Los Angeles, CA - November 17: Angelina Jolie and her son Knox Jolie-Pitt arrive on the red carpet at the 15th annual Governor's Awards held in the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Angelina Jolie and Knox Jolie-Pitt arrive at the 2024 Governors Awards in LA 🤎 pic.twitter.com/khoEvQnCOu
The fact that the actor chose an unsigned dress when she could have had her pick of any designer’s oeuvre speaks to Angelina Jolie’s true love of the game. https://t.co/6zPPtHLbhO
Same eye color as Angelina. Nose and ears are Brad's.
Hello from the Governors Awards, where they hand out the honorary Oscars. Given that the late Quincy Jones will be among those honored tonight, I’m expecting an emotional night. Follow along… pic.twitter.com/xlxiMYSGYx
— Jay L. Clendenin / If I don't ask, It won't change (@jaylclendenin) March 26, 2022
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Brad dutifully appeared at the Governors Ball and Vanity Fair party, staying just long enough to get his trophy engraved and be photographed, then hurried home to Angelina whose absence
beside him during the awards season dampened his desire to attend the
ceremonies. He had Tarantino and Margot Robbie pick up his awards at
the CCA and BAFTA on his behalf. He said he was not having the time of his life
and could not say what was the best thing in his life. He was determined not to lie. He said the key to happiness in Hollywood is family and love, but while he acknowledged the kids, he couldn't publicly acknowledge Angelina who was thekey -- his familyand his loveand the best thing in his life. As symbolized by the large star tattoo on his wrist and her diamond star burst ring -- likely his design -- she is the star shining bright for the family. He didn't hide that he had no desire to party with other people after his Oscar. He couldn't wait to go home to properly celebrate with Angelina and "hang with his loved ones." As with the early announcement of their new Miraval champagne company, they've dropped many broad hints that make it obvious that they are and have always been together.
2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party People DM
Pitt, 56, was one of the first to make it to the bash, with partygoers
cheering his arrival. The actor was immediately swarmed with people
congratulating him on his first acting Oscar. Among the first to
approach him were Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West. The trio were seen laughing while catching up. Pitt is close with the couple, having frequented West’s Sunday Services in the past.
The actor was also approached by Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood costar Margaret Qualley, Elizabeth Banks, Spike Lee, Adrien Brody, Tyrese Gibson, Tiffany Haddish, Marc Maron before making his way out less than an hour after he arrived. 'I'm not really a party guy,' he explained, making an early exit.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: (L-R) Brad Pitt and Elizabeth Banks attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Brad Pitt and Kanye West attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Kim Kardashian West and Brad Pitt attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)
Spike Lee
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: (L-R) Kate Bock, Aly Raisman, Dwyane Wade, and Jon Voight attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Brad Pitt, winner of the Actor in a Supporting Role award for "Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood," attends the 92nd Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
BTW for those who aren't able to watch Varda's full speech I transcribed the whole thing, in which she calls Angelina Jolie and @jes_chastain her feminist guardian angels, here: https://t.co/uAuVHFuxPs
@kristapley
As awards season launches underneath a shadow for the second year in a row, Oscar contenders aplenty turned out to salute four cinema legends and a bold work of immersive art Saturday night.
But the current headline-making ills plaguing the industry failed to
creep into an evening dedicated to celebration. Gary Oldman (“Darkest
Hour”), Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”), Willem Dafoe (“The Florida
Project”) and Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) were just some of the names on
hand to raise a glass to filmmakers Charles Burnett and Agnes Varda,
cinematographer Owen Roizman and actor Donald Sutherland at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ ninth annual Governors Awards ceremony.
Also honored was filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu,
for his virtual reality installation “Carne y Arena.” The Oscar-winning
director of “Birdman” and “The Revenant” received a rare special
commendation from the Academy for his efforts.
Luminaries such as Lawrence Kasdan, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Chastain,
Angelina Jolie and Ava DuVernay dropped into the program to pay their
respects to the quintet as the non-televised satellite Oscars
event unfolded at the Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, just a few flights
above the very spot where new Oscar winners will be crowned in four
months’ time.
“Tonight’s honorees have each added a single voice to the chorus of
world cinema,” AMPAS president John Bailey said in his opening remarks.
Indeed, as the Academy softly pivots to the internationalization of the
organization amid an ongoing inclusion debate, this year’s lineup of
honorary Oscar recipients was one of the most diverse ever.
