Wow, that Hugh Jackman is one talented S.O.B.
Jackman's opening number last night at the 81st annual Academy Awards was absolutely spectacular. Exactly eight minutes into the ceremony on CTV and ABC, Jackman was receiving a freakin' standing ovation.
He sang. He danced. He told jokes. And he was absolutely charming.
Has there ever been a standing ovation so early in an Oscars broadcast? Has that ever happened before?
During his number, Jackman even took a little shot at the Academy itself, which had been criticized this year for ignoring movies that were big box-office successes in favour of more obscure fare.
"How come comic-book movies never get nominated?" Jackman sang.
"How can a billion dollars be unsophisticated?
"Everyone went to see The Dark Knight.
"What am I doing you think is not right?
"Is it my cape or my bullet-proof tights?
"Maybe if I aged backwards ... "
That last bit, obviously, was a shout-out to the nominated film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Jackman even channelled that old Bill Murray Oscars-handicapping bit on Saturday Night Live by complementing some random dancing with the lyrics, "The Reader ... I haven't seen The Reader ... "
Seriously, we haven't laughed that hard since SCTV's 5 Neat Guys anchored their tribute to the best films of 1981 by twisting and merely repeating the title, "Absence of Malice ... "
With all the talk about this being a "different" Oscars broadcast, and no one really knowing how it all was going to play out, we swear Jackman's opening number set the entire, relaxed -- albeit somewhat rushed -- tone. You could almost hear everyone in the theatre breathing a sigh of relief.
This may not be a disaster! It might even be good! What a concept!
Hey, Hugh: Hugh-da man.
CANADIAN CONTENT
It always pays when you pay to have your own people on-site.
CTV sent its eTalk team to cover the red carpet, and it resulted not only in some nice Canadian moments, but also more words from Angelina Jolie than anybody else got.
Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog Millionaire, interrupted the first question directed to him by eTalk. Boyle commented, "I have to say, first of all, to everybody in Toronto: Thank you very, very much, because that's where we got started when we got the people's prize (the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival)."
Meanwhile, eTalk also got Jolie to mutter a few polite syllables. Asked about her nerves, she said, "I'm not nervous at all." And asked if her performance in Changeling was a tribute to her mom Marcheline Bertrand, Jolie said, "Yes, it was."
Over at E!, Ryan Seacrest and his team had not spoken with either Jolie or her husband Brad Pitt by the time the Canadian version of the network cut off its coverage (a half-hour before the ceremony began).
And in the official ABC red-carpet show (which also was shown on CTV in Canada, taking over from eTalk a half-hour before the ceremony), Tim Gunn from Project Runway actually had Pitt and Jolie together for a moment and wasted it by gushing that they were "the most glorious couple on this red carpet." Ugh.
Note to ABC: If Gunn is going to be part of things, he should be analyzing from a skybox, not interviewing people.
TRANSLATE THIS
There was a red-carpet moment that actually made us laugh right out loud.
Seacrest was interviewing the kids from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. He asked one of them a question, and when the lad merely stared back, the other kids chimed in, "He can't speak English."
"Oh, he can't speak English -- then you translate," Seacrest said, shoving the microphone into the face of one of the older kids.
"He can't speak English, he's not saying anything, there's nothing to translate," the older kid said, innocently.
The inadvertent verbal slap at Seacrest was priceless.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Lookin' good: Freida Pinto in blue; Vanessa Hudgens in black; Heidi Klum in red; Natalie Portman in pink; Marisa Tomei in white ... Great visual: With Jennifer Aniston presenting, the camera cut to Jolie, who was laughing nervously ... Big chuckle: Ben Stiller's bearded take on Joaquin Phoenix's recent bizarre appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman ... Hey, the recent Grammy Awards lasted three and a half hours. How come no one complains that those are too long, huh?
