Return to Transcripts main page
Piers Morgan Live
And the Winner Is...
Aired February 25, 2013 - 00:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening from Hollywood for our Oscar special, and the winner is. Well, now we know who the winners are. What a night it was. I'm Piers Morgan with breaking Oscar news. It's a huge night. Full of stunning surprises, many upsets. Let's get right to the big winners as they were announced. First off, of course, was the big picture. I'm at the Roosevelt Hotel overlooking Hollywood Boulevard, and I have my own star panel to talk about this huge Oscar night.
Joining me is actress Holly Robinson Peete. Hollywood legend, Oscar winning actor Jon Voight. Pop and country legend Leann Rimes. Also, Renee Bargh, who is the co-host of "Extra." I'm waiting for the parties to get started. CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner at the Governor's Ball.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Piers.
MORGAN: We now have tape of all the winners, all the big winners. Let's watch it first and then we'll come to you, Nischelle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Oscar goes to Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Anne Hathaway.
ANG LEE, DIRECTOR: Thank you, Academy. Xie-xie. Namaste.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Lawrence. "Silver Linings Playbook."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first Academy Award and second nomination for Jennifer Lawrence. She was previously nominated in this category for "Winter's Bow."
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And the Oscar goes to "Argo." Congratulations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Massive moment for Ben Affleck there. "Argo" winning Best Picture. To my all-star panel. Jon, let me start with you. You've won an Oscar. This was a pretty dramatic night, more surprises than maybe we would have predicted. JON VOIGHT, ACTOR: Well, it was spread out pretty good. I think that people were very satisfied with it. Of course, everybody's got their favorites, and the people are rooting for -- and you win or lose with your guy. It's a very--
(CROSSTALK)
VOIGHT: Very nice night tonight.
MORGAN: The presidential theme of "Lincoln," Daniel Day-Lewis winning, then we had of course "Argo," President Carter, who I interviewed earlier this week. He was a pivotal figure in that real- life story. And then Michelle Obama popping up at the end there. Lots of presidents going on today, Jon.
VOIGHT: Yes. What do you want me to say?
MORGAN: I have no idea. (INAUDIBLE), it happens to be a fact.
VOIGHT: Yes.
MORGAN: Leann, you're a Grammy winner. You've won awards. You've lost awards.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: Sorry to remind you of that.
LEANN RIMES, SINGER: Thanks. At least I've been nominated enough to lose them.
MORGAN: Sort of what I'm getting at is what is the psychology of winning or losing these things. How important is it in reality?
RIMES: I think it's nice always to be acknowledged by your peers. But I've won awards, and I think it raises the dollar amount usually that's on your paycheck, and then you lose them and it really doesn't change much.
MORGAN: Do you see a real ka-ching impact if you win?
RIMES: I think so, yes. Absolutely. It goes up and down.
MORGAN: Holly, rollercoaster moments tonight. I thought some of the singers hit great highs, others maybe not so high. What did you think of the singing?
HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE, ACTRESS: I loved the singing, and certainly -- well, hey. Have a seat.
MORGAN: As I said, a night of many surprises.
(CROSSTALK)
PEETE: I don't know who decided to have Jennifer Hudson open for Russell Crowe. That was interesting, because Jennifer Hudson is so fierce and she always nails and I loved "Les Mis," but I thought she should have gone last. I mean, and I'm telling you I'm not going. Don't you agree?
RIMES: She sounded great. I agree, but it was a huge performance, too, you know what I mean? Yes. So I think that's probably why they did what they did.
MORGAN: For me, Barbra Streisand was a wonderful moment. I thought Shirley Bassey was terrific as well.
RIMES: Shirley Bassey, amazing.
MORGAN: Let's talk about Adele for a moment, and I'll come back to you, because Adele it seemed to me was singing within herself, and also had a few mike issues. Very classy performance. She's a great singer. But I don't think we got the full Adele tonight. Is she still struggling a bit with the nose problem she had?
RIMES: Well, you know, I don't know her personally. She's fantastic. I mean, amazing singer. But it does, it takes you in this weird kind of head space sometimes. I don't know how she is right now, but I feel like since she's had it, she's maybe held back a little bit. But yes, it can take you into that weird head space where you're a little timid, so maybe that's what she was feeling, maybe it was just like they didn't turn up the volume. I don't know.
