The toll from the devastating fires still ravaging Los Angeles is mounting for the film industry as the crisis enters its third day, with more events being postponed and stars including Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore mourning the destruction of their homes.
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis pledged one million US dollars for humanitarian aid on Thursday, saying in post on Instagram that he wants to start a fund for the reconstruction of the city. She added that she is communicating with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Sen. Adam Schiff to ensure the funds are directed appropriately.
Firefighters are currently battling four separate fires stretching from the Pacific coast to inland Pasadena. At least five people have died and 130,000 people are under evacuation orders.
Just a few days ago, Hollywood’s biggest stars walked the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards to kick off the awards season.
Now major industry events have been derailed by the fire. Oscar nominations have been postponed for two days until January 19. Three awards shows, including the Critics Choice Awards, have been postponed or rescheduled. Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced Wednesday through a press release instead of an in-person announcement. At least two movie premieres were canceled and filming halted for plays and movies in the affected area.
The largest of the fires has been burning since Tuesday morning, when it roared through the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood, sending residents fleeing and leaving roads clogged with abandoned cars. After the worst of the flames moved on, pictures of the region show that almost nothing was spared.
Los Angeles right now looks like “you’re in an Armageddon movie,” said Canadian voice actress Tara Strong.
“I don’t remember an urban disaster hitting Los Angeles like this since the ’94 earthquake, which was my second week in LA,” she told CBC News on Thursday.
‘We can see the flames from our house’
Strong lives in Malibu, which is currently threatened by the same wildfire that engulfed the Palisades. They have been without electricity since Tuesday.
“If you just drive, we’re about nine minutes from the biggest fire in Malibu,” she said. “We can see flames, smoke from our house.”
Strong has not yet been issued an evacuation order, but believes it is only a matter of time. The householders have packed their bags and are making plans to transport their animals – one dog and three reptiles that need a certain temperature in their enclosures.
“We’re definitely not going to leave without our animals,” Strong said.
She said it was encouraging to see the film and animation industries pulling together in this crisis, with people sharing information, extending audition deadlines, raising money and taking in other people’s pets.
“It’s nice to see that the human side of people coming together is more important than when the audition is over, or when something is won, or when the awards show can be announced.”
Stars who lost their homes in fires
Singer and actress Mandy Moore, who evacuated with her family on Tuesday, said Wednesday that she lost her home in Altadena, near the Palisades.
“Honestly, I’m in shock and feel numb,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “My children’s school is gone. Our favorite restaurants, leveled to the ground. So many friends and loved ones have also lost everything. Our community is broken, but we will be here to rebuild it together.”
In a video posted on his Instagram page Thursday, actor Cameron Mathison showed what remained of the home where his family lived for 13 years: a pile of smoking rubble, small flames still flickering among the remains, just steps from an intact paved walkway. and still green hedges.
“This is what’s left of our beautiful home,” read the caption.
When he first saw the destroyed house, he let out a sound he had never heard him make before, Mathison told CNN.
“It’s kind of a sore throat and disbelief and shock and fear as I approached my property and I didn’t see a house.”
His block was so destroyed that it looked, in some areas, as if “there were never any houses built there,” the Canadian-born actor told CNN.
Their family is grieving the loss of irreplaceable items such as baby photos taken on film, their children’s early art projects and family cards and ornaments collected over the years, he said.
“Those are things you can’t replace. And that’s part of a disaster like this.”
Paris Hilton shared a clip of the news on her Instagram on Wednesday, saying that watching her Malibu home “burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should have to experience.”
It was in that house that her son Phoenix took his first steps and where they “built so many precious memories”.
Reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, known for Hillsconfirmed on social media that their home was lost in the Palisades fire.
Montag said in an Instagram story on Wednesday that she only packed two pairs of jeans and two shirts for herself before evacuating. Emotions crept into her voice, she added that they thought, “Of course, I’ll be back” when deciding what to bring.
Pratt shared an image from cameras in their nursery, taken while the house was burning, showing the flames “in the shape of a heart” and calling it “a sign of how much love was in this house.”
Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, said Wednesday that the home they had lived in for 45 years was destroyed in a Palisades fire.
“Janice and I have lived in our home since 1979,” they wrote. “We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that cannot be taken away. Of course, we are heartbroken, but with the love of our children and friends, we will get through this.”
Ricki Lake, a television host and actress, also mourned at her home on Thursday. She posted photos of the property taken before it burned down, writing that she had lost her “dream home”.
“This loss is immeasurable,” she said. “It’s where we got married three years ago.”
Singer-songwriter Jhene Aiko he wrote it “me and my children’s house is gone,” in a Thursday Instagram post, “burnt to the ground with all our belongings inside.”
“We are thankful that we still have each other,” she added.
Star Trek actress Denise Crosby announced on X that her home was also destroyed in the fires. It was “the only house I ever owned,” she wrote. “Now, ash.”
Yesterday morning I had a beautiful Spanish house that gave me endless joy, where I met my husband and raised my son, the only house I ever owned, with fruit trees that I grew, with a garden of indigenous herbs. Now, the ashes. I am heartbroken 💔 #palisadesvatra pic.twitter.com/LBYfZoTFgC
Other celebrities known to have homes in the area include Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Cary Elwes, who confirmed on Instagram that his home was also destroyed in the fire shortly after posting a video of evacuates to the road surrounded by flames.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill evacuated his Malibu home on Tuesday, saying there were “small fires on both sides of the road” as they drove. Canadian actor Eugene Levy also evacuated on Tuesday, speaking Los Angeles Times he had to run through the dark smoke.
After the latest wildfire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night, photos began circulating on social media showing the Hollywood sign on fire before it turned out to be fake.
Jeff Zarrinnam, president of the Hollywood Sign Trust, said Thursday morning that “the sign itself was not affected and is safe.”
