I guess in the soundtrack that there was a tortoise talking to a lizard, because Johnny was talking to Ned Beatty and they were actually playing the scene together.  So I think there’s    there’s something in there.  There’s some sort of DNA underneath it all.  But ultimately it was just a fear of having somebody sit with a bit of text in front of a microphone.  I mean, I haven’t done that since I was selling sugar water, Budweiser, you know, or whatever, doing commercials, but that’s so distant from, you know, getting a performance.

Q. Gore, if you ever allowed yourself to dream of winning an Oscar, did you hope that it was going to be for a live action or for animation?
A. I don’t know.  I feel like I’m dreaming right now, so I don’t    I don’t think it matters.  I mean, it’s here.  It’s in my hand.  It’s very heavy.  It feels good.

Q. How are you?
A. Good to see you.  How are you?

Q. All right.  As a friend of Johnny Depp, can you possibly describe what makes him fascinating?  What makes him deliver even in an animated film, something more than any other actor could?
A. Well, I think every actor has a different process.  He just, you know, really is brave in kind of pursuing the sort of awkward moment in trying to find something that’s not really rehearsed, or to try to find a way to approach something.  If the lines are in one way, he’ll always come at it a different way.  So I just, I think we have something in common in that sort of pursuit of trying to find    working it until it’s genuinely a little off.

Asghar Farhadi poses backstage with the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

[Note:  Q&A translated by an interpreter.]

Q.      Congratulations.  You’re the first winner from Iran.  Obviously the Iranians are so happy for you right now; they’re excited all around the board.  What is your message to the people and how this award can impact their lives, especially in such a difficult time?
A.      I’m very happy about this award and I believe that Iranian people are also very happy, and this is what really matters to me.  I don’t think this would have any specific message to the Iranian people other than the fact that cultural activities are the most important factors that we need to stick to in the world.  I will be very happy to know that the image that the world gets from our country, Iran, is a very clear image, that it’s not a vague image.  If people around the world try to find the image of one another through the prism of culture, I believe that image would be a more real and a more clear image.

Q.      Many congratulations to you.  What is it about A SEPARATION which has made it connect with so many people around the world?
A.      It is difficult for me to point my finger to a specific thing, but I think what matters is that even though this film was a local film, it could still relate to all people around the world because it is about human relations.  What happens in this film is not specific to a region or a geography and perhaps this is the reason why this film is understandable by people throughout the world like Australia, America, Middle East.

Q.      Hi, I’m from Israel.  And I wanted to know particularly does Iran follow the Oscars at all, and does it mean anything that Iran was nominated with Israel?
A.      People in Iran follow the Oscars a lot more than you think they do, and I know for a fact that right now as the event is happening, it’s in the middle of the night in the middle of the morning and people are not sleeping, and I know that they’re following.  And perhaps the reason why they follow it this year so closely is because by every means it is a cultural event for them and they would like to hear the name of their country through culture.

Q.      I’m from Polish television.  Congratulations.  You won over IN DARKNESS.  I wonder whether you saw Agnieszka Holland’s movie and if you could please comment on it.
A.      Yes, I have seen the film and more than the film I am very much honored by the director herself, and I love her work and believe in her not just for her work but for her humanity, and I saw her a few weeks ago and she told me that even though her film was nominated in the same category, she voted for my film, and to me this was the ultimate greatness of a human being.  I believe that your country should be very proud of such a great director who is a great filmmaker and a great human being.

Q.      Can you give us an update on how Iranian government has officially reacted to the claim that your movie has won and how you think they’ll react to this Oscar?
A.      I really don’t know and I can’t predict what’s going to happen so I’m just going to wait and see how they respond.  The Iranian government is not unanimous at all.  When this film was nominated some were very happy, some were excited, and some were not as happy, so it’s not like you have the same level of people in the system.  To me what matters is that the people of Iran are happy.

Q.      Congratulations.  The issue of tension, especially nuclear tension between Iran and the United States is very strong right now and frankly a lot of people in this country don’t know what to think of Iran, so what kind of message does your film want to send as you try to communicate between people and not government?
A.      What you refer to is what’s happening between the governments, and I don’t have any message for the governments because I believe that this film is communicating with the people and I don’t think that government people are really into cinema.

