L.A. Stories
Vive la Difference
Fresh on the heels of the announcement of the Academy Awards nominations last week, the entertainment awards season will kick off in earnest this Saturday at least for fans of French cinema.
The Cesar Awards, France’s version of the Oscars, will be televised live on TV5, France’s most popular television network, available to digital cable and satellite subscribers in this country for about $10 a month. To mark the occasion, locally based TV5 United States is hosting a viewing party at the Mondrian Hotel.
“This is the 28th ceremony. It’s a very big deal in France,” said Patrice Courtaban, chief operating officer of TV5 United States.
Three American films are up for Best Foreign Picture, although the picks are no doubt raising some eyebrows on this side of the Atlantic. They are “Bowling for Columbine,” “Minority Report” and “Ocean’s Eleven,” which was released in this country in 2001 but debuted in France in 2002.
Together, the three garnered a total of two Oscar nominations (“Bowling” for Best Documentary and “Minority” for sound editing).
“There are cultural differences. The French have their own taste when it comes to movies,” Courtaban said.
Darrell Satzman
Good Gig
Greg Garrison, audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and the company’s lead engagement partner for the Academy Awards, will take in his eighth Oscar ceremony March 23 at the Kodak Theatre from an enviable back stage perspective.
Garrison and a partner are responsible for handing the awards envelopes to presenters just before they go on stage, which is enough to put anyone on edge. “You do get nervous. It’s that feeling when you stuff your bills into an envelope and send them out, and then you say, ‘Oh no, did I put the right check in there?'” Garrison said.
Fortunately, the right name has always made into the right envelope, and the job does have a considerable upside.
“Every year, there’s an anecdote. Last year, I was introduced to Julia Roberts, who was presenting Best Actor, and she said ‘Do you know who won? I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘You have to tell me.’ I told her ‘I can’t do that. Just go out there open the envelope and enjoy the surprise.”
Roberts then confessed she was nervous and asked if she could lean on Garrison for support before taking the stage.
“I told her that would be okay,” he said.
Darrell Satzman
Publicity Stunt
There’s nothing like a little publicity to turn a casting call into a civic holiday.
Seems the City of West Hollywood has proclaimed this Tuesday “Anna Nicole Smith Day,” in conjunction with an open casting call for Anna Nicole drag queens. Two lucky queens will be picked from the bunch to fill supporting roles in a new independent film, “Wasabi Tuna,” which will star the real Anna Nicole Smith.
“The city is going to present her with a proclamation, there should be 50 to 100 drag queens that will be coming out to audition for the role,” said Makeda Smith, a publicist promoting the event.
The idea for a West Hollywood casting call event was to celebrate the city’s diversity, Smith said, but also to promote filming in the city. Looking to drum up some attention, she took the idea to the city, and the city agreed to make more out of the event.
“This is part of our ongoing effort to keep filming located here in Los Angeles,” said Steve Martin, Mayor pro tem of West Hollywood. “After all, it’s about jobs, not good taste.”
Conor Dougherty
‘House of 1,000 Corpses’
With a catalog of recordings including “Psycho Head Blowout” and “Make Them Die Slowly,” no one has ever accused Rob Zombie of staying within convention.
But the metal frightmeister has completed his weirdest musical collaboration yet: a sing along with Lionel Richie, former lead singer of the 1970s funk group, the Commodores.
The duo belted out a remake of the 1970s funk super group’s “Brick House” one of 25 tracks on “House of 1,000 Corpses: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,” which is scheduled to be released next month.
The origin of “Brick House 2003” began one night when Zombie told some friends he wanted the song on the soundtrack but didn’t know how to make it cool. Someone suggested actually calling Richie.
“It was a drunken joke among his friends,” said Dennis Dennehy, public director for Interscope Geffen A & M; Records, which will distribute the CD. “Then 24 hours later Lionel Richie agreed to do it.”
David Greenberg
The Roving Eye
Double Take
The upside down billboards advertising Spanish-language radio station KLAX-FM (97.9) stand out among the clutter of the landscape.
“I noticed one of them on my way home from work and called the station to tell them there is an upside down billboard advertising their radio station and maybe the outdoor company made a mistake,” said Marielise Nascimento, media director for Enlace Communications Inc., which specializes in Latino advertising.
But it’s not a mistake. The radio station known as La Raza has tipped about 10 percent of its billboards upside down as part of an advertising campaign that has people looking twice.
“It gets people to call and ask what is this all about,” said William Tanner, executive vice president of programming for Spanish Broadcasting System Inc., the Florida-based company that owns the station.
The red billboard signs have a simple message: “20 Pegaditas. No Corridos.” They advertise the station’s policy of playing 20 songs in a row, four times a day. Corridos are the ballads that sometimes recount tragic stories of drug dealing gone awry or murders prompted by jealousy.
The topsy-turvy billboard campaign was Tanner’s idea. He has used it in other areas of the country where Spanish Broadcasting owns radio stations.
“It never fails to do what it has done here,” Tanner said, noting that the billboards are placed in areas with a heavy concentration of Latinos. “People always call up. It makes for interaction on the air. Also I don’t think radio stations should take themselves too seriously.”
Nascimento believes such an advertising campaign can be successful. “The billboards,” she said, “do get your attention.”
Deborah Belgum
