21st Annual ASC Awards Show! *Recap*

Wow, Totally Amazing!

I knew that I would have the time of my life and if I played my cards right it would be a night I would never forget! From the moment I touched down in Los Angeles I felt an overwhelming sense of excitement. Who would I meet, does my tux look okay and will there be an after party?

Okay, first things first. I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel at around 5 pm and proceeded straight to the bar (I’m not much of drinker but what the hell). When I got to my table and had dinner and more drinks I felt utterly relaxed. After mingling for a couple of hours the show started at 7:30 pm and I was stoked! The montages shown before all the winners were simply breathtaking and extremely well done.Martin Scorsese kicked of the show presenting Michael Ballhaus, ASC with the International Achievement Award and we were off and running!

Now let me clarify. This is an awards show for cinematographers for cinematographers who vote for other cinematographers. You can’t get much more inside an industry than that. To be rewarded by your peers is the one of the greatest achievements you can get. I thought it would kinda be a quick night since there were only 8 awards (3 that were voted on), but the show lasted over 4 hours! Don’t get me wrong, it could have lasted for 4 days and I would have been just as thrilled, in fact I was just as excited at the end (actually more so) than I was at the beginning. But I digress . . .

Scorsese introduced Michael Ballhaus who shot such great films such as, “Goodfellas”, “The Fabulous Baker Boys”, “Broadcast News”, “Air Force One”, “The Last Temptation of Christ” and recently, “The Departed”. Marty was extremely funny as he recounted many stories about the difficulties of filmmaking, notably the many attempts to get “The Last Temptation of Christ” off the ground. In his speech Ballhaus delivered the best line of the night when he said, “Good lighting comes from light being taken away”. That was so awesome! I had an opportunity to meet Scorsese and Ballhaus afterwards and Marty was extremely nice and happy. He said he thought he had a pretty good chance this year to win an Oscar (so do I). Did I mention he’s very short?

Next, Beau Bridges gave the award for best episodic television to David Moxness (for an episode of Smallville) and delivered the second best line of the night when he said, “A cinematographer can you make you look like an Adonis or the Devil”.

Actor/Director Richard Benjamin gave the Presidents Award to Gerald Hirschfeld (“Young Frankenstein”) and told a priceless story about one of my favorite actors, Peter O’Toole, when he recounted how O’Toole made one rule during the filming of “My Favorite Year”. The rule was not to call him to the set under ANY circumstances UNTIL they were ready to shoot. If O’Toole saw a ladder or anyone moving ANYTHING on the set he would immediately turn around, walk off the set and be done for the day. Benjamin told how he called O’Toole to the set one day and the great Hirschfeld saw that a barn door had moved and blocked a light and the race was on to get a ladder and fix it before O’Toole saw it and left for the day. Extremely funny and endearing.

Universal Studios President and CEO Ron Meyer presented the Board of Governors Award to Ron Howard who also told very funny stories about how cinematographers have been saving his ass since he was 4 years old and how one DP was framing him for a shot and said “Kill the Obie” and Howard thought he wanted to kill him! (He thought the DP was referring to his character “Opie” but he was really talking about turning off a kind of light). He also announced that his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard had a baby boy the day before. Did I mention he is a real nice and genuine guy?

David James Elliott (Jag) presented the best TV movie/miniseries/pilot award to John Stokes for “Umney’s Last Case” from the miniseries Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. He also had a great line when he said, “Artful cinematography is the difference between radio and television”.

Charlize Theron introduced (and gushed over) Allen Daviau, ASC (“E.T.”, and one of my absolute favorites, “Fearless”) when she presented him the Lifetime Achievement Award. She reminisced about how she hung out with him and the camera crew when she made “The Astronauts Wife”, (which would piss off any director) and how he told her that he loved to photograph her feet (Hmm, sounds like a Tarantino fetish). She also mentioned that she still calls him to this day when she feels a DP shoots her strangely and she feels insecure (such drama). Daviau’s acceptance speech lasted a full half hour and it was thrilling, exciting and very informative. He spoke about first meeting Spielberg and shooting “E.T.”. Daviau and Theron were both very sweet and unassuming people that seemed to go out of their way to make people feel comfortable. Charlize complimented me on my tux (concern addressed) and let me tell you, she is absolutely just as gorgeous in person as she is on film!
Finally, after drinking several bottles of wine and generally having a whale of a time, Tim Allen came on stage and said another classic line in that style of his. He said he was relieved that he got to the show early, my god!!! Well I guess you just had to be there, but believe me he was so funny I nearly yak’d red wine, coffee and breadsticks all over the table! Again, digression . . .

Perhaps the biggest award of the night (and most telling) was Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, taking top honors in the feature film competition for “Children of Men”, which might bode well for the Oscars.
So out of everyone, I got to meet Martin Scorsese (short and funny), Ron Howard (genuine and very friendly), Richard Benjamin (very nice, I met him before), Charlize Theron (extremely sexy, gorgeous with the softest skin but very shy), Tim Allen (loud and funny) and Rosario Dawson (sexy and unassuming, kind of geeky in a cute way), plus scores upon scores of legendary cinematographers. I got to go to an amazing after party (another blog for another day). I ate and drank way too much, made some great contacts and had the time of my life. Hey I could get used to this, ya know?