The Hollywood Foreign Press Association donates about a million bucks in financial grants to film schools and non-profit organizations. These awards were announced during the Association's Annual Installation Luncheon honoring its 2006-2007 slate of officers at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California. Actors attending the event to boost their profiles included Felicity Huffman (master of ceremonies), Annette Bening, Bill Condon, Jenna Elfman, James Franco, Dustin Hoffman, Lisa Kudrow, Diane Lane, Jack Nicholson, Edward James Olmos, Christina Ricci, Mark Ruffalo and Forest Whitaker. See I don't know if this is a big secret or what but the HFPA is a corrupt money making bunch of grannies and grandpas from the old country wanting to rub shoulders with celebs - if you think The Golden Globes has any credibility your nuts. I have to say though that their choices beat The Oscars any day.
How do these guys do it? I remember reading once that Marilyn Monroe used to turn herself on when she wanted to look like 'Marilyn' - these guys must be taking a few pages out of her book (all three by the way were taught The Method by Lee Strasberg)
Christina Ricci is here with a couple of grandpas from HFPA. She needs a bit of a boost in her career (I saw her recently on Grey's Anatomy)
Annette Benings career took quite a nose dive when she married Warren Beaty.
And here's the master of ceremonies Felicity Hoffman and Mark Ruffalo (who was fantastic in Jane Campion's In The Cut and keeps getting hotter) and another guy with a cheque.
7 comments:
Hi Sheila,
Once again, you’ve got terrific pictures! Your analysis of the HFPA is most enlightening; it shows how low some people will stoop simply to mingle with the “in” crowd for an afternoon. Do you have any idea how or where this “corrupt” money is being made? Are most of the members truly members of the “gray” population?
Jack Nicholson looks like he’s trying to catch up to William Shatner’s ever expanding girth; Dustin Hoffman is really starting to show his age (one of my favorite movies is “The Graduate”); Annette Bening appears to be quite thin (could this be the result of living with Warren Beatty for so many years?); and Felicity Hoffman reminds me of Emma Thompson in this picture, with her very “proper” ladylike presence. I wonder why her husband, William H. Macy wasn’t in attendence?
If you had your choice, would you rather attend the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards? Perhaps both?? Thanks for another great post!!
Its hard to find out anything water tight on the HFPA Miss Litzi. I've watched documentaries, read articles and heard interviews and I really don't know where all the money comes from. The only thing I know is that they make a squillion from hosting The Golden Globes. Here is a link that is more enlightening on the subject.
I agree with you on The Graduate, its a beauty and I love it when they run it late on TV (I have to stay up to watch that final moment when they are on the bus).
I'm not sure if William H.Macy was at the event or not - I recently saw some pictures of him plugging a new film of his own (the name escapes me). He is one of my favorites - Fargo, Boogie Nights, Magnolia....
I grew up with the Oscars and would have to choose them over the Globes!
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for the link to the HFPA and their involvement in the Golden Globes Awards. The story about Pia Zadora winning “New Star of the Year” is perhaps the best illustration of exactly how corrupt the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is. You wonder how they managed to get their claws into the film industry and hold it for ransom (i.e. bestowing Golden Globes to those who pay the highest price) for so many years. Do you think they’ll be allowed to continue their blackmailing techniques indefinitely?
Another terrific scene from “The Graduate” is when Benjamin is hiding out at the bottom of the swimming pool. Or when he’s checking into the hotel for the first time with Mrs. Robinson…..Mr. Gladstone??
How a few hundred people (especially this lot) can hold Hollywood to ransom is weird isnt it Miss Litzi.
You're bringing back a lot of good memories from The Graduate. I love that pool scene - especially how the sound changes from the beginning when its just coming from his frogman suit - and then when he's underwater - to his parents yelling and laughing. It's such a brilliant film. Katherine Ross does a fine job as well. After Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid she seemed to be lost as a leading lady. Much later (2001)she pops up in Donnie Darko which is definately worth a watch.
Hi Sheila,
I’ve never heard of the movie “Donnie Darko”; it sounds like it’d be worth watching…thanks.
I’ve often wondered if Katherine Ross decided to retire from movies in order to let her husband, Sam Elliot, receive the lion’s share of the limelight. Wouldn’t it be great if she and Dustin Hoffman made another movie together? Elaine and Benjamin 40 years later??
That's probably true about Katherine Ross - a lot of women tend to let their husbands career flourish and leave their own behind.
Id love to see Hoffman work with Ross again - would you believe that Robert Redford and Candice Bergman screen tested for their parts! You can read some more trivia here - isn't it a shame that Anne Bancroft is no longer with us.
Hi Sheila,
Wow! You’re a fountain of information; thanks for the link to the movie trivia about “The Graduate”. After having seen the movie so many times, it’s impossible to visualize anyone else in the leading roles. Doris Day as Mrs. Robinson? Couldn’t you just see her singing “que sera, sera” through the seduction scene in the hotel? Jack Nicholson or Robert Redford as Benjamin?
Did you ever see the movie “Home For The Holidays” with Anne Bancroft, Holly Hunter and Robert Downey, Jr.? Anne Bancroft was excellent; there’s one scene when she’s in her daughter’s bedroom in her underwear that’s so reminiscent of “The Graduate” that’s it’s eerie. I didn’t realize that she was only 6 years older than Dustin Hoffman; I wonder how he felt about her passing…..
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