D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
February
2008
The Show Must Go On!
Writers' strike or not, Silver City will celebrate Oscar night.
Even if the writers' strike dims the lights in Hollywood, the WNMU-Silver City International Film Society will roll out the red carpet to celebrate Oscar night in all its usual glory at Isaac's Bar & Grill in Silver City, Feb. 24, 5-10 p.m.
Casey Luria, film society board vice-president, encourages attendees to "dress to the nines" for the traditionally glam event — both for fun and for prizes. Costume awards will be given in numerous categories, including for Best Movie-Related Couple, Most Over the Top, Best Costume in a Drama, Best Costume in a Comedy and a special look-alike competition for people who dress up as Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp.
An annual fundraiser for the film society, the Oscar Party also will include a silent auction of art, goods and services donated by local businesses and individuals.
Movie posters will be offered for sale, benefiting the society, and the Academy Awards broadcast — whatever form it takes, from full-blown red carpet to "press conference" a la the recent Golden Globe Awards — will be broadcast on four TVs throughout Isaac's. Lacking a Hollywood broadcast completely, Luria says the film society is ready to screen classic movies and keep attendees entertained with the contests, auctions and other festivities.
"Oscar" himself — a life-size, living, breathing version of the gold statuette — will once again greet attendees at the door at the beginning of the evening. Curious Kumquat co-owner Rob Connoley will serve as master of ceremonies but, well, curiously he's never seen in the same room as Oscar. It's sort of a Clark Kent-Superman dilemma.
The ticket price, $8 at the door or $7 if purchased ahead of time, is a donation to the film society and does not include food and drink this year. Isaac's will take orders instead.
While Silver City partygoers will be making merry and showing off their spangles, Hollywood could be quite another story. With the Golden Globes recently reduced to a press conference, the big question — at least at Desert Exposure press time — remains what impact the strike could have on the awards ceremony.
What is seen on the screens at Isaac's — in fact on small screens around the world — will depend on what happens in Tinsel Town. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation estimates that a Golden Globes-like scale-back of the Oscars could cost the local Hollywood economy a ballpark $130 million.
Respected fonts of knowledge like Entertainment Weekly and pundits on late-night television have mused and joked about the scenarios. Some of the possibilities:
The strike ends: Time for this kind of happy-ending is running out, although the recent settlement with the Directors Guild of America raised Hollywood's hopes for a similar deal with striking writers.
The strikers bend for Oscar: Why would they do it? Holding out so long as to ruin Oscar night could turn public sentiment — which has largely been with the writers' cause — against them. A bit of gracious cooperation, in fact, could turn into a goodwill bargaining chip.
Oscar waits it out: ABC, which broadcasts the event, and the Academy could gamble that the strike will end before late March and just postpone the show a month; the awards were moved up to February only in recent years, anyway. Silver City party planners vow to stick to Feb. 24 regardless.
The stars don't come out: Imagine the Oscars with no big stars stepping out of limos, no gowns, no glam. Major players like George Clooney and Angelina Jolie already have made high-profile statements that they will not cross a WGA picket line. Imagine Oscar host Jon Stewart squirming in front of a decidedly un-starry audience. That's about as pretty as, well, Joe Pesci.
Golden Globes redux: The Academy and ABC could settle for a press conference reading of the winners.
Whatever happens in Hollywood boardrooms this month, "Oscar" is guaranteed to show in Silver City.
WNMU-International Film Society's Oscar Awards Costume Party, Feb. 24, 5-10 p.m., at Isaac's Bar & Grill, Bullard and Broadway, Silver City. Tickets $8, or $7 if purchased early at the Curious Kumquat or Yankie Creek Coffee House, both in downtown Silver City. 590-7626.
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