Brad kisses director Steve & other Oscar sidelights

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Show Bits brings you the 86th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter.

Getting a second chance

The night was going so well for Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron that he didn’t bother making a speech during his first trip to the Oscars stage last Sunday.

He let his co-winner for Best Film Editing take the limelight, only thanking his family backstage after he was prompted to do so by a reporter.

Fortunately for family relations, he got a second chance when he won the Best Director Oscar. By that point, the film had also won for cinematography, score, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.

In addition to thanking his family, Cuaron offered special praise to Sandra Bullock (“the soul and heart of the film”).

He also made one of the best slips of the night when he thanked “the wise guys at Warner Brothers” for making the film before quickly correcting himself and calling them “the wise people.”

The wise guys in the Twitterverse still weren’t satisfied.

They complained that he never thanked Sir Isaac Newton.

— Hannah Dreier — Twitter: www.twitter.com/HannahDreier.

McConaughey’s inspirations: God, family, self

  It turns out Matthew McConaughey’s hero is himself, a few years down the line.

In accepting the Oscar for Best Actor, McConaughey said he needs three things in his life to survive: God, family and someone to look up to as a hero.

When he was 15, the actor said, he decided that hero would be himself in 10 years. Ten years later, he pushed the deadline back another decade. Then another decade.

“My hero’s always 10 years away,” the 44-year-old actor said in a gracious acceptance speech. “I’m never going to attain that. That keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.”

After thanking God, his wife and children, his mother and his late father, he offered up something else long-time fans have been waiting to hear this Oscar season: “All right, all right, all right.”

The signature line, from the character McConaughey played in his first film, Dazed and Confused, brought the house down.

— Anthony McCartney — http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Kissing and telling

Seconds after their film 12 Years a Slave captured the award for Best Picture, producer Brad Pitt and director Steve McQueen were toasting the victory from a silver flask by the side of the Oscar stage.

Then Pitt shocked the director by grabbing his face and kissing him on the lips.

“I think I just made every man and some women jealous,” the flustered director said.

“Just so you know,” Pitt told him, “you were my first.”

— Sandy Cohen — http:// www.twitter.com/APSandy

What’s so funny?

What interrupted Jennifer Lawrence’s presentation of the Best Actor trophy? 

That would be Ellen DeGeneres and the cast of Dallas Buyers Club.

As the American Hustle actress waltzed on stage, DeGeneres cautiously exited, making sure last year’s Best Actress winner didn’t take another tumble before DeGeneres, who had earlier teased Lawrence about falling, got off stage.

While most of the crowd didn’t catch the joke, Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey and their cohorts laughed loudly, causing Lawrence to go off script.  

McConaughey had the last laugh.

He won the Best Actor prize seconds later.

— Derrik  Lang — Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Bathroom-line admiration

When Zac Efron found himself behind Daniel Day-Lewis in the backstage bathroom line, he used the opportunity to express his admiration.

“I’m such a huge fan. Your work inspires us all,” Efron said, shaking the Oscar winner’s hand. “It’s great to have someone like you to watch and be inspired by.”

Although gracious, Day-Lewis didn’t want to spend too much time collecting accolades.

“I’m just going to sneak in there before someone else does,” he said as he made a beeline for the bathroom.

— Sandy Cohen — www.twitter.com/APSandy

Those Oscar Pizzas weren’t props

  That was a real pizza delivery guy, not an actor, who helped Ellen DeGeneres pass out those pies to the Oscar audience.

The show host met him in a backstage hallway to check out the goods.

“Is it hot?” she asked him. He assured her it was.

“What kind we got here?” she asked. Cheese and veggie with no cheese, he told her.

“OK. Let’s go!” She said, leading the delivery guy onto the Oscar stage.

— Sandy Cohen — www.twitter.com/APSandy

An Oscar moment to remember

Lupita Nyong’o’s Best Supporting Actress win wasn’t just a major moment for the newcomer — it touched everyone in the Dolby Theatre — both in the audience and backstage.

Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth, who’d presented the previous award, stayed backstage to watch the category on a monitor. When the clip of Nyong’o’s performance was shown, Hemsworth clapped and Theron said, “So good.”

When Nyong’o’s name was called, the stars cheered, as did the other backstage workers.

When a teary-eyed Nyong’o walked off stage and into the theater hallway, Ellen DeGeneres was waiting to greet her.

“Yay, yay, yay!” DeGeneres said. “You won an Oscar! And it was such a beautiful speech. Such composure!”

She made the actress smile by adding: “And we crashed Twitter with that photo!”

— Sandy Cohen — www.twitter.com/APSandy

Jared Leto, media darling

Best Supporting Actor winner Jared Leto was a hit backstage with reporters, especially after he shared his moment — and his award — with everyone.

“The first person to give their Oscar away for an orgy in the pressroom,” a smiling Leto said as he passed the trophy around to everyone who wanted to have a moment with it.

“Who’s your favorite Oscar winner tonight?” he asked.

When Leto invited reporters to take selfies, he was cautioned by an Academy representative that no photography was allowed in that particular room.

“If you want to get media, let the media do what they do,” he replied, drawing cheers and applause.

— Lynn Elber — Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lynnelber

Celebs cut the rug — even Leo

By the halfway point of Pharrell Williams’ colorful performance of his Oscar-nominated song Happy from Despicable Me 2, all the celebs were on their feet dancing and clapping.

All except for one lone holdout: Leonardo DiCaprio.

Eventually, The Wolf of Wall Street came around, joining frontrow mates Sandra Bullock, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Meryl Streep.

Immediately afterward, Pharrell and his backup dancers froze in position until a stage manager gave them the all clear. Several of the dancers let out a yelp of excitement once they realized it was indeed over.

— Derrik Lang — Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Stars get psyched up for showtime

With just minutes to Oscar showtime, a crush of stars flooded into Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and quickly went through their pre-show rituals.

Jared Leto put in eye drops. Michael Fassbender dipped into the green room for a quick smoke. Kurt Russell waited outside a backstage bathroom for date Goldie Hawn.

Steve Coogan came out of another restroom and walked right into Russell and also Sally Field. Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Lawrence quickly joined the group.

Lawrence and Field joked that they might consider wearing adult diapers under their dresses at future awards shows to beat the bathroom line.

Jamie Foxx greeted Kerry Washington with a hug and these words: “I heard you’re going to name the baby Jamie. Works for a boy or a girl!”

— Sandy Cohen —  www.twitter.com/APSandy