Reuters World News - Behind the scenes of Hollywood's big night

Episode Date: March 9, 2024

Entertainment journalists Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross join host Kim Vinnell for an inside look at how Tinseltown is gearing up for the Oscars. Listen in as they lift the veil on who's hot and who's not and the challenges facing the global film industry after a tumultuous year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The red carpet is rolled. I can't believe it. The red carpet is bad. The lighting is rigged. And the stage is set. For Hollywood's biggest night, the 96th Academy Awards. On this special episode, we're taking you behind the scenes of the Oscars to find out who's charming the voters. Who's avoiding the photo calls?

Mr. Gosling. And where the surprise wins may lie. I'm Kim Vinald in London. Now, we couldn't do an Oscar special without, of course, our experts, two Reuters journalists who have been covering the entertainment industry for years. Rollo Ross is one of our tireless video producers.

Well, I specialize in red carpets. He travels the world, bringing us those shots of A-listers walking the carpet. It's interviewing celebrities during award season and premieres and things like that. I edit and write all the stuff and plan what we're going to cover as well. Amazing. Lisa. And Lisa Rich Wine, who's been across the ins and outs of Hollywood for more than a decade.

I cover entertainment, both the business side of entertainment and the creative side of entertainment. And this will be my 12th year covering the Oscars. Wow, that's a lot of years. I know. I was like, should I say it? Absolutely, you should say it. Well, it sounds like I definitely have the right people for this podcast. All right, let's get into it. So we are here, obviously, to talk about all things Oscars.

I want to start with what to expect from the night itself. What are we going to see on stage, Lisa? Well, Jimmy Kimmel is back as host. What do I want to bring to the table as host that is different this year? Nothing, really. It'll be the same. I don't have talents, really. It's not like I have a secret love for dance.

He's done it many times. He hosted last year, so he'll be back, and he usually gets pretty good reviews when he's the host. They'll either laugh or they won't, and then afterwards everybody will say, you are terrible. We'll have some musical performances that people are really looking forward to this year.

One of them is Ryan Gosling. He'll be singing to matter what I do. I'm always number two. He'll be singing, I'm Just Ken from the Barbie movie. As well as Billy Eilch, anywhere else I'd be a tear. Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blonde fragility? As well as Billy Eilish and Phineas singing their ballad, What Was I Made for? They're both nominated for Best Original Song.

But I'm not sure now what I was made. Anything you're watching for, Rollo? Well, I was going to just say about Wajarge, the best song, which is from Killers of the Flower Moon. That is going to be a real cultural moment, I think, of the evening. Because if you've watched the film, you see that 100 years ago, people, both white people and the indigenous people, were speaking the same language. the Osage language, now that language is endangered, and no one speaks it fluently anymore.

So it's a real cultural significance to have that performance on stage during the Oscars. How many people are expected to watch the Oscars? Well, last year there were about 18.7 million, which was up from the previous year, but still the third lowest ever for the Oscars. It's not just the Oscars. All of the Hollywood Awards shows have been declining in viewership

for several years. I mean, by comparison, the highest rated Oscars, which was way back when Titanic came out, was 57 million. But awards shows just are not that popular anymore. I think a lot of people do look at the outcomes. They look at them on social media, on TikTok or other sites. I think people are interested. They want to see who wins. They want to see what people are wearing, but they don't necessarily want to sit down and watch a three-hour show.

No, I want it in 60 seconds, Lisa. I know. I hear you. Rollo, I'm interested. You're the showbiz celebrity guy. You do all the red carpets. In 2022, we had the slap. 2023 seemed to manage to stay mostly outside of extreme controversy. Are there any moments, I guess, you'll be watching out for this year? Well, I think that Barbie is going to become a talking point in some senses that if it wins nothing, I think there'll be probably quite a lot of outrage. If Ryan Gosling wins for Best Supporting Actor,

I think that goes kind of, as people said during the nominations, that goes against kind of what the film's about. There's been a lot of discussion about Greta Gerwig not getting nominated for Best Director, considering she helmed one of the most female-facing films I think we've ever seen at the box office. And she had so many things to contend with, including dealing with a massive franchise and a production company like Mattel,

But I think that Barbie will be something to watch that evening because I think that, yeah, if it wins, it's difficult. If it loses, it's difficult. How have the cast been dealing with the controversy? So this is something I realized the other day that apart from the Oscars Luncheon, which is the official Academy Awards event during awards season, Ryan Gosling has skipped every single official awards photo call. Wow. I mean, usually celebrities go through, get their photo taken, and then go onto the red carpet. He has skipped the photo call, I believe, on every single major award show.

