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While cliché, this phrase perfectly sums up my experience in Hollywood during “Oscar Week.”

Events hosted all week by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the nominees and took audiences behind-the-scenes. The various events featured nominees for Documentary Feature and Short, Animated Feature, Foreign Language and Makeup.

For the public

Various “symposiums” were open to the public and sold out the 1,012-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy’s headquarters in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Covering these events was the perfect way to understand the categories, the crafts and meet the nominees.

The documentary symposium, held Feb. 22, was hosted by Michael Moore, the Academy’s Documentary Branch governor. Here, directors and producers discussed the future, preservation and advancement of the craft.

“We believe it’s important to tell true stories,” said Moore in his opening comments. “The public wants the truth … and they turn to docs.”

Daniel Junge, nominated with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy for “Saving Face,” said the short film format was perfect for their film.

“Saving Face” tells a story of acid-attack survivors in Pakistan. The imagery is vivid and eye-opening.

Junge said that if the film was too long, it could have anesthetized audiences. The effect of seeing the damaged faces needed to be done correctly, as to not numb the audience, he said.

The film went on to win the Documentary Short Oscar.

Feb. 23’s animation symposium was informative — and funny. Hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt, the evening featured three of the nominated films’ directors.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson, director of “Kung Fu Panda 2,” discussed being an introvert and having to lead a team of 350 artists.

The foreign language symposium, held on Feb. 25, fêted the five directors of films from Belgium, Canada, Iran, Israel and Poland.

The directors discussed how their films were born.

Asghar Farhadi, director of Iran’s “A Separation,” told the audience the movie started after he heard an Iranian song playing on a friend’s laptop. Farhadi was set to start another movie in Berlin, but the song reminded him of his native country.

“I asked myself, ‘What am I doing?’” Farhadi said. He knew he needed to go back.

The film went on to win the Foreign Language Oscar the next day.

At the hairstylists and makeup artists symposium, also on Feb. 25, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep made surprise appearances in support of their nominated films.

Close, nominated for “Albert Nobbs,” said she would have not done the movie without its makeup team. “The challenge for the team was to make it credible,” she said. The audience couldn’t know she was wearing makeup.

The makeup team for “The Iron Lady” included J. Roy Helland, Streep’s personal hairstylist for 37 years. Streep said she was grateful for the team for its “masterful work” and how the makeup allowed her own appearance to come through. She didn’t want to look like an alien to herself, she said.

The team went on to win the Makeup Oscar the next day.

For the press

As a member of the press, I was also able to cover the food and beverage preview for the Governors Ball, which immediately follows the Oscars. Chef Wolfgang Puck and his team highlighted some of the food on which the invited guests would dine. Culinary creations included black truffle pizza and Kobe Beef Sliders.

There was also a chance to talk to some of the Foreign Film nominated directors on Feb. 24. The two I was able to talk to — Michaël Roskmam (Belgium’s “Bullhead”) and Philippe Falardeau (Canada’s “Monsieur Lazhar”) — were both very happy to have their films selected by their countries to be represented at the Academy Awards.

The whirlwind trip did not stop there.

I was also able to meet Ohio native Randy Haberkamp, whom I profiled for the Feb. 15 Toledo Free Press Star. He is the director of special projects at the Academy and was very gracious to share some of his stories and Oscars memorabilia with me.

And then there’s the Red Carpet.

Hundreds of members of the press from around the world applied for credentials for access to the famous rouge carpet. Toledo Free Press was lucky to get a credential, although it did not include access right before and during the show. The Academy said that about one-third of applying media did not get a prime time credential.

On Feb. 26, I was able to roam the Red Carpet until 11 a.m. I spoke with excited bleacher fans and other reporters who were also reporting on the atmosphere hours before the show.

Early on Feb. 27, I was sitting in one of the plush seats an Oscars watcher had occupied just nine before. I was able to get tickets to “LIVE! with Kelly’s After Oscars Special.” Seeing the theater and the stage adorned with Oscar statuettes was a dream come true.

A golden week

While some of these events were exclusively for the press, others were open to the public. I am thankful to have gotten a credential for the Red Carpet, even limited, and lucky to have been able to secure tickets to the other events.

If I learned anything during my week it’s that the Academy is here to celebrate the best in film — and it doesn’t want you to forget it.

It also doesn’t close up shop once the curtain as gone down on the Oscar stage. It promotes the preservation and celebrate the best in film all year long, through events at its headquarters and around the country.

