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CNN Live Event/Special
And the Winner Is... Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 29, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: The winners are crowned and the stars are shining. from the big surprises, to the big controversy.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ACTRESS: We'll see if people really mean to make the change.
SESAY: How did the stars handle it all? How did Chris Rock handle it all? The milestones; the upsets; and, yes, the insults. Let it begin.
[Cheers and Applause]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, wow; how exciting is this? The best coverage is right here on CNN tonight. Welcome to "And The Winner Is," CNN special coverage of the 88th annual Academy Awards. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.
SESAY: Yes, indeed; welcome everyone. I'm Isha Sesay. We're coming to you from CNN in Hollywood in front of a live, studio audience.
LEMON: Oh, come on; you guys can do better than that.
SESAY: You can do better than that.
LEMON: Yeah.
{Cheers and Applause]
LEMON: Did you enjoy the Academy Awards tonight? Did you enjoy it? Yes? A live studio audience, for the next two hours we're going to bring you all of the glitz, all of the glamour, and look how gorgeous she is, from the Oscars tonight. The big award and the big surprises, Isha.
SESAY: Oh, thank you Don; and you look fabulous yourself.
LEMON: Thank you; I rented it.
[Laughter]
SESAY: With our backstage pass, we'll hear from some of the night's key winners as they address the media.
LEMON: And we're going to take - every year we take you to this thing call the Governor's Ball, it's here in Hollywood, where everybody shows up. It's the Academy Awards post-Oscar celebration.
SESAY: It is. Everyone has to kind of make a stop.
LEMON: Yes, they stop and they talk and you see what they have to say, and they cry, and sometimes they're kind of drunk so you know, we'll enjoy that. A little too much to drink, and that's when you get to see what they're really like.
SESAY: Absolutely, that's the way they let off steam before they really go out and party hard.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
SESAY: And this year, we have a big special surprise for you. You can take part in the viewer poles at CNN.com/vote, using your smartphone, tablet or computer. Before the awards ceremony we asked you to pick some of the key winners, and really, Don, we're kind of thinking about this as the CNN's global Oscar pool.
LEMON: That's a show, like GPS, global public square, the global Oscar pool.
SESAY: Exactly.
LEMON: That's a good way of thinking of it.
SESAY: So here's the thing, throughout the show we'll see how your shows stacked up with the Academy. From time to time, on the bottom of the screen, we'll be asking you more questions. So, please, keep an eye on that. and you can send your reactions using Twitter hashtag #cnnoscars.
LEMON: You can laugh; it will make me feel better.
[Laughter]
LEMON: Thank you; I needed that.
SESAY: Don't take him seriously, it's okay.
LEMON: These guys are great for my ego.
SESAY: Yes; so we want to get to tonight's big winners, right?
LEMON: Yes.
SESAY: That's what we want to hear, right?
[Cheers and Applause]
LEMON: Yes.
SESAY: Okay. Okay; there were some emotional moments when the envelopes were opened and the winners took the stage before the eyes of the world. The top prize, which surprised me, I don't think surprised you though -- LEMON: Surprised me; can you believe that? What do you guys think?
You know now, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
LEMON: Who the top surprise went to? "Spotlight."
[Cheering]
LEMON: Everybody thought -- how many people -- by applause, how many thought it was going to be "Spotlight."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.
SESAY: One woman.
LEMON: One person, one women. How many thought it would be "The Revenant"?
[Cheering]
LEMON: I wanted it to be "The Martian."
SESAY: And how many "the big short."
[Cheering]
SESAY: All right.
LEMON: All right. Leo DiCaprio's film then.
SESAY: Leo DiCaprio's film, it didn't win best picture, but it was a good night for Leo, folks because he did get the Oscar for "Best Leading Actor" in "The Reverent."
LEMON: That was good.
[Chanting: Leo. Leo]
LEMON: Anytime you get mauled by a bear, you deserve an Oscar. I am saying, some sort of award for being mauled by a bear.
SESAY: Let's talk about the ladies. First-time Oscar nominee Brie Larson won "Best Actress" for her lead role in "Room."
LEMON: It was a great, great film. I am claustrophobic and I actually watched the film. it was a little weird. I kept saying, can't they go out through the hole in the roof? I kept saying, climb on top of the furniture. put one on top of the -- I know. I know. Overthinking it. I saw the little kid tonight on the red carpet. So great. So great.
SESAY: He is lovely, lovely.
LEMON: Anyway, I digress.
SESAY: Mark Rylance won "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in "Bridge of Spies."
[Cheering and Applause]
SESAY: And "Best Supporting Actress", my pick, Alicia Vikander for her role in "The Danish Girl."
LEMON: I'm so glad you get to say the next name.
[00:05:02] SESAY: And, for the second year in a row, making anchors tongue twist all around the world, I'm going to say his name, Alejandro Inarritu won "Best Director," this time for "The Revenant."
[Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Good stuff. Good stuff. All right; we have got a fantastic panel here to talk about all of the night's big moments, so let's introduce our very special guests, except for one of them and I'll tell you who that is. I'm looking at you W. Kamau Bell. Fandango Film Correspondent and self-described film geek, Alicia Malone.
