LEARNING IN THE NEWS - XIII (For Intermediate Students and Up)

Give this man an Academy Award

Published: The Los Angeles Times
February 22, 2007 by By Gina Piccalo

.

Jon Stewart - The Oscar host in Hollywood, a phone call away from his family. But Stewart's got a job to do and America - or Hollywood, anyway - is counting on his dry delivery and impish smirk to carry them through three and a half hours of exhaustive movie kudos. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

It was touch and go for a while, but Oscars will be handed out Sunday thanks to Gilbert Cates' leadership and stamina.

Gusts of nervous energy have been whipping through the Kodak Theatre this week.

With Sunday's Oscar telecast just days away, host Jon Stewart and his team of "Daily Show" scribes hadn't finished his comic bits. Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth was still hashing out the details of her Broadway-scale musical number -- the largest of several major productions.

.

Show director Louis J. Horvitz and his staff were breathlessly playing catch-up, working out the glitches that come with one of the most logistically complex sets of any Oscar ceremony.

And then there was Sunday's weather forecast, a 30% chance of rain. Crews were hurriedly tenting the red carpet, an otherwise glamorous path stretching longer than a football field.

Backstage, half a dozen small, hand-written "Quiet please" signs had sprouted up overnight and were then replaced a day later by "QUIET PLEASE!" posters -- evidence that a stress threshold had been reached. This Oscar brain trust had been pulling double duty for weeks, thanks to the recent writers strike, because plans had to be made for two shows, one if the labor dispute was settled and one strike-proof.

Until 10 days ago, Hollywood was panicked by the possibility that the 80th annual Academy Awards would be nothing more than a sophisticated film package. But when the strike was lifted Feb. 13, producer Gilbert Cates told Stewart to catch a flight to L.A., and production kicked into high gear on the star-studded show everyone hoped to see.

Although it has been an especially bumpy ride to the Oscars this year, Cates and his team of veterans hope that all this last-minute running -- along with the extravagant musical numbers and the presence of young stars such as Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba and Katherine Heigl -- will result in a show that beats ratings expectations and draws at least the same 40 million viewers that tuned in last year. Stewart, who is accustomed to news deadlines on his Comedy Central show, is convinced that all this freneticism can only help the telecast.

"There's always got to be a certain sense of urgency with these types of shows," he said, reviewing script changes in his office Wednesday. "It's that way with our show, and we only have a day to do those. If you don't have that urgency, it's reflected in the emotional energy of the program. And also in the writing. And in the performance. You need that sense of -- not panic -- but it should be a controlled panic."

.

Show almost wasn't

The extravaganza that audiences will see Sunday night is the show that almost wasn't. At one point, it looked as if the writers strike -- and the high-profile actors who would refuse to cross picket lines -- would force Cates and his team to go with his "Plan B" for the ceremony. Instead of swanning starlets and a tuxedoed George Clooney, viewers would have seen three-plus hours of film montages of old opening monologues and award-winning foreign films, among other subjects. Now only a fraction of that work will make this year's broadcast. The rest goes into the vaults of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for future shows.

"There were times during the first two weeks of February I thought we were absolutely going to do the B show, when it was clearly not questioned at all," said the producer.

Cates has maintained (publicly, anyway) an oddly Zen attitude about pulling this off while helping settle the recent contract talks between the studios and the Directors Guild of America. Many industry insiders considered his work the catalyst that revived negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and studio heads, ending the 14-week strike and saving the Oscar telecast from the fate of this year's dead-in-the-water Golden Globes.

"He's the hero on all of this," said associate producer Michael Seligman, fielding calls in his backstage office.

Planning for the Academy Awards began as usual around Thanksgiving, when Cates and set designer Roy Christopher started creating the stage. It wasn't until mid-January -- with the stage being built and talent wrangling underway -- that Cates and his staff realized they needed a Plan B. For the next few weeks, they put together two shows: one that allowed for celebrities and writers and one heavy on film packages and musical numbers.

At the same time, Cates would duck out to act as the chairman of the DGA's negotiating committee, leading talks on behalf of 13,400 members. Somehow, he said, the two duties didn't peak at the same time. "While I was doing negotiations, the set had already been designed and they were doing blueprints on it," he said. "When negotiations stopped, then [Oscar planning] began to heat up."

Behind the scenes at the Kodak this week, the countdown to Oscar night hadn't yet prompted any meltdowns. Indeed, the most emotional outburst was the occasional "Ay, yi yi!" from Seligman. This remarkable restraint was thanks in large part to Cates' unflappable and indomitably optimistic presence. When asked about the series of challenges he's faced down in the last few months, the 73-year-old leaned back in his chair, popped Jelly Bellys into his mouth and quipped, "It's just showbiz!"

Maybe it's Cates' weekly Pilates classes. Or maybe it's because in his 13 times producing the Oscars, he has navigated his share of near-disasters -- in 1998, a technicians union threatened to black out the broadcast just as the best picture winner was announced, and in 2003 the U.S. invaded Iraq just hours before the ceremony.

