Clooney, Witherspoon: Dreams Come True
Two of Hollywood biggest stars went home with Oscar gold Sunday night, with George Clooney winning best supporting actor for Syriana, and Reese Witherspoon walking away with the best actress statuette for her portrayal of country music legend June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line."
It was the first Academy Award for both.
The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith caught up to both after the show, at the Governor's Ball.
"Well," Clooney responded, "that's because I was drunk and I thought you were attractive."
When Smith wondered how he looked at the ball, Clooney diplomatically kidded, "Well, I'm not drunk." And they both laughed.
Clooney is one of Hollywood's most well-respected "A-listers." He walked in to the ceremony with three nominations, two for writing and directing the Edward R. Murrow biopic "Good Night and Good Luck," and the other for his role in "Syriana."
"You struggled in this town for a long, long time," Smith observed to Clooney, "in total obscurity."
"Thanks, with a mullet," Clooney laughed.
"To have been able to stand there tonight," Smith said, "to have had a movie nominated, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' and for your own nomination, to be able to actually win, that's quite a culmination."
"It makes for a fun year," Clooney agreed. "It makes it fun because you spend a lot of time trying to get things done that you want, that you believe in, but they're hard to get done, and it's tricky, and usually you don't get the toys to play with, you know what I mean? You only get them for a very short period of time, as you and I both know. So, if you get lucky enough to have them work, then you feel you caught a break along the way. I feel like I caught a break.""You wear this all so well," Smith remarked. "Is it good being you?"
"Tonight," Clooney conceded, "it's good being me. Check with me tomorrow morning. I'll be New York, shooting in a field with a bunch of cows. Then, it's not as good."
Asked if he was going to party to celebrate, Clooney joked that, "Tomorrow, I'm supposed to look like I'm hung over," then looked directly into the camera and smirked and nodded. "I'm gonna go have a drink and I'm gonna go find all my friends."
When Smith spotted Witherspoon, all she seemed to want to talk about was "Crash" winning best picture. Her husband, Ryan Phillipe, was one of its stars.
"How lucky am I that my husband's movie won!" Witherspoon exclaimed. "We are just so happy and so proud."
"Let's talk about you," Smith urged.
"OK," Witherspoon agreed with a chuckle.
"Just a kid from Tennessee who always dreamed of being an actress," Smith said.
"I did, I did, and I had two wonderful parents who never laughed at my dreams and always just drove me to the lessons, instead of saying, 'You oughta do something else.' Really, they put a lot of time and energy into my dreams."
On winning, after seeing the momentum building over the past two months toward that victory, Witherspoon reflected, "It's been surreal, but it's been a wonderful, beautiful moment to just kind of breathe and step back and realize, 'You know, I have been working really hard for a long time and it's nice to just kind of have a moment.' I'm not working right now, I don't have a job now. I'm unemployed. And it's just kinda nice to be in that place and say, 'You know what, I deserve a little break."
"This is a campaign," Smith noticed. "You go award, after award, after award. Did it ever occur to you that tonight, that maybe, maybe, you wouldn't get it?"
"Yes, absolutely," Witherspoon admitted. "I believe in sort of the unknown in our universe, and you never know what will happen. But, despite everything, I have so many blessings in life. My daughter said to me this morning, 'You know, even if you don't win, you're still so wonderful and so important to me,' and she said, 'Even if you do win, it doesn't make you better than other people."
Smith laughed, hard.
"And," Witherspoon continued, "it's a really good point, you know? It's a wonderful thing that child say that."