MORGAN: Coming back to the movies. A big night for Ben Affleck. He is the comeback kid. Let's take a listen to something he said tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: I thank everyone in the movie. On the movie, worked on the movie, did anything with this movie, gets thanks. I want to thank Canada. I want to thank our friends in Iran living in terrible circumstances right now. I want to thank my wife, who I don't normally associate with Iran. But I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It's good. It's work, but it's the best kind of work. And there's no one I'd rather work with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Ben Affleck there receiving the award. Obviously produced the big picture winner. Renee, it's a great story, Ben Affleck, isn't it? Because there he was, pretty well down and out in Hollywood, but he has made his great comeback. And as he said, the big thing is not getting kicked down, it's how you pick yourself up.
RENEE BARGH, CO-HOST, EXTRA: Exactly, and I think everybody is so happy with the result. I think everybody was rooting with "Argo." Clearly with him not being up for Best Director, and he's had a hard time in the press over the years. But he's definitely in a position now where he's so well known for what he's doing well, and I think he will be one of the Best Directors of our generation. MORGAN: One of the other producers was of course George Clooney. I got to him on the red carpet earlier. This wasn't aired at the time, but it's interesting what he had to say about his close friend, Ben Affleck. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORGAN: George, how are you?
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Good.
MORGAN: What's it like being the second best looking guy on the red carpet?
CLOONEY: Well, I don't know. What is it like?
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: Stacey, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, how are you?
MORGAN: Lovely to see you.
George, you won't know this, but the bleacher creatures, who are the most die-hard Oscar fans, they were all asked to name the one person they most wanted to see, lo and behold, it was gorgeous George.
CLOONEY: It was me. Until they saw me with the beard.
MORGAN: They have a problem with the beard?
CLOONEY: They do. They didn't like it. I noticed that.
MORGAN: They thought, is he remaking "Castaway?"
CLOONEY: I'm working on that. Is that the creatures there?
MORGAN: Now, there's two creatures here. Look, they love you. Wave to George.
CLOONEY: I'll go and say hi to them in a little bit.
MORGAN: They love you. Now, you're the first man in history to be nominated in six different categories. Quite an astonishing achievement.
CLOONEY: I know, a trivia question maybe more than anything.
MORGAN: A remarkable illustration of the range you now bring to your movie making generally. You must be proud of that.
CLOONEY: I am proud of it. I'm proud of it just because, listen, you know, if you're going to survive in this business, you have to do other things. So the fact that I've been lucky enough to succeed in a bunch of different -- I am going to need fall-back jobs as I get older, so it's good to have them.
MORGAN: "Argo" has been getting a lot of attention and a lot of praise, but also a bit of criticism. I interviewed former President Jimmy Carter.
CLOONEY: I saw it, yes.
MORGAN: What do you make of what he said about the Canadians not getting enough credit?
CLOONEY: Well, but you know, it -- our argument was always, this is the American story, which had never been told, because it was made top secret. And everyone else sort of dined out on the other story. We thought it would be nice to tell the story about an American who came up with the idea, and snuck into Iran to do it.
And so it's -- if there's a problem with it, it's through a mission, and I have no problem with that. We were trying to tell a story.
MORGAN: Ben Affleck, the comeback kid is what they're all calling him. A remarkable transformation in his fortune. What do you think of Ben?
CLOONEY: I really like him, except that he's tall and good looking.
MORGAN: That is a problem.
CLOONEY: I do have a problem.
MORGAN: And he has a better beard.
CLOONEY: That's actually bull.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MORGAN: George Clooney earlier, being very funny about Ben Affleck. We have got some coverage now of Jennifer Lawrence talking about becoming the Best Actress actress tonight.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ACTRESS: I'm sorry. I did a shot before I came. Sorry. Jesus. All right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're coming down to 180 (ph) on your right and go over to 29.
LAWRENCE: Hi.
FEMALE REPORTER: Hi, congratulations. Joy Ryan (ph), E News. The fall on the way up to the stage --
LAWRENCE: Was that on purpose? Absolutely.
FEMALE RPORTER: Was it a fall? What happened?
LAWRENCE: What do you mean what happened? Look at my dress. I tried to walk upstairs in this dress. That's what happened. I don't actually -- yes, I think I just stepped on a fabric and they waxed the stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 29 and then back to 181.
FEMALE REPORTER: Hi, Jennifer. I'm Aka Turn (ph) from German television. Congratulations.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
FEMALE REPORTER: What was going through your mind when you first fell?
LAWRENCE: What went through my mind when I fell down? A bad word that I can't say. That starts with F.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going 181 and then back to 225.
MALE REPORTER: Hi, Jennifer, over here. There you go. At 22 years old, you have your first Oscar and you've already had two nominations. It's awfully young to have so much success so far. You feel that is this a good thing that it's coming so early in the career?
