The 2015 Governors Awards at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles will also salute Spike Lee and Gena Rowlands for their career achievements.
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The comic highlight of the evening was the interplay among Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Wesley Snipes as they bantered about working with Lee.
“But when I go to offices (in Hollywood) I see no black people”, Lee said. “This industry is so behind sports it’s ridiculous”. He continued: “It’s easier to be the President of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio”. People in positions of hiring, you better get smart.
The Do the Right Thing director called on studio bosses to “reflect what this country looks like” as he received his honour at Saturday’s Governors Awards.
As I reported earlier Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs opened Saturday night’s Governors Awards with a ringing statement of support for France.
“There’s no such thing as an overnight success”, said Lee, adding that he “had to be ten times better than [his] white classmates” in order to excel – a lesson he said he shares with his own students at NYU film school where he is a tenured professor. “We have a long way to go”.
Lee offered “peace and love to people in France” as he received his award.
Looking adoringly at the golden statuette, Gena thanked the Academy governors for “introducing me to this fine fellow”. Jackson referred to the storied director as an “American anarchist”, while Washington revered Lee for giving more black actors the chance to hit the big screen than anyone else in Hollywood. “I will be taking it home to her right now so we can cuddle with it and she can put it in a place she has always secretly saved for it – right next to the ruby red slippers”, she said. Portions of the untelevised ceremony may be included in the 2016 Academy Awards telecast.
Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett paid a glowing tribute to Rowlands, 85, saying she had had a profound influence on her acting career and that of many others.
Reynolds, who was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award for her charitable work, was unable to attend on account of current surgical procedure. Laura Linney said Rowlands “smashed and destroyed” the traditional female image of her generation by creating a seismic shift in depiction of women in her films with John Cassavetes.
The Scream Queens star told the crowd, “It honestly feels super-weird to be up here without her. I’ve never seen her miss a show in her life”.
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“I usually don’t ask questions”, she said.