[Applause]
LEMON: The Australian native has traveled the world covering the major award shows and festivals, so we'll welcome her again.
SESAY: Indeed. Welcome; welcome. And W. Kamau Bell is in the house, everyone. Kamau is a standup comic and host of the upcoming CNN original series "United Shades of America."
LEMON: That's a mess.
W. KAMAU BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN can have two black guys, don. It's all right.
LEMON: There's going to be black on black crime in here.
SESAY: Is it? Oh, my gosh. The new travel show debuts on April 24th here on CNN.
[Laughter]
SESAY: You are a mess.
LEMON: Kamau, you know I love you. That's why I said we have a special guest, except for one, and that's Kamau. And then there's Angela Johnson, she's here. She's an actress, comedienne and former NFL cheerleader. Her most recent comedy special, "Not Fancy" is available now on Netflix. Big round of applause for all of our guests tonight.
[Cheers and Applause]
LEMON: So some of tonight's winners were heavy favorites but there were still some big surprises, as we saw with "Spotlight."
SESAY: Yes. LEMON: I thought that was a surprise.
SESAY: I thought that was a huge surprise. let's go to some of the shockers and the snubs with our beautiful panel. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Yes, Kamau. You looked around when I said --
BELL: I didn't know we were supposed to dress up, apparently.
LEMON: Kamau, when do you ever dress up? I have never seen you dress up.
BELL: This is it. This jacket was bought by somebody.
he wore his good shirt.
SESAY: This is my best black t-shirt.
SESAY: We're going to talk fashion later in the show.
BELL: I'm your guy.
SESAY: Let's go to you Alicia and ask you, and I want to put this to all of you, big surprises for the night? Your take away. Let's start with you, what do you make of the winners and the losers?
ALICIA MALONE, FILM CORRESPONDENT, FANDANGO: Two big surprises, definitely "Spotlight" like you said, winning best picture. I mean, it was kind of a three-horse race between "The Revenant", "The Big Short" and "Spotlight". I thought "The Big Short" would squeeze in there because "The Revenant" was so divisive, but "Spotlight" is a worthy winner, a great story, a great true story. Then, Mark Rylance winning "Best Supporting Actor" for "Bridge of Spies." Everyone, including myself, thought it would be Sylvester Stallone because he's the sentimental favorite and it's been 39 years since he was nominated last time for the same character. He lost out again. He has to wait another 39 years.
BELL: He's on the juice so it might happen.
LEMON: I thought it would be Sly as well. Angela, what do you think?
ANGELA JOHNSON, ACTRESS & COMEDIENNE: I was going for sly. He had my vote. I was hoping he would win. I had a little tear well up for him, ready to go and he didn't get it. I had to take it back. I put it back in.
SESAY: But, you know, I have to say, Mark Rylance who did win it, who surprise is such -- he's an actor's actor. That's one of those things.
MOORE: Method actor.
BELL: Is that a way of saying Stallone's not a good actor?
MOORE: I didn't go near that. LEMON: I have to tell you; people love Sylvester Stallone. I was out on the red carpet tonight and people were like, Sly, Sly. I mean they were screaming. He got some of the biggest Applause.
BELL: That's because "Creed" was the best movie of last year. That's why that happened that way.
LEMON: You think so?
BELL: No, I know so. I saw it and I was like, that's the best one.
LEMON: Why did you think that?
BELL: Who predicted a rocky sequel was going to be good and a box office hit? Nobody except Ryan Kugler. Leonardo DiCaprio and a bear in some woods. Tom Hanks, there's a bridge and spies. Yeah! But "Creed" and "Straight Out of Compton." according to me and one person that almost started to clap and changed their mind.
[Laughter]
LEMON: You know what, I have to say we have pictures of the Governor's Ball and you're going to get too see the stars coming up soon, winners and sometimes the losers come up and tale. You never know who is going to talk.
SESAY: You never know who's going to talk and I think, again, because the Oscars is three hours long, I think they're all just grateful that it's over, and even if they didn't win -- it's true.
BELL: They ain't the only ones.
LEMON: It is long. Let me tell you - I got to show -- can I show some surprise - can I show some stuff as we're doing this?
SESAY: What do you have?
LEMON: So I went inside. I got to go to the ceremony.
SESAY: Did you -
LEMON: There's my ticket.
SESAY: Were you stealing things?
LEMON: No, these are -- this is what they give you when you go in. This is the program from the Oscars. Isn't it beautiful? It's really thick and then, it says, 'We all dream in gold" and its wonderful pictures inside, but it is a big deal. I'll let you guys look at it. I want it back. I'm going to walk out. I'm going to tell the producers now I'm walking out.
[00:10:01] SESAY: Don has left the building; sorry.
LEMON: There you go. Can you catch? Are you a good catcher? Boom. look at that. SESAY: All right; so, throughout the night, we'll be showing these pictures from the Governor's Ball and go to our Stephanie Elam, who is there we must point out, and she'll have the stars (inaudible).
