Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503310007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JANET WEEKS LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
The Shrine Auditorium audience rose to its feet in a standing ovation as Hanks walked to the stage.
After accepting the Oscar from Holly Hunter, last year's Best Actress winner, Hanks, 38, thanked others in the ``Forrest Gump'' cast and, choking up, thanked his wife, actress Rita Wilson.
``I am standing here because the woman I share my life with has taught me and demonstrates for me every day just what love is.''
He also said he was so excited that ``I feel like I'm standing on magic legs in a special effect that is too unbelievable to imagine and far too costly to make a reality.
``The power and the pleasure and the emotion of this moment is a constant - the speed of light. It will never be diminished nor will my appreciation for the meaning of two simple words: thank you. God bless you in this room and God bless you all around the world.''
Hanks was asked how it felt to be the first actor since Tracy to win back-to-back Oscars.
``It's a very odd feeling and beyond my comprehension and beyond my ever imagining,'' he replied. ``But you know, I'm going to be playing handball with Spencer tomorrow afternoon, and I'm going to ask him some questions about that.''
Hanks was born in Concord, Calif., and grew up around the San Francisco East Bay. When his parents divorced in the early 1960s, Hanks lived with his father, a chef; his brother and sister; and several step-siblings.
His extended family moved around to keep up with his dad's changing jobs (Hanks has said they moved on average of every six months) and Hanks attended five different grammar schools. He has called his rootless childhood ``the perfect upbringing'' for acting, which also leads to a nomadic lifestyle.
After studying classical theater at California State University, Sacramento, and appearing at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Hanks headed to New York. There he caught the attention of an ABC talent scout who invited him to Los Angeles, where he was cast as Kip Wilson in the TV sitcom ``Bosom Buddies.''
The show lasted only two seasons (1980-82). After its cancellation, Hanks appeared in a guest spot on ABC's ``Happy Days.'' His work impressed Ron Howard, who in 1984 gave Hanks a co-starring role in ``Splash.'' The movie was a surprise hit and led to a variety of light comedies (``Bachelor Party,'' ``Volunteers,'' ``The Money Pit'') in the '80s.
His breakthrough to full-fledged stardom came in 1988 with his portrayal of Josh Baskin in Penny Marshall's ``Big.'' His wide-eyed, magical performance earned him his first Oscar nomination (he lost to ``Rain Man's'' Dustin Hoffman).
From there, his film career followed an uneven path until Hanks regained momentum with ``A League of Their Own'' in 1992 and ``Sleepless in Seattle'' in 1993.
He nabbed an Oscar the following year for ``Philadelphia,'' a Jonathan Demme drama in which he played a lawyer with AIDS. His moving acceptance speech has been credited as the highlight of the Academy Awards show.
Hanks, who spoke so eloquently about AIDS during last year's Oscar season, when he won for ``Philadelphia,'' was asked about the message of ``Forrest Gump.''
``I was standing up there last year because so many gay men are dead of AIDS,'' he said. ``I don't have quite that sort of foundation to say that I represent something as specific as that with `Forrest Gump.' I think it would be kind of cheesy proselytizing for me to stand here and say, `This is a movie that says you gotta respect your mom and you can't tell lies. ... `Forrest Gump' doesn't operate on that sort of fashion.''
Oscar notes:
Serious Lange: When you look like Jessica Lange, it seems disingenuous to say that beauty hasn't always worked in your favor. But Lange, winner of the Best Actress Oscar for ``Blue Sky,'' swears it's true.
``There was a period of time where I was so worried about being taken seriously because of my looks,'' she said backstage. ``Then, once I was taken seriously, I worried about losing my looks. What can you do? It's always a trade-off.''
Missing from Lange's side was her longtime companion, playwright and actor Sam Shepard.
``Sam never comes to these events,'' she said.
Zemeckis' effects: ``Forrest Gump'' director Robert Zemeckis was asked about the film's extensive use of digital effects.
``I think a camera is a special effect,'' he replied. ``I think a lens is a special effect, and I think a microphone is a special effect in some ways,'' he replied. ``It's a very technical art form that we work in, and I think we're just talking about some of these effects now because they're new.''