But for this golden week, I’d like to thank the Academy for that.

Toledo Free Press Lead Designer and Film Editor James A. Molnar blogs about all things Oscar at TheGoldKnight.com.

Tags: 84th Oscars, Academy Awards, AMPAS, Beverly Hills, California, Hollywood, James A. Molnar, Molnar, oscar week, Oscars, The Academy, The Gold Knight, The Oscars

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Film, Star, The Gold Knight.
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This fall, the University of Toledo will host “8,” a play about the challenges to California’s Proposition 8.

“8” chronicles Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown) filed by the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in opposition to an amendment taking away Californians’ same-sex marital rights. Jennifer Rockwood, assistant dean and director of the First Year Experience program and UT theater veteran, acquired rights to the play.

“The trial was never publicized; people need to know what went on,” Rockwood said.

In August 2010, the Federal District Court struck down Proposition 8, but proponents of the amendment have appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Same-sex marriage is still banned in Ohio.

Jennifer Rockwood

Rockwood received funding for the show from the President’s Lecture Series on Diversity. Equality Toledo will present a feedback session at the end of the performance.

“Jennifer asked us if we wanted to participate and, of course, we did,” said Sherry Tripepi, executive director of Equality Toledo. “I hope we raise awareness and start dialogue about gay marriage.”

Casting for the 22-person play is ongoing.

“It’s not all settled yet. I’m hoping to get local celebrities and friends who are actors and give it a better splash,” Rockwood said, adding that students and activists are welcome to contact her. Larry Dean Harris, a Los Angeles playwright and actor, will also join the performance.

“8” was written by Dustin Lance Black, who wrote screenplays for “Milk” and “J. Edgar.” AFER and Broadway Impact, a community-conscious theater group, decided to license the performance to 40 college and community theaters for free.

“This play will continue to show Americans — one by one — that prejudice and fear cannot stand up to truth and justice,” said AFER Board President Chad Griffin in a news release.

The process for getting the rights was intense, Rockwood said.

“I had to send in a lot of info about how I would do it and my plans and the support I would get,” she said. “I’ve been working on this since August, I’ve been pounding the keyboard.”

Rockwood, who taught theater for 29 years, estimated that she has directed 70 plays.

“I live, breathe and eat all sides of the classroom and all sides of the stage,” Rockwood said.

At present, UT and Ohio Wesleyan University are the only Ohio locations for the performance. The Los Angeles show in March will feature George Clooney.

For more information, call Rockwood at (419) 530-2330. The performance is at 8 p.m. Oct. 6 at UT’s Doermann Theatre, 2801 Bancroft St. Admission is free, but Broadway Impact donations will be accepted.

Tags: 8, California, Dustin Lance Black, George Clooney, Jennifer Rockwood, Larry Dean Harris, Proposition 8, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10:56 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Star, Theater.
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The Terminator always said he’d be back.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is sifting through a stack of corporate, Hollywood and real estate offers as the celebrity politician nears an inevitable career crossroad: On Jan. 3, he’s out of a job.

His next act? After seven years as governor in Sacramento, the former body builder and film star will by his own account hit the speech circuit, keep a hand in political activism and possibly write the autobiography that publishers have wanted him to do for years.

The Austrian-born Schwarzenegger says he even might get back into acting if the right script comes along — presumably one appropriate for a 63-year-old father of four with political baggage, advancing age lines and a tinge of gray.

“Will I still have the patience to sit on the set and to do a movie for three months or for six months, all of those things? I don’t know,” the Republican governor tweeted in October in a rare exchange about his future plans.

Spokesman Aaron McLear says Schwarzenegger is sorting out “an absolute flood of every conceivable offer” from the corporate world, real estate ventures and the entertainment industry, but the governor insists he won’t make any decisions until after he surrenders the office to his successor, Democrat Jerry Brown.

“I don’t have a plan,” Schwarzenegger told hundreds of supporters and staffers at a private farewell party in Sacramento last month.

He was less guarded in October when, along with plans for speeches and a book or two, he hinted broadly at a continuing role with the environment and political reform, issues that have become part of his mixed legacy at the statehouse.

In the absence of a global climate-change treaty, Schwarzenegger has urged state and regional governments around the world to address greenhouse gases. This month California regulators approved the nation’s most extensive system giving major polluters financial incentives to discharge fewer greenhouse gases, a key piece of a 2006 climate law championed by the governor.

“There are a lot of important things that I want to say,” Schwarzenegger tweeted. “My struggle for reform will continue, my belief in environmental issues and in protecting the environment will continue.”

