Not nominated? Elton John’s AIDS fundraiser, private Oscar parties and, yes, your own cozy couch are all options for entertainment pros to catch the show.
For those Hollywood lights not stepping onto the carpet on the Dolby on Sunday, there are myriad events and viewing parties where they can catch the honors with an industry crowd. “I’ll be at Elton’s, I’m always at Elton’s,” says Heidi Klum of the Elton John-hosted viewing party and AIDS fundraiser at West Hollywood Park. Aisha Tyler plans to head to IMDb’s viewing party, then hit afterparties, “until my feet decide it’s time to go home and go to bed,” she adds.
Gabrielle Union, whose husband Dwayne Wade will be wrapping up the NBA season, will also be at her usual hangout on Oscar night: “I will be at the Vanity Fair party with one of my girlfriends — probably Sanaa Lathan because she’s my usual date to Vanity Fair. That’s a hot day.” Watching from the comfort of your own couch is also an option.
“We’ll be at home on the sofa,” Rebecca Romijn says of watching alongside husband Jerry O’Connell. Notes Michael Rappaport of his cozy plans: “I’ll be home watching the Oscars with my wife, and probably talking a little shit.”
Annual Oscar traditions run deep in the entertainment community. “Every year, our tradition [was] to watch the Awards with my father-in-law, Howard Gottfried. Howard was nominated for best picture for Network in 1977 and Howard and my mother-in-law, Mary Lynn Gottfried, have always hosted a small group of friends and family,” says Bad Robot president and COO Brian Weinstein, who notes that Gottfried passed away in December. Weinstein will continue the tradition of a small gathering in his honor and watch the show at his home with family including wife Norah Weinstein of Baby2Baby.
Kay Cannon will also be hosting: “We’ve got all the popcorn in the world,” says the Blockers director, “and I have all of these special food menu items that I’m doing, like the ‘Shape of Water Cress Salad’ and ‘Three Cheese Boards,’ all themed to the best picture nominees.”
Hollywood power lawyer Alan Hergott and his partner of nearly 30 years, Curt Shepard, chief of staff at the Hammer Museum, will be watching the Oscars at a soiree hosted annually by fellow art collectors Anges and Edward Lee, who conveniently “live right down the block” from their home.
And while much of Hollywood will be glued to the screen, others are busy working. “I’m trying to figure it out. We’re working. I’m filming World of Dance and I have a show day the very next morning, so as much as I’d love to go out and drink all night and go to Madonna’s afterparty, I probably will be home watching it in my sweats,” says Jenna Dewan Tatum. Director Adam Shankman, who is doing pre-production for What Men Want, will also be reporting to work the next morning. “I’ll be in Atlanta. A hotel room in Atlanta.”
AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan will be decompressing from Saturday’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, airing live on his company’s IFC. “I’ll be watching while recovering at Shutters in Santa Monica,” he says, “where the day before John Mulaney and Nick Kroll will have been hilarious hosting the Spirit Awards — a major party with an early start time.”
Rather than putting on a three-piece tux or sky-high heels and gown, watching from the comfort of your home means wearing whatever you’d like. “I’m looking forward to a round of golf that day followed by watching on TV with my wife, in sweats,” says attorney Mathew Rosengart, a partner at Greenberg Traurig, who attended the Oscars last year with his client, original screenplay Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan.
Nigel Lythgoe, who has been to the Academy Awards twice, will also be watching from home this year. “I was right at the very back,” he says of his experience attending the Dolby ceremony. “I thought: This is going to look better on television than I’m seeing it right now.”
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