Orange Ribbons on the Red Carpet

The hype around this year’s Oscars, which took place last night at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, seemed to be triple because the writer’s strike meant that the usual precursor shows like the Golden Globes were stiff, studio-shot affairs. So there were even more eyes peeled for dresses, style, and statements last night.

The ACLU was right in the mix. The first major nominee down the red carpet, Julie Christie who was nominated for her performance in Away From Her, told cameras why she was wearing an orange ribbon “It’s the American Civil Liberties Union campaign to close Guantanamo, so it’s a very, very important issue… It’s affecting the whole world.”

Best Documentary award-winner Alex Gibney also wore an ACLU orange ribbon and joked about his film Taxi to the Dark Side, “Truth is, I think my dear wife Anne was kind of hoping I would make a romantic comedy, but honestly, after Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, that simply wasn’t possible.”

The Washington Post said that after they caught director Paul Haggis, whose movie Crash won Best Picture in 2006, wearing an orange ribbon “Suddenly, we noticed — orange ribbons and bracelets everywhere.”

But you don’t have to be a Hollywood type to flash your opposition to Guantánamo Bay. You can get your own free orange ribbon simply by visiting /closeguantanamo.

Photos: Vince Bucci/Getty Images (Gibney & Orner); Jeff Vespa/Getty Images (Christie)