Josh Horowitz
She's either thinking: I could kill him in 5 seconds OR he reminds me so much of Brad. facebook.com/JoshHorowitzMTV
Josh Horowitz @joshuahorowitz
Josh Horowitz
Angelina Jolie told me she thinks of her mom when she thinks of the Oscars.
Andrew Malcolm
Fallon: 84th Annual Academy Awards ratings were up 4% from last year. As Angelina Jolie’s leg put it, ‘You’re welcome.’
Oscars: 20 topics that are Red Hot. Right Now.
Keep up with who's heating up the red carpet with the bold Red Hot. Right Now. social tracker. It's your one-stop shop to see what everyone's talking about on Oscar Sunday!We'll be tracking all Oscar tweets to show you what stars and movies are moving up -- or losing momentum. Follow your favorite celebs as they move up the chart. Tweet and share with your friends!
Be a part of what everyone's talking about on Oscar Sunday with the Red Hot. Right Now. social tracker! From Blackberry... Be Bold!
.@alroker and @anncurry do "The Angelina" #TODAYatOscars http://instagr.am/p/Hgje7BwLUV/
Jezebel
And the Oscar for best leg goes to Angelina Jolie.
published: 2012-02-26 22:26:36
Author: Katey Rich
This year's Oscars, like every year's Oscars, had its highs and its lows. Sometimes Billy Crystal was funny, sometimes he felt like a lecherous old man time-warped in from the 90s. Sometimes the winners were surprising and deserving, sometimes the winners were the wonderful Meryl Streep accepting a prize for a movie that nobody really likes. But before we get into the nitty gritty of what didn't really work about this year's Oscars-- if you're looking for a full list of winners, you can find them HERE, let's celebrate what did, with the 5 best moments of the telecast-- for my money at least. Your mileage may vary, but if you didn't get a little bit of joy out of at least one of these moments, you might just need to try harder with the Oscars next year.
1) Emma Stone presenting Best Visual Effects with Ben Stiller. Stiller has presented this award in elaborate costume a handful of times, but he played straight man here to probably the best young female star we have right now. Stone was funny, playful, entertaining, but also respectful of what the award meant when it came right down to it. She brought so much energy to the stage in her brief moment that I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping they'd just give her the whole hosting gig next year. Come on, Academy! You're always looking for more young people-- why not bring in who seems to be the smartest and most put-together young person in the business?
2) Christopher Plummer winning Best Supporting Actor. It was a hugely deserved win, not only for his long career that's gone unrecognized by the Academy, but for his specific performance in Beginners, which is loose and charming but also full of deep feeling. And then he topped it off with a lovely acceptance speech, a little emotional but perfectly measured, thanking all the right people and speaking to his statue, "You're only two years older than me, where have you been all my life?" It was his turn to win, and he took it masterfully.
3) The In Memoriam tribute. They saved this montage until remarkably late in the ceremony, probably recognizing that it's the best part for a lot of us-- being reminded of our favorite actors and filmmakers who left us in the last year. This year's montage perfectly toed the line between toned-down and garish, with Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding and a children's choir singing "What A Wonderful World"-- kind of a cliched choice, but whatever-- and a swift montage of a lot of faces, with some video and audio clips for the big ones. They didn't succumb to pressure to make a bigger deal out of Whitney Houston than they had to, but ended, as they had to, with the marvelous Elizabeth Taylor. Here's hoping every In Memoriam tribute from here out strikes this good a tone.
4) The cast of Bridesmaids presenting the shorts. From the bawdy penis jokes to the "Scorsese!" drinking game to Ellie Kemper's magnificently sequined dress, these ladies were such a breath of fresh air during the second half of a ceremony that was starting to drag. Somehow they managed to feel funny and irreverent without being crass or disrespectful to the event. The fact that they and Emma Stone were the best presenters says a lot about how much more fun these awards might be if they let funny women play a bigger role. Pay attention for next year, guys!
