For their 94and ceremony and after two years of pandemic, the Oscars were finally going to put on their finery. As a little girl, I asked my father to record the ceremonies and replayed the strong, funny, moving moments over and over on VHS tape. I dreamed of these stars with big roles, of their elegance in sublime outfits, of their magical life…
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Years later, this passion for the Oscars and Hollywood led me to consult several books on the subject. Behind the sequins, there is a very sad setback, and it was after reading these works that I began to see things more clearly.
It was above all my three years spent in Los Angeles that tarnished the image I had of it. My absolute fascination is gone. Despite everything, I never miss this big glamorous evening, even though I know that everything is artificial, fabricated and superficial. In Hollywood, everything is wrong.
Since a long time
Behind the “glitz and the glam”, the studios of the golden age of Hollywood controlled everything, especially the future stars, ready to do anything, even to sell their souls to the devil to become famous and “make it big”.
Draconian contracts prevented working elsewhere for several years. A star had the virtual obligation to accept the roles offered under threat of ruining his career. This was particularly the case of Bette Davis, suspended by Warner Brothers.
The studios had the absolute power to impose a new name on aspiring starlets, like Marilyn Monroe, to change the look or the tone of voice. Lauren Bacall developed a deep and haunting voice to stand out. A weight maintenance clause was also included in the contracts.
We created from scratch an image that was often limited among women to “the girl next door” or “the sex bomb”, and it was not uncommon to invent a more catchy, even melodramatic past.
This interference even went as far as love affairs or arranged marriages to promote films and careers.
Jean Harlow’s contract with MGM included a character clause preventing her from marrying so as not to damage her image as a formidable seductress. After her marriage in 1941, Judy Garland was denied a honeymoon as the studio did not approve of her union.
Penalties existed if an actress became pregnant. Some have paid the price, as Ava Gardner mentions in her biography, preferring abortion to the wrath of the producers.
When a star was no longer the case, we didn’t hesitate to launch the worst derogatory rumors about her to get rid of her or intentionally put her on a siding, to make her play in turnips.
unhealthy gear
My years in Los Angeles were made up of encounters and situations that were both happy and intoxicating, unusual, but often hard and disappointing.
I attended meetings where my managers spoke without complex about the possibility of “matching” me to make the train move faster. My personal situation didn’t matter. My lover at the time, a young director and screenwriter, was not well enough known and “bankable”. I had to invent another story. I preferred to move away from this unhealthy gear.
When I see Jennifer Lopez leave her ex and find herself three minutes later on the arm of another, I wonder about the purpose of the public relations teams which remain unchanged in my opinion, whether we are in 1940 or in 2022. On the eve of a film release, “arrangements” are in order.
What is most striking about Hollywood is the boundless admiration for money, success and the obsession with all that glitters.
The “star system” obscures the Hollywood microcosm. Whether you are a dentist, a gardener, a teacher, a restaurant owner or a waiter, everyone aspires to the privileged status of a star. Discussions quickly turn in circles and often border on interstellar emptiness.
You have to constantly be on the alert. Any encounter can be an opportunity that you don’t want to miss. Human relations are interested, each sees the other in the interest that he could arouse. Rapacity trumps friendship.
I’m left with a lack of authenticity and a sense of excessive opportunism that I didn’t want to have.
Except for the wrong reasons, the last Oscar ceremony will not go down in history.
The brighter sides of this ceremony (among others, seeing ours shine, Denis Villeneuve, Patrice Vermette, Roger Frappier) were spoiled by the inadmissible gesture of Will Smith: a violent, inappropriate, classless act, that the idiotic words of Chris Rock did not justify.
I can only doubt Will Smith’s honesty in his acceptance speech, his tears, his emotions, his call to God and love…
Because in Hollywood it’s all about the views guy… and the PR guy.
Everything is fake, even the excuses?
His next film, if there is one, will perhaps be called “La loi du talion”.