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Jennifer Lawrence won the Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook tonight, taking a little spill on the stairs on her way to accept the award, then laughing. “You guys are just standing up cause you feel bad that I fell and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you.”
The Best Actress award wasn’t presented until after 11:30 pm in a telecast that was even more bloated and less funny than usual.
Throughout awards season, Lawrence refreshingly refused to prep her winner speeches, calling it “cocky” and presumptuous,” keeping her responses, both on the red carpet and off, candid and real. Interviewed by Ryan Seacrest prior to the Oscar ceremony, she told him she was “starving,” and asked if they would be serving food, and proclaimed Dance Moms, ‘f*cking amazing.”
Her acceptance speech was shockingly brief:
“This is nuts. Thank you to the Academy. And thank you to the women this year. You were so magnificent, and so inspiring, and not just those of you in my category. And it’s been so amazing getting to know you. And you’ve been so nice, and you’ve made this experience unforgettable. And thank you to the best producing team, Bruce, Donna, John and my team at CAA and ID-PR, Bradley and our entire cast, Chris, Jackie, Bob, and our crew. My family,” and then pausing, before remembering to say, “Happy Birthday, Emanuelle.”
Lawrence auditioned from her parents’ home in Louisville for her Oscar-nominated role in Silver Linings Playbook. Screenwriter/Director David O. Russell says it was his first Skype audition, and that it was a ‘Silver Lining’ that he hadn’t been able to make the movie when he first tried, five years ago, because Jennifer Lawrence would’ve still been in high school at the time.
In the press room after her win, asked what the movie might mean for those with brain diseases and mental illness, she said, “I don’t think we’re going to stop until we get rid of this stigma for mental illness. I know [director] David [O. Russell] won’t. And I hope that this helps. It’s so bizarre that in this world, if you have asthma, you take asthma medicine, if you have diabetes, you take diabetes medicine. But as soon as you have to take medication for your mind, there’s such a stigma.”
As to the process of getting ready, she responded, “I felt like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride, watching my house get torn apart. It was mostly chaotic. What was the process? I woke up and tried on the dress and it fit. Thank God. And then I took a shower. That’s what I did. And then I got my hair and makeup done. And then I came to the Oscars,” then apologizing. “I’m sorry, I did a shot before…Sorry…Jesus.”
Asked about the fall, “what do you mean what happened? Look at my dress. I tried to walk up stairs in this dress. That’s what happened. They waxed the stairs.”
What was going through her mind when she fell? “A bad word. That I can’t say. That starts with F.”
(That’s two wins for Kentucky tonight for anyone keeping score: Louisville native and best actress Jennifer Lawrence; and George Clooney, born in Lexington, and one of the producers of best picture winner, Argo).
Other Wins: Oscars 2013
Best Picture, Argo (seven nominations, three wins)
Best Actor, Daniel Day Lewis (in the best acceptance speech of the night: “Three years ago before we decided to do a straight swap, I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher…and Meryl was Steven’s first choice for Lincoln, and I’d like to see that version.”)
Best Adapted Screenplay, Chris Terrio for Argo
Best Original Screenplay, Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
Ang Lee, best director, Life of Pi (who said “Thank you Movie God,” and concluded with “Namaste.”
Anne Hathaway, Best Supporting Actress, Les Miserables
Christoph Waltz, Best Supporting Actor, Django Unchained
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J-Law: In her own words…
Asked if she had an Oscar speech prepared (for her role in Silver Linings Playbook) Lawrence told Jimmy Kimmel: no prepared acceptance speech (even if it means she ends up explaining her extemporaneous remarks later).
“It’s my only superstition,” she says, “not preparing anything to say. It feels cocky. That seems presumptuous, and I’m not gonna do it.”
When David Letterman asked Jennifer Lawrence how she came by her acting chops, she told him, “I was a big liar when I was a child… I was just a pathological liar. (‘I said that Dad drove a barge and we were millionaires and I had to get my legs amputated and I spayed cats and dogs on the weekend.’) … I think I just loved stories, Dave, I don’t think I was insecure. I was in third grade,” she laughed.
Of the Meryl controversy, and ensuing Twitter blowup, she told Letterman, “I’m not even on Twitter. That would be like a punishment for me. Like a judge would have to be ‘Six months of probation and you have to write down what you think about random things nobody cares about’…’What’s anal leakage?’ dash, Jen Lawrence.’ ‘”
Jennifer Lawrence wins Screen Actors Guild Award
Jennifer Lawrence on Kimmel and Piers Morgan
J-Law explains it all on Saturday Night Live and Letterman
Jennifer Lawrence wins Golden Globe
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