LEMON: Can I follow up with W. Kamau Bell on something? You were talking about the performance. You said an actor's actor; but I actually thought that - the reason I thought "The Martian," it was good because it inspired nationalism. You were like America when you saw it, right, but he did most of this in front of a green screen by himself and that ain't easy to do.
SESAY: Right.
LEMON: Wouldn't Hollywood know that? Wouldn't the Academy know that?
BELL: Yeah. I mean, we have to remember, it's all subjective. It's not like sports. It's not like Jennifer Lawrence won twice -- because she ran faster than the other actors.
JOHNSON: Right, right, right.
BELL: It's all subjective and the problem is who is subject to subjecting it. As they said, many people are mostly old white guys and from my reason that's why NWA didn't win because those guys didn't like them the first time around.
Alicia, to get you to weigh in on this whole thing about, you know, "Spotlight." You know, it's a worthy film and the Academy likes to get behind worthy causes, but to Don's point, there were other films that were more crowd favorites.
MOORE: Yes, a lot of them not nominated. I agree with you that "Creed" was one of the best films last year. I also loved "Beast of No Nation." I thought that deserved a nomination.
LEMON: Absolutely. Absolutely.
MOORE: "Bridge of Spies" was a solid film, but it's a standard Academy moving.
LEMON: As we are looking at "Spotlight" here, "Spotlight" got best picture.
MOORE: Yes.
LEMON: It got "Best Picture", I should say picture of the year.
MOORE: Which is quite rare that a film will get best picture and then no other awards in terms of directing. It won a screenplay award but no directing or acting awards.
SESAY: Ben Ruffalo was up for best supporting but he didn't win. I actually sat down and interviewed the co-writer and the director of "Spotlight" a couple of weeks ago. One of the things, you know, that I was struck by is he wrote this is a love letter to journalists and journalists have huge egos. [Laughter]
LEMON: Really?
SESAY: Yes, really. That was all --
BELL: That was shade.
SESAY: And it was really just about the job of uncovering a story and telling a story and holding people accountable.
MOORE: Like "All The President's Men" for this generation.
LEMON: But does anyone want to see "Spotlight" again?
SESAY: That's a good point, does anyone want to see "Spotlight" again?
LEMON: Seen it twice.
SESAY: Oh.
LEMON: Okay. would you watch -- would you watch it?
BELL: I'm watching "Creed" right now, in my glasses; that's all I'm saying.
[Laughter]
LEMON: I'm glad we have an audience here. By applause, so "The Big Short," would you watch it twice? yeah.
[Applause]
LEMON: All right. Would you watch "Bridge of Spies" twice?
[Applause]
LEMON: "Brooklyn"?
{Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: I know this one, "Mad Max Fury Road"?
[Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Talking about crowd favorites, and we'll discuss that - let's finish this, "The Martian"?
{Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Yes? "Revenant"?
[Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Oh. "Creed"? [Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: And "Room"? Would you watch "Room" again?
[Cheering]
LEMON: It's a little dark.
SESAY: Really?
LEMON: Yes, because it's hard to watch.
SESAY: Hard to watch?
LEMON: And the "Spotlight"?
[Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Okay. Of course, they're trying too hard. All right. That's -- I was surprised by "Mad Max Fury Road." We were sitting there going, it won again. They've won again. I think that was the Oscars' version of diversity, the Australians. I think that was their nod to diversity, white Australians. That's kind of diverse, right?
We have a lot more to come on this special "And The Winner Is."
SESAY: We certainly have a lot more to discuss because the ceremony itself is just part of the drama and excitement of Hollywood's biggest night. Coming up we'll look at some of this year's show-stoppers on the red carpet.
LEMON: Look at that.
[Cheers and Applause]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (NEWS HEADLINES)
[Cheers and Applause]
[00:18:03] LEMON: I want a studio audience to follow me around every single -- can you follow us around every day? We will hire you.
[Cheering and whistling]
LEMON: Welcome back to "And The Winner Is." We're here with a live studio audience.
SESAY: With a beautiful audience.
LEMON: It's our Oscar special, live from Hollyweird - Hollywood, excuse me. Hollywood.
SESAY: Hollywierd is not so bad.
LEMON: So Chris Rock, everyone had been anticipating Chris Rock, right? SESAY: I thought he did a tremendous job. I have to say, we have a
wonderful panel right here to dig right in to it, but I thought he would come out at the top of the show, maybe dance around the Oscar white thing a little bit, warm up the crowd but he didn't. He went straight to it. Kamau Bell, you're a standup comedian. You know what it takes.
BELL: I don't know what that took. I would have said no, thank you, Oscars.
SESAY: Let's find out what it's about -
LEMON: He talked about Holl - he talked about racism, right, in Hollywood? And how -- he said it's not like it used to be years ago. It made some people very uncomfortable in the room, I had to tell you. People were looking around like, should I laugh?
SESAY: Yes, there were moments that were a little tense. Let's play a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS ROCK, HOST, OSCARS: Hollywood racist? You're damn right Hollywood's racist, but it ain't that racist that you have grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist. It's like, we like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
SESAY: You're not a Kappa.
