It’s finally here! All of the prognostication and hand-wringing amounts to three (plus?) hours of televised awards splendor when the 92nd Annual Academy Awards start tonight at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT. As in previous years, Awards Daily holds a spot in the official Interview Room and will be bringing you reactions from winners. The red carpet is soaked, but we’re high and dry in the Interview Room.
Refresh through the night for the latest.
8:42PM PT:
This was an incredible experience, covering the awards circuit and the Oscars for the first time ever when history was made.
8:29PM PT:
Now, do I wait for Joaquin, Renee, and Bong Joon-ho in the press room, or do I go get ready for the after party I was invited to??? DECISIONS DECISIONS
8:28PM PT:
The press room just exploded when Parasite won, as did many people across the world, I suspect. Everyone loves this movie.
8:26PM PT:
PARASITE WINS!!!
Frustrating thing about this year: way back in September, I thought Parasite would win Best Picture before anyone started talking about it. I felt the love in every screening room and festival. It was the one film everyone loved. I let people dissuade me from that position. That’s completely my fault, but it won’t happen again.
8:18PM PT:
One more award left. One more…
8:13PM PT:
Renee Zellweger gets a standing O for her brilliant work as Judy Garland. Well deserved.
8:09PM PT:
Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin are in the Interview Room. Elton says this award is for Taupin and for the overall Rocketman team. He already has an award, but he wanted to share the experience with Taupin with whom he started his 50+ year career.
8:07PM PT:
Hildur G. doesn’t want to move to LA. The climate doesn’t suit her music. It’s too sunny.
8:06PM PT:
Hildur Guðnadóttir is backstage. Her inspiration for the Joker score came from imagining being inside of the Joker’s head. She received a standing ovation from some of the biggest names in film composition tonight for her historic win.
She discusses her win as Joaquin Phoenix wins Best Actor.
7:56PM PT:
Also, despite an early flight tomorrow morning, I sure am going to that Parasite after party tonight.
7:53PM PT:
Sorry. Just lost my mind. The great Bong Joon-ho just won Director, upsetting Sam Mendes. One thing I’ll say about this: Bong worked the scene like no one I’ve ever seen. Mendes was largely absent. I’m not saying that’s why he won – he clearly deserved it – but it certainly helped to be at every single event hosted in Hollywood during awards season.
7:47PM PT:
Had to set away to talk to one of the Academy librarians. Yes, I know. Touch me. Hildur Guðnadóttir is the fourth woman to literally win an Oscar for a scoring category. However, she is the first to win for the Best Original Score category. Marilyn Bergman won for Original Song Score and Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley for Original Musical or Comedy Score when the category was split briefly in the 90s.
7:41PM PT:
I don’t even care about petit fours anymore.
7:37PM PT:
Yeah, Glenn Close and all, but Sigourney Weaver is an AMAZING actress who should have at least two Oscars by now.
7:35PM PT:
Fun fact that many of you may not know: the prestigious Dolby Theater is located in a shopping mall next to a Victoria’s Secret and Johnny Rockets. So yeah. Also, I took a Lyft from Anaheim earlier this week. My driver told me that he once took his 14yo daughter to see Hollywood Boulevard, and on the way from Hollywood High, he saw two people shooting up, one person having a fight with a wall, and one person using an outdoor planter as a lavatory. So yeah, Hollywood. What’s your dream?
7:30PM PT:
How’s your night?
7:27PM PT:
Michael McCusker praises Andrew Buckland’s cutting of Ken Miles’s death scene in Ford v Ferrari. Sorry if that was a spoiler. Actually, Ken Miles may not even be dead. He’s living in a bus with Elvis.
7:24PM PT:
Roger Deakins is in the Interview Room for his 1917 win. Someone from American Cinematographer just asked a question about explicit detail behind shooting the film, and I have no idea what he said. I’m sorry. I’ve failed all of you.
7:22PM PT:
The winning sound mixing team – Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson – behind 1917 is fully in support of merging the Sound Editing/Mixing categories given that both roles build off of each other. The lines between the two categories are blurred.