5) Octavia Spencer's teary acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress. Spencer was the only winner who seemed truly on the verge of losing it-- except for maybe the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo editors, who had no idea what to say. But Spencer held herself together long enough to give an adorably jumbled speech, choking up especially when it came time to thank her Help family, with her date, director Tate Taylor and longtime friend, beaming from the sidelines. The fact that she got a standing ovation from the crowd indicates that she had really earned this moment with a lot of respect from her peers. Viola Davis deserved to have her own similar moment, but Spencer winning was pretty great on its own too.
Honorable Mention: Angelina Jolie and her leg. After spending so much time putting on her solemn face promoting In the Land of Blood and Honey,
Angelina was back in va-va-voom starlet mode, looking like Jessica
Rabbit come to life and seeming to enjoy every minute of it. She and
Brad Pitt are such a fun couple to watch when they seem to be having
fun, but it's even more fun to see her enjoying the spotlight all on her
own. Nicely done!Photo Credit: ©ABC
Angelina Jolie came out to present the writing awards and stuck her leg out of her slit skirt, posing as she had on the Red Carpet, like a 1940’s pinup. Then Jim Rash came on stage to accept his award and posed just like her. Mean, but at least spontaneous. I'd guess his apology is on the way. (Rash, Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon – who were more polite - won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Descendants.)
Oscars 2012: Backstage tears, fears and a terrier
Performers pause to pull themselves together before or after being onstage. Uggie, the dog from 'The Artist,' takes it in.
Backstage at the Academy Awards was a place for unscripted moments of jitters, jubilation -- and doggy treats.
"We're so old and we're so happening!" Meryl Streep shouted, throwing her arms around her longtime makeup artist J. Roy Helland when the two Oscar winners converged in the scrum outside the press room.
Behind Streep and Helland clutching their statuettes, Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier from"The Artist,"was collecting rewards for his performance as well -- some treats delivered by trainer Omar Von Muller.
Photos: Backstage
Uggie had emerged from the stage quivering in the arms of best actor winner Jean Dujardin when "The Artist" won best picture. "Shaky shaky," Dujardin said, kissing Uggie over and over.
It wasn't only the Oscar winners who kept the production crew busy.
"Anybody have a 20 on Brad and Angelina?" a staffer called into his headseat.
Photos: Red Carpet
Brad Pitt was the one up for an Oscar this year, but backstage he was rooting for his partner, Angelina Jolie, as she presented the two screenplay Oscars. Pitt watched Jolie quietly from a monitor in the wings. When Jolie emerged from the stage she rubbed Pitt's back and wondered what to do with the envelope for original screenplay winner Woody Allen.
"Do we want to get this to Woody," a stage manager asked. "Does he even care?"
Before she won her Oscar, even a veteran like Streep had to collect herself as a presenter. As she waited to introduce the Academy's Governors Award winners earlier in the evening, Streep put on her glasses and read her script. Before she took the stage, the actress threw her shoulders back, straightened her dress, exhaled and peeked outside the curtain.
Oscars: Full Coverage
"You'll push me out when it's time?" she asked stage manager Dency Nelson.
"I'll pull you gently, yes," Nelson said.
Sandra Bullock was a supporting actress – lower case -- for best supporting actress Octavia Spencer Sunday night. When Spencer stepped off the stage after accepting her award, she could barely stand. Bullock held her for 30 seconds and then carried the train of her dress as the two walked through the wings.
"Sandy, thank you for that train," Spencer said, before making a quick stop at the official Oscar Thank You Cam. Spencer got just one sentence out before stopping.
"I don't wanna cry. I wanna be pretty," she said.
As Spencer was whisked to the green room, the wings filled with another set of nervous performers -- the Cirque du Soleil "Iris" company, many of them bouncing on their toes and shaking out their feet.
"Remember guys, television is hurry up and wait," stage manager Valdez Flagg told them. "Places please. Magical performance."
Moments before stepping onstage together, presenters Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez practiced a stage turn. "Oh my God," Diaz said under her breath, while Lopez gave her an encouraging smile.
The whimsical move had at least one big fan backstage. "That was genius!" Sandra Bullock wagged her finger at the ladies as she passed them on her way to the stage.
Diaz and Lopez bumped into Oscar producer Brian Grazer backstage as well, and the group discussed the audience's muted reaction.
"It was like, uh, hello?" Diaz said.
Lopez jumped in: "We're trying to entertain you!"