LEMON: I thought that was brilliant.
SESAY: What did you guys think?
LEMON: I thought it was brilliant, but go ahead; Kamau?
BELL: You know, he used to employ me so I thought he was great.
[Laughter]
LEMON: But that particular one talk where he said, listen; it's not like it used to be. It's not overt but, you know, it's almost like a sorority or fraternity.
[00:20:02] BELL: It's literally a fraternity. I can't walk up to the Academy and say I want to vote. It's literally a fraternity, the whole thing. So, yes --
JOHNSON: I thought he did a great job of telling the story of what's going on and not just sticking to setup, punch line; setup, punch line, what we're used to in an opening monologue. He actually took the time to talk to us about what's going on and then throw in a punchline and be real and talk to us again. I thought he kept it all the way real with his punchlines, as well.
SESAY: Alicia, what did you think?
MOORE: I really liked it because so much pressure was on him for this role. Everyone was waiting to see what he would do and I love that he just went hard. He went for it. He was provocative. He was controversial but he said everything that I think most people would agree with and he was very funny at the same time.
LEMON: The truth is often spoken in jest and I think as -- comedians don't have the sort of constraint that some people have to be politically correct. I can't say this. I can't say that. When he said that, people were looking at each other like, maybe you're right because if you actually look around the room, there weren't that many people of color in the room at all -
BELL: What?
LEMON: -- which was indicative - which was indicative - can we do, before we get to the Kevin Hart one, can we get to the Stacey Dash one? Because it was indicative of the people who were in the room, the people who made up the room because a lot of people in the room didn't get the joke about Stacey Dash. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: And that's why it is my honor to introduce the new director of our minority outreach program. Please welcome miss Stacey Dash.
STACEY DASH, ACTRESS: I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month. Thank you.
ROCK: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I wanted to die when that happened. I mean, what do you think because I wanted to die?
JOHNSON: It was unreal.
LEMON: No?
SESAY: Well, go ahead.
JOHNSON: You bring up a good point, though. I don't think everybody got it.
LEMON: I don't think anyone got it. People were like -- is that the girl from -- isn't she? Like, no one --
JOHNSON: But the people who did get it, we were hurting inside. we were like, oh, god.
BELL: I had a glory cheer to your going.
LEMON: Explain why you were hurting inside.
SESAY: Exactly.
JOHNSON: Well, it's so awkward. We were talking about backstage. She probably thought she was helping her career.
LEMON: First of all, Stacey Dash is a black actress. She is on FOX News. She is very conservative, and she speaks out on issues and people think she is anti-black even though she's black because she is black, because she rarely comes to the side that most African- Americans think she should be on.
BELL: You mean the correct side?
LEMON: Yeah. That's on tape.
SESAY: (Inaudible) to give context to what she said, didn't say she dare say she thought Black History Month should be banned.
LEMON: Yes, here shouldn't be a Black History Month.
SESAY: There were many levels to that whole joke.
JOHNSON: That there shouldn't be Black History Month, there shouldn't be BET, and all that kind of stuff. We're thinking this probably would help her career, like, oh I'll get back on everybody's good side if I make fun of myself but then it didn't work.
LEMON: You didn't like it?
BELL: I just felt like, I don't know that -- I'm not -- she obviously agreed to do it. It didn't feel like it landed in the way that she would have wanted it to land. As much as I don't agree with her politically, I just felt like you just stood in front of an audience of people and to say what you were told was a punch line and nobody laughed. It was like the end of "Carrie" with the pig's blood.
[Laughter]
LEMON: Here's why I thought it was brilliant -
SESAY: Why?
LEMON: -- because if it was actually that way, he got her.
BELL: I'm not trying to -
LEMON: Who knows? But I thought that because most people didn't really get the thing, is that sometimes we put too much emphasis on what people thing and what people say and when most people don't even get it, they don't even realize it. Stacey Dash does not have that much power and doesn't have that big a voice. So why are we concerned about what Stacey Dash is saying when no one in that room got it. That means most people in the country did not get it.
BELL: Blacks know about Stacey Dash. SESAY: What were they saying?
BELL: There was a lot of the same we felt.
JOHNSON: The cringing. There was already like ten means by the time she finished her sentence.
LEMON: Have we seen her? Is she okay? Can we cut to her? You think it's funny but do we give Stacey Dash in memoriam? Do we give her too much power for something like that? That's what I was thinking.
BELL: It is not like giving her power. I just felt if they had shown a picture of her and made that joke it would have felt differently. The fact that she showed up, they put her in this nice dress. She's never been on that stage before. She ain't coming back anytime soon and it was pig's blood. And she walked off stage.
[Laughter]
SESAY: You know what, this was the monologue that was full of so many great moments; so many great moments that made you cringe. There was a moment with Kevin Hart that we want to share with you and get your thoughts on that because I thought Kevin Hart was a star tonight. Let's play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: they're not going to cancel the Oscars because I quit, and the last [00:25:01] thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart, okay?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[Laughter]
SESAY: What did you guys think because he actually made a very valid point?
