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 by sharkboi » Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:33 am
JULIA Zemiro has a message for anyone who is called to the stage of the Regent Theatre on Saturday night to receive an AFI Award.
Please, have your favourite anecdotes, zingers, bon mots and quotes ready. Do your homework. Come prepared. Maybe even brush up on some unforgettable moments of past BAFTA, Oscar or Golden Globe nights. Write your words on a piece of paper. Don't be shy. This is not an occasion for shrinking violets or tall poppies afraid of being cut down.
Should spontaneity fail, the vivacious Zemiro will be ready with a helping hand.
"I jokingly say at award ceremonies, 'If you need any help workshopping your speech, come to me and we'll do something together."'
Thankfully, reticence and being tongue-tied aren't the default positions of all AFI recipients. Gyton Grantley celebrated his best actor award for Underbelly last year with a rush of excitement.
The year before, Stephen Curry accepted the same award for The King by acknowledging the other nominees, wryly noting the judges thought his performance better.
Five years on SBS' knockabout music trivia show RocKwiz has opened many doors for Zemiro — literally so in the case of several guest appearances on Thank God You're Here.
But the credentials that prompted the AFI to invite her to host the 51st Awards go back considerably further. "I've been improvising for a long time, doing all sorts of theatre sports in my late 20s and more long-form impro now," Zemiro says.
"Part of the reason I got the RocKwiz job is because they wanted a host who could deal with anything.
"In all humility I reckon I do that as well as I can. So to do the AFIs is amazing and if people think I'm a good host I'm delighted."
The hosting gig isn't just about being funny.
"I think stand-up comedians often get a bit bored with the boring bits of hosting, whereas I don't.
"I like crossing my T's and dotting my I's. I don't mind the business of the evening.
"Sometimes it's about not being funny and allowing a moment to happen."
Her script for the night was co-written by Adam Zwar. She says her job is not to overstep the mark, nor to be outrageous for the sake of outrageousness and to be ready for anything.
Which is what happened at last year's AFIs when the writer of The Black Balloon, Jimmy Jack (known then as Jimmy The Exploder), launched a broadside against Age writer Jim Schembri, which became the talking point of the evening (as Nine didn't broadcast Jack's original comments, subsequent references to the incident were lost on audiences at home).
Zwar, with some extra help from Sam Pang, will be waiting at the side of the stage curtains should such an occasion arise.
"It feels like the Academy Awards, where you know that Billy Crystal has a team of writers waiting for Jack Palance to do some push-ups and then you can say, 'Can we just use that as the theme all night.' That satisfies my impro gene," Zemiro says.
For Nine, home of the Logies and way too many award shows involving Eddie McGuire in a tux playing host to a room full of celebrities eating a four-course dinner, the choice of the sassy and smart Zemiro and a theatre-style show is an encouraging departure.
"The nice thing about the AFIs is people take it seriously. They aren't eating and drinking. I'm so glad they're in a place that does so much of the work for you. People feel like a million bucks because they're sitting in a theatre."
Not since 2001, when Sigrid Thornton shared the stage with Roy and HG, has the AFI had a female host. Apart from Mary Coustas in 1998 and Magda Szubanski in 1995, the previous decade was similarly male-focused.
However, the sledging that Logies host Gretel Killeen received earlier this year is an uncomfortable reminder of the different standards that apply to female hosts.
Killeen was roundly criticised, as much for her outfits as her shtick. A few years earlier, also at the Logies, Wendy Harmer was taken to task for mugging people in the audience with a microphone and camera.
Zemiro says it's a sad cliche that a female host's wardrobe is the first thing people will zone in on, while "a guy comes out in a suit it's no issue . . . But, yeah, definitely, we have to run a different race and all that stuff about women aren't as funny as men. But I think you're there to host, you're not just there to do gags."
In any event, she hopes that the more serious bent of the AFIs means there'll be less focus on her outfit and hairdo than would happen elsewhere.
"I think hosting the Logies is a bit like a reality-TV show; you're hung out to dry. Not many people want to do that gig." A criticism of the sprawling AFI Awards is the division between the presentation of the "glitzy" categories, such as best actor, director, film and TV show of the year, and the craft and the lower-profile categories. These are presented the night before the main event and are not broadcast.
When RocKwiz won the AFI for best light entertainment in 2007 and was not televised, Zemiro took the statuette to the red carpet the following night for a photograph with singer Delta Goodrem.
If RocKwiz wins the prize again this year there'll be no stopping Zemiro. This time she'll have the floor to herself.
The AFI Awards are on Saturday at 9.30pm on Nine.
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sharkboi
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