LAWRENCE: I hope so. Yes. I mean, I -- who knows. I guess we'll see.
MALE REPORTER: You don't worry about peaking too soon?
LAWRENCE: Well, now I am. God.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. We go to 225 and then we need to wrap it up, so we'll end with 117.
MALE REPORTER: Hi.
LAWRENCE: I feel like I'm picking people to make fun of me. You know, next.
MALE REPORTER: I'm really not.
Hi, Jennifer, congratulations.
LAWRENCE: Hi. Thank you.
MALE REPORTER: Aside from the statue, of course, what has been different than two years ago when you were nominated for you preparing for this day?
LAWRENCE: Preparing for the day? Well, I didn't eat today because I was so stressed, and then I was starving in the car ride over, and that sucked. But I don't know. Well, I was -- I think I was -- well, I was less nervous because I had been through it before and I know more people. Last time it was -- I was brand new to the industry. And I didn't know anybody. So I would always go to these things and see all these people hugging and they're like oh, my God, John, how are you? I was just like. So I know more people. And that makes it a lot less awkward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're going to end with 117 on your left.
LAWRENCE: Thank God.
FEMALE REPORTER: Hi, Jennifer. What did you think of Seth's performance hosting? Did you like the boob song?
LAWRENCE: I did. I loved the boob song. I thought he was great. I thought he was hilarious.
FEMALE REPORTER: Great. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
MORGAN: Jennifer Lawrence giving a press conference after winning Best Actress. What a lovely young woman she is. Funny. Does not give a damn and gives it straight.
We're going to come back after the break and discuss Jennifer Lawrence. I think she's a breath of fresh air in this industry. So we'll discuss what the panel thinks later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: This, Jennifer, is a big night for you. You're being described as the great movie star of our times. How do you respond to that allegation?
LAWRENCE: Are you sure that's not just my mom?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Jennifer Lawrence has been making people laugh all day with her witty charm and easy style. We're going to quickly go to Daniel Day-Lewis giving his reaction to becoming Best Actor. It's the third time he's won it, a piece of history tonight, an Oscar legend.
MALE REPORTER: Have you been able to come out of character now? You know, with so many (INAUDIBLE)?
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, ACTOR: I think -- I think -- I'm out of -- I am definitely out of character at this moment. But if I slip back into it by mistake, you can do an intervention of some kind, the Heimlich maneuver or whatever you do with actors who get stuck in character, I don't know. But I'm definitely out of character now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 186. Getting the mike. And then we'll go to 104.
MALE REPORTER: Congratulations. Right here.
DAY-LEWIS: Thank you. MALE REPORTER: You've had so many acceptance speeches and they've all been so varied and they've all been so eloquent and smart. Is anybody helping you with these?
DAY-LEWIS: I wish, I wish. No, no, no, they haven't. They haven't. No, if you can't find your own words to say in situations like this, I think that would be a little sad, wouldn't it? And I personally, I have to say, it's so sweet of you to say that, but I kind of love it when people are completely inarticulate when they are making speeches as well. Because it says the same thing in a different way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 104. And then I do need to wrap it up, so 147.
MALE REPORTER: Daniel.
(CROSSTALK)
DAY-LEWIS: Hi, Bazz (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you? Congratulations.
DAY-LEWIS: Sorry I nearly killed you on the way up the red carpet. I didn't mean to.
MALE REPORTER: Thank you for saying that. I'll get you later. But no, listen, congratulations.
DAY-LEWIS: Thanks.
MALE REPORTER: This is the third time we've done this.
MORGAN: Daniel Day-Lewis there having a press conference, obviously delighted to be winning Best Actor.
Let me go live to Nischelle Turner. She's got Jackie Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook." Who I imagine is thrilled for Jennifer Lawrence.
TURNER: She is thrilled for her. And first of all, Piers, we were discussing whether you were actually kind of flirting with Jackie on the red carpet earlier this afternoon. I said yes. Jackie, I think she believes you were too. What do you think? Do you think Piers was flirting with you?
JACKIE WEAVER, ACTRESS: Not at all. I thought he wouldn't be that desperate.
TURNER: Oh, come on, you look gorgeous.
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: He's screaming of course he was.
WEAVER: We Australians are a bit not good enough.
TURNER: I have to tell you, I know we were talking earlier, and Piers, she did do her loser face for me, but you said you are just over the moon for Jennifer Lawrence.
WEAVER: Oh, I couldn't be happier. She's so brilliant. Jennifer, I adore her.
