“No, like this,” she said, repositioning his arm. “You don’t want your jacket sleeve to bunch up. And you must only touch her dress with your fingertips so you don’t change the flow of the fabric.”
“Modeling’s not as easy as I make it look,” I quipped.
Dad and Greg had made comments in the past about how easy modeling was.
Up next, we did more interviews. After that, we were taken into a room where I had a surprise waiting.
The 20 Oscar nominees were given swag bags with an estimated worth of between $100,000 and $200,000. Some of the more outlandish gifts included travel packages to Hawaii, two vacations to Italy, a week-long stay at a California spa, and a ranch vacation in Northern California.
There were also less-expensive gifts, like a customized crayon pack that I figured the kids would enjoy, apples, jewelry, and a bunch of other stuff. One caught my eye. It was a car rental for a year. I figured they would have a Mustang, which would save me from buying one for Pam and Tracy until next year.
The mystery gift was art from Allana Megginson, a well-known artist. The card said that she would do a portrait of the recipient. Her goal was to “convey the emotions of what my subject must be feeling at that moment.” She would try to show, in a simple portrait, what the subject had been through in their life.
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The host of the show was Barry Boudreau, a comedian who had his own late-night talk show. In his opening monologue, he told us that the show was being broadcast in 220 countries. If I wasn’t nervous before, that got me there. Then Barry decided to single out all the nominees in funny ways.
He made fun of Meryl Streep for ‘phoning it in for over fifty films,’ and then it was my turn.
“A little spy thriller named
Well, yeah, I mused as I grinned for the cameras. It would be hard to write me in if my character was dead.
I learned a couple of interesting tidbits about the Oscars. The first was they hired people to sit in your seats if you needed to get up and go to the bathroom, just to make the place look full.
The second was that it was LONG. Dear Lord, everyone thought they had to make some kind of statement with their few minutes of air time. Which made me realize why I’d never watched the whole broadcast from start to finish.
After the first hour, we escaped and found most of the celebrities drinking in a VIP lounge. We should have found this place forty-five minutes ago.
When the time for my category to be announced finally arrived, we all made our way back to our seats. As we sat down, I grabbed Mom’s and Halle’s hands for support.
“You got this,” Mom said.
My clip was shown first. I imagine the Academy’s goal was to gain dramatic effect by showing the most intense monologue they could find. In the scene they showed, I was talking to Stewart about feeling conflicted over stealing the proof that the Russians planned to bring missiles into Cuba. I managed to keep it together when the clip ended and the audience applauded.
I had a fleeting thought that I was at that moment being seen by more people all over the world than I could even fathom. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to puke like I did before a big game. God only knew that I felt like I needed to.
When the final clip had been played, I heard …
“And the Oscar goes to … David A. Dawson!”
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Chapter 24 – Playboy Mansion on Steroids Sunday February 26
I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Halle all but tackled me as she laid a kiss on me. Between the pinch and the kiss, I had to assume this wasn’t some kind of made-up dream sequence where you suddenly forget what you’re supposed to do. This was a real-life example of forgetting how to function. My mom saw I was stunned and wasn’t getting out of my seat.
“Look at me!” she ordered.
I blinked and then focused on her.
“Just be yourself and accept graciously,” she said, then stood and pulled me up.
I heard laughter when Mom pushed me out into the center aisle to make my way to the stage.
Rita James had tears running down her face out of happiness for me. That made me realize I needed to get moving. I probably committed a
A pretty black girl had announced the winner, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name at that moment. She handed me the Oscar and gently pushed me to the lectern.
I held the trophy over my head and put on my best smile, taking a moment to absorb the scene as the audience gave me a standing ovation. It felt surreal to have so many household names clapping for my award.