So, I mean, he's all dressed up, but he's not getting his photo taken. And I think that that may be a sign about the feeling in the Barbie team about the nominations. That he doesn't want to put him, he doesn't want to feel like he's gloating that he's got a nomination, if that makes sense. What about for you, Lisa? Is there anything that you're really going to be looking out for? Well, we're always looking to see if celebrities decide to make political statements, if the war in the Middle East might come up. I mean, Hollywood does like to get involved in politics,

and celebrities like to speak their mind. Not everybody in the public wants to hear from them, but a lot of them think they have a platform and that they should use it. So we'll see if somebody wants to bring it up. I mean, Mark Ruffalo is known as being very outspoken on a lot of political issues so he could bring it up. Others might decide that, you know what, this is a night to celebrate Hollywood,

and we're here to have a good time, and we're not going to turn the attention there at the moment. Let's get into the expected winters and maybe also the expected losers. Lisa, some categories are a bit of a shoe in. What are they? Well, it would be shocking if Oppenheimer does not win Best Picture. I don't know if we can be trusted.

with such a weapon. It has swept all of the awards up until now in a way that does not usually happen. Again, I've covered Oscars for 12 years, and you usually have a frontrunner, but not in the same way that Oppenheimer is where they've won the top award at the SAG Awards, the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild. I mean, all of these precursor awards that signal how the voting members are feeling. The directors, for example, voted for the Directors Guild Award. So they're all academy members, so they give us insight into how the academy members are feeling.

So Oppenheimer looks to win best picture. Best actor, Killiam Murphy, who played the scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, is likely to win best actor, although there's a lot of people talking about Paul Giamati from the holdovers. Need I remind you that it is not my fault that you are stuck here? Do you think I want to be babysitting you? And he's really well liked in Hollywood. I have an inclination anyway to try to make something sad, funny, and something funny sad. And to sort of like, if there's some really inhuman moment, find the second in it that's human.

When I was at the Oscars Lunch and he got a huge applause when, I mean, all the nominees are announced. So I would keep an eye on that one. But it's going to be a big night for Oppenheimer. You mentioned Paul Giamatti, Lisa. Is he as nice as he seems? Oh, my God. He is so nice. He is unbelievably charming and charismatic.

And that's going to help him. I mean, it's partly a popularity contest. It really is. I saw one of the trades that all the trades are doing these secret ballots at the moment. And some people were just like, I wasn't going to vote for Robert Downey Jr. But then I met him and he was so wonderful that I just thought I had to put his name on the ballot, even though I hadn't seen Oppenheimer. It's like, this is what is, it is a popularity contest. What about Killian Murphy?

Because he's become, I guess, a bit of a meme for seeming, shall we say, uninterested? Yeah. It's a very difficult one for me to ask, because you have to face up to the person's purposes and the stars themselves. He's not very, let me put it this way, he's not very comfortable doing media, and I'm not sure he's that comfortable with a huge crowds of people in the way that sort of someone like Robert Downey Jr. or Paul Giamatti would be. Well, that's exactly what I was going to say. And I heard this from one of our photographers who says, you know, somebody like Robert Downey Jr,

he wins his golden globes and he's holding them in the air and kneeling and posing and doing whatever. And Killea Murphy is very introverted. And we'll just hold the statues and smile. So he has a different personality. Do you get nervous when you interview him? I mean, it's hard to interview somebody who doesn't want to be interviewed. Well, I didn't interview with him.

So the only interview I've done during awards season with him, at the Palm Springs Film Festival. And he actually walked away in the middle of the interview. And I was like, oh, okay. What? And it wasn't that I asked him, I mean, I think the question I asked him, I said, what is the thing about Oppenheimer that you're most proud about? That was the question.

And he answered about four words and then walked off in the middle of the sentence. And I was like, okay. So what did you do? How bizarre? Yeah, I know, but you just have to sort of like, go, but he just seemed to be struggling with the questions. One appointment Killean Murphy did not miss was his hat fitting. Oppenheimer's hat was central to his look and to director Christopher Nolan's vision, right, Lisa?

