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Fair. to

2:00

Little Gold Men, the award season

2:02

podcast from Vanity Fair. I am

2:04

delighted and proud to introduce him

2:07

as Academy Award winner. And

2:09

the Oscar goes to... And the

2:12

Oscar goes to... The winner

2:14

is the Todd. And

2:18

any little girl who's practicing their feet from

2:20

the telly, you never know. Mom,

2:25

he just wants an Oscar. Hi,

2:35

I'm Katie Rich, and with a bonus post-Oscar

2:38

episode for you, we usually take a little

2:40

bit of time off after the Oscars. But

2:42

this year, we had the opportunity to get

2:44

a glimpse behind the scenes of the show

2:47

that we really hadn't had before. So we

2:49

decided to share it with you. Richard

2:51

and I got on the line so early

2:54

the morning after the Oscars to talk to

2:56

Louis Fratell, who is a comedy writer, a

2:58

writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live, and

3:00

for the second year a writer for the

3:03

Oscars. And lest you be worried, it's

3:05

a dream come true for Louis also. He says

3:07

he wants to be Bruce Valanche, and now he

3:09

really is. He is an Oscar nerd, just like

3:11

the rest of us, and talked about

3:13

what it's like to be behind the scenes of that, to

3:15

get lost in the hallways of the Dolby and run into

3:18

Arnold Schwarzenegger. He had a

3:20

little bit of a role in helping pick which presenters

3:22

in the acting categories would talk to which actors, which

3:24

we were very jealous of. And

3:27

he just had some great insight in how they put

3:29

together this show, how they decided which jokes work, how

3:31

John Cena wound up being the guy who was naked

3:33

on stage. We had a great time talking to

3:35

him. I think we're going to have to have Louis on again to just

3:37

talk about some random old Oscar movies because he

3:39

has that knowledge. So until

3:41

we come back next week with more

3:44

of our regularly scheduled episodes, please enjoy

3:46

this conversation with Louis Fratell. So

3:53

Louis Fratell, thank you so much for coming

3:56

to talk to me and Richard. I just

3:58

need everyone to know that we're... recording

4:00

at a 7 30 a.m.

4:02

Pacific time the morning after the Oscars you were at

4:04

the Oscars and yet you're here talking to us so

4:07

Thank you, and I'm sorry. I

4:09

don't know what's wrong with me. I can't put a finger

4:11

on it when you agreed to this time I was like

4:13

Jesus Again

4:15

they record the Oscars early now So like you

4:18

can even go to the after party and then

4:20

be done by like 8 15

4:22

so actually it wasn't that's all right Well,

4:25

and also you told us that for Kimmel for

4:27

the Jimmy Kimmel show What you do work for when

4:29

you're not writing for the Oscars you you have a

4:31

show tonight you had jokes Do so really the show

4:33

literally goes on even the day after the Oscars, right?

4:36

Yes. Yes. Yes In fact, usually

4:38

our we start writing jokes at 7 a.m

4:40

And they're due at 8 50 a.m But

4:42

they just let us know they pushed us

4:44

pushed it back two hours today So Wow

4:46

to be sane and right there right even

4:48

more Oscars jokes So

4:53

we are you know, we follow the

4:55

Oscars year-round But we don't really get your side

4:57

of things very often at all, which is why

4:59

this is fun So just to ask a kind

5:01

of easy question like when you are writing for

5:03

the Oscars, when does the work start? How do

5:05

you begin? And what is

5:07

that process like? For

5:09

us it actually begins before the New

5:11

Year So when Jimmy like announced he

5:14

was doing the show again and then

5:17

right afterwards Basically, we started getting

5:19

assignments most of which were moot

5:21

within a period of weeks Like

5:24

I not only did we have the assignment

5:26

to write about salt burn. We needed to

5:28

write more about salt burn eventually just

5:31

things that didn't come up in the ceremony at

5:33

all, but it's nice to start that early because

5:36

You know, I'm obsessed with movies like you guys But

5:39

not everybody has like a built-in sensibility

5:41

about whatever the work of Christopher Nolan

5:43

or Greta Gerwig or whatever So you

5:45

sort of gain the understanding you'll

5:47

need to be making jokes about these people for months at

5:49

a time Are you considered

5:51

among the the staff of people writing for

5:54

this like kind of the ringer because if

5:56

people aren't familiar you have What could

5:59

only be called in? knowledge of the

6:01

Oscars? I would describe it as a

6:03

condition. Yes, yes, yes. You've

6:06

been studied by doctors. Are

6:08

you sort of turned to for a

6:10

certain kind of Oscar-y joke or how does

6:12

that kind of play out? I

6:14

have the same assignments as everybody else, but yes. I

6:17

make myself known is all I can say. I

6:21

am deeply, deeply, deeply obsessed with the Oscars.

