Ah yes, The Academy Awards, otherwise known as The Oscars! This is the most glamorous night in the Hollywood calendar where the entertainment community and film fans all around the world turn their attention to who will be awarded the most coveted film reward of all – the golden statue trophy.
As mere spectators, we have always been fascinated by not only the winners, and what they wear, but by the designers behind those elegant gowns, the glam squads and the backstage footage, because behind the glitz and glam there are real people with some real and funny stories to tell, so what is it really like being at The Oscars?
How much do things cost? What are they getting fed? Why can’t we get footage for the whole ceremony? All of those answers are below, but to answer the latter: Oscars ceremonies can last up to four hours, so breaks are essential! This means that the celebs use this time to freshen up, go to the bathroom and mingle, hence why they cameras stop rolling during tv commercial breaks. However, there is so much going on, and it’s only natural we would be curious about it.
As the 93rd Academy Awards approaches, we have gathered together some of the most interesting facts about the BTS Oscars secrets that the celebrities don’t really tell you about. This is all information you didn’t know you wanted, but since you’re already here, might as well read on…
1. Where is the food?
You may have heard of this before, but celebs get really hungry during the ceremony. It’s a long day of getting ready and putting on expensive gowns, red carpet which can last a couple of hours and the actual ceremony which can go on for up to two four hours. Guests are not trying to get sauce spilt on their expensive gowns so they often stay away from ‘real’ food, and they’re strictly forbidden from having nibbles or food in the theatre.
The most memorable times that celebs worked their way around it was when Ellen Degeneres was the host of the awards in 2014 and ordered guests pizza directly to the theatre with stars like Julia Roberts, and Jared Leto enthusiastically grabbing a slice. In 2017 Jimmy Kimmel followed through with the tradition of feeding the starving stars and gave them all movie theater lunch boxes directly to their seats, packed with nibbles like a cereal bar, mints and crisps, with a hand written note inside. Just like our parents used to do in school days… Aww! Kimmel also made a donation to the LA food bank for each box.
2. No empty seats!
So we might have just discovered the best temp job in the world? Okay, on the surface it looks great, but maybe not so much. At the Academy Awards ceremony, no seat must be empty at any point other than the moment an honorary gets up to go on stage to collect the award. So much so that celebs are not even allowed to leave the seats outside of breaks and if they’re not back in time.. Well they will have to wait until the next break. Not even Brad Pitt needing an urgent trip to the loo is exempt from this rule apparently. After all this is supposed to be the most sought after event of the year, which wouldn’t look very believable if the theatre was half empty with celebs lingering about. So intro seat fillers.
There are some strict requirements to have a spot on the seat filling waiting list, including filling out a throughout job application and attaching a picture of your gown for the night. The cons: There will be a lot of waiting around and you are not guaranteed to be allowed in by any means. Although, at any point you could be sat next to your fav celeb like The Leonardo Dicaprio, you’re actually not allowed to speak to anyone other than the other seat fillers and it’s an unpaid gig. Welp. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it…*still rushes to fill out application* .
3. If something goes wrong, tell a joke!
Using humour to save the day is one of The Academy’s oldest and best tricks. Did you know that watching live there is a team of comedy writers on the sound decks writing last minute jokes in case something goes terribly wrong, or the cover the most awkward moments like the host falls, or the wrong winner is announced: insert ‘best picture-gate’ when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner for Best Picture in 2017, instead of Moonlight.
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4. Goodie bag
Do you remember when you went to a party in primary school and you got given a little goodie bag with sweets? Or even at work events leaving with a generous goodie bag. Well, although not everyone will go home with the golden man trophy all 25 nominees of the top individual categories, will still get a six-figure swag bag courtesy of Distinctive Assets, a celebrity and product-placement marketing company, except they are by no means humble, or full of sweets.
In 2020 the gift bag was worth a staggering $225,000 including an Antarctic Cruise, To A Gold Vape Pen, even a Smart Bra! All nominees in the acting and directing categories typically get bags, but in years where an individual is nominated for more than one category they will only receive one bag. We very much wonder what they’re doing with the spares? Asking for a friend…
5. The golden man statue is not made of gold! *gasps*
The statue is not all gold, it’s actually bronze but coated with 24 karat gold worth somewhere between $400 – $650 and is 13.5 inches tall. They weigh almost four kilos, so it’s no wonder pretty much everyone who receives one for the first time is surprised by just how heavy it is.
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6. How much money is being spent?
The Oscars are an expensive affair to say the least. The 16,500-square-foot iconic red carpet alone will run the organisers a whopping $30,000. Over all the ceremony costs $42.8 million to put together per year. Official after party tickets are not only exclusive but they will also cost an arm and a leg, as it comes at an additional $119,800 for guests.
7. Stars are getting paid just to attend
After enduring hours on their feet, having to converse and answer the same 3 questions on the red carpet, stars are also subject to wearing really difficult gowns which can make toilet trips quite complex. Sometimes those gowns don’t quite make the best dressed list and if they don’t take a trophy home it all sounds a bit pointless.
If you’re starting to feel a little sorry for the stars, for not, chances are, they are getting paid very well to be there. Fashion houses and fine jewelry companies will happily pay six figures for the stars to wear their clothes, shoes and jewellery.
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A lot goes on BTS, we can’t wait to see what goes down this year…
For more from Glamour UK Beauty & Features Assistant Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona