It was a Hollywood night with a lot of great vibes and starry sightings this week of the Oscars. J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath’s Bad Robot production company was again the site of the US- Ireland Alliance’s Oscar Wilde Awards, an annual event created 18 years ago by Alliance founder Trina Vargo.
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 07: Cillian Murphy attends the US-Ireland Alliance’s 18th annual Oscar Wilde Awards at Bad Robot on March 07, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance)
The fun, casual party has long appealed to industry insiders, studio executives and Oscar nominees as the non-traditional Oscars-week event with its casual, unfussy tone and always hilarious and irreverent speaking program.
Things began when Cillian Murphy popped by on his way to the Academy’s dinner for Best Actor nominees. Richie Baneham, Pierce Brosnan, Molly Shannon were honored and other Oscar nominees in attendance included Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, nominated for Best Picture with POOR THINGS; Robbie Ryan, nominated for Best Cinematography of the film; and Kemp Powers, nominated for Best Animated Feature Film for Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 07: James Cameron attends the US-Ireland Alliance’s 18th annual Oscar Wilde Awards at Bad Robot on March 07, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance)
James Cameron presented Richie Baneham with his award – the two worked together for many years on the AVATAR films, with Baneham winning two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 2010 and last year. Cameron joked that presenting Baneham with his award is the closest he’s getting to another Oscar, “After the whole the King of the World thing”. Baneham movingly spoke of his years training in animation in Ireland, working with Cameron, and his life in LA to honor the Irish in entertainment, and to provide an opportunity for people in the entertainment community in Ireland and Northern Ireland to meet their counterparts in LA, in hopes that creative collaborations would result.
Brosnan spoke about the importance of Ireland in his life and career. Molly Shannon spoke of the influences of her Irish Catholic upbringing, her childhood crush on her Irish priest, and how her first grade, Irish American dance teachers inspired her SNL character Sally O’Malley. She said that when she was new to Hollywood, in her twenties, trying get a break, “Just like Oscar Wilde, I realized I might have to break the rules a little” and thus was born, “The Mamet scam” where-in she and a friend pretended to be on the famous playwright’s team, calling casting directors and A-listers, recommending each other “on behalf of Mamet.” She thought Oscar Wilde would approve of her “Irish shenaningans”.
Photos by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for the US-Ireland Alliance
