Monaco's royal flush in Oscars' game of thrones

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This was published 4 years ago

Monaco's royal flush in Oscars' game of thrones

By Michael Idato

In a sign of the times, it was left to television to show its bigger cinematic cousin how things are done as Hollywood's A-list polished their tiaras for a week of pre- and pre-pre-Oscars parties.

Fashion maven Diane von Furstenberg, British consul-general Michael Howells and His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco were among those hosting the week's hot-ticket parties, but it was the last of those that landed with a proper royal flush.

Jane Seymour, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Joan Collins and Anne Sweeney.

Jane Seymour, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Joan Collins and Anne Sweeney.Credit: MCTVF

The royal bash, officially marking the beginning of the 60th anniversary year for the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, cast a long shadow over a week of Oscars parties and sparkled with the addition of some old school Hollywood to its red carpet.

Screen queen Joan Collins was joined by trans superstar Caitlyn Jenner, actress (and hair high-bar holder) Jane Seymour, human suntan George Hamilton, Beverly Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley, former ER star Noah Wyle and former Disney heavyweight-now Netflix boss (and frequent female power-list topper) Anne Sweeney.

Jennifer Grant, the daughter of screen legend Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon, was also there, as was former Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner, looking fit enough to pull off her signature slow-motion run to the terrace buffet of breadsticks and assorted sliced meats. (The winning hors d'oeuvre: a one-bite Beef Wellington ball with accompanying gravy pot. How can you lose?)

Caitlyn Jenner and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Caitlyn Jenner and Prince Albert II of Monaco.Credit: MCTVF

Another sparkling addition to the red carpet was Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, Prince Albert's LA-based actress daughter. With a modestly posh 13,500 followers on Instagram, actress Jazmin is the older half-sister of Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste and of Prince Albert's two younger children with Princess Charlene, twins Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès, and Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco.

There was one sombre touch: the event was held just hours after news broke of the death of screen legend Kirk Douglas, who Prince Albert acknowledged as a friend of his family, no doubt through his mother Princess Grace's former life as a Hollywood screen star. "In this time of sorrow and pain for them, our prayers and thoughts go to the Douglas family," Albert said in his speech.

Meanwhile, fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg hosted a private lunch at her fabulous Beverly Hills estate with a guest list of prominent female Oscar nominees. "We don't have the big categories, but we have more nominations this year than ever," von Furstenberg said, declaring that Oscars' future was female.

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The guest list included actress Laura Dern, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson, lawyer and academic Anita Hill, songwriter Diane Warren and producer Jane Rosenthal.

And earlier in the week, Vanity Fair  kicked off the Oscars party calendar with the opening of its Hollywood Calling exhibition, which drew a guest list that included two of the magazine's most famous covergirls Demi Moore and Caitlyn Jenner.

The guest list included photographer Marc Seliger, Queer Eye star Bobby Berk, actress Sharon Stone, Demi Moore's famous offspring Rumer Willis, Oscar nominee Charlize Theron and Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones.

As LA slides into the weekend, the pre-party tension lifts a notch, with British Consul-General Michael Howells' celebration for British Oscar nominees, the Women in Film Female Oscar nominees party hosted by Frozen warbler Idina Menzel and Women in Film board president emerita Cathy Schulman and the Oscars of PR, the Publicists Guild Awards.

Then there's the Chanel Pre-Oscars dinner at the The Polo Lounge and the Motion Picture & Television Fund Night Before fundraiser dinner, which is expected to draw a star-heavy load including Antonio Banderas, Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron and Australia's own Margot Robbie.

And once Oscars night itself lands, assuming the A-list have not exhausted either themselves of the supply of quality champagne, there are just four tickets that matter: the Elton John AIDS Foundation viewing party, hosted by Elton and husband David Furnish; the official after-party, the Governor’s Ball, with food by Wolfgang Puck; the Vanity Fair Oscars Party; and the near-mythological golden ticket, Madonna and Guy Oseary’s after-party. The venue: top secret.

Golden gig to poisoned chalice

It's a tough ticket to match: a private dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with 270 people in attendance who had paid just US$5 to attend. Back in 1929 that was considered a lot of money, though it only translates to about US$75 today with inflation.

What matters is that when the legendary Douglas Fairbanks stepped up to the microphone at the first annual Academy Awards, he created a tradition which transformed that hosting gig into one of Hollywood's most enduring golden chalices.

Since then it was a gig taken by the best of the best: Bob Hope; Frank Sinatra; Johnny Carson; Helen Hayes; Carol Burnett; Charlton Heston; Rock Hudson; Billy Crystal; and Steve Martin. It's true there were some years that weren't so good. (That's you we're talking about, David Letterman.)