TURNER: I have to give you a little shine, because you told me something just now that took my breath away. You have $2 million worth of jewels on tonight. I mean, Good lord.
WEAVER: I do. They're blood free diamonds by Stephen Webster (ph) for Forever Mark, and blood free means nobody loses any blood.
TURNER: I love that. Now, before I let you go in, because I know you said and Russell Crowe is walking behind you as we talk to you.
WEAVER: Go and grab him.
TURNER: I think he's ready to go in and maybe do what you said you needed to do. But I need to ask you about Seth MacFarlane, what did you think? How did he do tonight?
WEAVER: How did who?
TURNER: Seth MacFarlane.
WEAVER: I love Seth MacFarlane. I've always loved him, and after tonight I love him even more.
TURNER: Yes.
WEAVER: He's brilliant.
TURNER: All right. Jackie, have a good time. Sorry that you didn't win, but we're glad that "Silver Linings Playbook" got you.
Have a great time tonight. Bye, darling.
So Piers, we're going to send it back to you as I almost trip over the hedge outside the Governor's Ball here. We do see the A list of Hollywood starting to arrive. Russell Crowe just went in. I'm keeping my eagle eye out for all of those who are big winners from tonight's Oscars. I'll try to snatch them for you. OK?
MORGAN: Excellent. Excellent. Just to clarify, when Jackie called me a pom (ph), it's what Australians call the British. It's a rather derogatory phrase. Renee, you know all about that.
BARGH: Yes.
MORGAN: Let me come to Jon quickly. Two very different but two very (INAUDIBLE) speeches. Daniel Day-Lewis, the epitome of cool and class. Jennifer Lawrence, this rising star. Brilliant actress, and such fun I think in any kind of interview environment or press conference.
VOIGHT: Yes, very charming, very spontaneous. Both such brilliant talents, and that's what you get to see in the Academy Awards, is whoever gets the focus, and it can be any one of the five members of that nominated group, you get to see a little insight into them, and each one of them is unique, and they give you a little something for themselves. It's great.
MORGAN: Daniel Day-Lewis has won Best Actor three times, only man in history to do that. Is he the greatest actor of our generation?
VOIGHT: Well, you know, the greatest actor -- he's a great actor. He's a master actor. And it's wonderful to see him with this great role, this role to work toward. And he does this wonderful in-depth research and all the written things. And I'm a Lincoln guy. The voice that people talk about is exactly as they describe it. He did all this wonderful, wonderful work. And he's such a graceful performer. So he's a great actor and this is a great role.
MORGAN: Leann, let's talk about Jennifer Lawrence. She's I think a real emerging superstar. In not just movies, in entertainment.
RIMES: We were saying we all have girl crushes on her.
MORGAN: Girls love her. Guys love her. Old and new love her. She's fantastic.
RIMES: She is. I didn't realize she was only 22. She is amazing. We were saying too, old soul. She's beautiful. And she has this spirit about her. That I don't know, I haven't seen in a while from someone her age. This old soul that has the knowledge of her craft. I think she's amazing.
MORGAN: Let's take a short break. When we come back, I'll get the other ladies to talk about Jennifer, because I think she's the hot story of the night, and then we'll talk about Seth MacFarlane. I loved it, but I'm also aware from my Twitter feed, a lot of people hated his performance. There was no middle ground with that guy, so let's come back and talk Seth after the break as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. I just lost.
MORGAN: So give me a big loser face.
Go on, give me the loser one.
HELEN HUNT, ACTRESS: Just kind of a glazed smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Testing the water there with a few good loser faces from my guests on the red carpet. We are going to go to Nischelle Turner. She's got Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, no less. Nischelle, over to you.
TURNER: Hi, I'm sorry, Piers, I was just speaking with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and they have moved on now.
MORGAN: They're gone?
TURNER: She was telling me -- I know, they just left. I was trying to hold them for you. But she was just telling me that no. 1, she was such a rush for her being on stage tonight. Now, they're right beside me here. I'm going to see if I can grab them. They are right in the middle of an interview. So if I can try to grab them, or Octavia Spencer is right beside them here at the Governor's Ball.
MORGAN: Manhandle them over.
TURNER: They're right in the middle here, guys, I'm trying to grab them. But I'm behind this hedge here.
MORGAN: Very dramatic. I like this. I want you to lean in. This is breaking news.
TURNER: I'm about to catapult over this hedge here. Octavia, can you come speak to me real quick? All right, Octavia Spencer is coming over right now to speak to me. Of course she won Best Supporting Actor last year. You guys are making fun of me. That's real funny. Piers, real funny, come right on in.