Oscar®-winning documentarians Rich Middlemas, TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay, winners for Best Documentary Feature for work on “Undefeated”, pose backstage for the media with Sean Combs during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q. Hey, guys.  Congratulations.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) We’re short [inaudible].
Q. Hi, congratulations.  You guys dropped the F bomb on stage.  What do you have to say to that?
A. (DAN LINDSAY) Why did that have to be the first question?
A. (TJ MARTIN) First and foremost, I’d actually like to apologize.  That wasn’t the classiest thing in the world.  However, with that said it did come from the heart, and it was absolutely spontaneous, and there was no way in the world we thought this would ever happen.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) This is the most insane thing that’s ever happened.  It doesn’t make any sense.

Q. Hey, congratulations.  Even though my questions aren’t even asked, it was sort of like old home week because last year Melissa Leo became the first Oscar winner to ever drop the F bomb.  Are you trying to one up her or is this more about social media this year?
A. (DAN LINDSAY) I think we just found a news story.
A. (TJ MARTIN) We’re known for the F bomb.  This is the F bomb clan.  When I say it came from the heart, I am genuinely serious.  It was out of spontaneity and it was completely accidental.  Our core focus, if this possibly were to happen, we really wanted to dedicate the award to the community of North Memphis and the individuals who we profiled in the film.  With that said, there was 45 seconds, and 45 seconds goes really quickly and they cut us off, unfortunately.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) The most important message for us to deliver was the people of North Memphis that literally this award is a testament to them.  If they didn’t trust us the way we did, we wouldn’t be standing here.  And Money and Chavis and Bill and O.C., our main characters, inspired us to make this film and, literally, we would not be sitting here without them.  And it was, well, I’m sorry, standing there    thank you, Rich    it was heartbreaking that we got cut off and weren’t allowed to say that, because that was the most important message we had.

Q. How are you guys?  I feel like I won.  I’m very excited because
A. (TJ MARTIN) Surrogate father over here.

Q. We met in an interview.  How do you feel right now after, you know, with the Oscar on your hand is like?
A. (TJ MARTIN) Surreal?  I need someone to come up and pinch me.  Thank you, Rich, this is really happening.  Oh, my God.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) It was funny.  I said to    we went out into the lobby area right before the awards and had some champagne and just gave each other a hug and said, look, win or lose, this is incredible, I don’t know what happened, but    and we just said, you know
A. (TJ MARTIN) Win or lose, just getting nominated is, like, a phenomenal achievement for us, and again, like, so much of this, we can’t    we could not thank the community of North Memphis enough for, like, we should not be the ones standing up here.  They are the ones who actually    their trust in us in telling their story is what enabled our success.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) Someone else is being way funnier than TJ.

Q. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the F word.
A. (TJ MARTIN) I agree, thank you.  Like I said it, it comes from the heart.

Q. How are you, congratulations to you.  And we talked about the fact if you win, that changes the whole thing for you, everything changes in going forth.  What does change in the way you guys are going to conduct business?
A. (TJ MARTIN) There’s a possibility we might get a job from here.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) We might be able to pay our rent.  That would be nice.  I’m going to go make sure I have another drink with Mr. Combs over here tonight.  That wasn’t happening three weeks ago.

Q. In terms of the folks that did help you, like that person right there and everyone around you, what do you do in terms of the business now?  You’ve got the machinery around you more.  Does that stifle you a little?
A. (DAN LINDSAY) No.  Well, I shouldn’t say no but we want to tell good stories and whatever format that comes in, whether it be a documentary or a scripted feature, for us there’s a feeling and a sentiment that we fell in love with the movies where you would go into a theater and get moved and it would transport you somewhere else, and we tried to do that with our documentary but we want to do that with all our entertainment.  For us, entertainment is not a bad word, and we just want to tell the good stories that hopefully can    that are smart and that will inspire people.
A. (TJ MARTIN) And emote, more importantly, that they’re moving at the end of the day.

Q. Congratulations.  Hi guys.  There’s screaming about the movie, congratulations.  I’m so happy for you.
A. (TJ MARTIN) You look lovely this evening, by the way.