One thing is certain: The multimillionaire Schwarzenegger will start earning money, after passing up his $174,000 salary throughout his two terms. His time in office left the governor with plenty of political welts, but the biggest hit was on his own wallet.

State records show Schwarzenegger dumped at least $25 million in direct and indirect payments into two campaigns for governor and other political ventures since 2001, no small sum even for an actor who once commanded $30 million a movie.

That doesn’t include travel costs. He often commuted from Los Angeles to Sacramento several times a week in a private jet at his own expense. He, wife Maria Shriver and his children never moved to Sacramento, preferring their secluded canyon estate a few miles from the Pacific Ocean.

His assets have been held in a private trust since he took office in 2003, but he can return to managing his portfolio, deep in real estate holdings, after stepping down.

His Hollywood future will be the subject of endless speculation. Hollywood insiders say he could take a role as producer or director, but don’t look for him to reappear as a hulking screen hero swinging an automatic weapon.

“He’s a wealthy and clever man. Wealthy and clever men have lots of possibilities,” said longtime Hollywood publicist Michael Levine, who has represented Academy Award winners such as Charlton Heston and Jon Voight.

But the messy work of politics “tarnished his superhero persona,” Levine says. “He can get into anything that doesn’t involve politics or acting.”

One way to understand the governor’s future is to look at his past.

Schwarzenegger rarely leaves anything behind. He might have spent years bickering over budget deficits and public pensions in Sacramento, but he maintained strong ties in the sports world and entertainment industry.

He has staged sports and fitness events in Ohio since 1989, and even while in office he made cameo appearances in films, most recently in friend Sylvester Stallone’s action flick, “The Expendables.”

Some of his Hollywood friends were on hand at his exit party, giving a peek into the private life to which he returns in January — Stallone, Tom Arnold, Jay Leno and Danny DeVito.

Schwarzenegger long ago tamped down the showy lifestyle of his glory days in Hollywood — his gas-swilling Hummers now run on clean fuels. Wild nights? In his spare time he likes to work out and dote on his kids.

He says a fun night can be watching a movie at home or going out to dinner with the family, although he gets out for an occasional motorcycle ride around Los Angeles.

The seven-time Mr. Olympia appears robust despite a string of medical problems: He had a heart valve replaced in 1997, a 2001 motorcycle crash left him with several broken ribs, he had rotator cuff surgery in 2003, went to a hospital complaining of a rapid heartbeat in 2005, and broke an upper thigh bone while skiing in 2006.

He’s acknowledged using steroids in his bodybuilding days, before they became illegal without a prescription, but it’s unknown whether the drugs that can cause heart problems have had anything to do with any of his health issues.

Schwarzenegger and his wife are known for charitable work, which is expected to continue, and he also founded a committee with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to encourage road, bridge and other infrastructure development.

Another run for political office appears unlikely. The moderate Republican will leave Sacramento unpopular with state voters, and he has often noted how his wife never wanted him to enter politics. He often sounds dismayed at the dysfunction within the state Legislature.

In a way, he doesn’t need to. If he chooses, Schwarzenegger and his circle of wealthy friends can finance ballot proposals that can reshape state politics.

Shriver, for her part, has chafed at questions about her future.

A power in her own right during Schwarzenegger’s term, the 54-year-old former TV journalist is best known for running an annual women’s conference that attracted a long list of business, political and entertainment luminaries, along with an audience of thousands.

Schwarzenegger and Shriver each declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

In 2007, Shriver, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, said she wouldn’t resume a TV news career after the media circus surrounding Anna Nicole Smith’s accidental drug overdose. “It was then that I knew that the TV news business had changed and so had I,” she said at the time. In a 2009 interview with AP, she said “I’m too much of a free spirit” to consider running for elective office.

As with Schwarzenegger, she’s being approached by businesses and nonprofits with ideas for the future. She has a strong interest in Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicts her father, R. Sargent Shriver, a 1972 vice presidential candidate. Her late mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics, where Maria Shriver serves on the board. She’s made documentaries, including on Alzheimer’s.

“I love the possibility that good journalism can inspire people and educate people if done well. I think there are many opportunities to do certain forms of journalism,” she said in 2008.

Could Shriver become another Oprah Winfrey? Establish a women’s conference as a private venture? Turn back to journalism?

What’s next?

“I have no idea,” she told reporters last week.

Tags: California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Media, Politics

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Community, Government, People, Politics.
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