Today, however, Hollywood's golden gig has become a poisoned chalice, after a social media scandal which saw the organising body the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences turf comedian Kevin Hart out of the gig in 2019.

Hart had, in a series of old tweets, expressed anti-gay sentiments and used homophobic slurs. Then, following their first hostless year, US network boss Karey Burke said they were "extremely happy with how the show went; odds are you'll see us repeating what we consider to be a successful formula." And she was as good as her word, confirming this year there would again be no host.

Curiously, though, the problem isn't so much host-related scandals, but keeping an already bloated telecast as lean and mean as it can be. "The producers decided to wisely not have a host and have the presenters and the movies be the stars," Burke said this year. "That’s the best way to keep the show to a brisk three hours."

On the flipside, it is possible to get it right and get it done in time. The Golden Globes, the drunken crazy aunt of the awards season, has managed both in the last few years, alternating between Ricky Gervais as solo host, and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as co-hosts.

In both scenarios they came at the microphone with a take-no-prisoners approach that seemed to hold weight in a room full of people who are accustomed to being bowed and scraped to. Gervais also took the moment to remind the industry of the futility of social media outrage.

"Remember, they're just jokes; we're all going to die soon, and there's no sequel," he said. "Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets. Luckily for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press [who organise the Globes] can barely speak English and they've no idea what Twitter is, so I got offered this gig by fax."

Female force for change

The PR spin doctors would have you believe it's all complimentary champers, gold statues and smiles at the Oscars, but there are genuine rumblings following another #OscarsCan'tGetItQuiteRight scandal.

It's a tough dilemma: to simply accept the vote of the majority that these are the best of the best, even if they're mostly white men. Or to try and crack open the subtle prejudices in the Academy's voting base that makes is to hard for anyone else to get a look in.

This year the biggest pain seemed to come from frustration with the best director category, which has historically shut out women, and looks certain to do so for the forseeable future. Lots of nods to men but nothing for Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) and others.

"I'm happy that everybody is upset," actress Florence Pugh said. "It's great when you don't need to point out the obvious. As Greta has said before, it's been a great year for female creators, and I hope this encourages a larger conversation. This is literally why Greta made the film, one about women living in a man's world, related to money and success."

And maybe it's a space where television can teach movies a thing or two. Lesli Linka Glatter, one of television's most respected and prolific directors, told the  Herald that television had an opportunity to lead the change.

"I'm a big believer [that] you better celebrate what's positive," she said. "It shouldn't be easier for anyone. It should be equally difficult for everyone to do this job. And I think that's happening more in TV and there's a public zeitgeist to that that hasn't happened in the same way in feature films. I think there's still a long way to go and it's disappointing, but I think that's where there's room for change."

Puck stops short of veg-fest

It certainly makes shopping at Coles with mum pale in comparison. Hollywood chef Wolfgang Puck, whose kitchen is churning out a mountain of food to feed the masses after this year's Oscars ceremony, is already hard at work making no less than 136 kilograms of vegan pasta.

You heard that right. And you can throw in 60 sides of smoked salmon, 90 kilos of eggplant, 9kgs of caviar and 11kgs of black truffles, the last of which will be turned into 1200 black truffle chicken pot pies. The total? More than 25,000 plates of more than 40 different dishes.

The trend on the awards ceremony circuit is definitely vegan - c.f. the Globes, BAFTAs - though Puck is stopping a little short of going all-veg. The menu for the Oscars Governor's Ball will be 70 per cent plant-based, he has confirmed, with the vegetarian, meat and fish elements making up the balance.

"We always had plant-based menu items, we always had great pasta dishes, great vegetarian dishes, we just never said, OK, this is vegan, this is vegetarian," Puck says, noting that some of the menu's treats will include eggplant with the forbidden rice and vegetarian couscous.

All of that will be set to 12,000 flower blooms from Holland, Thailand and Ecuador transformed into 400 large arrangements by Los Angeles florist Michael Uncapher. The dominant colour in the flowers will be "an ombre of purple", Uncapher says, syncing it with the colour scheme designed by organisers Cheryl Cecchetto and Lois Burwell, which is "luxe purple and mixed metallic hues."

On that pile of excess you can throw translucent candy lollipops filled with either edible flower and elderflower essence, or dry mango and jalapeño. And 6000 chocolate Oscar statues, produced from 400 pounds of raw chocolate.

And all washed down with a 2018 reserve pinot noir and 2017 reserve chardonnay from the vineyards of Francis Ford Coppola, in gold-trimmed bottles, and 1500 magnum-size bottles of Piper-Heidsieck champagne which, the booze mathematicians assure us, translates to about 8500 glasses of champers. Bottoms up!

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