7:20PM PT:
Full transcript of Laura Dern’s Oscar speech:
LAURA DERN:
Thank you to the Academy for this honor. Just to be in this room with such remarkable artists, including my fellow nominees, my sisters and colleagues. Thank you, Netflix, my friend Ted, Scott, everyone for their support and love. To Noah, his vision, his magic. Thank you, Noah, for your words, and for your friendship in art and life, with you and Greta. Thank you to this cast, the majestic Adam, Scarlett, Alan, Ray, our amazing crew, David.Noah wrote a movie about love and about breaching divisions in the name and in the honor of family and home, and hopefully for all of us, in the name of our planet. And I would like to say a special thank you to the gifts of the love stories in my life: my stepchildren, C.J. and Harris, my heart and inspiration, Ellery and Jaya. And you know, some say never meet your heroes, but I say, if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents. I share this with my acting heroes, my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. You got game. I love you. Thank you all for this gift; this is the best birthday present ever. I love you. I love my friends. You lift me up every day. Thank you.
7:12PM PT:
OK, Rebel Wilson and James Corden presenting VFX after Cats is very amazing.
7:06PM PT:
It’s an art form to listen to both a live Oscar broadcast and interview subjects here in the Interview Room. Alas, it is an art form that I have yet to master…
7:03PM PT:
Laura Dern was inspired by her mother, Diane Ladd, and godmother, Shelley Winters, in constructing her recent trend of powerful women for Marriage Story and Big Little Lies. “There are many more exciting roles to play, and future generations are the ones who will lift us up.”
7:02PM PT:
The rumors were true. The Academy announced an opening date for its long-delayed Academy Museum – December 14, 2020.
6:58PM PT:
Laura Dern says the message of Marriage Story applies to a larger context because if two people in a bitter divorce can come together to raise a child, then America should be able to do it. Interesting context not mentioned, to my knowledge, during the awards season.
6:56PM PT:
Laura Dern takes the Interview Room to first thank a litany of people she neglected to include in her speech.
6:51PM PT:
American Factory director Julia Reichart on how telling the American Factory story could help repair damaged international relations, particularly with China.
“Working people, blue collar folks whether they were Chinese or American, found ways to get along. Found ways to have fun even if they didn’t speak the same language. That’s how it was for a long time while we were filming… I think that’s why President Obama and Mrs. Obama took this film on. I think they felt it could help… create empathy.”
6:47PM PT:
Ahhhhh.
6:43PM PT:
OK. Taking a very necessary break.
6:42PM PT:
Full text of Taika Waititi’s Oscar speech:
TAIKA WAITITI:
Thank you. Amazing, thank you. This is really light, this one’s light. It’s supposed to be heavy. I’d like to thank my mother. Don’t know where you are, Mum. I lost you, hours ago. Thank you for being my mother, and for, I mean, for many other reasons. For giving me the book that I adapted, and this film wouldn’t have existed without you doing that. To Christine, for writing the book, thank you. To the producers of the film, Carthew Neal and Chelsea Winstanley, who was there right from the beginning, thank you, guys. Many other people that I want to thank but I won’t because I can’t remember them. That’s it. This is really great. I dedicate this to all the indigenous kids who live in the world who want to do art and dance and write stories. We are the original storytellers and we can make it here as well. Thank you. Kia Mihi. [Thank you in Maori.]
6:36PM PT:
Jacqueline Durran developed two separate wardrobes for all four girls in Little Women to reflect their age differences in the film. She did not watch any of the previous versions of Little Women.
She praises her working relationship with Greta Gerwig who visited Durran in London prior to filming to ensure the right looks were fashioned for the film. She was very distinctive about how she wanted the characters to look.
6:31PT PT:
Live Action Short Film Neighbors’ Window stemmed from a podcast. Anyone know which one? The director did not say so. At least I don’t think so. I really have to pee.
Also, apparently I missed something with Martin Scorsese nodding off or spacing out during Eminem’s performance.
6:30PM PT:
Complete transcript of Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won’s acceptance speeches for Original Screenplay – Parasite.
BONG JOON HO:
[In English:] Thank you, great honor. [Via translator:]. Writing a script is always such a lonely process; we never write to represent our countries. [In English:] But this is very first Oscar to South Korea. Thank you. [Via translator:] I thank my wife for always being an inspiration to me. I thank all the actors who are here with me today for bringing this film to life. Thank you.HAN JIN WON:
[In English:] Thank you director Bong and thank you my mom and thank dad. [Via translator:] As there is Hollywood in the U.S., in Korea we have Chungmuro. I’d like to share this honor with all the storytellers and filmmakers at Chungmuro. [In English:] Thank you.