"You livened it up," Grazer told them.
"We gave it our best one-two punch," Lopez said.
Oscar traveled incognito on his big day. About an hour before the start of the show, four white-gloved prop masters pushed 49 Academy Award statuettes on a rickety A/V cart through the byzantine backstage area at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Manny Santoyo guarded the little gold men, as their handlers polished them with fluffy blue towels and placed them on a table at stage right, where they waited until presenters placed them in the winners' hands.
rebecca.keegan@latimes.com
"We're so old and we're so happening!" Meryl Streep shouted, throwing her arms around her longtime makeup artist J. Roy Helland when the two Oscar winners converged in the scrum outside the press room.
Behind Streep and Helland clutching their statuettes, Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier from"The Artist,"was collecting rewards for his performance as well -- some treats delivered by trainer Omar Von Muller.
Photos: Backstage
Uggie had emerged from the stage quivering in the arms of best actor winner Jean Dujardin when "The Artist" won best picture. "Shaky shaky," Dujardin said, kissing Uggie over and over.
It wasn't only the Oscar winners who kept the production crew busy.
"Anybody have a 20 on Brad and Angelina?" a staffer called into his headseat.
Photos: Red Carpet
Brad Pitt was the one up for an Oscar this year, but backstage he was rooting for his partner, Angelina Jolie, as she presented the two screenplay Oscars. Pitt watched Jolie quietly from a monitor in the wings. When Jolie emerged from the stage she rubbed Pitt's back and wondered what to do with the envelope for original screenplay winner Woody Allen.
"Do we want to get this to Woody," a stage manager asked. "Does he even care?"
Before she won her Oscar, even a veteran like Streep had to collect herself as a presenter. As she waited to introduce the Academy's Governors Award winners earlier in the evening, Streep put on her glasses and read her script. Before she took the stage, the actress threw her shoulders back, straightened her dress, exhaled and peeked outside the curtain.
Oscars: Full Coverage
"You'll push me out when it's time?" she asked stage manager Dency Nelson.
"I'll pull you gently, yes," Nelson said.
Sandra Bullock was a supporting actress – lower case -- for best supporting actress Octavia Spencer Sunday night. When Spencer stepped off the stage after accepting her award, she could barely stand. Bullock held her for 30 seconds and then carried the train of her dress as the two walked through the wings.
"Sandy, thank you for that train," Spencer said, before making a quick stop at the official Oscar Thank You Cam. Spencer got just one sentence out before stopping.
"I don't wanna cry. I wanna be pretty," she said.
As Spencer was whisked to the green room, the wings filled with another set of nervous performers -- the Cirque du Soleil "Iris" company, many of them bouncing on their toes and shaking out their feet.
"Remember guys, television is hurry up and wait," stage manager Valdez Flagg told them. "Places please. Magical performance."
Moments before stepping onstage together, presenters Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez practiced a stage turn. "Oh my God," Diaz said under her breath, while Lopez gave her an encouraging smile.
The whimsical move had at least one big fan backstage. "That was genius!" Sandra Bullock wagged her finger at the ladies as she passed them on her way to the stage.
Diaz and Lopez bumped into Oscar producer Brian Grazer backstage as well, and the group discussed the audience's muted reaction.
"It was like, uh, hello?" Diaz said.
Lopez jumped in: "We're trying to entertain you!"
"You livened it up," Grazer told them.
"We gave it our best one-two punch," Lopez said.
Oscar traveled incognito on his big day. About an hour before the start of the show, four white-gloved prop masters pushed 49 Academy Award statuettes on a rickety A/V cart through the byzantine backstage area at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Manny Santoyo guarded the little gold men, as their handlers polished them with fluffy blue towels and placed them on a table at stage right, where they waited until presenters placed them in the winners' hands.
rebecca.keegan@latimes.com
E! Online
@eonline
Most of the presenters did a good job. Some were awe-inspiring doing not much at all (e.g., Angelina Jolie, say no more),
LOS
ANGELES — Billy Crystal, Angelina Jolie's leg and French silent film
"The Artist" brought the Oscars bouncing back from recent slack
viewership, drawing a larger-than-expected 39 million TV viewers and
setting social media abuzz.
