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In its own way, the Governors Awards is the most important film event of the year. On the surface, it\u2019s the Academy Awards rendered in miniature as the Academy Board of Governors presents honorary Oscars to veteran film artists. But in reality, this is the Oscar starting gun wrapped in tuxedos and Louboutins: There\u2019s never greater proximity to Academy voters.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2009 to present career awards while not extending the already-long Oscarcast, the Governors Awards are meant to evoke the more-intimate feel of early Academy Award ceremonies. However, Oscar consultants quickly saw the event as an odyssey in its own right, since it provides an opportunity for intimate, grade-A campaigning just at the start of Phase 1 \u2014 the period that defines the Oscar season up until nominations are announced.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a moment that won\u2019t be matched for the rest of the season, but it also makes for something of a crush inside the Dolby Ballroom. (It\u2019s gotten to the point that the Academy Board of Governors holds its own pre-show cocktail party, so they can have a chance to talk with each other and the Honorary Oscar winners. Otherwise, as one Oscar-winning director noted, \u201cIt\u2019s impossible.\u201d)<\/p>\n
On my way up the stairs to the Dolby Ballroom, I greeted \u201cQueen of Katwe\u201d star David Oyelowo in a splendid silver suit. He went on to chat with Common, who could win a second Oscar for his song for Ava DuVernay\u2019s incendiary Netflix documentary \u201c13th.\u201d Another song contender, Pharrell Williams (\u201cHidden Figures\u201d song \u201cSee a Victory\u201d) was there, wearing his trademark wide-brimmed hat. \u201cFlorence Foster Jenkins\u201d star Hugh Grant trailed behind Amy Adams (\u201cArrival\u201d), who was schmoozing with Pedro Almodovar (Spanish Oscar entry \u201cJulieta\u201d).<\/p>\n
The Sony Pictures Classics gang lined up for a photo: Almodovar, Isabelle Huppert (French Oscar submission \u201cElle\u201d), Michael Barker, and Sandra Huller and Peter Simonischek (German Oscar submission \u201cToni Erdmann\u201d).<\/p>\n
During the 8th Governors Awards dinner, honorees included the \u201cchantastic\u201d global movie star Jackie Chan, as introduced by Best Actor candidate for \u201cSully,\u201d Tom Hanks. The Hong Kong martial arts maestro recalled watching the Oscar show with his parents. His father once asked him, \u201cSon, you get so many movie awards in the world, when will you get one of those?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chan replied, \u201cDad, I make action comedies.\u201d Accepting his Oscar at the Dolby Ballroom, he said, \u201cFinally, after 200 films and so many broken bones, I get one. Thank you Hollywood for teaching me and making me a little bit famous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also inspiring standing ovations was long-time editing branch governor Anne V. Coates, who started out as an assistant to Michael Powell on \u201cThe Red Shoes,\u201d went on to pioneer jump cuts on David Lean\u2019s \u201cLawrence of Arabia,\u201d and contributed to many more, from \u201cChaplin\u201d and \u201cErin Brockovich\u201d to sexy \u201cOut of Sight,\u201d \u201cUnfaithful,\u201d starring presenter Richard Gere, and \u201cFifty Shades of Grey.\u201d Oscar contender Nicole Kidman (Weinstein Co.\u2019s \u201cLion\u201d) told Coates that every actor knows the editor \u201cis your gold. We appreciate you for scouring through everything to find that little moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presenter Jeff Bridges (\u201cHell or High Water\u201d) called legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster the \u201cmaster caster.\u201d Bruce and Laura Dern both thanked the casting director, who started out as an actor, for helping them with their respective careers. Stalmaster is the first casting director to receive an Oscar, after a career serving the likes of Billy Wilder, John Sturges, George Stevens, Stanley Kramer, Norman Jewison, Hal Ashby, Blake Edwards, Mike Nichols, and Sydney Pollack, in movies from \u201cThe Great Escape\u201d to \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d to a total 36 nominations and 11 Oscar wins. Said Stalmaster, \u201cYou never know where or when you will find the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don Cheadle gave tribute to cinema verite champion Frederick Wiseman (\u201cTiticut Follies\u201d), saying: \u201cIn these times, there\u2019s nothing more important than empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiseman was one of many documentarians in the room, including Oscar contenders Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, who directed \u201cWeiner,\u201d a movie about the notorious New York mayoral candidate and sex addict who had an unexpected impact on the presidential race, as well as Kirsten Johnson (\u201cCameraperson\u201d), Ava DuVernay (\u201c13\u201d), Morgan Neville (\u201cThe Music of Strangers\u201d), Roger Ross Williams (\u201cLife, Animated\u201d), Werner Herzog (\u201cInto the Inferno\u201d) and Alex Gibney (\u201cZero Days\u201d). One studio chief exhorted Gibney to go out and do some deep reporting on Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