6:28PM PT:
Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh are in the press room for their astonishing work on Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood. They talk about the extensive process in obtaining permits to film on location in LA, including shutting down Hollywood Boulevard.
On a side note, I tried to go to Casa Vega with Sasha on Friday night. We were unable to get in because of the 1.5 hour wait. Before we left, Once Upon a Time… groupies drove up and were amazed the restaurant looks exactly as it does in the film. One of them sported a Rick Dalton leather jacket. We did not judge because they were us in reality.
The three restaurants – El Coyote, Musso & Franks, Casa Vega – are Quentin’s three favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. Musso & Franks has never closed for 7 days straight, but they did it for QT.
6:22PM PT:
We have been back-to-back-to-back with Oscar winners. I have not had the chance to eat any more petit fours let alone pee. One of those situations is far more urgent than the other. I’ll let you figure out which.
6:20PM PT:
Jojo Rabbit‘s inclusion in the Shoah Foundation’s education curriculum was one of the highlights of the awards season for Waititi. He’s been warmed by the overall positive reception from the Jewish community.
6:14PM PT:
“Apple needs to fix those keyboard. They’re impossible to write on.” Taika Waititi responding to a question about the potential upcoming WGA writer’s strike. He then went on to elaborate on pains in his arms and tendons. Amazing guy.
“My acceptance speech was the worst!” Taika Waititi – He didn’t thank a lot of people in his speech because “I did all the typing. They didn’t!”
He has the press room dying with laughter. He is an international treasure, and I will forever love his movies.
6:12PM PT:
Karen Peterson is the first person to ask Taika Waititi a question: How did he break the news to the author of Caging Skies that he would be so dramatically changing the book? He basically said “She knew I was incapable of making a drama.”
6:10PM PT:
American Factory wins Documentary, and a lot of people attribute that to the Obama factor. Some people thought Honeyland would win because it is also nominated in the International Film category.
6:05PM PT:
The complete text of Brad Pitt’s Oscar speech:
Wow. Thank you, this is incredible, really incredible. Thank you to the Academy for this honor of honors. They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week. I’m thinking maybe Quentin does a movie about it, in the end the adults do the right thing. This [holds up Oscar statuette] really is about Quentin Jerome Tarantino. You are original, you are one of a kind. The film industry would be a much drier place without you and I love the ethos you gave Cliff Booth. Look for the best in people, expect the worst but look for the best. Leo, I’ll ride on your coattails any day, man. The view’s fantastic. And to the rest of the cast and crew: big bad Bob Richardson, Robert Garcia, Richie, my man Mike Moh. You know, I also want to say, you know, while we’re doing all this, it’s time we give a little love to our stunt coordinators and our stunt crews. Listen, I’m a bit gobsmacked. I’m not one to look back but this has made me do so and I think of my folks taking me to the drive-in to see BUTCH AND SUNDANCE, and loading up my car and moving out here, and Gina and Ridley giving me my first shot to all the wonderful people I’ve met along way, to stand here now: “Once upon a time…in Hollywood.” Ain’t that the truth. This is for my kids, who color everything I do. I adore you. Thank you.
6:03PM PT:
Literally no one in the Interview Room is paying attention to Chrissy Metz as she sings Diane Warren’s nominated song from Breakthrough. As a point of comparison, everyone was completely silent during “Into the Unknown.”
6:00PM PT:
The Costume Design award goes to Little Women, my first miss of the evening. Booh.
5:59PM PT:
Hair Love Oscar winners Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver: “The joyous stories are just as powerful” as sad or melancholy animated films. They stressed calling on the positivity of YouTube videos they’ve seen online to create the film.
“Freeing black hair means freeing ourselves.” Karen Rupert Toliver
Recognizing that black hair was so political: “It never occurred to me that I would have the freedom to wear my hair any way I wanted to.” Toliver didn’t realize until she went to college in New York that she was empowered to change her hair style.
