SubscribeWhat to think of Hollywood's new awards?
"World Trade Center" won the Hollywood Award for best movie of the year, which was presented to director Oliver Stone by star Michael Pena on Monday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel at the tail end of the Hollywood Film Festival. It was chosen by 99,000 voters in an internet poll conducted by Yahoo Movies, beating nine rivals: "Cars," "The Da Vinci Code," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Mission: Impossible: 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Superman Returns," "United 93" and "X Men 3: The Last Stand."
The next morning I met up with Michael Pena to discuss the award his film just won, plus a few of his other movies that recently nabbed best-pic prizes ("Crash," "Million Dollar Baby"). Listen to our podcast chat — CLICK HERE! Most interesting is his confession that many of his personal friends didn't want to see "World Trade Center" because of its sensitive subject matter. Plus his views of the Oscars in general and where he may fit in this year's race. Should he dare to make a dash for the lead actor category?
To find out what fun celeb dish occurred at the Hollywood Awards ceremony, read Elizabeth Snead's report here at The Envelope — CLICK HERE!
As for me, I feel a personal connection to these new showbiz kudos. A few years ago, when the event's chief Carlos de Abreu was still struggling to set up the awards component of his new festival, he was so desperate for ideas that he called me!
Actually, he telephoned to ask if I wanted to team up with him to present the Gold Derby Awards at his fest, an interesting idea because that would give his new awards trans-media credibility considering that this original website (before the L.A. Times took stewardship and folded it into The Envelope) was set up as a media equivalent to the United Nations where journos from Entertainment Weekly, the Associated Press, the Hollywood Reporter and other outlets gathered alongside a cyber-racetrack to predict who'd win showbiz awards. Why not give out our own kudos, too?
I ran the idea by my journo pals, and some of whom liked it, but most said it was impossible. I'd have to get OKs from their bosses again — just like I had to do to launch GoldDerby.com and that ordeal was daunting enough. So I had to decline Carlos' kind offer.
But last night, as I watched what became of the festival awards, I couldn't help but think, "Hmmm … would the Gold Derby Awards have looked like these?"
He solved a lot of problems with the way he structured them. The festival's selection committee names a wide span of honorees: for example, supporting actor of the year (Ben Affleck, "Hollywoodland"), screenplay writer of the year (Eric Roth, "The Good Shepherd"), film editor of the year (Joel Cox, "Flags of Our Fathers"), etc. See a full list — CLICK HERE!
Already you can observe the problem, though. Nobody's seen "The Good Shepherd" yet — it's still in post-production. Last night, frankly, it was a bit embarrassing that Mike Medavoy was named producer of the year considering how badly "All the King's Men" tanked, but it was neat to see . . .
CLICK HERE to Continue Reading!
Photo: In our podcast chat, Michael Pena discusses the fears and hardships he faced while filming "World Trade Center," which was voted best picture by the Hollywood Film Festival's new awards.
(Paramount)
. . . such a major film force celebrated on stage (he's been involved with many of Oscar's best pictures, including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Annie Hall" and "Rocky") along with his bouncy, over-excited young son who was given special permission to stand next to daddy. For about 15 minutes prior to that award presentation, I was getting increasingly annoyed at that kid as he kept blocking my view of the show while pacing back and forth along a side path to the stage, a few times even bumping into me as I sat at a side table.
I kept thinking, "What the heck is he doing that's so important?" Obviously, the answer was nothing — well, nothing except expending nervous energy while preparing for his very important role of standing next to pop on stage. When the kid's big money scene came, it was hilariously adorable.
As long as the new Hollywood Awards so brashly insist upon leading off awards season even more than a month before the National Board of Review, they're going to have the Mike Medavoy problem, but it looks like there are eager supporters to back everyone up.
Count me in, too.
Memo to Carlos: Continued good luck with your new awards! Last night you put on an impressive show!
