Reuters World News - Showtime! Behind the scenes at the Oscars

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

We take you inside Tinseltown for Hollywood’s night of nights. The Academy’s new crisis-response team. The photographer who captured 'the slap'. Indie movies and Ireland’s huge haul of nominations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're on the ground as Hollywood gets ready for its night of nights. And when we're done with this, we're going to be carpeting all of Hollywood. Host Jimmy Kimmel outside the Dolby Theatre rolling out the red carpet, which is actually not even red this year. And it's not the only thing changing at the Oscars after last year's drama. Today on Reuters World News, we take you inside how the academy and news organizations like us prepare for Hollywood big night, including unexpected moments like The Slap.

I'm Kim Vennel in London, and I'm Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles. Convier. Convierre your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world. Has you heard it. The mehore conversion of the world. The incredible system of Pago of Shopify facilitates in your site web, in the networks, and in the social and in

That's music for your Ohio. No, you'll do you're a super-exit with Shopify. Empea your period of

per year for a euro at month in Shopify. orgs. Hi, Lisa. Hi, Kim, how are you? Very well. So you're obviously

in Tinseltown. How's it all going? All the Prips? Well, they've got the red carpet rolled out on Hollywood Boulevard. Several blocks are

closed off. They set up bleachers and put up the big gold Oscar statues outside the Dolby Theater. One interesting thing this year is it is not a red carpet this year. It is what they call a champagne-colored carpet. Ooh, interesting. Yeah, it's kind of tan or beige, but they're calling it champagne. It's the first time since 1961 that it has not been a red carpet. You know, the Oscars have been a tradition for a long time that some people think is a little stale,

and I think they want to mix it up in any way they can. Speaking of doing things differently, Last year, obviously, the slap became the big talking point. Organizers do not want a repeat of that, though, do they? And they're putting in steps to try and stop it. Exactly. They have put together a crisis response team. They haven't shared a lot of details. But the point of this is if something unexpected happens, they have a group of people to come together and quickly decide what to do. Last year, a lot of people thought that Will Smith should have been asked to leave the theater

and not be allowed to come up and accept an award. Now they have a group that they can go to, make a decision, and also communicate clearly what they have decided. That was another criticism that took the academy several days to figure out what to do, the story dragged on. So the point of this crisis team is to make a quick decision and then communicate it. I just found out that it was a Reuters photographer, Brian Snyder,

who took that iconic photo of the slap last year. So I managed to speak. him. We're going to roll that tape now. Hi, Brian. Hi. Put me in your shoes in that moment, the moment of the slap. The thing with covering the Oscars in the show is it's a pool of nine photographers, but I'm the only one in there for Reuters. So there's a tremendous responsibility and there's a lot going on. You have what's on stage, you have what's off stage, you need wide pictures of the whole scene, you need to make sure you're on what's happening tight on what's happening on the stage. So it's very active. There's a lot to do.

So that was just next person up, okay, I need to be on stage. I need to be on the presenting the awards. And basically it's like frame, focus, react, take the picture. What's going through your head in that moment? I think like most of the photographers up there in the booth, you know, as it happened or Right after it happened, we were like, was that just a planned part of the show? Because so much of it is scripted, even stuff that's supposed to look spontaneous. Yeah. So we weren't sure. When Will Smith sat back down in his seat and started yelling obscenities back at the stage,

we kind of figured maybe that wasn't scripted. That's when you knew. That's when you knew. Brian, thanks. Oh, thank you. Lisa, this year, you're going to be there in the room. What's it like for you as a reporter? Well, I will be in a press room with about 200 other journalists,

and it's actually in a hotel next door to the theater. And it's quite a scene. Everybody is dressed in ball gowns and formal wear in heels, but hunched over laptops, like furiously typing the whole time. Sorry, what are you going to wear? I am wearing a vintage 70s disco dress that I bought for like $40. Love that for you. Amazing.

Bell of the ball. Yeah. Make sure you post some pictures on the Reuters Instagram. Okay. Yeah. You know, no couture for me, but it's funny. Yeah. But the winners come back and they answer like four or five questions each.

And the reporters actually have to hold up little cards with numbers. It's like you're at an auction. Like, if you want to ask you questions. So, you know, I'll try to get in a question among 200 reporters. I love that for you. But it's quite a scene. It's journalists from all over the world. It's a big event worldwide.