Q. Thank you.  One of the things I’ve been saying is, this is one of the few categories that people get behind, get excited about.  Can you talk about why documentary is such an invigorating category this year?
A. (DAN LINDSAY) First of all, I think there’s an unbelievable grouping in films.  I mean, PARADISE LOST, they freed three people out of jail, and that’s incredible.  HELL AND BACK AGAIN is one of the most cinematic documentaries I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  PINA is pushing boundaries.  Pushing boundaries is beautiful.  IF A TREE FALLS is intelligent and inspiring.  Documentaries, I think it’s partly because of the technology, there’s a
A. (TJ MARTIN)  It democratizes it.
A. (DAN LINDSAY) Yes.  There is a way to make films that you couldn’t make before and you can tell stories that you couldn’t tell before, and I think people just, you know, look, I don’t know if, like, people are clamoring for something genuine.  And I don’t know, I think we’re sick of manufactured stuff, but I’m not going to make a statement.

Q. Congratulations, guys.  I watched the film the other day and I loved it, but I wanted to ask you, there’s been a lot of questions about the whole issue of race with this, and the fact that once again we have the white coach and the black players, and I was just wondering for you, when you set out to make it, was it at all an issue, and I noticed since Mr. Combs is in back of the room, if he wanted to come up and address that issue as well with you?
A. (TJ MARTIN) I’ll address it happily.  When we first discovered the community of North Memphis, that’s what really, when we felt the absolute need to tell the story because I think between the three of us we’ve done a fair amount of traveling within the U.S., and I don’t think we’ve ever seen poverty on that level.  So, once we got there and recognized that race and class was not an issue for both the volunteer coaches and the players, they didn’t see each other, the players didn’t see Coach Bill as their white coach and Coach Bill did not see his players as his, you know, African American players.  So, for us, it was not our duty to bring in that element of it, if it wasn’t a reality for their, you know, for their day to day.

With that said, there was no way we were going to shy away from the socio economic, kind of, dynamics of the stage of the film and of the community, and at the end of the day I actually really appreciate that question because the whole point of it is what really inspires the conversation about race and class.  It’s just the beginning of the conversation.  We’d never say that we’re an authority figure on that, but we’d say it’s time to actually talk about it.

Q. Your film was situated in North Memphis, and West Memphis Three, which is PARADISE LOST 3, was in West Memphis.  Was there any coincidence that you guys might have crossed each other’s paths as documentarians and also both films look at issues of race and poverty from a completely different perspective, but was there any kind of bond or something when you were in North Memphis at the same time?
A. (DAN LINDSAY) I think the fact that you asked that question kind of relates to the question before, the fact that those aren’t just issues, class, poverty, it doesn’t have to do with anything with race, they’re two stories that deal with two different races, but it’s class and what that means to our society.  But no, we never    we met Joe for the first time in the nominees lunch and he’s been a hero of ours forever.  I think I’ve seen BROTHER’S KEEPER 40 times.  But we didn’t even know they were doing that film while we were there, which is kind of crazy.  But no, I guess Memphis breeds good stories, I don’t know.
A. (TJ MARTIN) We should add that we never set out to make a social issues based film.  Our whole intention was to tell a wonderful human interest story, really a coming of age film, and that hopefully, once again, inspired a greater conversation and a greater dialog.

Oscar®-winners for Achievement in Visual Effects for work on “Hugo”, Alex Henning, Rob Legato and Ben Grossmann pose backstage for the media during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q. I have a question about the locomotive accident scene.  I was, uhm, I read somewhere that that was actually good old handmade, uhm, visual effect and not using the    the graphics of computer graphics.  Could you please tell me why you chose that route.
A. [Legato]  We actually had a combination of the two.  The last drawing was specifically designed for a physical model to crash through to imitate the Montparnasse famous black and white shot, and we added two more shots that were real traditional models and the rest of them were computer graphic models that were modeled to be able to be seen side by side with the real one and be, you know, indistinguishable from the two. [inaudible]
A. [Grossmann] The reality is    the question was:  Why did we choose to use a model a modern day miniature instead of the newer modern technology digital.  We used digital where it was appropriate and we used a model where it was appropriate too.  And models and miniatures are classic techniques.  Aside from being an homage to the subject of the movie, Georges Melies and his techniques, there’s still the better solution you get when something looks real, and when you can do that, you should.  And we did.

