The Oscar Moments You Didn't See on TV
LOS ANGELES - Most of the action on the Oscar stage is choreographed and rehearsed. Backstage is another story.
In the wings of the Kodak Theatre, stars grapple with nerves, have impromptu meetings with colleagues and make last-minute adjustments to their hair and makeup. Presenters and performers mingle with brand-new Oscar winners while dodging props and cameramen.
What you see on TV is Hollywood magic. Backstage is like a home movie, where everybody knows each other and they're all excited about putting on a show.
___
OSCAR SHOCK: As Marion Cotillard stepped offstage with the best-actress Oscar for "La Vie En Rose," Forest Whitaker enveloped her in a hug that lasted at least a minute.
Then they looked at each other and laughed.
"I'm shaking, like wow," Cotillard trembled.
Stopping by the backstage "thank you" cam, she expressed her gratitude in French and studied her Oscar.
"I'm shaking so much I think I can't talk," she said.
Whitaker led her arm-in-arm behind the stage on the winner's walk.
"This is huge, this is huge," she gushed as backstage workers applauded.
At a stop for a makeup touch up she tried to breathe deeply.
"This is crazy, this is totally crazy. Ooh la la la la! It's totally surreal," she said.
Tilda Swinton was so stunned by her win for supporting actress in "Michael Clayton" that she could only keep repeating "wow, wow" as she walked offstage.
Presenter Alan Arkin chased her with the winner's envelope.
"Oh yes, this is the proof," Swinton said, leaving arm-in-arm with Arkin.
___
JITTERS: Katherine Heigl wasn't kidding when she told the Oscar audience she was nervous.
Behind the scenes, a stagehand asked if she was OK.
"I just need a cigarette," she said, bumming one from a security guard and heading out to a loading dock.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photos
Search Classifieds
| JOBS | SHOP | CARS | HOMES | |||||||||
Listings, directories and deals
|
||||||||||||
Popular stories
- Think your cat has talent? Take it to the cat show
- Stocks end wild session mixed as investors look for bargains after massive losses
- Connecticut Supreme Court rules that gay and lesbian couples have right to marry
- Japanese businessman held in LA on charge of plotting wife's 1981 murder, arraignment set
- Hugh Hefner splits with Holly Madison
MetroMix
Recent Multimedia
Mug shots of the rich and infamous
Mets, fans say good-bye to Shea Stadium
Lame celebrity revelations
Best celebrity outfits at Fashion Week
Burlesque
Fashion Week's celebrity fashion victims
Surf Expo 2008
Hamptons Hall of Fame: Best of the summer
'Ugly Betty' premiere
Photos: Seven years after 9/11
Pets in costume
MTV Video Music Awards
John McCain: Early years
Tennis hotties
Guess the celeb from the high school photo
Sarah Palin: The early years
Sarah Palin, north star
Tiger Woods, Elin and baby Sam
Venus and Serena Williams through the years and at the U.S. Open
Michael Phelps on Saturday Night Live, and in NYC




