Governors Awards Red Carpet Gives Us Preview of Oscar Lineup
Consider awards season underway.
Dozens of stars -- including honoree Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt -- came out for the 2013 Governors Awards, the fourth annual Oscars offshoot that doles out four prestigious Honorary and Humanitarian awards.
Jolie, who along with Pitt brought son Maddox, was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her various global efforts. Also being recognized with honorary gold statuettes: Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury and costume designer Piero Tosi.
While Hollywood greats like George Lucas and Harrison Ford made their way down the red carpet, moreover, the event served as a preview of who all we'll be seeing collecting accolades at awards shows over the next few months.
[Related: Live Blog - Insider Access at the Governors Awards]
Director Steve McQueen and his "12 Years a Slave" cast members Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o represented the early Best Picture frontrunner, with McQueen telling Yahoo Movies that he considers the story of Solomon Northrup akin to "America's Anne Frank" and downplaying the early Oscar hype, telling us he wasn't aware most pundits have "12 Years" facing off against "Gravity" in the lead race.
"Gravity" screenwriter Jonás Cuarón -- who co-wrote the blockbuster hit with his father Alfonso -- showered praise upon "12 Years" when asked what fall films he was excited about, and said the senior member of the screenwriting duo never pulled "the dad card" when it came to conflicts they had working together.
Praising the competition proved a trend: The 77-year-old Bruce Dern, who's considered an early Best Actor favorite for his poignant role in "Nebraska," mentioned "All Is Lost" as an Oscar-contending film he loved, and heaped praise on its solo star, Robert Redford … who is also his main competition in the category.
David O. Russell answered that yes, he's just as excited to show us "American Hustle" as we are to finally see it (though also admitted the film isn't fully completed yet), and promised Christian Bale would win Best Comb Over of the Year (an award that now clearly needs to be created).
Mark Wahlberg, meanwhile, who came to tout Peter Berg's war thriller "The Lone Survivor," was more than willing to talk about the brouhaha that resulted from comments he made at the AFI Festival about actors comparing their work to the military ("How f--king dare you?"), and passionate in his defense that the press was making a mountain out of a molehill. He said he hasn't talked to Tom Cruise -- who certain press outlets speculated he was targeting his ire at -- because he feels like he didn't have to; Cruise wouldn't think anything of it.
[Related: Mark Wahlberg Says He Wasn't Cursing Out Tom Cruise]
Also spotted on the red carpet: "Dallas Buyers Club" stars Matthew McConaughey (who's just starting to pack back the 38 pounds he lost for the role), Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto; Jake Gyllenhaal, who also dropped a ton of weight for his current role in "Nightcrawler," but here stumped for "Prisoners"; Amy Adams ("American Hustle"); Geoffrey Rush ("The Book Thief"); Michael B. Jordan ("Fruitvale Station"); Jonah Hill ("Wolf of Wall Street"); Daniel Bruhl ("Rush"), and the perhaps the most unexpected awards contender, Pharrell Williams (for his original song "Happy" in "Despicable Me 2"). The guy just sheds hit songs, it seems.
