The Oscars are here! Finally! And once the rug is rolled up and Hollywood Boulevard is back to normal (“normal” in the eye of the beholder), I’ll try to do everything, everywhere, all at once, marking as many of these California highways as possible. travel as you can before you are forced to return. (It’s going to stop raining, right?)
Newsletter
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Grab the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast, and must-read analysis from columnist Glenn Whipp.
Occasionally, you may receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
I’m Glenn Whipp, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter, which, yes, will go on hiatus for a few months after this issue. But one more cup of coffee… and one more edition for the road, my friends.
Final Oscar predictions for all 23 categories
It’s been a year and a day since “Everything Everywhere All at Once” premiered at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. No one proclaimed him an Oscar candidate then. But that was before it became a blockbuster, before we were reintroduced to Ke Huy Quan, before Jamie Lee Curtis became a promotional weapon.
Now, on the eve of the Oscars, this wacky and frenetic family drama looks poised to win best picture, along with several other awards. If it doubles down on its performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, scoring individual honors for Quan and Curtis along with star Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” would become the third film to win three acting Oscars. (The others: “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Red”).
That would be a lot, particularly since for the past decade or so, Oscar voters have spread the love each year across multiple films. The last best picture winner to win more than four Oscars? Such was “The Artist” in 2012, a triumph that, like many other moments in Oscar history, hasn’t aged particularly well.
The thing is, it seems like ages since “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was lost. Anything. The film swept the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Awards. How many high five with hot dog fingers What will happen at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday? Here are my final predictions for each and every category. I have always said that I will get paid if I get a perfect score. Whether it’s a threat or a promise, I’ll let you decide.
Austin Butler is one of the favorites to win the Oscar for Lead Actor for his role in “Elvis.”
(Casa Cristina / Los Angeles Times)
Looking back on an embarrassing Oscar for the ages
Twenty years ago, Rob Marshall’s “Chicago” won six Academy Awards, including best picture, beating out Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours,” “The Lord of the Rings:” The Two Towers” by Peter Jackson and “The Pianist” by Roman Polanski. The triumph of “Chicago”, one of several contenders backed by Harvey Weinstein, then at the height of his power, had been widely expected; so were wins for lead actress Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”), supporting actor Chris Cooper (“Adaptation”) and supporting actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”).
Less expected: A surprising late rise to “The Pianist,” which scored upset wins for lead actor Adrien Brody and director Polanski, whose 1977 rape scandal had resurfaced in awards season headlines. Elsewhere, Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” was named best animated film, Caroline Link’s “Nowhere in Africa” won the foreign language film award and, with one of the most explosive acceptance speeches of the night , Michael Moore took the stage to receive his feature documentary Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine.”
Times film critic Justin Chang and I take a look at one of the most embarrassing Oscars ever and what it portended for the movie industry more than a decade before #MeToo. We also review the winners of the top eight categories, discussing what should have won and what should have been nominated.
Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein and his then-wife Eve Chilton Weinstein arrive for the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.
(Kin D Johnson/Associated Press)
Do you enjoy this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times
Your support helps us deliver the most important news. Become a subscriber.
‘Everything Everywhere’ laundromat is now a Los Angeles tourist spot
Times staff writer Jonah Valdez recently traveled to San Fernando to visit Majers Coin Laundry, the venue that for six days in March 2020 became home to the production of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the likely winner of the Oscar for best film.
“Since the film’s release,” reports Jonah, “fans from as near as Burbank and as far away as Singapore have come to Majers. They pose for selfies in front of the building’s recognizable green roof and red signage. Some come dressed up. Others just gawk at the washers and dryers, trying to relive shots from the movie.”
Those tourists don’t always get along with the regulars, who ask the owners, Kenny and Irene Majers, what all the fuss is about. “What movie?” they respond irritably when told. But who isn’t a little grumpy when he’s waiting for his clothes to dry in the laundry?
“We will be connected forever, this laundromat will be connected forever, making history with that,” said Kenny, referring to the groundbreaking nominations and wins for the film’s mostly Asian cast.
“I’m proud,” said Irene, who is a registered nurse in the oncology unit at a local hospital. “I’m proud of my husband… and I’m proud of my laundry.”
Kenny Majers inside his Majers Coin Laundry in San Fernando, the laundry used in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
