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American Morning

Interview with Pat O'Brien, "Access Hollywood"

Aired March 25, 2002 - 09:09   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: So, what was really going on backstage and behind the scenes on Oscar night? Well, for that, we turn to Pat O'Brien. He is back. He is the co-host of "Access Hollywood," and this morning sleepless in Los Angeles after a night of covering the awards and the after-show parties. How do you feel this morning, Pat? Good morning.

PAT O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Good morning, Paula. Great to see and hear from you again. I feel tremendous, as a matter of fact. I had 120 minutes of sleep, and here I am. A couple coffees...

ZAHN: No worse for the wear there, Pat.

O'BRIEN: It's no problem.

ZAHN: And our coffee cures all ills, doesn't it?

O'BRIEN: Sometimes it does. But only one or two cups.

ZAHN: OK. Let's talk a little bit about Halle Berry's win, and Denzel Washington last night. I know you not only had access to them before the show, but after the show as well. Some thoughts on that?

O'BRIEN: Well, I mean I think the moment was not lost at all in Hollywood. This is the "LA Times" this morning. It says that "Change Has Come." And I think that that's what the discussion was, pretty much all week, on whether or not they would honor these two people. I like to think that in the year 2002, though, they are honoring great performances, which those were two tremendous performances by Denzel Washington and by Halle Berry. But with Sidney Poitier there, the moment was not lost, certainly on Halle Berry, who said, Oh, my God, about 13 times there. And, you know, I had spoken to her all week about this, and this was a moment that she dearly wanted, and for a lot of reasons, and she got it, and she made the best of it.

ZAHN: Not only the best of it. She owned the night as far as a lot of people are concerned. I guess that -- it's not surprising that her speech trailed on, now she had the opportunity to grasp the award for the first time.

O'BRIEN: I think that a lot of people -- I think she genuinely shocked. Look at the look on her face, and the way she walked up there, and just -- I think she was really -- in fact, I know she was. And so, when you are in shock, as sometimes you do and I do, you ramble on. Those things happen. But she is great.

ZAHN: I wish we had more opportunities to be in shock, Pat, taking awards like that.

O'BRIEN: Yeah, I would like a couple more of those myself.

ZAHN: Yeah, me too. Any scuttlebutt from the losers last night? I mean, there was a lot of talk about Russell Crowe hurting himself very badly coming into this thing.

O'BRIEN: Yeah, I think Russell Crowe has a legitimate reason to be upset. Obviously, once you're nominated, it is always nice to be nominated, but once you are in there, and your tux on, and everybody is staring at you, and they have got the camera right in your face, you want to win. And I think, for those Russell Crowe fans, and for Russell Crowe, here was a guy -- taking nothing away from Denzel Washington, who was tremendous in "Training Day" -- but here was a guy who was the heart and soul of a movie that won four Academy Awards, and wasn't given the nod for best actor. So, I think, for Russell, there is reason to be upset. He worked hard on that movie, tirelessly, and he played it with all his heart, as I said, and soul. Yeah, I think that look was genuine on his face.

ZAHN: Interesting to note the best actor nominee Will Smith wasn't anywhere on camera last night. Was he there, or where was he?

O'BRIEN: You'll have to watch "Access Hollywood" tonight.

ZAHN: Little tease for your story.

O'BRIEN: No, we have the story. It's -- you know, Will -- it was a surprise to everybody when they were announcing the nominees, and Will, of course, was as excited as anybody to be there, and we fully expected him, when Denzel to win, to come running up on the stage. He told me before the show, that if Denzel won, he was going to run up on the stage and say, we won. But his son got ill, during the broadcast, and he and Jada, his wife, went home. So his son must have been ill enough for him to leave this event. So, he went home to be a dad.

ZAHN: Well, we will watch your show anyway, even though you gave away your exclusive information there. Let's talk a little bit about Ron Howard, "A Beautiful Mind," and in spite of the not only whispering campaign, but a much more overt campaign against the film. He prevailed. Tell us a little bit about his triumph.

O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, the whispering campaign did not prevail. "A Beautiful Mind," as I said, got four Oscars, so whatever went on behind the scenes -- it did get a little tiring after a while. Whoever started it, whoever did it, whoever spent the money on it, it didn't work, because "Beautiful Mind" had a beautiful night here in Hollywood. As for Ronny (ph), he and I had a talk -- I call him Ronny (ph) because in his -- showed him his yearbook last night, and it says Ronny Howard. He and I had a chat last night about -- I said what would Aunt Bee think about this. We were laughing about -- you know, this was his neighborhood. The "Andy Griffith Show" was taped and filmed just five blocks from where the Oscars was last night, and so Ron said that when he got out of his car last night, he had these pangs of, I'm back in my old neighborhood. Here was a guy -- it was kind of fun to watch him up there in front of all of his peers, here is a kid who has a heritage in Hollywood like nobody out there. He has been around for so long, and to be rewarded like this, and I know he likes directing better than acting, obviously.

So, he was very, very, happy, and very -- in fact, we brought -- you will see this on "Access Hollywood" tonight too, we brought him his -- one of his teachers from high school in, an 86-year-old teacher who he loved and adored, and had a nice reunion last night.

ZAHN: Well, that's good to hear. The one thing you always hear about this guy, he is such a nice man, besides being well respected and very talented.

O'BRIEN: The other thing he told us too -- talk about the heritage of Hollywood, he was back stage with Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks, who are two good friends of his, who have also had some success here in this town, when they gave him the Oscar. So, he was very happy to be around friends, and people of that stature.

ZAHN: Well, we will be watching for you tonight. Pat, thank you for slipping in the two hours of sleep, and coming in the studio.

O'BRIEN: Thanks. Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: We should come clean that we used to work together in LA.

O'BRIEN: I was just going to say, and one of the reasons we don't work together any more is because usually we can't get through this without laughing hysterically.

ZAHN: We -- it was amazing. They let us do one serious newscast together, and we failed so miserably, because no matter how serious the story was, we just started laughing at each other, so...

O'BRIEN: It is all about the smiles.

ZAHN: Nice to share a couple chuckles with you this morning. Thanks Pat.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Paula. Good morning.

ZAHN: Take care, get some sleep.

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