Q. Hi congratulations.  In the category that was filled with a lot of really great computer animation and the flight motion capture    excuse me    how does it feel for you guys to    to have this tribute to Georges Melies to have used some of his actual techniques and to have won an Oscar for a blend of practical and computerized visual effects?
A. It was a particular thrill for us because a lot of what we did is very subtle things to be basically the same level of the art form of the other categories photography, and art direction, and all that it encompasses within a visual effects into the celebrating the life of those early pioneers.  We chose on every occasion we could to use techniques that might have been used by Georges Melies himself, and some to great effect, and the subtle blends of all those things and what we were trying to achieve with a, hopefully, a degree of art that we would want to evaluate our portion of the program.  So, that kind of is our drive and we are very proud of the fact that we got recognized for the art of it as much as the technology of it.

Q. Congratulations everybody.
A. Thank you.

Q. You won for visual effects and the marriage of visual effects and stereo.  Talk about that marriage, and how this movie has helped to change that.
A. [Legato]  I will start.  I’ll give it over to Ben.  What we are trying to do with the 3D of the movie itself is to basically extend the art form of cinema by using the depth that you get and every shot was designed to take advantage of the depth that we would enhance the model of the story.  So, every shot was literally made to be in 3D and designed to give you some depth or emotional response from it.  Then, the    then the hard part is what these gentlemen had to do which is to actually perfect the 3D in a very complicated way, but I’ll turn it over to them and they can explain.
A. [Grossmann]  I don’t think it needs to be explained too much better.  Really, we had fun with it.  And there’s a lot of science behind it, but we try to take the science and distill it down to something that is so simple that it doesn’t interfere with your instinctive creativity so you can hear Marty or Dante or Bob, and say what they feel the shot should emote.  And then have the technology and the skills down to a simple direction, so that we can move in that direction effortlessly, I think, without encumbering ourselves with 10 pages of science and research; although, it’s all still there.  Alex can probably explain some of that.
A. [Legato]  Alex will say something.
A. [Henning]  Well, like they said, I think it’s just about keeping it to be a story telling device.  More than anything else and not just doing for the sake of doing it.  I think that’s what Marty really set out to do, and what his whole crew was after and by extension, us.  And, uhm, evidently, it kind of worked, because here we are.
A. [Legato]  And it’s very complex, these guys are underselling to make it appear to be seamless.
A. [Henning]  I was looking up Euclidian formulas quite often, and that’s not a joke.

Q. So, you are up against these gigantic visual effects extravaganzas like TRANSFORMERS and even APES.  And you guys won.  I’m just wondering what you think this means about the state of visual effects and the appreciation of visual effects at least by the Academy?
A. My feeling is, and it’s sort of when we finished the movie and how the movie was and the fact we are up against these incredibly technologically, beautifully done films that the blending of the art forms which is, in fact, what I believe cinema to be, which is the combination of all the music, sound effects, lighting, costumes, is all of that.  There’s a perfect blend and ours does not stick out but assists that and becomes part of the art form that the Academy sort of growing up with the visual effects world, and saying, we are now going to also appreciate the art of what you tried to achieve, what’s literally on screen.  Which is worthy of being onscreen.  So, for us, you know, because there’s other films that are fantastic and work is outrageous.  They deserve to win just as much as we do, and if I were to put words in the mouth of the Academy, I would say that they judge them on the merits of art just as much as they do on technology produced.
A. [Grossmann]  Those films are really amazing.  All the other nominees in our category were stunning films that we would never expect to even be up against or stand a chance to compete against.
A. [Legato]  We are kind of surprised to be up here.
A. [Henning]  Yeah, it’s a terrific honor.

Q. Being involved in special effects, can you talk about that participation and how that came about.
A. [Henning]  That is an odd question.
A. [Grossmann]  I got nominated.  Yeah.  I picked someone that was the backbone of what we had to do for the majority of visual effects here, and the structure that they had sort of around the world that allowed us to move quickly with more artists working in their hometowns which is something I’ve only come to appreciate just now is that we don’t take people from the countries they are from and put them in Los Angeles.  We allow them to sort of try and stay in their home countries and then use them as an artistic resource and network around the world, which was done with this German company, who put together a team of nearly 400 plus artists.  Not to belittle any of the vendors, because the vendors    the other vendors that were not picked also did some fantastic work on the show.  So, I think really, it was just being able to take so many people and make them a community of artists that could work on this movie was really, really amazing.
A. [Legato]  In particular, I have to say that every time we came up with a difficult shot, not to belittle any of the other people, I always said, “Give it to the Germans,” because they really nailed it.  And I think I’ve said that many times.
A. [Grossmann]  It does happen, even when it wasn’t the Germans we gave it to.
A. [Henning]  Sometimes it’s just guys with German last names.