Roizman’s honor kicked off the evening. Kasdan noted that the “genius
brew” conjured by the celebrated cinematographer and director William
Friedkin on early 1970s films like “The French Connection” and “The
Exorcist” changed movies forever. “We all wanted our movies to look like
that,” Kasdan said.
Hoffman, who worked with Roizman on Sydney Pollack’s “Tootsie,” had
the honors of presenting, noting that the lenser “sees not only a
picture, an image — but a story.”
Visibly touched, the five-time Oscar-nominated Roizman paid tribute
to the collaborative nature of the medium. “Film is made up of many
silver particles,” he said. “Each one represents someone working on a
film.”
The comedy portion of the evening came next, courtesy of Academy
directors branch governor Kimberly Peirce. In a long and hilarious ode
to filmmaker Agnes Varda alongside documentary branch governor Kate
Amend, Peirce probably broke a record at the buttoned-up event for most
mentions of the word “orgasm.”
Chastain, meanwhile, noted that “the difference between being an
iconoclast and an icon is time, and Agnes Varda has somehow managed to
remain on the cutting edge.” Jolie followed, adding that “‘female
director’ is a label [Varda] might resist. She is first and foremost an
artist. When she started making films, they were not films women weren’t
making — they were films no one was making.”
Varda capped her acceptance speech by gifting the evening with one of
its most precious photo ops: Cutting a rug on stage with Jolie.
Burnett’s reach and the inspiration he has instilled was also
palpable. Filmmakers Reginald Hudlin and Sean Baker, and actors Chadwick
Boseman and Tessa Thompson, were among those who paid tribute to the
director’s work, which has gone largely under-recognized for much of his
career.
Before presenting the Oscar, DuVernay spoke about how she would often
look through film history books and note that, inevitably, any section
devoted to black filmmaking was grossly limited. It might be a caption,
or a paragraph if you’re lucky. “Within the world of that paragraph, you
are the universe,” she said to Burnett. “You have centered blackness
and rendered us victorious. For that I thank you, sir.”
In accepting the award, Burnett was candid about his insecurities,
which weren’t helped by being told early in life by a reckless teacher
that he wouldn’t amount to anything. “This award means I’m getting
further away from this stigma, this feeling that [my work is] not going
to have any meaning, that I don’t have what it takes.”
He’s not sure if that teacher is still around, but if he is, “I hope he reads the trades,” Burnett said.
While the evening mostly steered clear of big sociopolitical
statements, Inarritu certainly had something considerable on his mind.
“Ideologies have f—cked up the world,” the “Carne y Arena” director
said. “It hasn’t been the people, but the ideas we have about those
people … When the word ‘illegal alien’ or ‘rapist’ is fired, the reality
of a certain human life or a community is reduced to an idea, and
whoever believes or possesses and fires that idea, ends
up impoverishing, misleading and degrading their perception of reality.”
He went on to speak about the state of immigration the world over,
specifically noting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy,
which was rescinded by the Trump administration in September. He also
quoted Buddhist activist Thich Nhat Hanh to make his point:
“‘Understanding is love’s other name.’ If you don’t understand, you
can’t love.” He closed by noting that he is not interested in technology
to reinvent or escape reality, but rather, to use it to embrace reality
and wield it as a tool for empathy. That was the goal of his latest
work.
The Academy hasn’t given out a peripheral “special” Oscar since it
honored “Toy Story” in 1996, so Inarritu’s recognition was a momentous
occasion indeed.
The night closed with Sutherland, who has somehow never received an
Oscar nomination throughout his storied career. “The closest I ever got
was I gave one away once,” the actor joked on Variety‘s “Playback” podcast ahead of the ceremony.
Colin Farrell, Ron Meyer, Jennifer Lawrence and Whoopi Goldberg all
joined together in toasting the 82-year-old veteran. “As an actor, I
want to make magic, and Donald Sutherland is one of the greatest magicians ever,” Goldberg said.
On stage, Sutherland — who worked with Bailey on Robert Redford’s
1980 film “Ordinary People” — recalled the phone call he received from
the cinematographer giving him the news of his accolade: “He said, ‘It’s
John Bailey.’ I said, ‘John Bailey? [‘Ordinary People’] was 37 years
ago.’ He said, ‘I’ve been made president of the Academy.’ I said,
‘Congratulations.’ He said, ‘No, I’m calling to congratulate you!'”
The actor held court in the ceremony’s final moments with the kind of
gravitas Steven Spielberg noted of him in comments delivered earlier in
the evening. Standing there, finally an Oscar recipient after a career
bordering on 200 credits, he looked right at home.
