Here's a collection of Brokeback, Oscar and Bafta reminiscences from Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry. I thought some might find them of interest. They certainly take me back.
L: I wanted to go to London for the BAFTAs so I could visit my good friend John Saumarez Smith.
L: We wanted Heath [Ledger] to accept for us if we won.
D: We won, and he read what we wrote. We watched it on television, remember? The ceremony was short and amusing …
L: … and done with a lot of British class. It made the Hollywood awards seem vaguely seedy. Jake won Best Actor and was shocked. He was so used to losing he didn’t expect it at all.
D: I wish we’d been there. Jake was over the moon about winning.
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L: And then there were the Oscars.
D: And your jeans.
L: The Kodak Theatre is on Hollywood Boulevard …
D: … which means you get the Hollywood Hills as a backdrop to the Red Carpet.
L: Hundreds of people howling in the Hills. We’d hear this tremendous yowl, and we’d turn around to look to see what god or goddess has arrived, expecting Jack Nicholson or Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt …
D: … and it turned out to be Gary Busey.
L: When we first stepped onto the Red Carpet, I felt a little like Captain Cook must have felt walking ashore in the Society Islands just before he was bludgeoned to death.
D: It was a very long Red Carpet.
L: You wore a dress from a little-known Italian line, M Siamo.
D: I was loyal to my heritage.
L: One interesting thing is that we got to experience the profession of seat holders. There can be no empty spaces in the Oscar audience. When a nominee would leave his or her seat for some reason, a young seat holder would take their place.
D: You had a lot of bladder anxiety, since there’s no guarantee you can be let back in after a visit to the loo.
L: My jeans created a sensation, since I couldn’t find my tuxedo pants.
D: You had your tuxedo pants. When I saw you wearing jeans, I said you would look nice in a full tuxedo, and you snapped back that you didn’t want to be uncomfortable sitting in the auditorium for five hours at one stretch.
L: Jon Stewart was colorless as the host.
D: He commented on your jeans, though. He said he didn’t know you could wear jeans to the Oscars.
L: He was snippy about my Levis. He said next time he’d wear his overalls. I didn’t think he was quite large enough for that stage.
L: We lost Best Picture, startling Jack Nicholson, who opened the envelope.
D: Did he mouth “*beep*!” when he opened the envelope?
L: I believe he did.
D: He told me afterwards that he voted for Brokeback.
L: We lost because ours was a rural story, and Crash was not only urban, but also locally made. America is so urban now, people can’t truly grasp the reality of rural life anymore.
D: I was most disappointed for our crew who worked on the movie. They were gallant and determined the entire time we were filming.
L: You were right there beside them the whole time.
D: You know, I thought you deserved to be up there more than anyone in that theatre.
L: Why?
D: Because films derived from your writing have gotten 13 Oscars and 34 Oscar nominations.
L: No comment.
D: That’s a first.
March 1, 2011 12:30 p.m
