by Nathaniel R
Our dream is to one day attend that invite only Honorary Oscars / Governor's Awards. The ceremonies aren't televised but for clips for YouTube and such but everyone who is anyone in Hollywood is there with an emphasis on Hollywood's golden history which we here at The Film Experience have always appreciated. Sites that only cover new releases -- what are you doing with your lives?!?
Here are the speeches and some notes from the special night. First up Geena Davis, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner who shares that it was really Thelma & Louise (1991) that changed her life (you and me both, diva!) and set her on the path that she's now being honored for. Her face when Tom Hanks says her name... ❤
Wes Studi who was weirdly denied an Oscar nomination for his iconic turn in Last of the Mohicans (1992) and paved the way for Native American actors with a rare leading role in Geronimo (1993) finally got some industry-wide love with an Honorary for his contribution to the movies. Though two previous Native American actors have been nominated for an Oscar (Chief Dan George for Little Big Man and Graham Greene for Dances with Wolves) he's now the very first Native American actor to receive an Oscar. (Side note unmentioned in the speeches: the first indigenous (and heretofore only) indigenous person to win an Oscar was actually Buffy Sainte-Marie who shared the Best Original Song Oscar for 1982's hit "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.)
Lina Wertmuller, the first woman to receive a nomination from the director's branch (of only five women to date) for her masterpiece Seven Beauties showed up with her trademark white glasses to accept the Honorary statue. What a trailblazer she was having a rich career way back in the 1970s when so few women got directing gigs.
After an obsessive totally relatable speech from Greta Gerwig -- we see you Greta, we've been there before devouring the movies that spoke to us in some highly specific life-changing way -- and a pointed history of women in the Best Director category from Jane Campion (the second woman nominated), Lina remarks that she would like to call the statue "Anna" rather than "Oscar" in favor of the feminine! Haha.
And Hollywood made the most of Lina being in town because she also got a star on the Walk of Fame this week!
And finally, beloved American icon and eccentric genius David Lynch who gave what we believe is the shortest speech ever when receiving an Honorary Oscar...so thankfully Isabelle Rossellini, his former girlfriend and Blue Velvet star, was on hand with a bit more to say. If you're a Lynch fan isn't it heaven to see his core muses -- Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, and Isabella Rossellini surrounding him? Adorable that MacLachlan has to snap a picture on his cel.
And to each and every one of you reading The Film Experience each day, we share Lynch's sentiment...
You have a very interesting face.