Oscar organizers tried something unprecedented in the awards' 83-year history on Sunday -- entrusting a young, attractive pair of Hollywood stars, James Franco and Anne Hathaway, to host the film industry's highest honors. |
Oscar organizers tried something unprecedented in the awards' 83-year history on Sunday -- entrusting a young, attractive pair of Hollywood stars to host the film industry's highest honors. And the two newly minted masters of ceremony, James Franco and Anne Hathaway, wasted no time acknowledging their youth, and the notion that their presence might help lure a generation of television viewers who have increasingly tuned out the Oscars in recent years. "Anne," I must say, you look so beautiful and so hip," Franco, 32, himself a nominee as best actor, deadpanned as the two walked on stage to open the show. Early in the show, presenter Justin Timberlake, an actor-singer popular with the young-adult crowd, appeared to use a smart-phone computer app to illuminate a "Shrek" backdrop to introduce awards for animated films. Two films wildly popular with young moviegoers this past year, "Twilight" sequel "Eclipse" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," figured prominently in a pre-taped comic lip-syncing sequence. But the show hardly turned its back on Hollywood of yesteryear. Kirk Douglas, 94, his speech badly slurred from a stroke 15 years ago, shuffled on stage with a cane to present the first acting award, the Oscar for best supporting actress, which went to Melissa Leo for "The Fighter." Douglas, himself, alluded to the Oscar generation gap in complimenting Hathaway on her looks. "She's gorgeous," he said as the young actress blew him kisses. "Where were you when I was making pictures?" A short time later, the night's Oscar winner for best original screenplay, David Seidler, 73, for "The King's Speech," proclaimed in his acceptance speech that he was the oldest person ever to claim that award. The program frequently conjured up images and music from Oscar-winning film blockbusters of yore, from "Gone with the Wind" to "Star Wars" and "Titanic." The tension between young and old was orchestrated by producers, who have said they sought to reconnect movie fans with Hollywood history while giving the show a contemporary feel that would attract viewers in the key 18- to- 49-year-old ratings demographic prized by advertisers. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
奧斯卡組織者們周日嘗試了一種在奧斯卡83年歷史中從未有過的方式——讓一對年輕迷人的好萊塢影星來主持這個電影業(yè)最高榮譽的頒獎典禮。 兩位主持新秀詹姆斯?弗蘭科和安妮?海瑟薇也不失時機地打青春牌,以呼應“他們的出場可能會提高奧斯卡的收視率”的理念。近年來,越來越多的電視觀眾不再收看奧斯卡頒獎典禮。 兩位主持人走上臺開始主持的時候,32歲的弗蘭科面無表情地說:“安妮,我必須說,你看起來光彩照人、相當時髦”。弗蘭科也是最佳男主角的候選人之一。 在典禮開始后不久,頒獎者賈斯汀?汀布萊克在介紹動畫電影的獎項時,用智能手機上的應用程序讓屏幕上的“怪物史萊克”背景圖亮了起來。汀布萊克是一位很受年輕人歡迎的演員兼歌手。 去年受年輕影迷們熱捧的兩部影片《暮光之城?月蝕》和《哈利波特與死亡圣器:上》出現(xiàn)在一組事前錄好的喜感十足的電影片段串燒中,兩位主持人給視頻配上了新臺詞。 但是整個頒獎典禮跟去年的相比并沒有本質(zhì)的不同。94歲的柯克?道格拉斯拄著手杖,在臺上顫顫巍巍地頒發(fā)典禮上的第一個表演獎——奧斯卡最佳女配角獎。15年前的中風留下的后遺癥使得他的發(fā)言含混不清。該獎花落出演《斗士》的梅麗莎?里奧。 道格拉斯在稱贊海瑟薇的美貌時,影射奧斯卡的“代溝”。 “她美極了”,他稱贊的時候海瑟薇給了他幾個飛吻?!暗俏遗碾娪暗臅r候你在哪兒呢?” 過了沒一會兒,因《國王的演講》榮獲奧斯卡最佳原創(chuàng)劇本獎的73歲的大衛(wèi)?塞德勒在他的獲獎感言中說,他是有史以來該獎獲得者中年齡最大的。 頒獎典禮上不時回放以前的一些奧斯卡獲獎大片中的圖像和音樂,包括《亂世佳人》、《星球大戰(zhàn)》和《泰坦尼克號》等。 這種老一輩和年輕一代之間的緊張局面是制片人特意安排的,他們說他們想讓電影迷們重溫好萊塢的歷史,同時他們也盡力為頒獎典禮營造一種“現(xiàn)代的感覺”,以吸引那些18歲到49歲的觀眾,這些人被廣告商認為是提高收視率的關(guān)鍵人群。 相關(guān)閱讀 (中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 崔旭燕 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: entrust: to make somebody responsible for doing something or taking care of somebody(委托;交托;托付) tune out: to stop listening to something(不理睬;思想開小差) hip: following or knowing what is fashionable in clothes, music, etc. (衣服、音樂等方面)時髦的,趕時髦的 deadpan: without any expression or emotion; often pretending to be serious when you are joking(面無表情的;不帶感情色彩的;假裝正經(jīng)的) lip-syncing: 對嘴配音 slur: to pronounce words in a way that is not clear so that they run into each other(含混不清地說話) conjure up: 使呈現(xiàn)于腦際(或眼簾) of yore: long ago(很久以前) orchestrate: to organize a complicated plan or event very carefully or secretly(精心安排;策劃;密謀) |