LEMON: That's more about Jada Pinkett Smith though, than Kevin Hart, right, because he said I shouldn't quit - because they said, you know -- they said he should boycott.
SESAY: Boycott -
LEMON: He was like, Jada, why would I do that?
BELL: But it's about representation because he's basically saying that there's only so many roles for black actors and Kevin Hart gets it.
SESAY: Kamau, I hate to cut you off but we do have a moment we want to share with our viewers at home. We have out Stephanie Elam at the Governor's Ball. We want to bring that to our viewers live. All the celebs are there, and she has an Oscar winner with her.
LEMON: Hi, Steph.
SESAY: Hi, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You guys are having so much fun in the studio I cannot even hear you.
[Cheers and Applause]
ELAM: This man is having a great night. This is Charles Randolph. He has won an Oscar for adaptive screenplay here for "The Big Short." Not a bad night.
CHARLES RANDOLPH, OSCAR WINNER, "THE BIG SHORT": Fantastic. My birthday today; I'm 53 years old.
ELAM: Happy Birthday!
RANDOLPH: Yes. Yes. I've wanted this for a while, I have to say, and I'm really happy. I'm very happy.
ELAM: And it came in your size.
RANDOLPH: It came in my size. It's heavy. It's heavy, as everyone says.
ELAM: Is it heavy? Can I see?
RANDOLPH: Yes, of course.
ELAM: Oh. Oh, it is heavy. It's 8 1/2 pounds. It's a workout.
RANDOLPH: Exactly.
ELAM: So, tell me, "The Big Short," what I loved about it is the explainers, --
RANDOLPH: Right.
ELAM: -- those moments where they're like, what is heck is going on here? How hard was that to pull together?
RANDOLPH: You know, it's funny, it took a while. Adam and I worked hard to make this clear, but we had in Michael Lewis' book a great model of someone who really took some very complicated stuff that put it together. Adam and I have very different sensibilities. I'm a bit more satirical and he's a little bit more farcical and it kind of worked. it's one of the rare peanut butter and chocolate moments where it just, it worked.
ELAM: It's pretty awesome to see a movie that's so much about something that's devastating to so many people and then to make it entertaining, and then also when it's convoluted to take people understand it.
RANDOLPH: We walked into the studio to pitch this thing, the line was we're going to make you laugh as much as possible on your way to getting pissed off. That's what it was about.
ELAM: It was fantastic; and I have to say, 53 looks fantastic on you as does your man here.
RANDOLPH: Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad to have it.
ELAM: Have a wonderful night.
RANDOLPH: Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thanks.
ELAM: Fantastic. So nice; and such a great mood, right? Nice to see the winners.
LEMON: Stephanie? Stephanie, you look gorgeous. Who are you wearing?
ELAM: Thank you. I'm wearing Tadashi Soji. And I'm wearing some Forever Mark Diamonds, if you can see that action going on in my ear there.
LEMON: You didn't even take a pause. You're like - I said, Stephanie who are you wearing? Dah, dah, dah -- before I got even got the question out.
ELAM: I can handle two things. I can handle two things, you know, you know. We're having fun out here.
LEMON: How are you doing, Stephanie?
SESAY: You look lovely.
ELAM: Thank you. It's funny listening to you guys and knowing how are doing.
LEMON: All right, Steph; we'll get back to you when you get someone else. Holler, we'll come back to you.
SESAY: She's having fun out there. She looks gorgeous. We'll check in with her many, many, many more times. Of course, the ceremony is just part of the drama and excitement as we've been saying. There's a lot going on tonight. Coming up, we'll look at how some of this year's show-stoppers, how they really brought it all to a halt on the red carpet. There was some really great fashion this year.
LEMON: Yes, and also ahead he won the expectations but did he win the award? We're going to see whether it was finely Leonardo DiCaprio's turn to take home the gold. We know the answer to that. We already know that; the brother won.
[Laughter]
LEMON: We'll be right back.
[Cheers and Applause]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [Cheers and Applause]
[00:32:56] SESAY: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to "And The Winner Is"; I'm Isha Sesay.
LEMON: And I'm Don Sesay; say what? I'm Don Lemon. We're joined by our friends and studio audience here in Hollywood.
[Cheers and Applause]
LEMON: It's still early. We're still celebrating. It's time to party. "And The Winner Is." Well the winner is, what? Leonardo DiCaprio.
SESAY: We want to introduce our guests.
LEMON: For what, they already know -
SESAY: So our viewers know -
LEMON: Go ahead.
SESAY: -- that we've got some special guests. Special guest, Fandango's Alicia Malone's here; standup comic, Kamau Bell and comedienne, Angela Johnson also join us for this wonderful conversation. And, yes, and the winner is -
LEMON: All three are winners; and four, Leonardo DiCaprio. He was the odds-on favorite for "The Revenant."
[Cheering and Applause]
LEMON: Any time you get mauled by a bear, you have to sleep inside a horse. I mean, you know, your son gets killed --
JOHNSON: What's a guy got to do to win an Oscar?
