Friday, February 22, 2008

Julie Christie Remembers the Time She was Nominated

We figured with this being Oscar weekend, we'd get in on the active coverage of the Academy Awards. Each year at the event, there is a retrospective montage celebrating all of those entertainers who passed away during the previous year. It's our favorite part of the ceremony.

But the awards themselves are of keen interest, too. Actress Julie Christie is among the nominees this year and pretty much the favorite to take home a statue. When she won at last month’s Screen Actors Guild Awards show, Christie made an insensitive remark about Alzheimer's disease, an illness she staged for her performance in Away From Her.

Christie drew laughs when she concluded: “And if I’ve forgotten anybody, well, it’s just that I’m still in character.”

With two movies – “Away From Her” and “The Savages” – dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia, respectively, up for Oscars on Sunday, Alzheimer’s experts host Jon Stewart and the celebrity presenters and winners will avoid any humor about the disease. "It is no laughing matter,” said Peter Braun, chief executive of the California Southland chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. “People don’t laugh about cancer; people don’t laugh about AIDS."
Braun’s organization has praised both films for their sensitive treatment of the illnesses. His hope is that this year's awards will help raise awareness of the disease.

If Ellen Page wins the best actress award over Christie Sunday night, we can only hope she doesn't talk about her morning sickness.

[Journal Gazette]

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