Q. Thank you very much and congratulations.

Bret McKenzie, Oscar® winner for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) for “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”, poses backstage with Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q. So here you are joining the ranks of Hugh Jackman, Jane Campion.  How does such a tiny country like New Zealand produce so many award winning artists, and there you are joining them?
A. Uhm, well, it’s a great place to grow up.  You can do whatever you want there.  Uhm, whereas, America, I think everyone’s obsessed with their careers.  New Zealand, you get to just live your dreams.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.

Q. Bret, being a FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS fan, how was it writing the song without Jemaine?
A. Seems to work    seems to have come off very well.  But, uhm, well, I am looking forward to writing with Jemaine in the future here.  Because I can, you know, I will being able to pull out the Oscar card, and say, “Oh, I think we should use this chord,” and I won an Oscar.  So, yes.

Q. Only two nominees, two songs were nominated for this.  Why do you think that is and what particularly do you think about your song, not only allowed you to be nominated, but, like, to win?
A. Well, I am not sure how    why they only nominated two songs, but I was very happy with that situation.  Uhm, and, uhm, I think the system, you know, leads itself toward musicals instead of songs, you know, the needle dropped.
Why my song won?  To be honest, I think it was one of those musical numbers where, uhm, everyone did a great job, James Bobin, the director, did such a cool video.  Jason Segel just channeled his    I don’t know, he went really deep in his performance, both in the recording and on the screen.  And, uhm, yeah, just felt like it was one of those    one of those things that fell into place very easily.

Q. Hi.  Congratulations.
A. Thanks.

Q. You created one of the most incurably catchy songs of the year.  I kind of love you and kind of hate you for it.  Do you know that you are doing that when you write a song; that this is something people will never get out of their heads?
A. Uhm, I guess you can tell when they’re catchy when    I keep singing it myself for days, and I wake up in the morning.  If I worked all day on it and into the night and go home at 2:00 in the morning and then wake up at 9 o’clock and it’s still going on in my head, yeah, I can tell it’s one of the catchy ones, but sorry about that.

Q. Hi.  Uhm, so, what’s next?  Is it a rap album?  Is it musicals?  Is it all kinds?
A. Yeah.  I want to see if I can collaborate with Chris Cooper to do a full length rap album.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.  Nice, sweat coat.

Q. Thank you, thank you.  So, have to ask, do you feel certain amount of pressure living up to the legacy of previous Muppet songs?  Like the “Rainbow Connection”?
A. Like the classic “Rainbow Connection”?  I absolutely do.  And, uhm, a friend of mine said, when I got the job of working on the film, a friend of mind said, “You will need to write another ‘Rainbow Connection.'”
And I said, “You’re right.”  And I didn’t.  And it’s an honor to get this because “Rainbow Connection” didn’t win an Oscar, but there’s no doubt that that song is, you know, an absolute, timeless classic, and this is nothing in comparison.

Q. You mentioned Jim Henson the “Muppets” creator when you were up on stage.  Can you talk about what he meant to you growing up and what this means?  Just    just talk about your next [inaudible] and what he means to you?
A. Yeah.  In the eighties, when I was at home a lot watching TV, my dad one day brought home a video recorder, and that was the latest thing.  He’d been to America and came back with a video recorder.  No one else had one.  It was pretty exciting, but he only had two video cassettes, and one was THE DARK CRYSTAL.  So, my brother and I watched that movie at least twice a week for, I guess, for about five years.  So, uhm, infinitely, Jim Henson influenced me, and I think it’s    you know, he is a huge inspiration.  And, uhm, the other thing I love about the guy is he made children’s, uhm, films that I think he found funny; that he was making them for adults that didn’t patronize the minds of children.

Q. You wrote “Life’s a Happy Song” as well, correct?
A. Yeah.

Q. Which song do you like better?  That’s actually our Sunday morning “making pancakes” song.  We love that.
A. That’s a pancake making song.