Octavia, Piers Morgan is making fun of me because he was trying to tell me to catapult over this hedge, grab you, grab Catherine Zeta- Jones, Jessica Chastain is right beside. Can you grab her with you, your co-star from "The Help." Jessica? Can you come over with Octavia? Come on over, come on over here. We're live on CNN.
(CROSSTALK)
OCTAVIA SPENCER, ACTRESS: I'm good. How awesome does she look tonight, right?
TURNER: First of all, when I saw you step out of your car, I said wow.
JESSICA CHASTAIN, ACTRESS: Well, you know.
SPENCER: You try.
CHASTAIN: I have a good teacher here.
SPENCER: Oh, you are right. You are epically --
CHASTAIN: Our dresses match.
SPENCER: Well, darling.
TURNER: You guys starred together last year, nominated again. And now you're back again. How does it feel? Have you forged this kind of lifelong friendship, because you look like it?
CHASTAIN: I hope so.
SPENCER: Yes, we have.
CHASTAIN: We're Octessica.
SPENCER: Octessica, we're the super couple.
TURNER: What do you do tonight? This is all over. Like all of the-- you can let it out.
CHASTAIN: I'm going to just -- I'm hungry.
SPENCER: Yes.
CHASTAIN: I haven't eaten in 12 hours.
SPENCER: You think it will be good in there?
CHASTAIN: Listen, I'm about ready to eat anything. No--
TURNER: Are you vegan?
CHASTAIN: Yes.
TURNER: I heard Wolfgang earlier say yes, he fixed some vegan dishes, he's got you covered.
CHASTAIN: Anne Hathaway is vegan too.
SPENCER: And so is Casey Affleck.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: Hey, Nischelle, Nischelle?
TURNER: Can I ask you real quick because I know -- you guys. First of all, I want to join the sister friendship, because you guys are like girlfriends in my head. You look like you have so much fun.
CHASTAIN: Well, the sad thing is I feel like I haven't seen her in so long.
SPENCER: We're so busy. Yes, we're so busy.
CHASTAIN: But we were talking today about Skype.
SPENCER: Yes.
CHASTAIN: Skype is a good way to keep in touch, so I think that's what we'll have to do.
SPENCER: We text when she's in this country, which is never. And we e-mail. But yes, it's tough, because she's Jessica Chastain, two time Academy Award nominee.
CHASTAIN: Octavia Spencer, Academy Award winner.
TURNER: Nice. I was going to ask you, because earlier I know you were saying, I don't expect to win. You sounded very convincing. How are you feeling, really?
CHASTAIN: I feel very happy for everyone that won. The wonderful thing about tonight is there wasn't one movie that won everything.
SPENCER: Exactly.
CHASTAIN: Which that kind of goes to show what an incredible year for film it was. Because it was all spread out. And we can say that "Zero Dark Thirty" is an Oscar winner.
TURNER: Can I just tell you, as a woman, watching a very strong woman on television playing a complex, strong, great, role, bravo to you. You're great, have a good night, guys. Thank you, thank you guys.
Piers, so we got Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer. See, I pulled a double for you. Piers, how about that? Top that, Piers.
MORGAN: You just get looking for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. Thanks, Nischelle.
TURNER: I know, right? OK.
MORGAN: We're going to go straight to Quentin Tarantino. He's backstage. He gave a great speech. I'm glad that he won. He's one of the great talents in Hollywood. Quentin, take it away.
QUENTIN TARANTINO, DIRECTOR: -- America's role in it. And to actually take an audience member from the 21st century and stick them in the antebellum South and see what it -- and have a sense of what America was like back then. And so even the people that have criticized the movie and a lot of people don't like it, and I can understand that. A lot of people do like it. And they've been kind of going back and forth. And that back and forth is really what I really wanted at the end of the day for this movie. And I hope that continues for the next few years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 117 and then 99.
FEMALE REPORTER: Hi, over here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On your left.
TARANTINO: Thank you, 117, there you go.
FEMALE REPORTER: So your movie was such a success at the box office. As were a lot of the Best Picture nominees this year. Do you think that the financial success of these films is going to impact how studios think about making adult-oriented, serious-minded fair?
TARANTINO: Well, you know, that's a very good question. And I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I found myself -- I go into my own little film study from time to time, especially during crazy moments like this to kind of put it out of my brain.
And one of the things I've been doing is I've been doing a lot of study on the films made in the early '70s, in particularly '69, '70 and '71. And that was the beginning, starting in '67, that was the beginning of what they called new Hollywood.
