Oscars. The only iffy is Best Director. Nobody’s greater than ferociously talented Spielberg. However, Affleck/“Argo” sentiment’s so strong, helped by the Academy’s dumb-ass snub for his Best Directorship, that brilliant “Lincoln” is likely only for Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Ballots on 6,000 desks may vote for him and reward Disney’s endless begging to land SS an Oscar. However, if Hollywood’s dozing members sniff he doesn’t need more adulation, it’s Ang Lee.
SPEAKING of Lincoln — (his wife didn’t even speak of him this much) is Jesse Johnson. Sunday, Presidents Weekend, 8 p.m., Don Johnson’s son plays John Wilkes Booth in Nat Geo channel’s two-hour job “Killing Lincoln.”
Jesse Johnson: “I’ve trained, been a college theater major, done TV guest spots, worked awhile, and while other kids bust their asses trying to live in Europe, I learned Spanish and did a movie in Spain.
“For this role, I auditioned. Beforehand I researched heavily with a civil rights expert. My Booth character came from an acting family, was raised on Shakespeare and the classics, so I decided he speaks with distinction. I got the part.
“My dad’s very supportive. I love him to death but still had to audition for his show. Coming from Flat Creek, Mo., he taught himself so, being his eldest, he’s strict. Hardest on me. Despite our family’s past chaos, we all support one another.
“When I was 8, Tom Hanks, this program’s narrator, actually taught me the proper handshake. He was filming with my stepmom, Melanie Griffith.”
So doesn’t this kid think maybe we’re OD’ing on Abe?
“No. Everyone’s interested in history. Truth is, we’re in the third act of the civil rights movement.”
ELIE Tahari designed a Museum of Modern Art architectural black-and- white atrium — draped canvas, swirls, pillars, platforms, opening to Fifth Avenue’s glassed frontage — so spectators could spectate his stunning black-and-white collection. Models on stilts teetered atop modules motionless. I touched one to see was she alive or plaster.
Checking Tahari’s white fur vest and braided hand-woven leather dress, “GMA’s” Lara Spencer told me, “Besides returning to TV on a slightly reduced workload, next week Robin Roberts flies to LA for the Oscars.” Forget those highway patrol dudes. This is a real trouper.
A Ukrainian journalist crashed the Grammys. He wasn’t invited. Kiev’s not the planet’s hottest record center. Security specialist Mike Zimet on how this celebrity prankster, who once upset Will Smith by trying to kiss him on the red carpet, reached the microphone where J.Lo shooed him off:
“Outer perimeter. First checkpoint. Our job is to say, ‘Sir, may I see your tickets or credentials?’ He had none. He slithered in amid a swarm of people. Second checkpoint, like his following Katy Perry into a VIP area, is easier because, passing checkpoint 1, you’re assumed OK. Easiest’s checkpoint 3, where stars sit — Beyoncé, Sting, Timberlake, Nicole Kidman — where he took singer Adam Levine’s seat and bounded onto the stage to congratulate Adele.
“LA police then arrested him. Clearly, people weren’t doing their jobs. Imagine if he’d had some evil plan in mind?”
AT the Pierre, the Drama League honored five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who just won one for ‘Porgy and Bess.’ So why this particular honor? So she said: ‘I don’t know. I asked them, ‘You sure?’ In ’99, when they honored Rosie O’Donnell, I passed out. I fell on the table.” Her handsome husband, Will Swenson (he was in ‘Hair’ and ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’) added: “Must be she breathes heavily.”
About the Academy Awards, Audra says: “I’ll watch to see Anne Hathaway. That little girl has to win.”
A knockout in a tight black Tadashi gown, she own it? “I will after tonight.”
Judith Light, there supporting Audra: “I open April in Manhattan Theater Club’s “The Assembled Parties.’ Meanwhile I’m designing jewelry. I have a Web site. I was in Grand Central when a lady at the Hudson News counter wanted to buy my collar off my neck.”
Julie White, who plays TV’s tough lawyer on “Go On” with Matthew Perry: “Matthew had demons but he’s adorable. I did ‘Twelfth Night’ in the park with Audra. We shared a dressing room. I’m here because I have a week off.”
OK. Real touching tributes to the fabulous Audra McDonald.
HAPPY Valentine’s Day. Do not let your husband take his secretary to lunch.
Speaking of wondrous happenings, our mayor is cocktail partying mankind’s favorite former TV cable channel owner of Al-Jazeera fame — Al Gore. Allelujah.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.