Agnes Varda getting an Oscar AND dancing with Angelina Jolie is now our favourite thing on the internet - https://t.co/VeEaiAm7aJ
The Academy Governors Awards: Angelina Jolie and Agnes Varda Danced as Hollywood Celebrated Oscars
As Hollywood reels from the fallout from sexual harassment scandals, the Governors Awards took the high road amid the usual throng of Oscar contenders.
“Shitty is shitty,” new Academy governor Whoopi Goldberg told me of
the vote to expel a member for the second time in AMPAS’ 90-year
history. As everyone in Hollywood struggles to keep their head straight
amid a flood of sexual harassment scandals, this year’s crop of Oscar
contenders braved Hollywood and Highland traffic snarls to charm a room
full of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) members,
including the 54 Governors who voted for this year’s five Honorary Oscars, presented at the 9th (untelevised) Governors Awards.
Behind the scenes, Oscar campaigners had pushed their clients as
presenters. Clearly, it was a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence
(“mother!”) on stage to present to her “Hunger Games” costar Donald
Sutherland (“M.A.S.H.,” “Klute,” “Don’t Look Now”), who never scored one
Oscar nomination. “It’s odd that he never won an Oscar,” said Lawrence,
thanking him for his generosity and guidance and a list of 50 books to
read.
Speaking sans teleprompter, the 82-year-old Canadian recounted the
phone call from “Ordinary People” cinematographer Bailey, who informed
him that he was the new president of the Academy. “Congratulations,”
said Sutherland. “No, I’m calling to congratulate you,” replied Bailey.
“The door has opened and it feels like a fresh breath of air has come
in,” said Sutherland, who thanked his wife of 45 years Francine Racette
and his children, including CAA agent Roeg and TV star Kiefer, who were
visibly moved by their father, who has never stopped working and gives a
moving performance as a man with dementia in “The Leisure Seekers”
(Sony Pictures Classics) opposite Helen Mirren.
Described by Agnes Varda as her “feminist guardian angels,” Jessica
Chastain (“Molly’s Game”) and Angelina Jolie (“First They Killed My
Father”) both celebrated the 89-year-old French New Wave pioneer, who
was surrounded by such top brass of French cinema as Cannes director
Thierry Fremaux, as well as her children with the late Jacques Demy and
grandchildren. From the floor Varda made priceless silent video
reactions to tributes to such films as “Cleo from 5 to 7
Varda started making films at age 25 and 63 years later is still going
strong, with lauded documentary “Faces Places” in the Oscar race. “It
makes me feel good,” she said, clutching her gold statue. “My films
never made money but if not money I got many awards. ” After a sleepless
night tossing in her bed she decided, she said, not to go in the
direction of weight, but of lightness. At which point Jolie grabbed the
89-year-old’s hand for an impromptu dance.
Academy governor Steven Spielberg, who was sitting with his “The Post”
producer Amy Pascal and star Tom Hanks, started out the evening with
remarks that pushed the Motion Picture Academy’s role as a group of
accomplished artists who seek to lead and inspire. “We aspire to be
bigger and greater,” he said. To that end they gave Alejandro González
Iñárritu a special Oscar for his and three-time Oscar-winner Emmanuel
“Chivo” Lubezki’s extraordinary VR museum installation “Carne Y Arena,”
which is still playing at the Los Angeles County Museum. “The biggest
enemy of ideology is reality,” he said.
Also taking the high road was Academy president and cinematographer John
Bailey, who did not make any mention of the recent sexual harassment
allegations that pushed the Academy to convene a special meeting and
vote out alleged serial sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. Sexual
harassment fallout was the main topic of discussion off-stage, however,
along with the seismic changes in the industry, from the potential
merger of Disney and Fox to the prospect of MGM and Annapurna releasing
Bond 25. How the Academy will establish codes of conduct is next on the
board’s agenda, which could involve stripping miscreant members of their
voting rights.
Women were front and center at the event as Gal Gadot (who reportedly
won’t work with accused harasser Brett Ratner on a “Wonder Woman”
sequel) and her director Patty Jenkins, Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf
and Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”), “Battle of the Sexes” stars Emma Stone
and Andrea Riseborough, Dee Rees, Cary Mulligan and Mary J. Blige
(“Mudbound”) and writer-director Angelina Jolie and co-writer Loung Ung
(“First They Killed My Father”), “The Shape of Water” star Sally
Hawkins, Jessica Chastain and Allison Janney (“Molly’s Game”), and
producers Amy Pascal (“The Post,” “Molly’s Game”) and Kathleen Kennedy
(“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) made the rounds.