And I have to say, I wasn't thinking about us. I was just doing that study for my own edification. And I looked at the nine nominees, and I have to say, more than most other times you can think of, I actually recognize the spirit that was going on then with the nine nominees now, and even backed by some commercial success in the case of some of them, where actually we're making adult movies about subjects that -- there's nothing about the subject at all in a lot of these movies that would suggest they would be commercial or be popular.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AFFLECK: These guys had a script I really liked. I called them up, I said I got a take for it, will you put me on the movie?
MORGAN: We're watching a live press conference. Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov, all of course, from "Argo," three producers. Or the bearded amigos, as we call them. Let's take a listen to this.
AFFLECK: -- more meta approach to it than that. I was excited to make it. I was excited to work with these guys. The cast we had. And I was willing to let the chips kind of fall where they may, as long as we thought we had done something that we were interested in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 261, and then over to 138.
MALE REPORTER: Back here. Obviously at certain points we thought that other films tonight might win this. Could you describe when exactly you felt a tipping point in your favor?
CLOONEY: Michelle Obama.
AFFLECK: When they gave us the trophies, I was confident that we would win.
CLOONEY: Not completely confident.
AFFLECK: I did second guess. Was this a prank?
CLOONEY: He did look at the envelope.
GRANT HESLOV, PRODUCER: Even when I was giving the speech, I didn't feel as though we had won. So.
AFFLECK: Once Grant let me talk, I felt good.
You know, I don't get too much into the Oscarology and the pontificating and the guys who do that, that's definitely (INAUDIBLE), which is great, and people like it, and they're interested in it, and people should be -- I hope people are interested in the Oscars, because it helps our industry and it helps make better films, but it doesn't help me to read up on that stuff. So you know, I was thrilled for Billy. I was thrilled for Chris. And when it came along, I was thrilled for these two guys. HESLOV: And Ang Lee.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to 138 and number 4.
FEMALE REPORTER: I'm over here. I'm Donna Harris (ph) from the Foreign Service Journal, the American Foreign Service Association in Washington. Your movie and also the comments you've made on all of the award ceremonies has really raised the image and the profile of the Foreign Service. Something that we don't get very often. We don't get much play. But I would like to invite you, all three of you, to the plaque ceremony that we have in the Department of State on May 3rd, where we honor fallen Foreign Service officers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, I'm going to have to interrupt but do you have a question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Can you come?
(LAUGHTER)
CLOONEY: That's a really personal question.
AFFLECK: Is it about volume or just --
HESLOV: I'm able to, yes.
AFFLECK: I went too far.
CLOONEY: Here's the line.
AFFLECK: I don't know that we can come, but we do have, all of us, a tremendous respect for what the Foreign Service sacrifices and goes through. And that I think we gained further appreciation for that as we shot the movie, visited the State Department. I know Secretary Clinton a little bit and Secretary Kerry a little bit better. And so we were able to shoot in the -- I'm not sure that's why -- but from my sort of distant acquaintanceship with both of those secretaries, I've really picked up an appreciation for what the State Department does, what our Foreign Service does, what they sacrifice.
CLOONEY: Grant and I will be in Berlin shooting, so we won't make it, but maybe Ben might be in town.
AFFLECK: Thanks, George.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to come down to 4 and then to 152. Right over here.
FEMALE REPORTER: Tanya Hart (ph), how are you? Congratulations. How cool was it to have the first lady --
MORGAN: We're going to leave the three bearded amigos for a moment, continue riffing with the press there.
Jon, winning an Oscar, you've been in that position. What impact does it have on a career and what are the pitfalls you have got to look out for?
VOIGHT: Well, one thing is that, you know, it's something you dream about when you're a young person. And all these people that have got Oscars, they had that in their mind somewhere as the apex of their careers, you know. And you're very fortunate when you get in that position. You're fortunate enough to get a role that puts you in that position, and then if you're the one that walks away with it, it's a big deal. And it's great good fortune.
After that of course they introduce you as the Oscar -- Oscar -- Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight. And then, you know, you seek those other roles that might bring forth your gift in the same way. Nice frame, you know, but sometimes you can't get there, you see. So you have to look, you look at different things. You say well, maybe I will do this piece, this will not bring me an Academy Award. I came to that crossroads myself, and I did a picture called "Anaconda," and even when I did that picture, they still introduced me as the Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight.
MORGAN: You will always be an Academy Award winner. Let's talk about George Clooney's beard for a moment, ladies. Holly, he was trying to tell me it's made his sexier. Stacy, his other half, was there with him, saying, yes, she prefers him with the gray beard.
