January 7, 2006
At awards shows, do the big stars have to be officially invited, or can they just turn up?
[...]
In fact, even if celebrities think they're invited to a top awards show, this
In 2002, the three cutest members of the Fellowship of the Ring were flown to Los Angeles for Oscar night: Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom and the inexplicably sexy Billy Boyd. Thing is, they hadn't really been invited, and they were told as much when they disembarked from their giant eagles.
The threesome was put on standby, just in case three confirmed guests were to contract Ringwraith-wasting sickness at the last minute. But the actors blew off the whole dog and pony show instead.
"I'm going to go out to get drunk anyway," Bloom told the Sun.
The three actors got luckier in 2004, but not a whole lot luckier. This time they got into the Kodak Theatre, but then Boyd had to get up and go to the bathroom, and it was Helms Deep all over again.
Per the London Mirror, a couple of "burly minders" kept him from returning to his seat until the next commercial break. This just happened to be during the stretch when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won another four Oscars, the last of its 11. "Billy said: 'The Oscars is over five hours long, so at one point I had to pop out and do a pee. I was left outside while we won another four Oscars.' "
Even lesser awards shows have their deadly gauntlets. Take the Screen Actors Guild thing. Union members must download a form seeking an invitation to pay $600 for a ticket. You read that correctly. And get this: SAG members willing to grovel for that ticket must pay before they even know if they've got a seat.
"Due to the limited seating in our venue, we will place all returned RSVPs into a drawing that will be held in January," the SAG Website intones. "Members drawn will be notified. Members not drawn will receive a refund."
Really. Honestly. We're not worthy.