6:24

I'm on a thread of people, most of whom you know, Richard.

6:27

We watch old Oscar-nominated movies all the time. I'm

6:29

on a thread of people who are just like,

6:31

oh, I haven't seen that Theresa Wright movie or

6:34

I haven't seen that Paul Lett Goddard movie or

6:36

whatever. So I'm not just one layer

6:38

deep. I'm about seven and I'm writing

6:40

with people who are, you know, concerned just with

6:42

this year's movies. So once we

6:44

get to the point in the room with Jimmy where finessing

6:48

jokes or putting the monologue together, he'll

6:51

ask something like two days ago when

6:53

he was at the Dolby rehearsing, he

6:56

goes, did Cynthia Arivo ever win anything? I'm

6:58

like, no, she was nominated for actress and

7:00

song. So to be on basically a slightly

7:02

faster Wikipedia is what I serve as sometimes.

7:07

I mean, something we talk about all the time is the

7:09

tension of the Oscars between appealing to people

7:11

who maybe only saw Sockburn last year or

7:13

only saw Barbie is a better example and people

7:15

like us who know who Theresa Wright is and

7:17

what Cynthia was nominated for. How does that work

7:19

for you guys in the jokes that you're writing?

7:21

What's your kind of acid test to figure out

7:23

what's going to fit the difference? Because I think the

7:25

jokes this year really did. It didn't make anyone feel

7:28

like they were insulted for having paid attention

7:30

in movies but also made people feel welcome.

7:32

How do you do that? Well, there are

7:34

so many writers and you're so invited to

7:36

pitch whatever that there's no restraints really. Like

7:38

if you want to go back and pitch

7:40

a really historical joke, there's a place for

7:42

that potentially because by the end of it,

7:45

we have all this material. I think Jimmy in

7:48

our CBS This Morning segment estimated there are

7:51

5,000 jokes by the time we actually get to the

7:55

final whittling. One of our head

7:57

writers is nicknamed the Whittler. that

8:01

there's just, there's a reason to

8:03

pitch everything. He wants variety so that he can

8:05

pitch something, interest or sort

8:07

of weave something interesting together, ultimately.

8:11

But I think it's

8:13

wiser if you spend more of your time just

8:15

pitching to what are the nuts and the bolts of

8:17

the monologue going to be? Like you have to

8:19

say something about the year Greta Gerwig

8:22

had. You have to say something about

8:24

the fact that Sandra Huler isn't two Best

8:26

Picture Nominees. So I think

8:29

there's a place for a look what

8:31

I found on Wikipedia and it will

8:33

inevitably take a long time to explain

8:36

and understand for the audience. So

8:38

it's like the economy of we all

8:40

are already talking about these certain subjects

8:42

sticking to those is probably wiser. Yeah.

8:46

Was there any sort of mandate from the network

8:49

or from the academy itself? Like are

8:51

there parameters set before you? Or is it the thinking

8:54

that because Kimmels done this a few years now that

8:56

you guys kind of know what you're doing? Yeah.

8:59

This is only my second Oscars but most of the

9:02

people who write for Kimmels have worked for him for

9:04

150 years and

9:06

they've done it even longer and have written for various

9:09

other award shows he's hosted. I wrote for the Emmys when

9:11

he did that a few years ago too. No,

9:13

we never hear anything like anything in

9:15

the world of blowback or don't

9:18

address this certain thing. Like he is pretty

9:21

like Yale level when it comes to

9:24

how deep the monologue

9:26

can get in terms of denseness of

9:29

material for a general audience. Like I

9:31

think he really handles that well, modulates

9:33

that well and I

9:36

can't think of anything he wanted to talk about

9:38

that we then did an about

9:40

face from even. Like I think he was

9:42

pretty clear on the topics he wanted to

9:44

address. Like the way it ended, we had

9:47

several rounds on the strikes

9:49

and quote unquote what we learned from the strikes

9:51

and we kept missing. He didn't agree

9:54

on what we learned I think a few times but

9:56

eventually he found what he liked and

9:58

we addressed that too. That

10:00

sort of is like I think something

10:02

in that area might be Something

10:04

higher ups could have potentially objected to but they

10:07

didn't I thought the way that

10:09

the monologue address the strikes was so powerful And

10:11

really set things off on a good note It

10:13

was really the first award show we've had since the

10:15

strikes ended that did anything about the strikes and

10:17

having all the crew come On stage what how

10:19

did you guys realize that was a note to strike and

10:21

to end the monologue on? You know what?

10:24

I kind of didn't I'm we had we had

10:26

pitched to it and you know You become anesthetized

10:28

to the the subject after a while after writing

10:30

joke after joke after joke about it You forget

10:32

to even think of the visual element of oh

10:35

here is the crew that the audience will be

10:37

seeing Watching it. I was

10:39

like, oh wait, that was amazing Like I kind of

10:41

didn't know until the end like I thought the big

10:43

joke was gonna be Look at

10:45

the dog from Anatomy of a Follies in the audience, you

10:47

know Where

10:50

are you during the show I am

10:52

right off stage as in When

10:55

I'm just Ken is happening. There's

10:57

a pink glow over us because

10:59

we are underneath the stage design

11:03

So do people walk past you and you what

11:06

you know watch the account struggle the envelopes and

11:08

all that stuff Do you have like the the

11:10

backstage view of everything? Yes Last

11:13

year I collided basically with tonight Garrera

11:15

who is shall we say a commanding

11:17

presence? I felt immediately bad about that

11:20

and then this year just when you

11:22

go to the bathroom and back I first of

11:24

all, I have no sense of

11:26

direction. Nothing is intuitive to me. Not once

11:28

ever especially at the Dolby I am constantly

11:30

getting lost back there. Everything is labyrinthine and

11:34

I was going back to

11:37

where all the writers are and I was

11:39

urged to stop a stranger I hope he

11:41

worked for the Academy told me to stop

11:44

and I realized I was walking

11:46

into the shot where Danny

11:48

DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger did something backstage before they

11:50

came on stage and that made no logic Oh

11:52

sense to me. I had no idea why I

11:54

had arrived where I had arrived It's like it's

11:57

like a dream state like first of all, there's

11:59

the Oscars backstage stage. And then, because

12:01

it's at the Dolby, it's at this

12:04

mall complex. So you're constantly running into

12:06

hallways that have no glamour component. You

12:08

kind of are looking into the window

12:10

of a Lid store sometimes. So

12:13

it's like all these worlds are colliding as

12:16

you're just trying to think of

12:18

jokes about whomever. Dave

12:20

Eindjoy Randolph. And

12:23

then Arnold Schwarzenegger is there just to really add an extra.

12:25

Right. Yeah. So yeah, there's some surreal

12:28

there. Yeah. I spent two

12:30

days backstage at the Dolby when I was writing a

12:32

feature about American Idol, the end of American Idol, well,

12:34

the first end of it. And it

12:36

really is the weirdest space because it

12:39

just seems like room upon room upon room. There's

12:41

something sort of surreal about it. But

12:44

I'm wondering about that sort of behind

12:47

the scenes glimpses that you've now gotten

12:49

twice. Like, has working at the chocolate

12:51

factory changed your view of the Oscars?

12:55

No. First of all,

12:58

because there's so many writers and so many points

13:00

of view, I think we're all clear that if

13:02

any one of us weren't a part of it,

13:04

it would still go on as planned. It would

13:06

still be like it's not like I've gotten too

13:08

close to the sun or something like that. I

13:12

guess what changes is even

13:14

just doing it for two years now,

13:16

like you start to recognize there are

13:18

certain beats and certain sensibilities you have

13:20

to hit when addressing

13:22

the audience, addressing the movies. And like, you

13:24

know, I come from the world of Twitter

13:27

where during the ceremony, I would prefer

13:29

to be making, I guess,

13:32

not snarky jokes, but like hard and

13:34

authentic jokes to me, which as a

13:36

moviegoer or as, you know, an insane

13:38

gay moviegoer history buff fan would probably

13:40

be a little bit more cutting than

13:42

the average joke you write for Jimmy

13:45

Kimmel, for example. And

13:47

I do get a little a part

13:50

of me is a little saucy about not getting to

13:52

express that all the time. But at the same time,

13:54

it's always been my dream to write something like this

13:56

for the Oscars. Like I want to be Bruce Valanche.