PEETE: No. I've known George for years, and he's the most awesome guy in Hollywood, but it's time for him to lose that gray beard or get some Grecian formula or something. Can I just say his girl, Stacy Keibler, she brings the fashion to the red carpet in a way that I've never seen. Her (INAUDIBLE) are my favorite designers, but I vote no for the beard.
MORGAN: Are you going to agree with that?
BARGH: I think that Clooney can do no wrong, and I'll take him beard or no beard. I mean, I didn't mean it like that. Oh, gosh, I think he's amazing.
MORGAN: That wasn't actually my question, but I don't mind you jumping in. I love George Clooney. He's a proper movie star. He's just charming and smart. And everything you would want in a guy. Let's take a short break, come back, with more from our panel. More live action from the post-Oscars aftermath.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Going straight to Nischelle Turner, who I think has the great Adele with her, right?
TURNER: To that moment when they say "and the winner is," and they pause. What's going through your head?
ADELE, SINGER: I was just shocked. I (INAUDIBLE), I think we both did, (INAUDIBLE) who I wrote it with. We both thought, suddenly (ph) we were going to win it. Because everyone was saying we were going to win it, and when it happened, you tend not to win it, so we got a bit convinced that we weren't going to, but I mean, I'm just elated. I'm very proud.
TURNER: Can you show us your Oscar real quick? This is live on CNN. Adele with her Oscar for Best Song tonight. Piers has a quick question, for you. Go ahead, Piers, I am going to relay the message to her, because they are about to pull her from me, so let's get this going here.
MORGAN: On behalf of Great Britain, we're incredibly proud of her. I wanted her to know that.
TURNER: Piers Morgan says on behalf of Great Britain, they are incredibly proud of you.
ADELE: Oh, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you. You keep going with what you're doing, you know what I mean. Thank you. See you later.
TURNER: Thank you, Adele. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
That is Adele who won for Best Song tonight for "Skyfall," and also performed. And I'll tell you what, Piers, her voice, doesn't it just sit with you like right here when you hear her sing. I mean, it gets you right in the best parts of you. I love her voice so much. And she's so happy. She looks beautiful too, that face of hers is just gorgeous. So I'm going to send it back to you. I know Ang Lee is coming my way. If I get him, we'll come right back out here. OK?
MORGAN: Great. You're doing a great job, Nischelle. Thank you very much. We're joined now by Joe Zee and by Anthony Breznican. Welcome to you both, guys.
Let's talk very quickly about Seth MacFarlane. A very polarizing performance tonight. I think if you were into him before, you got what you expected and he was very funny. If you didn't like him before, you probably thought what the hell is this.
ANTHONY BREZNICAN, SR. WRITER, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I think a host has to have some edge to him, and without that, you have a boring show. So the fact that he polarizes, that's OK. The best comedians push that limit. So it's fine with me, especially if it divides people.
MORGAN: Holly, did you find it funny tonight?
PEETE: I absolutely did. I found him funny, self-deprecating. I love it. Of course, my kids now want to know what an orgy is. So thank you very much for that. Other than that, it was a little -- it was crass, it was funny, and his recovery was always so good.
MORGAN: To you, the big winner tonight, "Life of Pi," unexpectedly won the most Oscars tonight. But it was pretty spread across the board, wasn't it? As people said, it was a pretty open year, many could have won more than they did. Some could have won than "Life of Pi." What did you think?
BREZNICAN: I think it was a very competitive year. It was a great year for movies. And until "Argo" lost the directing possibility when Ben Affleck was snubbed, it was a wide open Best Picture race.
MORGAN: That won him the Best Picture, I think.
BREZNICAN: I think it made people re-evaluate that film, a film that opened very early in the season, and kind of each film, "Lincoln," "Les Mis," "Zero Dark Thirty" had its moment of, oh, this is the frontrunner, and it was at the back of the line, and that kind of brought it back around again. So I don't know if that necessarily won him the award, they wouldn't have given it to the film unless they liked the picture. But it definitely helped remind them.
MORGAN: Let's talk about fashion for a moment. Just my casual eye on the red carpet, I loved Jessica Chastain. Thought that was a great, old fashioned, classic Hollywood look. Loved Jennifer Lawrence. Thought that was stunning. I think some of the others were a big hit and miss. What were your big hits and maybe the misses?
