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Though downsized in some areas, this year's celebrations guarantee glitz

• Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 February 2009 14.04 GMT

 

 

 

A stretch of Hollywood Boulevard has been closed to traffic all week, its bumpy tarmac replaced by a red carpet covered in plastic sheeting. Marquees and stands are up, and with the help of a tape measure, a man is placing box hedges along the route the stars will take into the Kodak theatre for tomorrow's Oscar ceremony.

 

The world may be in the grip of credit crunch, but LA wants glitz. In a marquee a preview of one of Oscar season's most venerable occasions, the Governor's Ball, held immediately after the event, is in full swing. It may be only 10am, but waiters are keen to impress upon the expectant media the finer points of the Moët & Chandon Nectar Imperial to be served at the sit-down dinner for the stars.

 

Next to Moët, the team from Patrón is stressing the more delicate notes of its tequila cocktail devised for the occasion, a blend of citronge, organic blackberry juice and tequila, finished with a flourish of gold rim and fresh blackberries.

 

Austrian-born celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck mugs for the cameras as he samples one of the 3,000 smoked salmon Oscars he will serve on the night. He pops a gold-coated chocolate Oscar into his mouth before contemplating the big question at this year's ceremony: isn't this all bit much given the hard times facing most of the country?

"Absolutely not," Puck replies. "We have to do it better than ever because the economic climate is so bad. We have to spend money. If not, President Obama's stimulus plan will not work."

 

The theme of extravagance in the face of adversity, of opulence for the sake of the nation, is one that Oscar week organisers are learning to embrace.

Inside the theatre, David Rockwell – the designer of this year's show and the same man who designed the shopping centre-cum-multiplex that now houses the Oscars – has been working hard at giving the event a much-needed makeover. Working with the baffling and grammatically cumbersome motto "More intimacy. Less multiple layers of lamé", Rockwell has decreed that this year's colour should be blue. But this is no conservative gesture. Rockwell's blue will be a sparkling, twinkly blue, thanks to the presence of a curtain encrusted with 92,000 Swarovski crystals.

 

Community theatre on steroids, Rockwell calls it. And the pumped up nature of the event extends to that other stalwart of celebrity socialising, the gifting suites. Although there are fewer than in previous years – the whole gifting industry took a bit of a hit when the taxman started to take notice – gifts are still there for the taking.

 

Watches are the big, discreet gift this year, with presenters and nominees being offered timepieces worth from $8,000 (£5,500) to $18,000. All they have to do is pose for a photo while wearing the watch. Other gifts include a $10,000 vacation package, diamond facials, and a year's worth of Botox. To make amends, perhaps, the giftees will be given the option to donate their riches to charity.

 

It is rumoured that the eager celebrities will be led through five different gifting suites, each decorated in the theme of one of the best picture nominees. Which is a great idea until you remember that one of those nominees is set in a Mumbai slum, while the other has the events of the Holocaust as its background.

 

But there are some areas in which planet Oscar has taken account of the real world that lies beyond. Parties, while not necessarily more sober this year, have certainly been downsized. Dior Beauty held its annual Oscar dinner for 40 guests at Chateau Marmont, but will not have a presence at other Oscar week rituals. The Vanity Fair party returns after missing last year's fun because of the writers' strike, but is expected to be scaled down.

 

And where there are Oscars, there are Oscar frocks, and Oscar hairdos. These are also expected to be restrained this year, although some stars are determined to go for it, fulfilling their duty to entertain a demoralised populace.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with playing dress up right now," Jennifer Lopez told WWD magazine. Her hair stylist, however, conceded that the restrained bun she sported at last month's Golden Globes was influenced by the global financial meltdown. "She wore that gold dress," Andy Lecompte told the Los Angeles Times, "and with the economy the way it is, she didn't want to overdo it with jewels or her hair."

 

Yet while the Oscars and its parent Academy hope to persuade the watching millions that life is beautiful, led by an opening song-and-dance number from host Hugh Jackman, the numbers tell a different story.

Following the withdrawal of long-standing Oscar advertisers L'Oréal and General Motors, ABC is hawking around the half-dozen unsold commercial spots in the three-hour show: a bargain in these troubled times at the reduced price of just $1.4m for 30 seconds.

 

adversity - zły los, przeciwności losu, nieszczęście

baffling - zbijający z tropu

bumpy - wyboisty

concede - uznawać, przyznawać

cumbersome - nieporęczny, niezręczny

discreet - ostrożny, rozważny

downsize - redukować, zmniejszać wielkość lub ilość

embrace - obejmować, przyjmować

encrusted - inkrustowany

expectant - oczekujący

extravagance - rozrzutność

facial - maseczka (kosmetyczna)

flourish - ozdobnik

frocks - garderoba, kostiumy

glitz - blichtr

grip - kleszcze, uścisk

hawk around - zachwalać towar

in full swing - w pełnym toku

lamé - lama (rodzaj tkaniny)

make amends - wynagradzać coś komuś

marquee - duży namiot

mug for - tu: robić miny do

opulence - bogactwo, obfitość

overdo - przesadzić, przedpbrzyć

pop - wrzucać, wkładać

pumped up - rozdęty, przeładowany

rim - obrzeże, obwódka

sparkling - połyskliwy, iskrzący

sport - pokazywać z dumą

stalwart - sojusznik

tarmac - asfalt

timepiece - zegarek, zegar

twinkly - migoczący

venerable - czcigodny, sędziwy

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