Q. We love that.
A. I love them both, but I think this one is more successful in the world in the movie because it’s such a crucial turning point where the characters deal with the age old crisis:  Am I a man or a Muppet?  The other one is that’s    that’s annoyingly catchy, that one, yeah.  It’s all white keys.  If you do want to play it, it’s just    it’s very simple.  It’s all white keys.  C major.  Just go with the white keys and start again.  Okay.  So, is that it?

Ludovic Bource, Oscar®-winner for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for work done on “The Artist”, poses for the media backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

[Note:  Some portions of Q&A were translated by an interpreter.]

Q. Actually, I’ll do it in French.  [Speaks in French]
A. It’s unbelievable for me.

Q. [Speaks in French]
A. So he said he’s he’s incredibly impressed to be here and the first prize he ever got for THE ARTIST was at the EFA awards, the European Film Awards, and the statue is a woman and so his little boy said, Papa, you need to bring me the man, the Oscar, so that they can kiss each other.

Q. [Speaks in French]  It was very moving tonight, your speech, because you said at one point, Well, actually I would like that people accept me here in Hollywood.  Why, because I have so much love to give.  Can you please explain to us, because I know that actually to make it here in Hollywood you have to love and even be in love.
A. All of the work I did on THE ARTIST was a declaration of love to American culture, American cinema.

Q. [Speaks in French]  Congratulations.
A. Thank you so much.

Q. [Unintelligible]is a tribute to the American composer.  [Unintelligible] the next step for you is in Hollywood.
A. If Hollywood accepts me, it’s my dream to be here.  So yes, I would love to give you my love and be part of Hollywood now.

Q. Hi.  This is a silent film, and I just wondered for you, the music plays so much a part of this.  Do you feel like this was a character in the film?
A. Yes.  Music is it’s a character in the movie and it’s a unique language and I’m so honored to have been able to have made this movie thanks to Michel Hazanavicius.

After winning the Oscar® for Adapted Screenplay for work on “The Descendants”, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash and Alexander Payne pose backstage for the media during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Q.      Hello guys.  Congratulations.  You guys are the first to start a huge trend which is called Jolie’ing with the leg.
A.      Yes.

Q.      Tell me about kind of making fun of her to her face right there and like how did that come about, and how hot is she?
A.      (NAT FAXON) She’s supremely hot.  And Jim did the leg first and he didn’t tell us, tell me, so I had to like quickly adapt, but, yeah, so I’ll let him know the inspiration.
A.      (JIM RASH) I just saw her pose and I thought, you know what, we have exactly the same legs and I wanted to show everyone what it meant.  It was a loving tribute.  It was more like, oh, she’s standing, great, I’m going to stand like that, too.

Q.      Hi, Alexander.  I wanted to say hi.  And also when we talked to you a few months ago when the movie was about to come out, and people were saying this could very well be an Oscar contender, and you seemed to have some doubts about that, at least at our roundtable.  And I’m just wondering when did it finally sink in for you that this was going to be an award worthy film, that you were going to start getting awards and so forth for this?
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) When did we meet?

Q.      It was when we did the roundtables.
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) Oh, oh, oh.  Well, I guess when the awards started rolling in you can never be sure until that point, you know.  It’s a funny question to answer.  I don’t really remember.

Q.      Hi, Alexander.
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) Hi, Anthony.

Q.      Hi, how are you?  I was wondering, from their first draft, what did you keep, what did you like, because I’m under the impression that you just rewrote everything and shot with your version of the script.  And I’m just wondering what you kept from what Jim and Nat did.
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) They paved a path for me because they had been through the book quite a few times, they had done a number of drafts.  I think the main things    you know, I’ve got to say in all honesty it was helpful for me to read their drafts both for what I kept and what I didn’t keep.  I was able to sort of    they gave me the luxury to be able to pick and choose what I personally responded to.  What I didn’t keep, for example, was more screen time with the younger daughter rather than with the older daughter.  For example, I was much more interested in the relationship with the older daughter.  Two items in particular which I did keep, neither of them, sadly, made it in the final film, the girl singing “that shit is bananas.”  Anyway, in one scene, you have to read the script, it’s not interesting to talk about.