JOE ZEE, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ELLE MAGAZINE: I still love Jennifer Lawrence. I told Nischelle earlier, I think she really exemplified that sort of old Hollywood in a very modern way, and same with Jessica Chastain, but you know, I think the biggest controversy coming out of this is really about Anne Hathaway. I think we all knew she was going to win the Oscar.
MORGAN: Anne Hathaway you're talking about.
ZEE: Anne Hathaway.
MORGAN: We're going live here now. Let's cut. Good segue.
ANNE HATHAWAY, ACTRESS: I mean, this is spectacular, but if you want to get realistic with it -- and thank you very much for bringing me back down to earth -- you're always looking for the next job. You always think at the end of one it doesn't matter what's happened before, no one is ever going to hire me again. So I do feel this evening the respect of my peers, and I'm going to ride that wave for as long as I can. But I do also have a practical approach to acting, which is got to work, got to work, got to work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 219 and then we'll go to 77.
MALE, REPORTER: Ms. Hathaway, right here.
HATHAWAY: Hello.
MALE, REPORTER: I have to admit, watching the clip, I've seen the film and I was somewhat taken aback, again, seeing your clip. When you watch it, when you revisit the film and see the scene, your song, are you ever sort of kind of impressed by yourself? Are you like, oh my God, that was really good?
HATHAWAY: I'm impressed by the work around me. I'm impressed by my makeup. I'm impressed by my costume. I'm impressed by the haircut and the set and the score and the song, but no, all I can hear is the notes that I didn't quite hit. But maybe I'll get over it someday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 77 and then 37.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back with my all-star panel. Joined by the great British designer, Ozwald Boateng. Ozwald, how are you?
OZWALD BOATENG, DESIGNER: Very good, enjoying the Oscars.
MORGAN: Who rocked your boat at the Oscars? For whatever reason?
BOATENG: I'm a big fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, as you know, so any opportunity to see him work and be on the stage, and I really -- it was great that he won.
MORGAN: And the fashion stakes, who were the big winners? Male or female.
BOATENG: Male and female. I hate it when anyone puts me in the spotlight like, like that.
MORGAN: You're a fashion expert.
BOATENG: I'm a designer. I don't want to be like -- say I don't like this.
MORGAN: Who did you really like? Who had a great dress?
BOATENG: I liked Charlize.
MORGAN: Did you? Yes, very cool, very stylish.
BOATENG: Charlize looked beautiful.
MORGAN: And then the men, apart from my own.
BOATENG: You're not on the red carpet. I'm shocked, I'll tell you that. Weren't you like going up for -- in fact, they were doing a best dressed list in London, and Piers, I think you were up there in the top two or three.
MORGAN: I came very high. I'm too modest --
BOATENG: I was quite surprised by that, by the way.
MORGAN: Let's talk briefly again about fashion, because it is a big night for these female actresses. Huge pressure on them, isn't there? If it goes wrong, they have got to pick up the pieces for weeks on end afterwards.
ZEE: It's a really, really difficult time, and there is a ton of pressure. The minute the nominees are out, designers are literally tripping over themselves to dress the nominees. Especially you know, the really sort of A list, top of the game ones. Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, they really had the choice of anything they really wanted to wear.
BREZNICAN: And then the nominees are tripping over themselves while they wear the dresses there backstage.
ZEE: And trying to accept the award.
MORGAN: (INAUDIBLE) problem with Anne Hathaway. Let's cut to the unmentionable, because she gets hammered on social media. I think partly because people think her speeches are not very sincere. Which may not be her fault. She's an actress. Actors tend to make pretty insincere speeches, but there's a bit of hate out there for it, and it doesn't seem very well deserved to me.
BREZNICAN: There's hate for everyone. Social media makes it easy to anonymously just attack people at random. I don't know, I find her kind of charming and endearing. She's definitely like a theater kid writ large.
MORGAN: Renee, what is it about Anne Hathaway? Great actress. Is she hamming it up too much for the speeches and stuff?
BARGH: I don't think so. I think she's one of those girls, like she's a theater kid. She's a girl that loves to be in front of a crowd. She's a performer, and she is eager to please, and I think some people are rubbed the wrong way by that and find that insincere and annoying, but I think she's actually a genuinely really sweet girl that just wants to succeed, and wants everyone to love her.
MORGAN: Well, it was a great night. Lots of spins and twists and turns and surprises. I loved most of it, actually. I thought Seth was great. Loved the fact that Brits were all over the place, as usual. Shirley Bassey, Adele, Daniel Day-Lewis. We basically kicked - we kicked Hollywood's butt.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: Thank you to my all-star panel. That's all for us tonight.
Good night from Hollywood and the 85th Oscars.