What's your big moment when you're covering these? For Brian, it's capturing whatever moment goes viral. What is it for you when you're reporting the Oscars? You know, we're waiting to see if there's a surprise. This year, we think we know what's going to happen. Everything everywhere all at once is the frontrunner. People will be shocked if it does not win. It has won all of the major Hollywood Awards leading up to now from the directors,

the producers guild, the writers. it is definitely the frontrunner. Are there any surprises left for us then, you know, if we're all talking about everything everywhere all at once, and Michelle, yo, is there anything we might not be able to predict? Well, I think the best actor race is one to watch, Austin Butler, who played Elvis could win, or Brendan Fraser could win for The Whale.

I think that one is a toss-up. And then as far as best picture, I have heard recently from some voters that we could see a surprise, that everything everywhere did not resonate with the older voters of the academy. The academy tilts toward older membership. And they were just confused by that movie. It didn't grab them. That was the point, though.

It's absurdist. One person told me nobody over 40 really like that movie. So we will see. So the upset, they predict, if there's an upset, it will be Top Gun Maverick. Captain Pete Maverick Mitchell. And largely because that movie really brought people back to theaters. Tom Cruise and Paramount really wanted to, wanted people to see it in theaters. And the theaters are really grateful for that.

The film industry is really grateful for that. So we could see a ground solve support for Ta-Gun Maverick. Paramount is one of the big five studios, but it's an indie studio that's got everyone talking at the Oscars this year, right? Yes, A-24. They are a small studio. They're based in New York. unlike most of the ones based here.

And they are the studio behind everything everywhere all at once and also the whale. And they look poised to win the most awards. What do you think that says about us as viewers? Are we ready for more than what the Big Five might be willing to take a risk on? That's what the box office numbers showed. I mean, everything everywhere got people out of their house and two of the movie theaters, not something you just watch on a streaming service. And that's certainly why I think it's a,

frontrunner. People really like that it was something different. They like that somebody took a risk and they're showing them something different rather than a formulaic Hollywood movie. What about the international players? How are they doing this year? Well, there is a German remake of All Quiet on

the Western Front. It's on Netflix. I've seen it. It's harrowing. It is. But for that reason, it may be hard for some people to watch. Some voters may not have watched it or not have finished it. But it is definitely a player and is expected to win best international film. We also have the Banshees of Insharine, which is set on an island off the coast of Ireland.

It's a dark comedy. Also, I would say unconventional. And it has a lot of nominations, a lot of acting nominations, and it also could do well on Sunday. Okay, Lisa, we're going to move even further out of the Hollywood bubble now. And another movie that has really got Ireland buzzing is The Quiet Girl. How long should they keep her? Till after the baby? She can't take it as long as they like.

It's the first Irish language movie to receive a nomination. And it's got all sorts of people trying out their native tongue. Here's Oscar nominee Paul Meskell on the red carpet at the British Academy Film Awards. Teresh, Colin Kuhna, like, just, yeah, like, yeah, absolutely. I can't give up on that now. I did my best. His exasperation resonates back home. Everyone learns the Irish.

language at school, but only a tiny fraction speak it in their daily lives. I spoke to the movie's director, Colin Barade, before he flew out to L.A. Column, this is your directorial debut and you got an Oscar nomination. Congratulations. You must be stoked. Thanks so much, Kim. Yeah, it's kind of, that never gets old when someone puts that into a sentence. It's kind of a remarkable thing to reflect on. Paul Meskell thinks his Irish is awful. Do you think it's good enough to work with him? Paul's Irish is, it's maybe a little bit rusty, but he certainly has like complete potential there to develop and be entirely fluent.

I'd let's see Paul in an Irish language film. That would be pretty amazing. Yeah, we'll see what happens there. You yourself grew up in a bilingual family, but you have a somewhat complicated relationship with the language? Yeah, I guess, you know, growing up in an environment where, you know, everyone else is speaking English, the Irish language was almost like a foreign thing in a sense in the area. that I grew up in. My dad would make a point of always speaking in Irish to us in public and like shouting across the streets to call us in for dinner in Irish.

So you kind of felt a little bit self-conscious about that, you know. And it kind of took me a while to accept that actually to be given another language, to be given our native language was a beautiful thing and a gift, really. So good to talk to you, Column, and congratulations again. Thanks, Kim. Quick prediction from you, Lisa. Who's going to win Best Picture? Everything, everywhere all at once.

Oh, so boring. Come on. I know. And you know what? After covering the Oscars for several years, though, I feel like the movie that wins is never the movie you think should win, so I'm probably wrong. All right.

Leave it there. Thank you so much, Lisa. Good luck. Thank you. We'll be back with Royce's World News on Monday when we know the winners, with all the news from around the world in 10 minutes.