Massive Envelope Font, a Trio of Weinstein Accusers Presenting, and More from the 2018 Oscars Rehearsals
If there’s one thing Oscar presenters can be sure of this year, it’s that the winners’ envelopes will be easier to read than a large-print edition of Reader’s Digest.
“This is what the envelope will look like,” stage manager Gary Natoli told presenter Eva Marie Saint, 93, at Oscar rehearsals at the Dolby Theatre Saturday afternoon, handing over a thick black envelope with a category name in a font large enough to see from the front row. “It’s like a little clutch purse.”
“It’s all gonna be fine,” Saint said, patting Natoli’s hand. “Well, I’m gonna be fine. I don’t know about you.”
A year after Envelopegate, the largest mishap in Oscar history, the Academy Awards telecast crew was leaving little to chance on Saturday afternoon as presenters including Emma Stone, Matthew McConaughey, Viola Davis, Jane Fonda, Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Ansel Elgort, Rita Moreno, Mahershala Ali, Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra, Eiza González, and Eugenio Derbez practiced their stage walking, teleprompter reading, and envelope tearing.
As became clear during rehearsals, the telecast will have a surplus number of women taking the stage, including a trio who will carry a special significance for anyone who has followed the Harvey Weinstein saga: Judd, Sciorra, and Salma Hayek, who was represented by a stand-in. The three women have all publicly shared stories of Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct. (Weinstein has denied all allegations of nonconsensual acts.)
“It’s an honor to—whoa,” Sciorra began to read her portion of the show script when she looked out into the theater and stopped in a moment of emotion.
Even for those who had been there many times before, the first sight of the Oscars stage, which production designer Derek McLane modeled on a massive a crystal geode, inspired awe. “Is Derek here?” Fonda asked as she took the stage. “It looks like the Orgasmatron in Barbarella, only prettier.” Together with co-presenter Mirren, Fonda consulted with the crew as the duo worked out a bit. A small but enthusiastic rehearsal audience laughed as the twosome tried out their timing on a couple comedic lines.
“Thank you guys for laughing,” Mirren said. “Much appreciated.”
Bullock also worked out some logistics, including the precise location of a pop-up microphone she feared might cause a wardrobe malfunction. “Suddenly the dress is just riding up,” Bullock said as she stopped to consult with comedian and Oscars telecast writer Carol Leifer about her lines.
Davis brought along her daughter, Genesis, who watched her mother rehearse from a seat marked with a card for Meryl Streep. (“I’ve met Meryl Streep,” the six-year-old announced to the audience.)
Moreno also brought her grown daughter, Fernanda Luisa Fisher, who said that her mother will wear the same evening gown she wore when she won her Academy Award for West Side Story in 1962. “Look who’s behind you!” Moreno shouted from the stage to her daughter, pointing to a seat marked with a card for a young, big-name actress Moreno adores. (The Academy asked that invited press not reveal the actress’s name, because it had not announced her participation.)
“I’m gonna have a heart attack,” Moreno said. Before she left, she snapped a photo with the seat card.
Academy President John Bailey, a cinematographer by trade, watched the proceedings from the house, pausing to comment on Saint’s rehearsal.
“If you screw up, you get to come back next year,” Bailey said, before adding a warning that seemed pointed at the accountants supervising the envelopes. “Well, if they screw up, you get to come back next year.”
“No one’s gonna screw up,” Saint said.
