Vive L’Oscars Winner Woody Allen may have missed Hollywood’s biggest lovefest, but intrepid über movie publicist Peggy Siegal was there for every single party and every single step of the red carpet way. This year, her exclusive Oscar diary chronicles close encounters with Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, Harvey Weinstein, Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Olsen, George Clooney and his French doppelganger Jean Dujardin and, of course, Uggie. 56 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • APRIL 2012 photographs by Patrick McMullan and Billy Farrell Agency Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise APRIL 2012 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 57 Octavia Spencer, The Help Director Tate Taylor,, Viola Davis and George Clooney N avigating our presidential campaign was a piece of cake compared to understanding the nuances of the 2011 Oscar race for the most revered artistic honor in the world. This is how nine films fell into the big picture. Three premiered in Cannes mid-May, a distant nine months ago, creating an Oscar campaign as long as any human pregnancy. At the Palais, the first inkling of Oscar buzz was born as the reclusive Woody Allen premiered Midnight in Paris. PBS later aired a documentary of Woody discussing his forty-four films showing the astonishing depth of his talent that made you want to immediately hand him the Oscar for Best Picture. Academy rules and Woody forbade marketing this gem. Woody is not a member of the Academy becase he doesn’t feel that films should be in competition. He told me, “A statue does not change your life. You still get a cold. You can’t get a date. You still have everyday things to worry about.” The Academy learned to love him from a distance and gave him Best Original Screenplay as a consolation. Terrence Malick’s long-awaited, esoteric The Tree of Life was unveiled at Cannes and won the coveted Palme D’Or, positioning it for a nomination. The Artist, created by the French, shot in Hollywood and about Hollywood was the festival surprise. This charming and oddly original black-and-white s