'No Country,' but much drama at the CAS Awards

"No Country for Old Men" won the top prize from the Cinema Audio Society last night. Since I know nothing about the artistry of sound work, I asked one of its team members, re-recording mixer Greg Orloff, to explain their work on "No Country."

"Sometimes it's not about what you hear, but what you don't hear," he said. "Take the scenes in the motel — the quiet in between the gunfire, the silence as Javier Bardem listens while Josh Brolin tries to get the money out of the air shaft. You want to make the audience lean in. What's great about working on a movie like 'No Country' is that it doesn't rely too much on music to lead the audience emotionally. We have to do that with other sounds. Or no sound."

At the Academy Awards, "No Country" will square off against a film it beat last night: "Transformers." If "No Country" wins again, it will mean that Oscar's biggest loser, Kevin O'Connell, will suffer his 20th defeat.

"I'm rooting hard for Kevin to win," Orloff said. "Nothing would make me happier than to see him finally get his due. He's a great sound mixer. I've known Kevin for 25 years and worked with him on movies like 'Armageddon.' I know how good he is."

The good news for O'Connell is that the CAS award doesn't usually line up with the Oscar champ. Last year "Dreamgirls" won both, but the CAS winner lost the previous four years. Well, at least technically. In 2003, CAS winner "Master and Commander" lost the sound mixing award to "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," but it won the separate prize for sound editing.

When "Dreamgirls" beat O'Connell's "Apocalypto" last year, the loss got mired in a tragic mess, I'm sure you'll recall. During the Oscar ceremony, O'Connell had to rush off to the hospital where his mother died in his arms. Meantime, backstage at the Kodak Theatre, "Dreamgirls" winner Michael Minkler trashed O'Connell to reporters, saying that it was time O'Connell went into another line of work. Minkler issued an apology later, but, as far as I know, the two have not spoken personally.

Last night they were both in the same ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, all eyes were on them, of course, but they didn't connect.

At one point before the ceremony started, I hooked up with Kevin to arrange plans with him to shoot a video chat later out in the lobby.

"Where are you sitting?" he asked me.

"Over there at that table next to Bill Condon," I replied, forgetting for a second about the "Dreamgirls" connection as I pointed to the film's director.

"Would you introduce me to Bill, please?" Kevin said. "I'd really like to meet him."

Suddenly, I froze. Yikes. "Sure," I said and led him over to Bill and made the introductions.

Bill jumped up from his seat with a big smile, shook Kevin's hand eagerly and said, "Kevin, I'd like to apologize to you on behalf of my team."

Kevin nodded graciously and they had a cheery chat. Later, when I needed someone to run camera while I did the video chat with Kevin, Bill volunteered. That wag Kris Tapley at Variety.com took pictures of us taking moving pictures — SEE HERE.

An hour or so afterward, when Minkler appeared at the podium to present Bill with a special award, Bill and I leaned forward to see — like everyone else in that room — Kevin's response to Minkler suddenly commanding the room's attention. He was clapping like everyone else. Classy guy, that O'Connell.

Click the "Continue Reading" link below to see the full list of winners.