Some 39.3 million Americans watched the Oscars ceremony on television on Sunday, up from the 37.6 million audience in 2011, according to preliminary ratings data.
Broadcaster ABC said it was the second largest TV audience for the Academy Awards since 2007.
The bigger audience came and stayed tuned-in despite criticism that host Billy Crystal, 63, put on an old-fashioned show, and that the big awards went to "The Artist", a film that few people have seen.
The Academy Awards also retained all of its 2011 audience in the 18-49 year-old age group prized by advertisers, and drew more women in that viewer category than last year.
The annual Oscars ceremony show is traditionally one of the most watched events on U.S. television but audiences have fallen away in the past few years, especially when blockbuster films like "Avatar" are not in the running for the biggest honors in the movie industry.
"The Artist", which has made only about $30 million at the North American box office, was the big winner on Sunday with five Oscars including best picture, best director and best actor for Frenchman Jean Dujardin.
Crystal, making his 9th appearance as Oscar host, got mixed reviews. Alessandra Stanley at the New York Times said "the whole night looked like an AARP pep rally," while Tim Goodman at the Hollywood Reporter called Crystal's efforts a "safe unfunny retro-disaster."
But the news was not all bad for Crystal. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker said it was a "jolly good show," and the New York Daily News said that Crystal "recaptured smartly the formula that worked for him in the past: quick-hit opening monologue, a song-and-dance number, then a sprinkling of jokes that had an edge but never drew blood."
Despite the jibes from critics about being old-fashioned, the Internet was abuzz with Oscar talk as millions of people watched and chatted online before and after the telecast. ABC said four million people visited website Oscar.com or used an Oscar smartphone app on Sunday alone.
Social media tracker Trendrr said social activity during the show - ranging from online buzz to Twitter comments and Facebook 'likes' - doubled from 2011 to 4.2 million hits on Sunday.
Meryl Streep, who was a surprise best actress winner over presumed front-runner Violas Davis, attracted the most mentions on social media, Trendrr said.
Angelina Jolie set the online world alight when she thrust her leg out of her thigh-high slit dress while presenting an award. Within minutes, a Twitter account had been set up with the handle "angiesrightleg," and by Monday it had some 17,000 followers.
Sunday's Academy Awards TV audience was on a par with February's Grammy Awards show, which was watched by a bumper 39.9 million Americans and fueled by the sudden death of singer Whitney Houston.
This morning, Angelina's father Jon Voight defended her antics during an appearance on Daybreak in the UK.
Asked what he thought of her posing, the actor said: 'She comes out and does this pose and waits until people get it, it was so great. The audience responded so wonderfully too, with whistles and everything.
'And then she laughed and took it in and went on with her speech. So who knows? You can never tell about these moments that pop up out of a show like this.'
Party time: Brad and Ange were spotted leaving George Clooney's after-party at Craig's restaurant
And the biggest star of #Oscars night? Angelina Jolie's right leg! #werq pic.twitter.com/2bIqk8qR
Angelina Jolie at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Feb. 26.
Photo: Getty Images
Ladies and gentlemen, we witnessed a phenomenon at the 2012 Oscars tonight: Angelina Jolie's right leg. From her arrival on the red carpet to presenting on stage, she just could not stop hitching her hand squarely on her hip to pop out her svelte gam ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Posing with Brad Pitt?
POP. Solo red carpet shots? POP. Reading from the teleprompter? POP.
Sitting in her seat? POP. Nah, just kidding, that would look tawdry (but
CONSISTENT!). Angie's black Atelier Versace
strapless, zigzag bodice with a hiiiiiiiigh-thigh slit was the perfect
curtain to showcase her scene-stealing limb, and the structure of the
bustier provided endless hand placement possibilities.
Angelina Jolie at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Feb. 26.
Photo: Getty Images
TWERK, girl. Angie's leg photo-bombing caused such a riot that an @AngiesRightLeg Twitter account was created in her honor. Angelina's only rival to the spotlight jockeying was Jennifer Lopez's on-screen nip-slip,
which also had a Twitter account made after the incident. Though
"Angie's" updates are decidedly one note: "I'm a leg!!" they're a
fantastic accompaniment to the hilario-stylings of @JLosNipple
("'In Memoriam' of all nip slips"). Oof, now can you imagine being
Angie's left leg? Totally the Jan Brady of the Jolie limbs. Sadfaceknee.