SESAY: He's got to go through a lot.
LEMON: What's a brother got to do to win an Oscar?
KEMAU BELL, COMEDIAN: Be white.
[Laughter]
BELL: Too soon? Too soon?
SESAY: Let's listen to some of Leo's speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, BEST ACTOR WINNER, ACADEMY AWARDS: Our children's children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed, I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It was his sixth Oscar nomination. five previous times he went home empty-handed. I'll ask again, what's a brother got to do to win?
BELL: What's a brother got to do? Some sort of Rachel Dolezal thing?
SESAY: Good for him.
BELL: He's a good actor. Finally, things are turning around for that kid. I'm happy for him. From "Growing Pains" to now, it's all work out for him. It's been an uninterrupted streak of awesome for him. Good for him.
SESAY: So let me ask you this guys, is "Revenant" the film that Leo should have won the Oscar for? He's gone home empty-handed five previous times, four previous times for best actor. Was this the one?
MALONE: I don't think so. I think he was better in "The Aviator." I think he was better in "Wolf of Wall Street." [00:35:02] But, this is his flashiest performance, particularly compared to the other people in the category; and it's also kind of unofficially for his entire career. They always do that at the Oscars.
LEMON: Don't get me wrong, listen, I love Leo, but should we feel bad for the guy? Oh my gosh, I've been nominated six times and I've only -
MALONE: How nice. I think we should feel sorry for Robert Deacons who has been nominated for best cinematography 13 times with no win.
LEMON: Well, it's an honor just to be nominated, right? (Inaudible).
BELL: I think we should feel sorry for the good people who never got nominated.
LEMON: Exactly, that's what I'm saying. You don't get a chance to get those roles --
BELL: Angela Bassett, zero Academy Awards. Zero. Zero.
SESAY: I think Leo, and, Angela, I wanted you to weigh in on this, I do feel like Leo is one of these actors that, in Hollywood, for a long time they've held his good looks and his popularity against him; and that's why it's taken so long for him to get to this point. Kamau?
BELL: I think that's funny, he's too good-looking.
LEMON: He just can't catch a break, that guy.
BELL: Exactly.
SESAY: I feel so bad for him.
LEMON: He's good-looking. He's talented.
SESAY: I guess I make the point why didn't he win in the previous years for those better roles? What do you think, Angela?
JOHNSON: Well, he had to get uglier.
BELL: That's literally what the movie is.
JOHNSON: Yes, I feel like maybe this was his most difficult performance. I don't know because I'm not him and I didn't have to play all these roles, but I feel like, I mean, it seemed pretty difficult. You could see his eyes like the blood in his eyes breaking, the vessels, you know what I mean? Like, he gave his all.
BELL: That's because he hadn't won.
JOHNSON: That's what it was. So was it his best performance he should have won for? I don't know. but it was a pretty good one.
LEMON: I thought it was complicated, the performance, and the movie, as well. The movie, it was interesting when we polled the audience, just you know, through applause, they said they wouldn't want to watch it price because it's a really tough, dark, gory film.
SESAY: I loved it.
MALONE: Brutal.
JOHNSON: I loved it as well.
SESAY: I thought it was fantastic.
LEMON: I'm not saying it was bad; I'm just saying it was tough.
SESAY: Yes.
MALONE: It's not like a fun time at the cinema, but it is a really good, well-made movie and, as you said, yes, Leo's probably most physically difficult role. He slept inside the annual carcass. He ate real --
LEMON: He didn't really sleep inside of an anim -- it was a real one?
[Cross Talk]
LEMON: -- grew up in Compton?
SESAY: We're going to go back to Stephanie at the Governor's Ball. She got Liev Schreiber with her. Stephanie?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do, I have Leiv Schreiber and Naomi Watts looking ravishing. So, good night. "Spotlight" winning the big picture award.
LEIV SCHREIBER: Very good night. A really wonderful end to a really remarkable night. So very pleased. ELAM: I feel like when you're going for roles, you're like, I don't want the obvious character; I want the character that's a little bit more nuanced. A little bit over here, doing something that you're not really sure what's going on because that's what I felt about you watching this movie. Is that something you like about the characters you pick?
SCHREIBER: I want the jobs I can get.
[Laughter]
ELAM: Working is cool.
SCHREIBER: I was really thrilled to be a part of this film. I really feel like it's a very important film. Every once in your career, you get to be involved in something substantive and to me, the timeliness of the script that Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer wrote, that we need to remember how important long lead investigative journalism is to our culture and our democracy. I just can't say enough about what they've accomplished and the journalists who accomplished it.
ELAM: And obviously, there's three -- there's two live journalists who are on the air on the other side, plus me here, we appreciate what you're saying here. It means a lot to us, but when you look at what has happened, the conversation that it's brought back up, and a very nuanced, multifaceted story because there's so many moving parts to it, did you have a feeling it was going to end up here, as best picture nominee and then winner?