And at the very end something also maintained, carried over from the novel, which was kind of a joke at the end of the    what became in the film we hope a poignant spreading of the ashes, there was a joke which punctuated that.  We shot that, that didn’t make it into the final film.  But the [unintelligible], it’s just a matter of taste what one picks and chooses from a novel.

Q.      Essentially a question for Jim.  How could NBC ever cancel COMMUNITY when now the Oscar winning Dean Pelton is on that?
A.      (JIM RASH) I guess I should take these into their offices tomorrow and see what I can do.  You know, the good news is we’re back on March 15th so maybe hopefully maybe this will help with Season 4, I don’t know.

Q.      Overall looking forward to it.  Congrats.
A.      (NAT FAXON) Thank you.

Q.      A quick COMMUNITY question.  Are you going to bring the Oscar with you when you do go back, and how do you think the rest of the cast is going to react?
A.      (JIM RASH) It’s smart to take it because most people know where they stand with you.  It’s a great accoutrement for any outfit they might put me in.  It just seems sensible.

Q.      Hi, congratulations.  Alexander, I wondered if you would translate what you said in Hawaiian in that nice tribute to your mom, but also in doing that, talk about how you adapted the Hawaiian culture, especially using the music in telling the story.
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) I’m so happy to correct you.  It wasn’t Hawaiian, it was Greek.

Q.      [Inaudible]
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) Yeah, thanks.  Essentially that’s I love you very much in Greek.  As for, as you say, adapting Hawaiian culture and folding it into the film and using the music, thanks for the question.  In retrospect I have to say, yeah, I am proud of the fact that I was able to spend a number of months in Hawaii before shooting, using Kaui Hart Hemmings, the novelist, as a guy opening the initial doors for me to get it right because they could be quite specific and judgmental out there in Hawaii in kind of nailing what they do.  And the use of music, I’ve said this before, forgive me for repeating myself, but I thought it would be inelegant not to try to score the film with 100 percent Hawaiian music, given the plethora of music out there which never extends beyond the isles.

Q.      I recently saw you were at the Spirit Awards.  And you talked a lot about taking original work and making it your own, so I was just curious about what you took from the book and how you put your own original spin on it.
A.      (JIM RASH) Well, I think, you know, after our first draft, actually I’m meeting with Alexander and our producer, Jim Burke, and getting some notes, that was sort of a thing that Alexander said to us to put the book aside for a second and get ourselves into understanding this character better.  So I think it was more to sort of be able to put that away for a second and expand on it and let the scenes and the emotions there carry us through it, you know, and brighten that story.

Q.      Mr. Payne, like the novelist William Kennedy’s ties to Albany, you have very profound and deep ties to Nebraska.  And now that this Hawaiian story is over, what is the next part of your Nebraska identity, Nebraska roots, cultural ties and moves, and where does Nebraska fit into your future, sir?
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) It’s been ten years    thanks for the question.  It’s been ten years since I’ve shot there and I haven’t shot there since ’01 since ABOUT SCHMIDT and I’m anxious to go back.  If I can cast it right, the next screenplay I’m involved in directing is a father son road trip from Billings, Montana to Lincoln that gets waylaid in a small town in central Nebraska.  I’m from Omaha, so in a way my trying to interpret small town Nebraska is as exotic an endeavor as going to Hawaii.  But I’m anxious to do so.  I’m having trouble casting it, quite frankly, but I hope it works out.

Q.      Why?
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) Because the characters    I didn’t write the script, by the way, I rewrote it, but I didn’t originate it.  They’re very specific.  I’m having trouble finding specifically people to fill those roles.

Q.      Congratulations, Alexander.
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) Thank you.

Q.      Why MARCH OF THE PENGUINS?  And did you guys have a back story for the final thing that they watched?  Was it on?  Did someone pick it?
A.      (ALEXANDER PAYNE) He’s asking about MARCH OF THE PENGUINS which is over the final shot of the family watching television.  I have to tell you something.  It’s a funny thing, it fell off the truck.  I came into the cutting room after shooting, and one of the assistant editors had just dropped it in there, and we, we meaning the editor and I, tried to replace it during the months and months of editing, and we never found anything better so there it stayed.  It’s one of those things.  Fell off the truck.

Q.      Thank you very much and congratulations.