I’m not sure why so many journalists go so crazy over the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Is it envy, maybe?
On Monday in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton, about as many A-list stars showed up for the awards presentation as bad singers showed up to audition for season six of "American Idol."
And they were all in a good mood. Imagine that. The world's biggest stars all in one place, having a blast!
I can’t understand why that’s such a hard thing to accept?
In Sunday’s L.A. Times, this item ran on the front page of the movies section under the header
What is becoming slightly less fun to talk about:
The Golden Globes. It's that time of the year when about 100 foreign industry journalists get to tell America what they did and didn’t like, and for once, we hear them loud and clear. Sadly, the drunken acceptance speeches of yesteryear are no longer de rigueur. Dang it!
Oh yeah? While Sacha Baron Cohen was not drunk, his acceptance speech will go down in history as the stuff of legend.
Indeed, the whole weekend leading up to the Golden Globes was like one big lovefest of TV and film talent, from directors to producers to stars and character actors.
On Sunday we did the BAFTA tea party at the Four Seasons hotel (my-oh-my what a beautiful spot), although when my cameraman and I tried to catch the end of the Patriots/Chargers game, there was not a television on in sight.
“We only turn the television on for the Oscars and the Super Bowl,” a hotel host told me.
I think he might have added the Screen Actors Guild awards too, but by that time, we were hightailing it to the truck to catch the game.
After the game, FOX hit the L.A. Film Critics Association gala, where Helen Mirren and Clint Eastwood spoke with FOX News on what it’s like to do the red carpet over and over again.
Eastwood said it does get old, and then told a story about how at one red carpet a reporter asked him how he felt after "The West Wing" was cancelled.
Duh. That kind of reminds me of the time I was covering the premiere of "You've Got Mail" several years ago and I heard a reporter ask Nora Ephron "What attracted you to the script?" She responded, "I wrote it," and walked off.
Meanwhile, Globe-winner Mirren credited husband Taylor Hackford with getting her red carpet ready (not that the seasoned actress needs that much help). The lauded director of “Ray" was feted a few years ago when that film scored big at the Oscars, and Mirren said she was just hoping to bring some of that excitement to the events surrounding "The Queen."
This was my first time doing a live stream from the Golden Globes, and no, it wasn’t the Oscars, but then again, it’s not supposed to be. The after-parties at the Hilton were extremely casual.
I stuck with the FOX party at The Starlight Room, where News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch was holding court and Kiefer Sutherland congratulated Forest Whitaker on his best actor win.
Meanwhile, a very tall Sacha Baron Cohen was a class act with his unassuming and gorgeous (not to mention talented) fiancée Isla Fisher.
At one point, somebody got their foot caught in Fisher’s gown, and I bent over to help free the petite redhead from the dilemma. She thanked me with a coquettish smile, and I couldn’t help but think of her zany sex kitten character in “Wedding Crashers.”
Even funnier were the pics published in the New York Post Wednesday showing Fisher's gown ripped at the seam along her derriere. I wonder if the person I helped free from her gown was the cause of the gash?
Practically the entire cast of “24” was also on hand, with Jean Smart telling me the stars gathered at Mary Lynn Rajskub’s house for Sunday’s two-hour premiere.
Mary Lynn, aka Chloe O'Brian, was looking a lot less like a CTU agent in her white gown and curly dark locks at the Globes.
I did tag along with FOX 411 columnist Roger Friedman, who proved to be one of the most connected guys in Hollywood. Mere mention of his name parted normally hostile “handlers."
About the only thing I really got to Grrr about on this trip was the bag of chips and water that I took from my hotel room mini bar. Ready for this? A bag of chips was $6.50, and a small Dasani water was $6.15.
Just how do hotels justify such steep markups on items that cost about $1 retail, which means the hotel’s getting them at more like .50 cents or less wholesale?
Oh well. I guess getting zapped with the bill is better than getting zapped by a taser like I did on my last assignment.
Next up for Live Streaming will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 28. Tune in -- click in. Don’t miss it.
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