To hear his longtime consultant Robert Z. Shapiro talk, Cates thrives on this sort of tension. "When things might go bad, he loves it," Shapiro said. "He just loves turning stuff around. He's very deft at handling all kinds of situations."

.

Different pace

A few doors down from Cates' office, Stewart said he and his writers had nearly finished his opening monologue.

"We've got everything but the adverbs," he said.

In fact, Stewart was prepared to fine-tune his bits up to the very last minute -- as in, moments before he walks on stage. With his turn as host in 2006 having drawn mixed reviews, Stewart said he might pace himself differently this time. "I came out a little tentative, started owning the show a little later on when I was comfortable," he said. "Maybe the lesson there is just come out and own it as early as you can. But you can own it and no one else thinks you do."

In the theater, Horvitz and his crew were busy running through the entire show, testing camera angles, graphics and lights -- an aggressive attempt to find the glitches.

The biggest challenge, he said, was synchronizing the 20 workers as they maneuvered the stage's centerpieces -- five 35-foot, 3,000-pound tubes suspended on stage that are raised and lowered by hand. "It's like trying to choreograph water ballet," said Horvitz. "It's a tough one."

For his part, Cates has repeatedly downplayed the pressure he and his team have been battling. But then he was reminded of something he said five years ago about the 2003 wartime show. That telecast was full of last-minute upheaval. Celebrity presenters withdrew at the last minute. The fan bleachers and the red carpet were pulled. Dozens of war protesters showed up. The show opening was scrapped because it made the Kodak look too much like a bomb target, and there was a good chance the show would be interrupted by ABC News' Peter Jennings.

At the time, Cates called that telecast his toughest ever."I was wrong," he said, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "This was the most difficult show for everybody."

.

Vocabulary:

Touch and go: dangerous, parlous, perilous, precarious, unsafe
Handed out: distribute, give away, give out

Gusts: the sensation of taste
Whipping: the act of one that whips: as a: a severe beating or chastisement
Telecast: to broadcast by television (transmitir pela televisão)
Scribes: writes
Hashing out: (informal) to spoil something by doing it badly
Breathlessly: without breath (sem folego)
Catch-up: to provide with the latest information
Working out: to happen or develop in a particular way
Glitches: small problem or fault that prevents something from being successful or working as well as it should
Glamorous: attractive in an exciting and special way
Backstage: in the area behind the stage in a theatre, especially the rooms in which actors change their clothes or where equipment is kept
Sprouted up: (informal) If a large number of things sprout (up), they suddenly appear or begin to exist
Overnight: (in this context) suddenly and unexpectedly
Threshold: the floor of entrance to a building or room
Strike: to refuse to continue working because of an argument with an employer about working conditions, pay levels or job losses (greve)
Labor dispute: (easier explained in Portuguese) disputa trabalhista
Settled: resolved, solved
Strike-proof: (easier explained in Portuguese – in this context:) a prova de piquetes
Lifted: suspended
Kicked into high gear: going in full spead
Star-studded: abounding in or covered with stars
Bumpy ride: having many difficulties or failures; full of ups and downs
Beats ratings: (easier explained in Portuguese) equivalente a ultrapassando os indices de audiencia
Draws: (in this context) it attracts
Deadlines: A time limit, as for payment of a debt or completion of an assignment
Tuxedoed: wearing a Tuxedo or tux (short form) – (In Brazilian English we call Smoking)
Swanning: (informal) wearing lots of plumage
Catalyst: a person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic
Dead-in-the-water: (slang) it means termination for no reason whatsoever, done and over with from human resources but not support technician
Stage: the part of a theater on which the acting takes place and which often includes the wings
Wrangling: to engage in argument or controversy
Duck out: to avoid or dodge doing something ( informal )
On behalf: in the interest of; also : as a representative of
Blueprint(s): A detailed plan of action, A model or prototype
To heat up: (easier explained in Portuguese) gíria: esquentar
Prompted: served as the inciting cause of
Meltdowns: a rapid or disastrous decline or collapse
Outburst: a violent expression of feeling
Unflappable: marked by assurance and self-control
Indomitably: incapable of being subdued : unconquerable
Technicians union: (easier explained in Portuguese) Sindicato dos Técnicos
To black out: (in this context) to take out of the air – stop transmitting
Thrives: to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances
Deft: characterized by facility and skill, dexterous
To fine-tune: to make final adjustments
Host: one that receives or entertains guests socially, commercially, or officially
It's a tough one: a very difficult one
Downplayed: minimize
have been battling: have been struggling with, having difficulties
Upheaval: extreme agitation or disorder
Withdrew: to take back or away, remove
Bleachers: a usually uncovered stand of tiered planks providing seating for spectators —usually used in plural
Showed up: came, appeared
Scrapped: to abandon or get rid of as no longer of enough worth or effectiveness to retain