13:58

That one. I want to be him. So

14:01

to get to do that is a nice try it off.

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you. I

16:02

feel like when you're writing. Jokes for the audience or

16:04

so much reliant on how the people themselves we

16:06

i should make interrupt jokes in front of sandwiches.

16:08

Our young people are. Doing and reaction shots

16:10

as you were really completes. like I thought

16:13

like Steven Spielberg really nailed everything. all of

16:15

his moments. Michael Keaton in that same. Arnold

16:18

Schwarzenegger de de Vito bed did a great job.

16:20

How much can you guys account for? That right?

16:22

For that, how does that process work? Let.

16:24

Me tell you something in in terms of.

16:27

Writing just for him on a day

16:29

to day basis how the audience will

16:31

react is something I is not my

16:33

strong suit. my guys I and their

16:35

the correct. Meanwhile Jimmy is like a

16:37

virtuoso of that. He knows who they

16:39

are. Many get a grown hear that

16:41

will last literally three seconds like he

16:43

knows like sonically how it will sound.

16:45

But for example I wrote the Sandra

16:48

who's or joke about of. A

16:50

Susan Anatomy of a Fall about kill your Husband

16:53

She was and this will be playing a Nazi

16:55

wife and you know these are heavy topic. For

16:57

Americans but a Germany, those are considered

16:59

rom com. Yes, he knew she would

17:01

react with that sour. My

17:04

German mom tic toc sort of react sentencing and

17:06

I I kind of didn't know like I thought

17:08

I'd also like don't even have a sense of

17:11

how well they can hear the monologue like sonically

17:13

in the dolby. I don't really know what's going

17:15

on but like her reaction was amazing I was

17:17

like this is why do this you react they

17:19

might benefit system. Is

17:22

no but like Steven Spielberg. Is

17:24

held that moment. He had such good

17:26

comic timing when he was doing that

17:29

thing with America Ferrera and us again

17:31

and yet again. I guess that that

17:33

was lovely to see. Now is your

17:35

team writing not as the monologue, the

17:37

Kimmel stuff Are you Also reading on

17:39

presenter patter of how does that work?

17:41

What does that division of labor and

17:44

actually surprises me will be right and

17:46

don't rights? We get prompts to write

17:48

for presenters. generally speaking, if there's an

17:50

extended comedic elements us anything where it's

17:52

just sincerely we didn't write these. Actresses

17:54

presenting to actresses for example and

17:57

I was at in a way

17:59

like. I'm happy

18:01

somebody else handles that. But poetically, I do

18:03

want to write like a letter from Mary

18:05

Seen Birds and to Emily Born Agains want

18:07

to do that as a writing exercise you

18:09

already have in Renton. Use one of my

18:11

Reddit less as a sonnet. The way I

18:13

target on this. This. Ah so.

18:16

But but like we do get prompts like

18:18

we we did some ideas for Melissa Mccarthy

18:20

and Octavia Spencer. I don't know if they

18:22

I actually do not know if they ultimately

18:24

what was something we pissed or for something

18:26

they the because Melissa comes from improv it

18:28

wouldn't be so it wouldn't surprise me if

18:30

you ever whole thing herself. But

18:33

not all the presenters. We.

18:35

Give something to and I want to say like

18:37

Job Malaney wrote his own thing For example yeah

18:40

that sounds of that religion sing feels I you'd

18:42

be hard to add to sell for didn't come

18:44

directly from his home for thinking right yeah yeah

18:46

that that I would love to pets that line

18:49

for line but yeah does feel very m. Me

18:52

this yourself, he men, sword earth or what

18:54

the average has been lately. Even are they

18:56

did those in America emerge and presents Emily Blunt

18:59

moments which saw you know that think that our

19:01

scanners mundus Really love. What what kind of timeline

19:03

see that's ever have a my do you ever get

19:05

the that sense of like oh god we gotta wrap

19:07

it up so that the eleven o'clock these can come

19:09

on. Are you in the and from that. Oh

19:11

no we absolutely we we hear

19:13

about the council is so Molly

19:15

Mcnerney who's are the head writer,

19:17

executive producer be Oscars and Tempo

19:19

and Jimmy's wastes seat with talking

19:21

constantly about how we will definitely.

