Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals turns 165 this year! The troupe is celebrating with this year’s performance, “There’s Something About Maui,” and its annual roast of two Hollywood darlings.
The 2013 Woman of the Year honor was bestowed upon Marion Cotillard, marked by a January 31 parade and roast in Harvard Square. The 37-year-old French actress, best known best for her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Parisienne chanteuse Edith Piaf in the 2007 biopic “La Vie en Rose,” also appears in “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Rust and Bone” (“De rouisse et d’os”), among others.
Honored on stage by Hasty Pudding Theatricals President Renée Rober and Vice-President Ben Moss, Cotillard subjected herself to a series of puns and knocks to her career. She follows in the footsteps of Anne Hathaway, Julianne Moore, and Claire Danes, among a litany of other A-listers, as HPT’s guest of honor.
Before earning her illustrious Pudding Pot award, Cotillard had to pass tests in a dream within a dream within a dream (a reference to the plot of “Inception”). They included teaching Gwyneth Paltrow how to act (and execute death scenes), sketch better than Pablo Picasso and Salvadore Dali, and sing better than the HPT reincarnation of Edith Piaf.
The lovely Mme. Cotillard passed her tests and entertained a packed theater in the process.
The 2013 Man of Year, announced on February 4, is Kiefer Sutherland, whose roast is slated for Friday, February 8, at 8pm.
Astrid Lium 