Star speak: Of nude scenes and dogs

Marilyn Monroe in the iconicSeven-Year Itch pose���figure-hugging white dress flying high in thewind���is the first sight that greets you when you walk outside Kodaktheatre, the Mecca of Hollywood. Here, every February, thousands of frenziedfans throng to catch a glimpse of the glitterati on Oscar Night. Today, ofcourse, is not that mystical night, and the only Oscar you can bring home is thebronze tackily finished miniature version sold for USD 10 in the numeroussouvenir shops along the sidewalk.If the sight of the sex goddess ofthe 1950s spooks you, go easy; the proxy, all silver-blonde hair, long legs andpouty crimson lips is perfect, but this Marilyn is a Hollywood junior artiste,whose smile doesn't reach her amber eyes. Boredom written all over her pancakedvisage, she makes a living posing for pictures with the star-struck tourists whohang around outside the theatre, hoping some of the stardust will rub off onthem.Derelicts, pimps, drug addicts and tourists struggle for spaceoutside the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center connected to the Kodaktheatre; and though temperatures are way above 77 degrees fahrenheit this fall,morning suits are thronging the stairs outside the Kodak for Walt Disney'sannual showcase. Yes, Hollywood's mightiest studio has invited a chosen few fora sneak preview of its forthcoming releases. And John Travolta, Johnny Depp,Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Nicolas Cage and Sandra Bullock have decided to showup too.The walk up the red carpeted stairs is magical. Thetransparent columns of the Grand Staircase, showcasing 80 years of AcademyAward-winning films, take you on a trip down Oscar history from the 1927-28Wings to 2008's No Country for Old Men. Huge black-and-white photographs ofwinners adorn the walls���Meryl Streep hugging her trophy and Julia Robertsin her famous shell-shocked mouth-wide-open pose screaming after her EricBrockovich victory. And you rub your eyes in disbelief when you findseating in the same rows occupied by Hollywood superstars. It's a kick allright. Even as the Disney staffer next to me repeatedly asks, "Who do you thinkwill sit here on February 22, 2009, the 81st Oscar Night?", some of uscontemplate hiding somewhere in the theatre till February.Thefantasy is broken when Richard W Cook, Chairman, Walt Disney Studios, also knownin Hollywood fable as Dick Cook, the nicest guy from the Disney jungle, takescentre stage. For eight hours at a stretch, he introduces musicals, 3-Danimation films and live action extravaganzas with effervescence and theefficiency of a superboss. To break the monotony, Hollywood's A-listers walk inat regular intervals to take a bow and join Cook for some light-heartedbanter.Check this out: Sandra Bullock who's just finished work on aromantic comedy called The Proposal, speaks of how she'd been 'sidelined' fromthe romcon genre for really long. Not only does Bullock express gratitude toDisney and director Anne Fletcher for getting back into the genre, she alsospeaks gamely about her nude scene in the film. When Cook asks her how come herco-star Ryan Reynolds fainted when he saw her 'naked', Bullock laughs and askswhether she still has that effect on men.John Travolta, who's lenthis voice to a young dog in the 3-D animated film Bolt and is also playing thetitle role in Old Dogs, doesn't seem to mind when Cook jibes him about playinga dog in not one but two films. Johnny Depp is in his Jack Sparrow outfit. Aswomen in the audience scream themselves hoarse on seeing him, Cook takes themike to say that there will be a Pirates Of The Caribb-ean 4, adding, "Everytime this guy wears a funny hat, our studio stands to make bigmoney."Jim Carrey who, according to film-maker Robert Zemeckis hasthe most mobile face in Hollywood, is playing seven roles in Charles Dicken's AChristmas Carol. With deadpan humour, the Bruce Almighty actor tells Cook andZemeckis that they should be honoured to work with him. When Cook asks himwhether the studio is paying him separately for each of the seven roles, Carreyripostes, "If you know what's good for you, you had better."