19:23

Run. Over and my Billie about

19:26

given the of all those presenters

19:28

the musical numbers. I guess where

19:30

we save time was the number

19:33

of presenters because most people tend

19:35

to do multiple awards which is

19:38

not usually the case. An oscar

19:40

history I guess, but I. Don't.

19:43

Understand how that happens I, I, I

19:45

I literally don't get it like that.

19:47

I thought everything was like. the monologue

19:49

wasn't particularly sorts. you know, Jimmy's with

19:51

we did have the john seen a

19:53

bit. Be. Had but but

19:55

otherwise we didn't have any. I'm. Really

19:57

large scale. best. So maybe that.

20:00

We say line it was the only

20:02

other way round. C S one much

20:04

was like a minute right? Seattle? And

20:07

a by guess the I also like

20:09

the speeches were generally speaking sorts. You

20:11

know, I feel like we've. Been. At

20:13

this point in awards history we have hammered

20:15

home like it's just better to have a

20:18

shorter speeds. I people tend to one remember

20:20

you better if there's. A. Sort of

20:22

speech and to like nobody wants to hear

20:24

the band playing people off like we don't

20:26

let the awkwardness and I think people disagree

20:28

with that. Now I mean yeah I'm I'm

20:31

Melissa Leo is still giving her speech. I'd

20:33

rather than add assessment with take this we

20:35

have to ask her to get off the

20:37

says why we had moved and they don't

20:39

have a seat out as he comes back

20:41

on during commercial for his to this rise

20:43

as a starting com where there and muttering

20:45

about from a stop at the time and

20:47

effort. This speaking of that wiggling like were

20:50

there any darling said you the of yours.

20:52

That that unfortunately were were killed. Yes,

20:55

I'm. And the thing is

20:58

like that, yeah, I pitched hundreds of jobs

21:00

I get. I give him a wonderful bouquet

21:02

of jokes every day and I and I

21:04

say pick from a this knows gay but

21:06

you love By the it doesn't bother me

21:08

that he doesn't pick every single one of

21:10

them until the end. When work, we see

21:12

a version of the final scripts that will

21:14

inevitably be chopped up. Hours before

21:16

the ceremony and so you're

21:18

praying your last few jokes.

21:21

Are. Still in the running I had

21:23

one about Lily Gladstone that got caught

21:25

right before the and which was. Of.

21:29

Your performance until it's The Flower Members. So maybe

21:31

this is the only movie to make me want

21:33

to stand up and yell at the screen, do

21:35

something President Coolidge or assess assess the all. He

21:37

could have given advice to the cool and sense

21:40

in the truth the right jokes. Again maybe my

21:42

when I go feels as he is very down.

21:44

I'm saying that are and the producer could have

21:46

had to Jennifer Cool as in the audience I

21:49

mean it really I would advise the the i

21:51

just read a Coolidge guess I had a shrine

21:53

the Sorbonne to see him at What. Emerges.

21:59

Emergency. bit. What can you

22:01

tell us about the, you know, putting together that really

22:03

the most elaborate and kind of riskiest bit of the

22:06

entire net, I think, like someone showing up naked on

22:08

stage to present poor things

22:10

with best costume design, like could have really struck a wrong

22:12

tone, but I think it really worked. How do you guys

22:14

pull that off? I don't know.

22:16

I think it was our writer, Greg Martin,

22:18

and another writer of ours,

22:21

a Twitter veteran, Jesse McLaren, who originated

22:23

the idea of that, but it was

22:25

really hard nailing down who to give

22:28

that bit to, because you wanted it

22:30

to straddle all

22:33

these worlds where it's like somebody

22:35

who would be naked somewhat organically,

22:37

someone who had an adjacent to

22:41

prestige quality, somebody

22:44

who would have a rapport with Jimmy, and somebody

22:46

who just belonged at the Oscars, and

22:48

so I think a bunch of names were sort of circled,

22:51

but I just watched

22:53

our CBS This Morning bit with Ted

22:55

Koppel, who is still around and quite

22:57

snarky, I just want to say. And

23:00

we did not have that guy, even

23:02

though the bit was written, until like the last week.