Angelina Jolie at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Feb. 26.Photo: Getty Images
Angelina Jolie at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Feb. 26.Photo: Getty Images
Oscars: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
By Rob Licuria
Most of the presenters did a good job. Some were awe-inspiring doing not much at all (e.g., Angelina Jolie, say no more),
The more than three hour telecast was watched by an average 39.3 million people in the U.S. alone
Host Billy Crystal waves goodbye at the conclusion of the 84th Annual Academy Awards.
Photograph by: Kevin Winter , Getty Images
Some 39.3 million Americans watched the Oscars ceremony on television on Sunday, up from the 37.6 million audience in 2011, according to preliminary ratings data.
Broadcaster ABC said it was the second largest TV audience for the Academy Awards since 2007.
The bigger audience came and stayed tuned-in despite criticism that host Billy Crystal, 63, put on an old-fashioned show, and that the big awards went to "The Artist", a film that few people have seen.
The Academy Awards also retained all of its 2011 audience in the 18-49 year-old age group prized by advertisers, and drew more women in that viewer category than last year.
The annual Oscars ceremony show is traditionally one of the most watched events on U.S. television but audiences have fallen away in the past few years, especially when blockbuster films like "Avatar" are not in the running for the biggest honors in the movie industry.
"The Artist", which has made only about $30 million at the North American box office, was the big winner on Sunday with five Oscars including best picture, best director and best actor for Frenchman Jean Dujardin.
Crystal, making his 9th appearance as Oscar host, got mixed reviews. Alessandra Stanley at the New York Times said "the whole night looked like an AARP pep rally," while Tim Goodman at the Hollywood Reporter called Crystal's efforts a "safe unfunny retro-disaster."
But the news was not all bad for Crystal. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker said it was a "jolly good show," and the New York Daily News said that Crystal "recaptured smartly the formula that worked for him in the past: quick-hit opening monologue, a song-and-dance number, then a sprinkling of jokes that had an edge but never drew blood."
Despite the jibes from critics about being old-fashioned, the Internet was abuzz with Oscar talk as millions of people watched and chatted online before and after the telecast. ABC said four million people visited website Oscar.com or used an Oscar smartphone app on Sunday alone.
Social media tracker Trendrr said social activity during the show - ranging from online buzz to Twitter comments and Facebook 'likes' - doubled from 2011 to 4.2 million hits on Sunday.
Meryl Streep, who was a surprise best actress winner over presumed front-runner Violas Davis, attracted the most mentions on social media, Trendrr said.
Angelina Jolie set the online world alight when she thrust her leg out of her thigh-high slit dress while presenting an award. Within minutes, a Twitter account had been set up with the handle "angiesrightleg," and by Monday it had some 17,000 followers.
Sunday's Academy Awards TV audience was on a par with February's Grammy Awards show, which was watched by a bumper 39.9 million Americans and fueled by the sudden death of singer Whitney Houston.
And the award for best breakout star goes to... Angie's right leg
By Andrea Magrath
Whole lotta leg: Angelina Jolie flashes more
than a peek of her pin as she walks the red carpet at the 84th Academy
awards in Hollywood last night
Darling, isn't my right leg wonderful? Angelina
posed up a storm in her black velvet Atelier Versace gown with Brad Pitt
by her side
From every angle: The actress was seen
constantly adjusting her dress as she posed on the
red carpet to ensure photographers captured her thigh-high slit
You thought it was over... guess again! The Salt
star continued her evening of flashing the flesh onstage as she
presented an award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Lapping up the attention: Ange remained in her
pose for several seconds as she enjoyed wolf whistles and cheers from
the audience
This morning, Angelina's father Jon Voight defended her antics during an appearance on Daybreak in the UK.
Asked what he thought of her posing, the actor said: 'She comes out and does this pose and waits until people get it, it was so great. The audience responded so wonderfully too, with whistles and everything.
'And then she laughed and took it in and went on with her speech. So who knows? You can never tell about these moments that pop up out of a show like this.'