They wanted to get it exactly right because it was an important part of his image, his silhouette. And they believe the real life Oppenheimer really was intentional about his image and that he wore this hat all the time. and it was part of how he wanted to present himself. So you met the hat designer, Lisa. Tell us about him. It turns out they found some very close to Hollywood named Mark Mejia.

He runs a company called Barron Hats, which is legendary. The previous owner, Eddie Barron, was making hats back for John Wayne. In the scene with what he was in with Humphrey Bogart. More recently, Mark and Barron Hads have worked with Beyonce, Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, all these big names. So it turns out that they sent the design to Mark. Crown with a brim that's a little bit up in the back. And Mark was able to nail it right away.

Mark, the Hatmaker, also showed you a contraption I'd never heard of before. The conformative. What is that? That is a big metal contraption that they put around someone's head to precisely measure it to get the hat to fit perfectly. This lid comes down like this and gotcha. Then I squeeze it. And this is what he did with Killian Murphy to make sure it had the perfect fit.

And then we have these little pin marks, right? And there I am. There's my head shape with the little marks. I mean, that's part of what it comes down to, is having the perfect fit for an actor to make the character look exactly like you want them to. And I was trying it on, on Killian, and Christopher came in and put his little flare on it just to give it the attitude that he wanted. and we captured it right then and there.

It was perfect. So we've talked a bit about the shoe-ins. What are the toss-ups where we don't know what's going to happen? Oh, well, I think the zone of interest is a very interesting film because it's up for international but it's also up for best picture. The zone of interest is about the family of Rudolf Hoss and his home, which is very lovely and has a swimming pool and a lot of, lovely garden and is situated right next door to Auschwitz. And so they continued this family life

right next door to where atrocities are happening. So it's kind of a reminder. It's a sort of metaphor for life right now where atrocities are happening in different places around the world and people in the West or people very nearby are sitting around in luxury. So it's very much an analogy of that. there has been a lot of rumblings that a lot of people are voting for a zone of interest rather than Oppenheimer, which I find kind of, I find, yeah, it could be interesting. Because normally during the Oscars, films are pigeonholed in certain ways, but since if you think, remember back to Parasite, we've been getting more and more international films entering the best picture race. I think it's kind of the Joker in the back, I think, in some ways. Lisa, what's your take on the best actress race? You've got Lily Gladstone and Emma straight ahead up top of the bleachers.

Emma Stone, among others, who's going to take that out? I think that's the biggest toss-up among the major categories. Emma Stone is nominated for Poor Things. I am Bella Baxter, and there is a world to enjoy circumnavigate. It is the goal of all to progress, grow. Which is a really wacky film about a woman who's kind of Frankenstein back to life and sees the world in a different way. It got a lot of love.

I think it will get a lot of love from international voters. It won a big award at the Golden Globes. So Emma Stone could very well win that, but there's Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon. I ought to kill these white men who killed my family. Who's gotten just universal praise for her role. She is a Native American actress who was in the story of a Native American nation suffering through a bunch of murders in the 1920s in Oklahoma. It's a true story that is not really well known

among Americans. She played opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, and he has called her the heart and soul of the film. So she's really beloved. So I really think it's between those two and that a long shot is Sandra Huller for Anatomy of a Fall, which is a courtroom drama. She's in two of the best picture contenders this year, but she is an outside chance for best actress. Fun fact, just speaking about poor things. My dad owns a cinema, manages a cinema, in my very small hometown in New Zealand. And he said people were walking out during four things because they were just outraged. Like, they were just shocked. It's a really bizarre film. And yeah, it's a really bizarre film. I really liked it. I liked it. But yeah, no, definitely. Definitely. Just to touch on best director,

there is one woman nominated for Anatomy of a Fall, Justin Tried. She is just the eighth female director to ever get a nomination since the Oscars began almost 100 years ago. Does she stand a chance, Rollo? Not. I mean, I think the whole directing category is a very out of sync, I think, with some of the rest of the Academy. If you think about it, like Martin Scorsese came out with a three and a half hour film, And he was allowed to do that because he's an established director,

but we don't really have any major female established directors that you could say was the same thing. And it's probably the same you could say for Christopher Nolan as well. So it feels like female directors are still not on the same level. I mean, that needs to change, really. Speaking of diversity, there has been one change this year with a new rule coming into place around representation and inclusion standards. Lisa, what is that? What does it all mean?