SCHREIBER: I think the tradition of best picture, at least as I understand it, is the film that's most important and demonstrates a certain generosity on a socio-political level, and I feel like "Spotlight" is that. It has nothing to do with the performances. It really, -- the story drove everything. It drove the journalists who initiated it and drove Tom and Josh to write the script and drove us to play the character.
ELAM: Well, it was great. We journalists appreciate it. We thank you and you guys have a wonderful night. Congratulations.
SCHREIBER: Thank you very much.
ELAM: Fantastic, and they both look beautiful, Don.
LEMON: Yes; we want to get out to -- thank you Steph, we'll see you in a minute. Let's get to Leo DiCaprio right now.
ALEJANDRO INARRITU, DIRECTOR, "THE REVENANT": I couldn't be more happy. Every film is like a son. So you cannot like more, one son or the other. I like this film, as I love "Birdman" and I think this experience and sharing it with Leo and all of the nominees, the part of the crew, that we are celebrating tonight, it's, you know, I think the award I'm getting is on behalf of all of them and they make possible. So I wouldn't be more happy because we are celebrating tonight and that's fantastic. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we say that's a little for Mexico, since you shot the movie in Argentina?
[00:40:02] INARRITU: I'm sorry, what you said?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We say the movie is also for Mexico and Argentina, since it's your country and you did the movie also in Argentina?
INARRITU: Well all the crews were amazing and obviously the people in Argentina were fantastic. We had a great time there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming down here to 278 and then we'll go to the back to 113.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, (Inaudible) Sandoval, down here.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: I don't see you. Oh, there you are.
[Laughter]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) native name, so you have a native person here. What do you guys love about being story tellers?
INARRITU: What, what?
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: What do you love about being a story teller?
INARRITU: Go, you first.
DICAPRIO: Look, I grew up in East Los Angeles. I was very close to the Hollywood Studio system but I felt detached from it my whole life and to have had parents that have allowed me to be part of this industry, to take me on auditions every day after school and to tell stories like this has been my dream ever since I was 4 years old. And this film, to me, was exemplary in the sense that I got to work with a director and all the things we spoke about off-camera during the making of this movie transferred their way on-screen. This was true story telling. We really got to have a collaborative experience together. This is a journey that I'll never forget with Alejandro. It took up such a large portion of our lives, but as a result, we have a great film to look back on for years to come.
INARRITU: For me, basically, I think that life is uncontrollable. I think we are all the time, it isn't permanent, and I think that story telling is a way for us to feel, in a way, can confront a huge amount of emotions and possibilities and feel, you know, beautiful and horrible emotions but always in a way being comfortable, knowing that is another story that can teach us a lot. it's a way to control life, you know? To have an oxygen capsule of life without suffering for real, that can teach us for when the time comes, for being in love or we have a problem, we can suddenly get what is that idea? The story telling is oxygen for life that protects us. that's how I feel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going back to 313 and then up here to 255.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi; all the way in the back. First of all, congratulations; well deserved.
DICAPRIO: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I would like to know, where are you going to put that Oscar? Yeah, very easy question. And for you, that second Oscar -
DICAPRIO: He has to ask where is he going to put his second Oscar?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, exactly; right?
DICAPRIO: Is it going to be next to the first?
INARRITU: I will be -- all day.
DICAPRIO: No; it's incredible that two outsiders like Chivo and Alejandro, that came from Mexico, came to our industry, were firm in their beliefs artistically and we have a two-time winner at the Academy Awards, and with Chivo a three-time winner. I'm so proud to be working with these guys. These guys represent everything about what this industry is and what it should be. I want to congratulate you guys. It's awesome.
INARRITU: Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming down here to 255 and then we'll go over to 206.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Speaking Spanish]
INARRITU: Well I think the question is that he wants me to extend in what I said in the stage, where I was being interrupted by music, but anyway, I want to say what I want to say, which is something that is absurd. I think. the debate is not only about black and white people. I think the diversity really includes what is Oscars are brown. I think we're yellow and Native Americans and Latin-Americans. The complexity of the society is much more than one or the other. I think it's becoming a little bit very politicized without observing the complexity and the beautiful of how being this country [00:45:04] so mixed as my country, which is mixed but this is a multimixed country. That is the real power of it.
So, anyway, what I am super impressed about is that still, we are dragging these trivial thinking with these - the lack of - I think one of the problems we are suffering is, there's no moderate platforms to talk about something deeply. Very important that in a way, it's deciding destinies of people around the world, not only here, by the color of their skin so that we are still dragging the prejudice and trivial thinking, at this time, it seems to me absolutely absurd. Something that we I think -- I in the '50s, I remember that the people that have long hair, the Beatles were considered like -- that's so stupid that now we laugh about it. Why we cannot get rid of the prejudice about the color of the skin, is completely irrelevant. Anyway, that's what I wanted to say. We didn't have a lot of time, but I say it.
[Laughter]
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: We're going to 206 and then 22.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations to both of you. Leo, it's finally happened. I'm here. Hey. How are you? Everyone was cheering in the room when you won. How was the atmosphere in the room at the ceremony? How does it feel now that it's a reality and what will you remember as the biggest challenge of this film?
