Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Kendrick and Jack Black perform the opening number "Moving Pictures" at the 2015 #Oscars!
How do you make a great opening number for the Oscars? Get a bunch of Broadway talent to do it.
The production number, "Moving Pictures," sung by Tony-winning Academy Awards host Neil Patrick Harris and "Into the Woods" star Anna Kendrick, was written by Academy Award-winning "Frozen" songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
The visuals edited Harris into classic films from "The Wizard of Oz" to "Star Wars" to "Into the Woods."
The middle section of the song, as sung by Jack Black, aped Stephen Sondheim's "Witch's Rap" from Into the Woods, and he warned Harris that he would be “better off polishing your Tony." Kendrick drove him off by yelling “Beat it” and flinging her Cinderella shoe at him.
Lyrics:
[Neil Patrick Harris]
Wow, check out this place. Check out everything.
Check out the glamour, the glitter, people Tweeting on the Twitter
and no one's drunk and bitter yet 'cause no one has lost.
Look at the diamonds, the dresses, people going to excesses,
the stress is on and everybody's fingers are crossed.
I know the camera's on and we're behaving our best.
Yet, I secretly hope someone pulls a Kanye West.
But we are here tonight, with our Xanax and Dior,
thank you lists and publicists who fought the Oscar war.
Tonight we toast what we love most
and I am thrilled to be your host.
'Cause all of it is for moving pictures, shadows and light,
like a magic trick done in plain sight.
Why do we love them? Why do we care?
When they're just moving pictures that aren't really there
But then I think of Chaplin and Monroe
and Argo and Fargo or when Marty made his car go
back in time at the mall
And then there's Bardot and Brando and Billy Dee as Lando
or when Sharon went commando and unsettled us all.
I gasped when Indy goes back for his hat
or when I think of all the tension between Ben and Matt.
[pause] Oh, my stars
I love transformers that transform and perfect storms that storm.
small town girls who change the world by challenging the norm
Godfather 2, the movie Clue
all these films that inspired you to stand up and perform.
Moving pictures, take us over the rainbow
across the fields of our dreams.
In the heat of the night to defeat and to fight evil schemes.
To swim or to swing, to dance or to sing,
to flee down a flight in fright,
yes, moving pictures are coming to life tonight.
[Anna Kendrick joins]
Moving pictures.
[Kendrick]
Where is my shoe?
[Harris]
Is this your Jimmy Choo?
[Kendrick]
Why yes.
[Both]
Moving pictures
[Harris]
and how they can move you.
[Kendrick]
And also improve you.
[Harris]
The joy of pretending,
[Kendrick]
With such happy endings except for in Gone Girl when that lady slit your throat.
[Harris]
Spoiler alert.
[Both]
Moving pictures...
[Jack Black]
Stop!
This is what you sound like:
'Movies, movies wow they rock'
Listen kid, it's all a big crock.
Now it's market trends
and fickle friends
and Hollywood baloney.
Believe me Neil,
you're better off just polishing your Tony
This industry's in flux,
it's run by mucky-mucks,
pitching tents for tentpoles and chasing Chinese bucks.
Opening with lots of zeroes,
all we get is superheroes.
Superman, Spider Man, Batman,
Jedi man, sequel man, prequel man.
Formulaic scripts!
And after 50 Shade of Grey, they'll all have leather whips.
In a world where our breeds are becoming machines,
the only screens we're watching are the screens in our jeans
Screens in our jeans Screens in our jeans
The only screens we're watching...
[Harris]
JACK! I'm trying to...I'm kinda in the...Would you mind?
[Black]
But you know?
[Kendrick]
BEAT IT.
[Black]
Fine.
[Harris]
Yes, green-lit films can stall
[Kendrick]
Scripts can hit a wall
[Harris]
Stars may pass
[Kendrick]
Or fire your ass
[Harris]
And weekly grosses fall.
But when they hit, you must admit,
they sometimes change your view of it
in ways both big and small
[Kendrick]
Have a ball
Moving pictures, millions of pixels on screens.
They may not be real life,
but they'll show you what life really means.
More than any one image.
More than any one star.
Truly, moving pictures shape who we are
whether we're big brained and British
Or hiking and skittish
a legendary leader
a Birdman in a theater
a boy we watch until he's grown
a sniper in a combat zone
a wealthy philanthropic creep
Magic Meryl Effin' Streep
Lobby boys and bleeding drummers
All these awesome up and comers
Who will get a statue? Results are coming at you!
At the 87th Oscars moving picture show!
Acknowledgement:
http://mashable.com/2015/02/22/neil-patrick-harris-oscar-opening-lyrics/
http://playbill.com/news/article/read-the-lyrics-to-neil-patrick-harris-tongue-twisting-oscars-opening-number-by-frozen-songwriters-342356
Clip Courtesy A.M.P.A.S.© 2015
No Copyright Infringement Intended.
All rights belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