But he allowed as how the heavy technology quotient made for a long production process. ``It's very time-consuming,'' he said. ``It's like watching paint dry.''
No Woody: Dianne Wiest smiled when asked why perennial Oscar no-show Woody Allen, now the first person to have directed the same actress to two Oscars, wasn't on hand: ``He has to play the clarinet,'' she said.
More gold: At 13 inches and 81/2 pounds, the statuette named after a farmer called Oscar was already the most valuable commodity in Hollywood.
But this year he'll be worth even more.
The company that makes the statuettes wrapped Oscar with a thicker layer of gold than in previous years.
``The academy wanted to have a more valuable, more durable award,'' said Scott Segal, president of Chicago-based R.S. Owens, who declined to put a price tag on Oscar.
Bela's ghost: Martin Landau, twice nominated for previous films, was stunned that his little-seen role in ``Ed Wood'' would be the movie that finally let him take home the statuette.
``It was a great part for an actor, certainly complicated,'' he said. ``It would be a different role if it were just a Hungarian morphine addict who was 70 years old and had mood swings. Suddenly, it had to be Bela Lugosi on top of that.''
Rooting interest: By the way, comedian Jack Carter, watching the show at the Night of 100 Stars party at the Century Grill in Century City, was rooting heavily for Landau, whom he called his ``best buddy.''
``I voted for him seven times,'' Carter said. ``He better win.''
I thought you said NRA: Clint Eastwood, recipient of the Irving Thalberg award and a prominent Republican, was one of the few backstage visitors who did not seem overly concerned about the impact of NEA cutbacks.
``I don't think it's going to hurt it at all because the arts usually rise above it all,'' Eastwood said.
While he had served on the NEA for six years and had enjoyed the experience, ``every department is screaming'' at the prospect of cutbacks.
``But that's the only way we'll get to a balanced budget,'' he said, adding that the federal government seemed incapable of living within its means. ``If they set that example, how can they expect the rest of us to follow suit?''
Chocolate flavored: Perhaps the most famous line in ``Forrest Gump'' was screenwriter Eric Roth's variant on a line in the Winston Groom book from which the film was adapted.
``Just to show what an adaptation is, the book said that being an idiot is no box of chocolates. And I said that life is like a box of chocolates,'' Roth said after winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. ``And (director) Bob Zemeckis said, `What the hell does that mean?' And I said, `You never know what you're going to get.'''
DreamWorks on: While telling this industry crowd that he was sick of reading about DreamWorks SKG, host David Letterman, explained that the new Steven Spielberg-Jeffrey Katzenberg-David Geffen studio shouldn't be confused with DreamWorks Etc., which he described as a Valley waterbed merchant.
For the record - there is no such place listed in the phone book. But mention the San Fernando Valley any time you want, Dave, especially with a billion viewers watching.
Not burnt: Nikita Mikhailkov, who directed the Best Foreign Language Film award winner, Russia's ``Burnt by the Sun,'' had been nominated twice previously for the award and publicly had expressed the fear that losing a third time might earn him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
``I'll find a better way to be in the Guinness book,'' Mikhailkov said, speaking through an interpreter in the backstage press room.
Asked by a fellow Russian how he felt, he replied succinctly: ``Sober.''
``But not for long,'' the questioner retorted.
``Me neither,'' Mikhailkov said.
More special effects: And now, a word from the folks who made it possible for Forrest Gump to shake the hand of President John F. Kennedy: We'll be back.
Tomorrow's audiences should expect the same kind of electronic magic that netted Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum and Allen Hall the Oscar for Best Achievement in Special Effects in ``Forrest Gump.''
Said Murphy: ``I think you're gonna see more effects used in casual and subtle ways as they were used in `Forrest Gump.' ... The audience will become unaware of them. ... You'll see more of that in the whole concept of storytelling.''
Cold feet?: David R.B. MacMillan, who wore a kilt, sounded off about his attire after winning the Oscar for Best Achievement in Sound for ``Speed'': ``This is the standard Highland outfit for formal occasions,'' he said backstage. ``I was born in Ireland and grew up in Scotland.''|
|(Daily News Staff Writers Yardena Arar, Lynette Rice and Larry Lipson als contributed to this story.)
by CNB