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American Morning

A Historic Night at the Oscars

Aired March 25, 2002 - 07:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A big story throughout the morning, a historic night at the Oscars. For the first time, African-Americans took top awards for both Best Actor and Best Actress. And "A Beautiful Mind" captured four of the golden statutes, including the award for Best Picture.

Halle Berry won big, establishing a place in history for grabbing the Best Actress Oscar. That's the first time an African-American has done that, and CNN's Daryn Kagan is standing by. She was backstage with the actress, and she joins us now from Los Angeles, who has not had a wink of sleep in the last 36 hours or so -- delighted to have you now for this update -- good morning, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Paula. If I fall asleep, you just put little toothpicks in my eyes.

ZAHN: We'll prod you.

KAGAN: I have to say it was a very exciting night. And even better than being backstage with Halle Berry, we were lucky enough to get a one-on-one interview with her just moments after she was given that Oscar.

You have to say that the high point, the emotional high point of the night was her acceptance speech, but get this. She told me she really didn't think she was going to win. She thought Denzel Washington was going to win. Of course, he did, but not her.

Let's go ahead and listen in to this one-on-one with Halle Berry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALLE BERRY, OSCAR WINNER: Well, I knew either, you know, when I got the nomination, I knew that I would either repeat history or I would change history. One or the other, it had to be. And I didn't quite think I was going to be changing it, to tell you the truth. So this is a wonderful surprise.

KAGAN (on camera): And all of the women that you mentioned who came before you. Was it Dorothy Dandridge in particular that you would say that...

BERRY: No, all of them. I played her life, so I know her struggle, but Lena Horn, Diahann Carroll, Diana Ross, you know, they have all been women that have made my struggle that much easier. Yes, so it was about them. You know, I certainly didn't do this by myself today, that's for sure.

KAGAN: And about those actresses to come?

BERRY: Yes, and the ones that I work with all the time, you know, Angela Bassett and those women and Jada Pinkett, the ones that are standing right next to me who are fighting and the ones that, you know, are at home watching, you know, eating their popcorn tonight, just dreaming of the day. You know, it's for those women, those little girls too.

KAGAN: And once again for a role that the producer and the director really didn't have you in mind...

BERRY: Right.

KAGAN: ... not discriminating necessarily because of skin color, because the character was calling for that, but kind of discriminating for beauty. Oh, she's too pretty. She couldn't do that role.

BERRY: It seems like it has always been something in that way.

KAGAN: What is it about you, Halle?

BERRY: If I'm not black, then I'm too (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If I'm not this, I'm too that. But that's become normal for me, you know, and I am always up to a good fight and to a good challenge. And I was really just lucky to be able to convince them to give me a chance.

KAGAN: And your biggest challenge tonight was just getting out of that chair.

BERRY: Just getting out of that chair and getting up there and not, you know, embarrassing, being full but trying to get my feet under me and say something that was meaningful and not just, you know, blubber away.

KAGAN: And I personally liked the moment, when they were trying to shoo you off the stage and you said, "74 years."

BERRY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I'm thinking, wait a minute, 74 years and they chose somebody. But I didn't want to be too indulgent, but I did have to thank, you know, some of the people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, if you were watching, you saw that Halle kind of went on and on with her thank yous. As she said, she waited -- not herself, but this type of actress has waited 74 years for this opportunity. She thanked so many people, and yet she forgot one key person, Paula. She forgot to thank Billy Bob Thornton, her co-star in the movie, and I asked her about that, and she said, yes, that was a slip up, but she was really glad the SAG Award just a couple of weeks ago, and she was able to thank Billy Bob and a lot of other people like the writers and other people involved with the movie. ZAHN: Well, I am sure he will understand that.

KAGAN: Yes.

ZAHN: In the heat of the moment, in the excitement of the moment. Now, you went back...

KAGAN: It was very exciting.

ZAHN: Someone from our team caught up with Denzel Washington, right, and we'll hear from him in our next hour?

KAGAN: Yes. In fact, next hour I'm going to take you backstage, where people at home were not able to watch while they were watching the Academy Awards. This is where I watched the Academy Awards. We are going to show you some very candid moments, not only with Denzel, but with Robert Redford as well. Yes, it was a tough night, but someone had to spend the evening with these people.

ZAHN: Well, you are doing mighty fine for someone who hasn't caught any sleep in the last 36 hours. And I might say that you looked beautiful last night as well.

KAGAN: Oh, thank you, Paula. I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun.

ZAHN: Thanks, Daryn -- see you in an hour or so.

KAGAN: OK.

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