Penndemonium
Oscar-viewing is mandatory in these parts, but it's not written in stone that one has to get dolled up in a tuxedo and stand around eating finger foods while watching a TV monitor at a charitable affair. So for this year's 81st annual trophyfest, Out There attended the telecast party at the Castro Theatre. Thanks to publicist guy Walt von Hauffe for the invitation!
Turned out the Castro was the perfect place to be for the gilded awards, as Best Original Screenplay went to Milk 's Dustin Lance Black, and Best Actor to Milk's Sean Penn, and both men made rousing gay-rights speeches that brought the old house down. In the cheering audience was a large contingent from Milk 's San Francisco crew, including assistant art directors and location managers. The joyous Castro celebration almost compensated for the Academy's 2005 Best Picture debacle slighting the classic Brokeback Mountain for the forgettable Crash . We're still burned up about that.
Also nice and gay, if a bit lost in all the Milk shaking, was Penelope Cruz's deserved win for Best Supporting Actress in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In the underappreciated Woody Allen comedy, Cruz has a lesbian affairette with pneumatic Scarlett Johansson , whose character's orientation is basically hetero, but who treats her same-sex attraction with naturalness and grace.
When Salon magazine asked Oscars head writer Bruce Vilanch his idea for a fantasy Oscar show, he responded, "Well, it would be all nude, no question about that. It would just be all nude and no one would care about the awards. The ratings would sky rocket."
Alas, that didn't happen. But we were undressing newbie host Hugh Jackman with our eyes throughout, and our imagination's pretty good. And, as our perky pal Pepi remarked upon espying Slumdog Millionaire leading actor Dev Patel at the Oscars show, "His ears should get an award all their own!"
Luckily, OT's not the type of column to make a tasteless joke about how the Best Cinematography nominee for his work on The Dark Knight was named Wally Pfister. You can only imagine the temptation.
As for Sean Penn? Well, as the NY Times reminded us last week, "Historically, heterosexual men who play gay - Tom Hanks (Philadelphia ) and William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman) - get to hold hands with the golden guy." We're glad Penn was so natural as a charismatic homo. And one day, we hope a charismatic homo will be a natural as Best Actor.
We're fonda her
Movie star Jane Fonda is currently taking to the Broadway stage and delivering a knockout performance in playwright Moises Kaufman's (The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde) 33 Variations. She plays a musicologist facing a grim death but determined to find out why Beethoven wrote 33 variations on a minor waltz by the otherwise forgotten Anton Diabelli . The play contrasts her research and conflicts with her daughter with Beethoven's dealing with his deafness, penury, and illness. The cast includes actor Colin Hanks, son of Tom, making his Broadway debut. Despite the economy, it was an SRO audience for the preview. A little bird in the audience tells us that Fonda is trim, tailored, and elegant - a star who can act.
Thai alert
From The Nation [Bangkok], dateline Chiang Mai, Thailand: "The second Gay Pride Parade here was called off late Saturday evening after a stand-off with a group of 'Rak Chiang Mai 51' red-shirted demonstrators who were objecting to the public event. About 30 red-shirted protesters went to the Tawan Trendy Mall, where a stage had been erected to welcome the Gay Pride Parade. The protesters launched verbal attacks through a megaphone, saying the event tarnished the city's reputation."
The red-shirts are supporters of ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra, and said to be complete thugs. This is the first time we're aware of that they've attacked anybody but the other political side.
Of thee we zing
Strange de Jim collects zingers from late-night TV!
Jay Leno: "In New York, Governor David A. Patterson wants to tax Internet porn. So, guys, economic recovery is in your hands."
"Thank God California finally has a budget. Arnold told the legislators if they didn't pass it, he'd make a sequel to Kindergarten Cop."
David Letterman on the Oscars: "You know, it takes a lot of nerve for a 4-1/2 hour TV show to give out an award for editing. This year, if the acceptance speeches go on too long, they're going to send Christian Bale out to scream obscenities at them. The Oscar is 13-1/2 inches tall and weighs 8 pounds - I'm sorry, that's Tom Cruise ."