The new Republican order was a humming conversation, as friends gave each other longer hugs than usual. I got mine from two animation czars, DreamWorks Animation\u2019s Bonnie Arnold and Disney\/Pixar\u2019s John Lasseter, who said, \u201cI know what we have to do for the next four years\u2014make more movies like \u2018Inside Out\u2019 and \u2018Moana\u2019 that change how people see the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next to him, \u201cMoana\u201d songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda (\u201cHamilton\u201d) explained why he was wearing a safety pin on the lapel of his dinner jacket: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who don\u2019t feel safe in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cYou put this on to let them know, if you see me wearing this, you\u2019re safe\u2014you\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the start of the night, as she announced the spring launch of the Academy Talent Development and Inclusion Program, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs reminded that movies, \u201cin uncertain times, they can connect us, change us and unify us. Inclusion is not just a favor we\u2019re doing for anyone. It\u2019s a strategic imperative for our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paramount packed several tables not only for Denis Villeneuve\u2019s new Amy Adams hit \u201cArrival,\u201d Bob Zemeckis\u2019s World War II thriller \u201cAllied\u201d (Marion Cotillard), and Stephen Frears\u2019 opera comedy \u201cFlorence Foster Jenkins\u201d (supporting actors Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg), but also Denzel Washington\u2019s August Wilson adaptation \u201cFences,\u201d with supporting players Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson and Jovan Adepo on hand.<\/p>\n
Fox boosted multi-hyphenate Warren Beatty\u2019s \u201950s Hollywood story \u201cRules Don\u2019t Apply,\u201d starring gold-clad Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich and Ryan Reynolds\u2019 turn in Marvel\u2019s \u201cDeadpool,\u201d as well as the star trio from \u201960s NASA drama \u201cHidden Figures:\u201d Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Jonelle Monae. And then there was Searchlight\u2019s \u201cJackie,\u201d directed by Pablo Larrain (who also has The Orchard\u2019s Chilean Oscar entry \u201cNeruda\u201d) and \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d (supporting actors Armie Hammer and Aji Naomi King); scandal-plagued director-star Nate Parker stayed home.<\/p>\n
Universal\u2019s Focus Features hosted writer-director Tom Ford\u2019s exercise in style \u201cNocturnal Animals\u201d (Amy Adams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Michael Shannon), and J.A. Bayona\u2019s fairy tale \u201cA Monster Calls\u201d (Felicity Jones) as well as Jeff Nichols\u2019 biracial romance \u201cLoving\u201d (Ruth Negga). Disney brought in director Mira Nair as well as stars Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong\u2019o for \u201cQueen of Katwe.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the A24 table were \u201cMoonlight\u201d director Barry Jenkins and supporting stars Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali (who also stars in \u201cHidden Figures\u201d) as well as Plan B producer Jeremy Kleiner (\u201c12 Years a Slave,\u201d \u201cThe Big Short\u201d) and \u201cTwentieth Century Women\u201d writer-director Mike Mills, stars Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig, and Annapurna founder and Oscar perennial Megan Ellison with her new president, Marc Weinstock, who was exhilarated to be liberated from serving a studio.<\/p>\n
Lionsgate brought Damien Chazelle and Emma Stone to support popular musical \u201cLa La Land,\u201d along with Best Actor hopeful Andrew Garfield of \u201cHacksaw Ridge,\u201d but not director Mel Gibson, who\u2019s acting in a Sean Penn movie. Mark Wahlberg was on hand for CBS Films\u2019 AFI FEST closer \u201cPatriot\u2019s Day,\u201d the second 2016 release he starred in for director Peter Berg (\u201cDeepwater Horizon\u201d).<\/p>\n
Amazon Studios and distributor Roadside Attractions hosted the \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d gang, including writer-director Kenneth Lonergan, Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams and financier Kimberly Steward, who hopes to support more worthy indies in future. Kate Beckinsale, squeezed into a narrow white gown, stars in their biggest hit of the year, Whit Stillman\u2019s Jane Austen romp, \u201cLove & Friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the other indie hopefuls at the event were statuesque British actress Rebecca Hall, who stars as a real-life suicidal newscaster in Sundance hit \u201cChristine.\u201d Like every other rising star working the room, she likes to balances risky indie parts with well-paying studio gigs. Next up: Oren Moverman\u2019s \u201cThe Dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The distributor behind last year\u2019s Oscar-winner \u201cSpotlight,\u201d Open Road, is now pushing Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart for boxing picture \u201cBleed for This.\u201d STX brought \u201cEdge of Seventeen\u201d star Hailee Steinfeld (Oscar-nominated for \u201cTrue Grit\u201d), produced by James L. Brooks, as well as writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig. Bleecker Street\u2019s \u201cEye in the Sky\u201d star Helen Mirren introduced the night\u2019s proceedings.<\/p>\n
View this article at IndieWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In its own way, the Governors Awards is the most important film event of the year. On the surface, it\u2019s the Academy Awards rendered in miniature as the Academy Board of Governors presents honorary Oscars to veteran film artists. But in reality, this is the Oscar starting gun wrapped in tuxedos and Louboutins: There\u2019s never
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