SCREEN TEST
The nominees who turned up for the Screen Actors Guild Awards Saturday night — and many didn’t — tended to treat the evening as a test-run for the Oscars, just a month away. It was time for stars to fine-tune their looks, their arrivals and their acceptance speeches.
“I tried to take a nap before I came to the show,” said Kristin Scott Thomas in a cream-colored Calvin Klein suit. “I put my head under the pillow and got creases on my face.”
“This is actually Vera Wang’s dress,” said Holly Hunter about her borrowed dress. “I just had to take up the hem a couple of inches to fit into it. Her generosity always gets me through these events.”
Two of the evening’s freshman nominees, who are also nominated for Academy Awards — Billy Bob Thornton and Geoffrey Rush — handled the crush of the media attention differently.
“The biggest change is the commute from London to America. That is one big commute,” said Rush, holding a silver flask he said was given to him by a publicist. “My nerves don’t feel like they need calming, and I think it’s Ovaltine, anyway.”
“This is the biggest thing I’ve been to,” said Thornton. “And I’m afraid of falling down.”
Earlier in the week, the American Film Institute’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony honoring Martin Scorsese turned into a testing ground for Oscar hair-dressing. Winona Ryder wore a short flapper style, Michelle Pfeiffer had a clean bob, Cameron Diaz was sporting a crop top, Elisabeth Shue had long, romantic waves, Ashley Judd wore baby curls and Mira Sorvino just bobby-pinned her wisps.
“I came right from the set,” said Sorvino, whose current film project is “Replacement Killers.” “I didn’t have time to do it. But it’s kind of cute, don’t you think?”