23:04

I want to say maybe Jimmy even had to reach

23:06

out to John Cena, but he

23:09

is exactly correct, because one, he's

23:11

in Barbie, so he's got

23:13

the best picture, belongs at

23:15

the Oscars quality, two, but

23:17

he's not like a super serious actor, and

23:20

also he is that he is a comic

23:22

actor, but not so obvious that seeing him

23:24

in this bit would feel like an

23:27

obvious bit. So he really hit all the

23:29

the chakras of the bit in a way

23:31

that is extremely satisfying. I'm so

23:33

glad it ended up being him. And

23:36

then you had the fortuitous synergy of

23:38

Poor Things, a movie that also there's a

23:41

lot of nudity, and it also sort of

23:43

ended up working out for the best. Also

23:46

I just want to say, I guess that's

23:49

the only real surprise of the evening, is

23:51

Poor Things taking home more awards than expected.

23:53

Yeah, I wish we had another, yeah, I

23:55

wish we had a more kind of kaboom

23:58

surprise, but that's so... Kaboom

24:00

surprises are downright rare in modern Oscars

24:02

telecast. I almost wonder if we're past

24:04

that era. Yeah, I mean

24:06

I think we all, a lot of us really did live with Glazza

24:09

with Wim Bess actress. I think that was really

24:11

the closest thing for us, which Richard and I,

24:13

after we talked to you, we're going to do

24:15

our immediate rehash with our co-hosts and figuring out

24:17

all the things we got wrong. But

24:19

I feel like that was probably the biggest one. Yeah, I

24:21

mean I think in terms of the surprise factor, the problem

24:23

is there are all these fucking podcasts that like talk about

24:25

the awards season for months and they kind of ruin it.

24:27

I wish they would stop. Hate those

24:29

girls and their voices. Exactly.

24:31

Oh yeah. And their queer voices.

24:35

What for you like will be the most

24:37

memorable thing about this ceremony as a viewer

24:39

or as a writer for the show? I

24:42

mean I'm so egotistical that for me

24:44

the most memorable thing is just being

24:46

there and calming myself down, not knowing

24:48

what will make it to air and

24:50

what will get a reaction. So

24:53

there's just a, I imagine

24:55

writing for SNL is sort of similar where you

24:58

have an idea that things will

25:00

be successful, that your

25:02

sensibility will come across and people will respond

25:04

to it. But there's also a world in

25:07

which every joke dies or a

25:09

bit doesn't go off or somebody quits a bit at the

25:11

last moment or something. So just the

25:13

general stress of being

25:15

there, married with the fact that I don't

25:17

know where else on earth I would rather

25:19

be. Like it's both the

25:21

place I have

25:24

so many feelings and I get preoccupied with

25:26

the negative ones even though this is my

25:28

dream. So just that

25:30

mix of strange feelings

25:32

is a lot of fun ultimately. So

25:36

what do you do when the show is over? We know you're

25:38

up very early so you're not out super late, but do you

25:40

get like a moment or two to breathe before it's right back

25:42

to work? Yes. Well,

25:44

right after the show, we spent

25:47

like an hour at a hallway waiting to go to

25:49

the governor's ball. I don't know if Jimi was getting

25:51

dressed or what, but it gets hot in these ancient

25:54

Dolby hallways and I don't

25:56

drink and everybody's like sitting

25:59

around with champagne. So I actually was getting

26:01

frustrated. That's what happens to me after the

26:03

ceremony. But then you go up

26:05

to the governor's ball, which is right over the Oscars.

26:07

And this time, like I said, you see

26:09

like, Cord Jefferson with his Oscar and stuff. And

26:12

you know what I will miss now, because

26:14

I'm realizing in this moment, this

26:17

it won't always be this way. Wherever

26:20

I turn at the Dolby, like, like,

26:22

and really welcome the chocolate factory, the way

26:25

slugworth appears at every corridor. You

26:27

always see Diane Warren. She

26:29

is everywhere, with like

26:31

a cane. She's dressed like fancy

26:34

Snoopy always. And

26:36

Fire lapels this year, right on theme

26:39

lapels. And like

26:41

a few years ago, I was I

26:43

worked for the Academy. I was their correspondent on the red

26:46

carpet. They did like a live telecast on

26:48

Twitter, I think. And I did that in 2019, 2020. And

26:53

then I wrote for the Oscars last year and this

26:55

year. And Diane has been there

26:57

every single time. And sometimes she's

26:59

playing on stage and sometimes she's just, you know,

27:01

around, you know, like haunting the place. And

27:05

the thing is, she's a nominee like any other nominee.