5:48PM PT:
Toy Story 4 winners in the Interview Room. This is the first animated franchise film to win more than one Oscar. Producer Jonas Rivera says, “All it really is, is a story about a guy who is afraid to be replaced. He doesn’t want to lose his job. We tried to put him in a position where he can have a second chance, a second lease on life.”
5:45PM PT:
Wow. I was 30 feet away from Brad Pitt.
5:44PM PT:
Brad won’t allow his kids to enter the acting business until they’re 18 if they so choose.
Is this the time of his life: “Uhh, no I hope not. I got other shit going on.”
5:43PM PT:
Brad Pitt’s political reference in his speech stems from his disappointment in American government this week. He believes President Trump is gaming the American system.
5:41PM PT:
Awards speeches typically make Brad Pitt nervous. He has funny friends who have helped him with some laughs, but it’s all coming from the heart.
5:37PM PT:
Brad Pitt’s in the Interview Room!!!
5:30PM PT:
That was a really pretty, international, inclusive version of “Into the Unknown,” but my heart lives with Panic At the Disco’s version. They should have brought in Brendon Urie to close.
5:28PM PT:
Huge applause for the Hair Love win. Can’t wait for the team to come backstage.
5:24PM PT:
Toy Story 4 is no surprise. If Frozen 2 had been nominated, something like Missing Link or Klaus would have won. Otherwise, the anti-Disney vote split massively I suspect.
5:17PM PT:
One of the press outlets here brought what appears to be an intern to run their coverage. Someone asked him what he thought about the films. His response: he didn’t see enough to have an opinion on any.
5:15PM PT:
Cheers in the Interview Room for Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Brad Pitt. 80% of them just want Brad Pitt physically in the room, something he did not do during the Golden Globes.
5:13PM PT:
Really great Supporting Actor reel, finding common threads in all films.
5:10PM PT:
Classic: “Cynthia (Erivo) did such a good job of hiding black people in Harriet the Academy got her to hide all the black nominees.”
5:07PM PT:
Big reaction in the Interview Room for the “Academy has switched to the Iowa Caucus app” joke.
5:05PM PT:
Is this the best opening of any Oscars show ever? Drop your thoughts in the comments section.
4:57PM PT:
Here we go! By the way, the press are all trying to process the fact that Charlize Theron has seen Bombshell over 50 times.
4:45PM PT:
I’m gonna have to put the breaks on the petit fours. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
4:40PM PT:
I won’t do this again, but I do want to defend a nominee that I do particularly like quite a bit. This person has been gossiped about extensively regarding their recent awards acceptance speeches — looniness, slurring, generally off-key sentences, etc. Heard this weekend that it’s because they had such a miserable time on the circuit the last time they were nominated, they have to take heavy amounts of anxiety meds to get through this awards season. People should not have to go through this just to be honored.
4:35PM PT:
Something to watch for tonight: rumor has it that the Academy will announce the official opening date for its long-delayed Academy Museum during the ceremony tonight.
4:20PM PT:
I mentioned this at the top, but one of the coolest things about the Interview Room is the cadre of Academy librarians. I’m not allowed to take photos in the room, but they look exactly as you would imagine. They’re also incredibly nice and full of information. I told one of them that they had the best job in the room. She kicked back with a knowing smile and said, “It’s a pretty good gig.”
4:15PM PT:
Press has been fed. Waded through the many lines and started with dessert, as one should. Met an extremely “eccentric” older member of the press who cut in front of me without asking, left and asked me to hold her place, came back with a program, read the program in the line, and refused to use tongs to pick up any food. This is how Coronavirus is spread people.
3:53PM PT:
In case you’re wondering, there’s legit nothing going on right now in the Interview Room. Don’t worry, this live blog won’t be dedicated to food news tonight, although I cannot promise that is the last food-related content you will see tonight.
3:51PM PT:
Update: shrimp spotted but kept under wraps. Rumor has it 4pm is press feeding time.
3:15PM PT:
Ok. I’ve been here with AwardsCircuit’s Karen Peterson for a few hours now. We managed to grab red carpet pics before the deluge opened up? Is this a heavenly nod to Parasite? Anyway, the only drama going on right now in the Interview Room is the lack of shrimp on the yet-to-be-unveiled buffet. That’s quality reporting right there, folks. I’ll be here all night.