DICAPRIO: I felt very honored, quite frankly. It was -- this whole thing has been an amazing experience and, you know, for me to be able to sit there and not only talk about the film but to talk about something that I've been dually obsessed with, that's our environment and climate change and to be able to speak about that in a platform of, I don't know, hundreds of millions of people that are watching this, to me, like I said, this is the most existential crises our civilization has ever known and I want to speak out about that tonight because simultaneously while doing this brilliant film that Alejandro directed, I've been doing a documentary about climate change, which has brought me to Greenland, to China, to India, to speak with the world's leading experts on this issue. And the time is now. It's imperative that we act.
And I really wanted, tonight -- I feel so overwhelmed with, you know, with gratitude for what happened tonight but I feel there is a ticking clock out there.
[Laughter]
DICAPRIO: There is a sense of urgency that we must do something proactive about this issue. Certainly with the upcoming election, the truth is this, if you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in modern science or empirical truths, you will be on the wrong side of history. We need to all join together and vote for leaders that care about the future of this civilization and the world as we know it.
[Applause}
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to 22 and then 72.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High, guys; over here. (Inaudible) Comcast, Xfinity. Leo, congratulations. it's been such a long time coming and seems like the whole world is rooting for you. The internet, fans, press. There was a whitehouse.gov petition to get you an Oscar at one point. Are you conscious of how many people are supporting you? How does it feel that people care so much that you get this Oscar? And for Alejandro, how do you feel being the director that did this for Leo?
[Laughter]
DICAPRIO: It all feels incredibly surreal. You know, it's surreal because you can't reach out and physically meet everybody. You hear it on the internet. You hear from other people. And you know, the truth is, we always strive, you know, for the best in what we do, but this year in particular, I've been overwhelmed with, you know, such support. Really, truly, by so many fans and so many people in the industry it's quite shocking, actually. What can I say except I'm very grateful; I really am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: All right; the big winner of the night, Leonardo DiCaprio there. We're going to break down what he had to say backstage at the Oscars. We're going to take a quick break and "the winner is" will continue after this.
[Cheers and Applause]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[Cheers and Applause]
[00:53:33] SESAY: Welcome back, everybody.
LEMON: "And The Winner Is" here in Hollywood with a live studio audience. Alicia Malone is here, Kamau Bell, and Angela Johnson.
Let's talk about - let's talk more about Chris Rock -
SESAY: Yes, absolutely.
LEMON: -- because he was actually the star, the centerpiece of the night. Not the star of the night, but the centerpiece. It started with him. Everyone -- I was in the room. Everyone was leaning in to hear what Chris Rock was going to say.
SESAY: And afraid.
LEMON: And they should be afraid.
SESAY: Some were afraid.
LEMON: Let's listen to some of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS ROCK, HOST, ACADEMY AWARDS: I want you to reach into your millionaire pockets and I want you to buy some of my daughter's Girl Scout cookies. Look at my babies up there. Are you going to deny my princesses some cookies? All right, Tina Fey. Tina Fey. Get that money, girls. Make that money. Get Tina Fey; right there. Right there. Oh, Charlize Theron; yes. Matt Da -- you get him. Leo? You made $30 million; come on. Come on, get some. Michael B. Jordan's here. Michael B. Jordan - you know what? No, no. You got enough girls. Later for you. Come on, let's get this money. Let's get this money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[Laughter]
SESAY: I love that moment.
LEMON: Did you like it?
SESAY: I did.
LEMON: Did it make you uncomfortable? Anybody uncomfortable by it?
BELL: No.
SESAY: I thought it was funny.
JOHNSON: I thought he did a great job.
LEMON: Some people said they were uncomfortable. They were, like, I'm not sure if it was appropriate. I thought it was hilarious.
[00:55:01] BELL: He opened on a joke that referenced rape and lynching. I think the Girl Scouts were okay by that point. Not since Billy Crystal in '92.
LEMON: Why haven't we played that soundbite?
BELL: That's what I thought, are we doing that one?
SESAY: We will, next hour. We're definitely going to play that soundbite because there were many, many moments in that speech but I definitely think that was my favorite moment, that and his reference to how he wasn't going to boycott.
LEMON: Yes.
SESAY: I thought that was comical.
LEMON: He really shaded Jada, don't you think?
SESAY: Yes. Yes.
JOHNSON: That was the definition of throwing shade.
SESAY: He's not going to be invited to the Will Smith home again I believe.
LEMON: You can't repeat the joke because it had something to be invited to Rihanna and he says you cannot go somewhere that you have never been invited.
JOHNSON: Oh.
LEMON: See? that's how dangerous it was. You can't even reference that there was a joke.
SESAY: Yeah, we're going to leave that.
LEMON: Let's leave that right there. There's much, much more ahead in the second hour of our Oscar special "And The Winner Is". We're going over some of the night's biggest surprises, and there were many. SESAY: Stay with us, everyone.
[Cheers and Applause]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS HEADLINES)