27:08

And so there will come a time when Diane Warren

27:11

won't be around or like, you know, is it nominated

27:13

or something? And there's just something

27:15

so awesome about her being there. I don't know. It's

27:18

like, there's no comparison in Oscar history.

27:22

And someone who just nominated every single

27:24

year and continues that winning and keeps

27:26

coming back. Yeah. And I

27:28

just thought, what if Billie Eilish is like Diane

27:30

Warren, except she can't stop winning? Wouldn't

27:32

that be nice to have a parallel path? She's just 15

27:34

Oscars. She's

27:37

like, I hate this. This is my present.

27:44

This episode of Little Gold Men

27:46

is brought to you by MUBI,

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Right now they have a film collection

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for Performers We Love and they are

28:12

highlighting one of this year's Oscar front

28:14

runners, Lily Gladstone. So I am here

28:16

with David Canfield to talk about how

28:18

much we love Lily Gladstone and especially

28:20

her film that is now on movie

28:22

Certain Women. David, fond memories there. Fond

28:25

memories. What an introduction. None of us

28:27

knew who she was before that film.

28:30

But it's quite a thing to be in

28:32

a Kelly Riekart film with Michelle Williams, Kristen

28:34

Stewart and Laura Durer and completely steal it.

28:37

And now we're talking about it to this

28:39

day. You can try

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That's mubi.com/little gold men

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for a whole month

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of great cinema for

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free. mubi.com/little

28:55

gold men. Well,

29:01

before we let you go, Lewis, I

29:03

want to ask your nominated, you're sitting

29:05

in the audience, the five past supporting

29:08

actress winners walk out. Who do you

29:10

want to give your tribute? And

29:13

it has to be a supporting actor winner, which

29:15

as you know, it can be anybody. Yeah, come

29:17

on. Well, she rules. But I mean, I'm who

29:20

interesting. Who would I want to give it to?

29:22

Well, my favorite winner in Oscar history is Sandy

29:24

Dennis for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Now she

29:27

is long dead. But her

29:30

like the combination of movie

29:34

star presence and also insect like

29:36

appearance. I just think she's

29:38

so unsettling. I love I miss when

29:40

stars were haunting. You know, I miss

29:42

stars like Bella Lugosi, you know, who

29:44

just like look you in the eye

29:46

and something is wrong. I love that.

29:49

So you want Kristoff Folsnick and Ken

29:51

puns at you is what it sounds like you're

29:53

saying. When we were Molly was

29:55

sort of consulting with me for who to pay for

29:57

those things. And God, what a dream. Yeah,

30:00

yeah, it was a lot of fun and

30:02

when it ended up being Christoph Waltz on

30:05

Ryan Gosling, I, you

30:08

know, was a scant at that for a second

30:10

and then I loved it. Yeah. That

30:12

I was like, what a weird pairing and

30:14

I know there's something about him. I interviewed

30:16

Christoph Waltz years ago. He's so German in

30:18

the way where he's very literal and words

30:20

like everything about him is like,

30:23

he's talking as if he is a spider,

30:25

you know, just like, and I

30:27

felt like him using that voice to talk to Ryan

30:29

Gosling would be so bizarre and it was. I was

30:31

so psyched it worked out that way. It had just

30:34

the right hint of menace. Yeah. Yeah.

30:37

It made me like contemplate him being in Barbie. Like

30:39

it just seemed possible for a second there, which I

30:41

never would have imagined. It was really great.

30:43

Well, he owns the German version of

30:45

Mattel. So that's probably what you're thinking.

30:49

I'm going to say quickly in terms of somebody

30:51

to present to me who's alive, Cate Blanchett. I

30:53

just think when Cate Blanchett said the Oscars, like

30:56

every, all was right. You know what I'm

30:58

saying? Yeah. And I said she can

31:00

definitely pull off something like unsettling and slightly menacing just

31:02

depending on her delivery because she can do anything. Oh,

31:04

I saw that Indiana Jones movie. I know she can

31:06

do it. Yeah. That

31:10

does it for today's episode. As I said,

31:13

we'll be back next week. We're looking toward

31:15

the 2025 Oscars with our friend Joe Reed

31:17

returning to join us. Find us in

31:19

the meantime at Vanity Fair on social media

31:22

at CF Awards Insider and you can

31:24

find me at Katie Rich. Our

31:26

editor and producer as always is Fred Hughes.

31:36

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