Around the room, would-be Oscar contenders were getting a kick out of
meeting and greeting. Rob Pattinson (“Good Time”) popped up to greet
Claes Bang (“The Square”), delighted that he had seen and liked his
film; Danish star Bang is fielding Hollywood offers, while his own
industry is going through its own round of sexual harassment allegations.
Also breaking out this year is Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me By Your
Name”), who admitted that he had met Steven Spielberg before — by
reading for him. “Mudbound” star Jason Clarke talked Democratic politics
as passionately as Ted Kennedy would have (he plays him in Byron
Allen’s Entertainment Studios Toronto pickup “Chappaquiddick,” which has
been pushed back to 2018). Christopher Nolan held court at the
“Dunkirk” table, while the “Darkest Hour” screenwriter Anthony McCarten
compared notes with “The Big Sick” writer-star Kumail Nanjiani. British
“Star Wars” and “Detroit” star John Boyega held forth at the Annapurna
Pictures table with his “Detroit” onscreen nemesis Will Poulter, writer
Mark Boal and president Marc Weinstock.
The Academy’s Bailey helped to push five-time Oscar nominee Owen Roizman
(“The French Connection,” “Network,” “Wyatt Earp” and “The Exorcist”)
to finally land an honorary Oscar. Roizman gave into tears at the
plaudits from his peers Caleb Deschanel and Janusz Kaminski as well as
presenter Dustin Hoffman, who praised the pioneer in gritty, soft-lit
cinematic realism (and in-camera special effects) for making his makeup
look good in “Tootsie” and earned several rounds of supportive applause
from the crowd, despite his own recent harassment allegations. One of
the calibrations the Academy is trying to make — along with everyone
else — is how to cope with a spectrum of behavior without stripping
masters of their craft of their laudable accomplishment. It’s a work in
progress.
Inside the Governors Awards: Jennifer Lawrence Has a Date Night, Angelina Jolie Dances Onstage
By Maria Pasquini•@mlsqueenz and Kara Warner•@karawarner
...
Angelina Jolie also took the stage — after being spotted chatting up the many visitors to her table, including actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
She presented an honorary Oscar to director Agnes Varda. After Varda
finished her speech, noting how she felt like dancing, Jolie joined her
onstage for a fun groove session.
The UN Ambassador shined while
presenting an honorary Oscar to Varda, telling the director, “You have
reminded me personally of the importance of joy.”
Legendary director #AgnésVarda dances on stage with Angelina Jolie as she accepts her honorary Academy Award, at the Governors Awards. 🏆👏 pic.twitter.com/lTei7Ddk3b
We're excited for tonight's MASTERS IN CONVERSATION with Agnès Varda! These buttons came straight from Paris to celebrate Agnès! 🎉 #AFIFESTpic.twitter.com/Kq8tM0usZb
The giddiest moment was surely Angelina Jolie and Agnes Varda doing a
little dance when the Mother of the French New Wave was presented with
her statue, complete with spins and everything.
The respect on display for Charles Burnett and Agnes Varda in particular was a beautiful thing. Inspires me to better explore the edges of their filmographies. 11/
Presenter Angelina Jolie dances with Honorary Oscar winner Agnes Varda, 89, who has been making films for 63 years and has documentary “Faces Places” in the Oscar race. pic.twitter.com/CgOp7bLKuf
You’ll see this replayed forever: Agnes Varda & Angelina Jolie just danced together at the end of Agnes’ honorary Oscar speech at #GovAwardspic.twitter.com/JsA0rnzYG3
Angelina Jolie honoring Agnès Varda by noting the ridiculous fact that she was called “the grandmother of the French New Wave” at 30. #GovAwardspic.twitter.com/7RzPOfQYqw
Filmmaker Kimberley Pierce’s speech honoring director Agnès Varda went on a lengthy digression about the length of male orgasms in film. It was incredible. I don’t know if the room exactly agreed. #GovAwardspic.twitter.com/vl4kNqHccT
Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are starstruck by Angelina Jolie; Michael Mann is hanging with Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Steven Spielberg; yes we are at the @TheAcademy Governors Awards.
Honorees Charles Burnett, Agnès Varda, Owen Roizman and Donald Sutherland attend the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 9th Annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on November 11, 2017