Well, this goes back to the Oscars so white controversy several years ago where there was a real outcry that there was not a diversity of nominees in the Oscar race. And the Academy looked at it and noted that this is partially a reflection of whether there is diversity in front of and behind the camera to begin with. So they put in place some rules to require a certain number of diverse people. in the cast and the crew, there's all these different percentages that you need to have in order to be in the Best Picture Race this year. So the 10 films that were nominated

met all those standards and they decided they were going to apply it to all films, but there was some complaint that partially it was a paperwork burden, you have to fill out these forms and survey everybody. And also a concern that there were

inclusion standards about LGBTQ people on the crew and in the cast, and a lot of people worried about privacy and how you determine that. So there was some pushback and the Academy decided just to make it apply to Best Picture, so other films that are in other categories do not have to meet those rules. So you too have been very kindly giving us your analyses and your prediction, but this year, everybody can do that and put money on it. Gambling has been on the rise in the US in general since 2018

when the Supreme Court cleared the way for sports betting to its. expand nationwide. But Lisa, your reporting has shown that now the Oscars is getting in on that action. Right. There are seven states now where you can bet on the Oscars. And it's up to each individual state to decide whether you can do that. And some states don't allow it because they don't allow gambling on anything with a predetermined outcome. If you're betting on a football game, you know, you don't know who's going to win. It hasn't been decided yet. The Oscars are decided. I mean, the voting has ended by now. The winners are already chosen. But the states that do allow it, have decided that the academy has tight enough control that those winners are not going to leak out

and that nobody is going to know until the winners are announced on stage. If you want to, and you can bet on, you know, you can bet on Best Picture or you can go to something like Best Sound that is more obscure and try your luck at that. In Canada, you can also bet on things such as whether a nominee is going to trip and fall on their way to the stage or which Barbie outfit that Marga Robbie's going to wear. Those kind of bets are not allowed in the U.S., not on any legal betting sites. Okay, let's look ahead to the rest of this year. What should we expect from the industry?

And looking ahead, I can tell you that 2024 is not going to be a good year for movies because of the strikes. We're going to have a big celebration on Sunday of two really blockbuster films. There was a lot to celebrate in Barbie and Oppenheimer. But this year, the movie slate is thin. There are just not a lot of films coming out because of the strikes. They halted production and messed up people's schedules. You know, when the strikes ended, everybody had to figure out actor's schedules and who was available to finish projects. So everybody in the industry is saying, let's just look to 2025.

And they're kind of writing off 2024 as a big year in movies. I'm also wondering about, you know, there's been a bunch of flops from Marvel, like big budget flops. How is film studios trying to deal with that? Are they looking to get quicker, cheaper films done? Well, Disney's CEO, Bob Eiger, has said that they need to improve the quality of their films and also spend less money on some of their films. So yes, every film is being scrutinized for its budget. And just the situation of the streaming business in general has not been hugely profitable.

So all those things are coming together to have Disney, which owns Marvel and other studios looking closely at budgets and the number of films they put out and reducing those numbers. Right. So a rough 2024, it looks like. But even with the rough 2023, the film industry still delivered us some real moments, right? Sure. Barbie was a cultural phenomenon, as was the Barbie and a Hopenheimer meme that became Barbenheimer. The movies came out the same weekend. A lot of movie fans went to see both on the same day. People who went to say Barbie dressed up in pink. I mean, all generations, you know, mothers, grandmothers, daughters. Guilty. I definitely did that. Yes. So, you know, the movies were suddenly hugely relevant,

which was, you know, during the streaming era, people wondered if that was ever going to happen again, that movies could become an event like they used to be. And the Barbenheimer weekend showed that's still possible. That's a wrap on this special episode. To stay across all the winners and losers and all the drama of the night, check out Reuter. which will have live updates throughout the awards ceremony. A special thanks to Rollo Ross and Lisa Richwine. Film and music clips come courtesy of A24, Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Focus features, Polydor and Paramount Pictures.

Reuters World News is produced by Jonah Green, Gail Issa, David Spencer, Christopher Wall Jasper, and myself, Kim Bennell. Our senior producer is Carmel Crimmons, Executive producer, Lila Dekreza. Sound design, engineering and music composition by Josh Sommer. If you haven't already, please subscribe, rate and review Reuters World News on your favourite podcast player. If you like what you hear, we'd love it if you shared this episode with a friend.

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