|
By Jim Emerson
Special to MSN Movies
The main thing to remember when you win your Oscar (and you know you
will win your Oscar one day -- admit it, you've even practiced your
acceptance speech) is that you are immediately faced with 45 seconds during
which you can either display grace under pressure or make a complete ass of
yourself.
Contrary to Academy legend, Sally Field did not do the latter when she
gave the most parodied and ridiculed acceptance speech in Oscar history in 1985.
"I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have
your respect," she said. "The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel
it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"
Now, that last part, which came out a bit squeaky, wasn't as bad as many
later made it out to be. It wasn't, after all, "You like me! You really like
me!" My theory is that the repetitive phrase was memorized in advance (it sounds
a bit canned) and that she simply oversold it in the excitement of the moment.
Instead of making it sound more spontaneous, her delivery underscored (genuine
though the sentiment might be) that this was, in fact, another performance,
which felt kind of embarrassing to watch. And audiences can really resent it if
you embarrass them, to the point where they respond defensively with scathing
sarcasm and mockery.
Don't let this happen to you. Here's some advice for giving your Oscar
speech, when the time comes.
1. Get a Grip
Why is it that the only people who really
appear to lose control when they accept their statuette are the actors? Why
don't the art directors and sound editors sputter and wail as if they'd just
been spared from lethal injection? If anything, you'd think the actors would be
better able to control their emotions than most people.
And you'd be right. You see, actors dig emotional meltdowns, on screen and
off. They do it on purpose. It's almost a form of noblesse oblige -- a generous
Acting Gratuity (more than 20 percent), if you will: "I will now treat you to an
extraordinary demonstration of how deeply I am moved!" And, at the same time,
it's a form of grandiose self-inflation and self-abasement: "I scrape and bow to
acknowledge how much you have honored me!"
Of course, Gwyneth Paltrow (Best Actress, "Shakespeare in Love," 1999) just stood there and squeaked
like a broken drip-irrigation node, but at least she had the decency to be
horrified and humiliated about it later, claiming she'd put her Oscar at the
back of a bookcase because it brought back painful memories of her big, pink
weep-down.
One of the most divisive Oscar speeches of recent years (some were moved,
some were appalled) was the tornado of tears Halle Berry whipped up around herself when she won Best
Actress for "Monster's Ball" in 2002. Berry's Interminable
Moment-of-Special-Pleading was a gale-force ego storm that threatened to suck up
the entire universe. (Story Continues On Next Page...) |
Hotmail
