Inside the Governors Ball, where stars got their Oscars engraved and snacked on chicken nuggets with caviar
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The highlight of the Governors Ball, the first stop of the night for many winners after the Oscars, is the stage where victors get their Oscars engraved.
Or if you didn’t win, there was still plenty to savor Sunday night, including buffet stations bursting with sliders, spring rolls and short rib bao buns.
An escalator ride up from the Dolby Theatre (guests wearing gowns were warned to scoop up their dresses), the ballroom was bursting with 12,500 flowers — including blush roses, otherworldly anthurium and bright orchids.
Spotted on the engraving stage at the back of the ballroom: Maggie Kang, co-writer and co-director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” who won the Oscar for animated feature; Kate Hawley, winner for costume design on “Frankenstein”; Joachim Trier, director of “Sentimental Value,” which won international feature; and Autumn Durald Arkapaw of “Sinners,” who made history as the first female cinematographer to win an Oscar.
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, with her win for ‘Sinners,’ became the first woman to take home the Oscar for cinematography.
Looking ecstatic and dazed, Arkapaw, who’s also the first Black director of photography to win an Oscar, ascended the platform to get her statue engraved beside her young son. The boy, with shoulder-length brown hair, stayed close to his mother on the night of her historic win as fans and photographers swarmed them both. At one point, Arkapaw rushed off the engraving platform to retrieve her phone from an assistant to document the moment.
The engravings were broadcast on a screen at the back of the ballroom for those on the far ends of the packed hall. A scrum of photographers captured the winners with their new hardware.
As she descended the stage stairs back into the crowd, Kang exclaimed “yay” while holding her gleaming statuette. She took pictures with fans who thanked her. During her acceptance speech she dedicated her win “to all the fans who got us here and for all of those who look like me.”
“Incredible. It’s a really good end to award season,” Kang said after showing off her emblazoned Oscar.
“Sinners” director Ryan Coogler emerged from behind a golden curtain to have his Oscar engraved as the entire room moved in a collective rush toward him.
Michael B. Jordan won the lead actor Oscar for his dual roles as Smoke and Stack in ‘Sinners,’ which received a record 16 nominations.
Lead actor and actress winners Michael B. Jordan of “Sinners” and Jessie Buckley of “Hamnet” appeared together on the engraving stage. As Buckley’s statue was being worked on, she stopped to beam at Jordan, who stood facing the press with a proud grin on his face, his statue hoisted in the air.
As Paul Thomas Anderson, whose “One Battle After Another” took home six awards, got his statue engraved, his partner, Maya Rudolph, watched from the side. In his speech after winning best picture, he had encouraged the crowd to celebrate with a martini.
Throughout the evening, including the pre-Oscars reception, nearly 20,000 glasses of specialty cocktails, Champagne and other libations were poured. At the ball, servers, carrying trays of smoked salmon and caviar on an Oscar-shaped cracker and chicken nuggets with caviar, squeezed through the crowd. About 30 pounds of caviar was served throughout the night.
For about an hour after the show, the Governors Ball is the hottest party. But after that, guests move on to a variety of more exclusive celebrations hosted by individual studios, and, of course, the coveted Vanity Fair party, which is being hosted for the first time at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and is not allowing outside media.
