AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue: Oscar® Tour 2007

Ron’s Oscar Tour Pics from Skywalker Ranch & Pixar

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Monday, February 19, 2007 at 9:27 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Photo Galleries, Pixar, Skywalker Ranch, Lifted, Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts, The Danish Poet | Site Categories: Awards, Places

After a long day of screenings, Mike Thurmeier (l) and Don Hahn relax by the fire at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

While you wait for more details from the San Fran leg of the tour. Here’s some more pics to check out from Skywalker Ranch and Pixar, courtesy of Ron.

Ron’s Oscar Tour San Fran Pics Gallery

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 9:31 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Photo Galleries, EA, ILM, PDI/DreamWorks, Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts, The Danish Poet | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Outside the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood Shores. Rick DeMott (l to r), Mike Thurmeier, Marcy Page, Roger Allers, Don Hahn & Ron Diamond. © AWN Inc.

Ron and I snapped quite a few pictures during the San Fran leg of the tour. Here’s a gallery of some of the pics that Ron took. Keep checking back for more exclusive photos from the Oscar Tour.

Nominees’ Skywalker and Pixar Experiences

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 9:35 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Personal Musings, Pixar, Skywalker Ranch, Lifted, Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts, The Danish Poet | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Tamas Liszkas (l to r) Marcy Page, Mike Thurmeier, Roger Allers & Geza Toth eating breakfast at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

Friday morning I went to sleep at 6:20 am and woke up around 7:40 am. That may have been the most restful hour and 20 minutes of sleep I’ve ever had. The comfortable beds and soft pillows at Skywalker Ranch were hard to leave. The last time I ran on so little sleep was in college during my senior year while we were filming long hours over a weekend on the bedroom set I built. This trip has certainly recharged the creative juices in me.

A Long Day Rewarded With A Night at Skywalker Ranch

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Friday, February 16, 2007 at 9:45 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Personal Musings, EA, ILM, PDI/DreamWorks, Skywalker Ranch, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts, The Danish Poet | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Don Hahn (l to r), Roger Allers, Ron Diamond, Mike Thurmeier and Marcy Page talking about their films at PDI/DreamWorks. © AWN Inc.

Thursday was an absolute whirlwind day on the tour. I couldn’t possibly write everything interesting that was said during the course of the day. So I’m going to set out to recap the day in full, but tease you with details to come later.

Nominee Valentine’s Dinner Minus Four

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 9:55 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Personal Musings, Little Matchgirl, No Time for Nuts | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Well, we have safely arrived in San Fran. Ron and I happened to be on the same flight with Little Matchgirl director Roger Allers, who waited for us to get off the plane. Sadly, he’s battling a bad cold and was more worried about infecting others than his own discomfort. So Roger and producer Don Hahn (who had to stay at a different hotel then the rest of us,

The Nominees Worst Nightmare -- Errol Morris' Interrotron Camera © Steve Hardie.

because ours was not an approved Walt Disney lodging) decided to stay in this evening to rest up for our busy day tomorrow. I was surprised to receive a phone call from Don in my hotel room giving his regrets for not coming to dinner with the rest of us. It’s not too often I get a call on my cell from the producer of legendary films and former president of Disney Feature Animation saying he’s sorry that he won’t be making it to dinner because he’s just getting over bronchitis. I didn’t even know he had my number. I must say, both Roger and Don are so kind and welcoming

, not a shred of Hollywood self-importance at all.

Off to San Fran to Meet the Oscar Nominees!

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 9:59 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Personal Musings | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Well, today is a travel day. I’m heading up to San Fran where Ron Diamond and I will meet up with the nominees for dinner at Trapeze.

Lion King’s Allers Talks About 1st Oscar Nod for Matchgirl

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 10:01 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Interviews, Oscar® Tour 2007, Little Matchgirl | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Roger Aller

Today we get the second part of our Little Matchgirl interviews — this time chatting with director Roger Allers. The veteran Disney story man made his directing debut on The Lion King. Talk about hitting one out of the ballpark on your first at bat. Allers not only worked with producer Don Hahn on The Lion King, but also the Oscar nominated Beauty and the Beast. Allers, who wasn’t even awake when the nominations were announced, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who makes films to win awards, however, I still wanted to find out what the Oscar experience has been like for him as well as his feelings about making Matchgirl and his other work.

2007 Nominee Don Hahn Talks About Oscars

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Friday, February 9, 2007 at 10:07 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Interviews, Oscar® Tour 2007, Little Matchgirl | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Don Hahn

As a precursor to the tour, I had a chance to talk with Little Matchgirl producer Don Hahn about what the Oscar experience has been like thus far. He’s not an Oscar newbie by any stretch, having been nominated for producing Beauty and the Beast and the animated short Lorenzo. He was also behind mega-hits such as The Lion King and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I talked to him over the phone and his voice was genial and he seemed very humbled by the experience. I look forward to meeting him in person as we kick off the tour next week in San Fran. Well with no further ado, here’s what he had to say.

You Had Me at Skywalker Ranch

By Oscar® Tour Editor | Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 10:17 pm | Blog: AWN Oscar® Tour Travelogue

Posted In | Blog Categories: Oscar® Tour 2007, Personal Musings | Site Categories: Awards, Places

Nominees Get to Stay Here!

When Acme Filmworks and AWN’s Ron Diamond proposed the idea that someone should follow along with the Oscar short animation nominees as they tour the studios, I thought to myself that it would be an awesome opportunity to live the Oscar experience vicariously. But what really sweetened the deal was when he said that the nominees would get to spend a night at Skywalker Ranch. Because I am of a certain age where I have no memory of a time before STAR WARS, there was no way I was going to let this chance slip by.