Feb 22 2009
Barbara Walters Oscar Special Sunday, February 22
Barbara Walters hosts her 28th annual Oscar special this Sunday, interviewing this year’s Academy Awards host Hugh Jackman, along with Anne Hathaway, Mickey Rourke, and the Jonas Brothers. Definitely an ecclectic mix. I think she’ll have her hands full.
According to MSN news , Jackman is very nervous about hosting the Oscars. He’s hosted the Tony Awards before, and has lots of stage experience, so I’m thinking he’ll be fine. Inexplicably, he said he’d be most nervous seeing Jack Nicholson in the front row. Someone has to tell me, what is the deal with Jack Nicholson? Does he secretly own all of the movie studios? Does he have blackmail photos on everyone in Hollywood? It doesn’t matter if he has a film or not, let alone an Oscar-nominated one, there he is in the front row every Oscar telecast. The camera goes to him for reaction shots for about 90% of the program. Winners mention him in their speeches. Why? I don’t get it at all. Why should a respected, actual Oscar nominee have to sit a dozen rows back while this guy sits in the front? It’s actually to the point where seeing him ruins the Oscars for me.
But I digress. Walters was cagey about her Hugh Jackman interview, saying he was going to discuss something important in his life, regarding his father. Will we get the trademark teary session that Walters is famous for? We’ll have to see. We’ll also have to see what happens in her interview with Mickey Rourke (nominated for The Wrestler). Rourke gave a heartfelt speech after his Golden Globe win, seeming very grateful for the honor, and softening his infamous bad boy image.
On the other side of the spectrum we have sweet Anne Hathaway (nominated for Rachel Getting Married), a movie I unfortunately haven’t yet seen. I’m wondering if Walters will ask her about her role in Brokeback Mountain, when the late Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams all got Oscar nominations and she was left out. Certainly her role was smaller and more darkly humorous in later scenes, and while she did an excellent job, it may not have been the caliber of role she’s nominated for now. I don’t think she held a grudge about missing out with Brokeback Mountain–in fact I admired her all the more for being so supportive of her costars during all the awards and attention they received.
Walters also interviews the Jonas Brothers for her Oscar special. MSN reports hilariously that Walters had to spend time learning which brother was which. She’d expected the interview to be a quick 20 minutes, but apparently she got more than she bargained for and ended up spending over an hour with them. Perhaps they weren’t just the fluffy Disney boys she was expecting.
Tune in to the Barbara Walters Oscar Special on Sunday, February 22, at 7/6c (and after the Academy Awards for West Coast viewers).
View the MSN article and the lovely Hugh Jackman pictures that follow it here.
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Hugh Jackman, interview for Australia on 60 Minutes screencap, c2008 CBS News Productions.
Anne Hathaway, interview for Becoming Jane on MSN’s Dish Diva, c2007 MSN.
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