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Oscar ceremony swirls with bright images, dark themes
Tuesday, March 28, 2000 By Ron Weiskind, Post-Gazette Movie Editor
LOS ANGELES -- My telephone in the Academy Awards press tent rang about 2 1/2 hours before show time. "Is this K-Mart?" asked the gruff voice on the other end. "No," I said, glancing at the tuxedos and formal dresses in the room and thinking it's about as far away as you can get.
On the other hand, Best Actress winner Hilary Swank starred in a movie that cost $2 million. By normal Oscar standards, "Boys Don't Cry" is a blue-light special for sure. Of course, unlike the Oscar show, you can get out of a K-Mart in less than four hours.
Sunday's awards program offered its share of contradictions. Best Picture winner "American Beauty" won five Oscars, but the special effects spectacular "The Matrix" won four. People on stage paid tribute to the impending motherhood of acting nominee Annette Bening, but Adapted Screenplay winner John Irving ("The Cider House Rules") got applause for mentioning abortion rights, one of the themes of his film.
Pedro Almodovar, who directed Foreign Language Film winner "All About My Mother," complained backstage that the rule requiring voters in that category to see all five nominated movies qualifies as discrimination. "I'm sure they have a good reason to do this, but these conditions should change in the future," he said. "My friends, they don't have time to go see the movies."
Somehow, though, Academy voters found the time to see "Boys Don't Cry." This dark and gritty drama is based on the true story of Brandon Teena, the name taken by a young woman who passed herself off as a man in a small Nebraska town. Brandon had a girlfriend and got away with the deception until his pals learned the truth and turned violently on him.
Swank, a former cast member of TV's "Beverly Hills 90210," looked all woman on Oscar night.
"I do feel like a princess," she told reporters -- but not before admitting that she forgot to thank her husband, actor Chad Lowe, while offering gratitude on stage to virtually everyone else.
What did he say to her after her name was announced? "Breathe and be free," she said.
Being free is the theme she takes from the movie, as Brandon Teena felt free to live as he wanted to.
"It's not that I chose to be in this movie that didn't have any money. I followed my heart. I can only hope that I can keep doing that."
She had always dreamed of being an actress, so when she was 16, Swank and her mother "packed up in Washington state, got in our Oldsmobile with $75 to our name and drove to L.A., living out of our car." Her mother called an agency and urged them to meet Hilary. They did -- and they signed her up.
"We lived out of the car until I got my first job, which was on [the TV series] 'Growing Pains' " -- the same show that spawned a young actor named Leonardo DiCaprio.
"I would be lying if I didn't say you think about an Oscar in your future if what you want to be is an actor," she said. But she says it was the last thing on her mind when she went into "Boys Don't Cry."
"To see this quite important movie get this kind of recognition is spectacular. I consider myself someone who cares a huge amount about humanity. This movie opens the door to letting people know what goes on in society, and hopefully helps put an end to intolerance in the future.
"It makes me feel good that people of all ages and walks of life can walk up to me and say they could identify with Brandon."
Even old Hollywood pro Warren Beatty, winner of the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award saluting Beatty's career as a producer, could see the value in Swank's film.
"It's so rare for a low-priced movie like that to get this kind of attention. That's terrific for movies," he said.
"I'm proud of the profession," he continued. "In a world on the edge of a broadband revolution, there are an awful lot of responsibilities both social and artistic that fall upon us here in Hollywood.
"We have to take special care not to be driven solely by making money."
He says he doesn't like to look at the Oscars as a competitive event so much as a communal one, where the industry comes together each year in celebration.
"I've lost 13 of these," he said. On Sunday, his wife, Bening, who was nominated for her role in "American Beauty," lost for the second time.
"Who could possibly say Annette is anything other than a winner?" said the gallant husband. "Hilary gave a terrific performance in a wonderful movie. That's why it's not the greatest idea in the world to think of these things as competitive."
"American Beauty" director Sam Mendes said Bening was the film's talisman. "She dived headfirst into the role before anyone else and took everyone else with her."
Mendes, who won the directing Oscar, said, "I would have done this movie for free -- and I practically did."
Screenwriter Alan Ball, who also won an Oscar, said the lesson he took from the experience of making the movie was to "follow your heart, your passion, your guts. Sit down and write it, and don't wait for permission. Write what moves you."
The first-time screenwriter got the perfect situation -- no studio interference, a director who allowed him to collaborate, a great cast and so on. "I hope it's karmic payback for four hellish years in television," he said.
The film's star, Kevin Spacey, won his second acting Oscar for his role in the movie. But, he said, "It's not something you get used to.
"I was speechless. My friends were delighted because I'm rarely speechless," he said.
In his acceptance speech, Spacey thanked his friends who recognize his worst qualities. What did he mean?
"Your real friends are not just the ones who congratulate you and tell you you're great. They keep you on your toes. They keep you real. They keep you trying to focus on the things that are important in your life."
Spacey also thanked Jack Lemmon. He explained that when he was 13, he attended a seminar led by the veteran actor. "He talked to us, he encouraged us. It was a moment I'll never forget."
Eleven years later, Spacey auditioned to play Lemmon's son in a Eugene O'Neill play on Broadway. They made two movies together as well. While making "American Beauty," Spacey kept in mind Lemmon's performance in the movie "The Apartment."
"He never lets the audience see him change. He just evolves. It became a benchmark for me."
Yet another Oscar winner for "American Beauty," cinematographer Conrad Hall, received the second Academy Award of his career. The first came more than 30 years ago, for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Hall wondered how this script, filled with unlikable people, would turn into a movie anyone would want to see. Mendes asked him if he ever had any dark thoughts.
"I thought about my 16-year-old daughter and some of her girlfriends. Then I realized Kevin and I had something in common. All humans are dysfunctional in some way."
So why does it seem like Hollywood has more of them than anywhere else?
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