The toll the devastating fires continuing to ravage Los Angeles is compounding for the film industry as the crisis enters its third day, with more events postponed and stars like Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore mourning the destruction of their homes.
Academy Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis pledged $1 million to relief efforts on Thursday Posted on Instagram She wants to create a fund for the city’s recovery. She added that she was communicating with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Senator Adam Schiff to ensure the funds were directed appropriately.
Firefighters are currently battling four separate fires stretching from the Pacific Coast to inland Pasadena. At least five people have been killed, and 130,000 people are under evacuation orders.
Just a few days ago, Hollywood’s biggest stars walked the red carpet at the Golden Globes to kick off award show season.
Now, major industrial events have been derailed by fires. The Academy Awards nominations have been postponed by two days until January 19. Three Academy Awards events, including the Critics’ Choice Awards, have also been postponed or rescheduled. The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were released Wednesday through a press release rather than an in-person announcement. At least two movie premieres have been cancelled, and filming for shows and films in the affected area has been temporarily halted.
The largest fires have been burning since Tuesday morning, when they broke out in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, forcing residents to flee and leaving roads crowded with abandoned cars. After the worst of the fire was over, photos of the area show that almost nothing was salvaged.
“Los Angeles feels like you’re in some kind of Armageddon movie” right now, said Canadian voice actress Tara Strong.
“I don’t remember a city-wide disaster affecting Los Angeles like this since the 1994 earthquake, which was my second week in Los Angeles,” she told CBC News on Thursday.
“We can see the flames from our house.”
Strong life in Malibu, currently threatened by the same fire that swept through the Palisades area. They have been without power since Tuesday.
“If you just drive, we’re about nine minutes away from the largest fire in Malibu,” she said. “We can see from our house the flames and smoke.”
Strong has not yet issued an evacuation order but believes it is only a matter of time. Family members packed bags and made plans for how to transport their animals — one dog and three reptiles that need certain temperatures in their enclosures.
“We definitely wouldn’t leave without our animals,” Strong said.
She said it’s encouraging to see the film and animation industries coming 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 the human side of people coming together is more important than when a tryout is held, when a team is selected, or when an awards ceremony is announced.”
Stars who lost their homes in fires
Singer and actress Mandy Moore, who was evacuated with her family on Tuesday, said Wednesday that she lost her home in Altadena, near Palisades.
“Honestly, I am in shock and numb,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “My children’s school is gone. Our favorite restaurants have been leveled. So many friends and loved ones have lost everything, too. Our community is shattered but we will be here to rebuild together.”
In a video posted to his Instagram page on Thursday, actor Cameron Matheson showed off what remained of the house where his family lived for 13 years: a smoking pile of rubble, small flames still flickering among the wreckage, just feet from the area. Clean. Tiled walkway and green hedges.
The caption read: “This is what’s left of our beautiful home.”
Matheson told CNN that when he first saw the destroyed house, he made a sound he had never heard before.
“It’s a kind of gut-wrenching pain and disbelief and shock and fear as I approached my property and didn’t see the house.”
The Canadian-born actor told CNN that his building was damaged so badly that, in some areas, it looked like “no houses were built there at all.”
He added that their family is grieving the loss of irreplaceable items such as photographs of children captured in films, their children’s early art projects, family cards and trinkets collected over the years.
“These are the things you can’t replace. That’s part of a disaster like this.”
Paris Hilton shared a news clip on her Instagram account on Wednesday, saying that watching her Malibu home “burn to the ground live on TV is something no one should ever experience.”
This house was where her son Phoenix took his first steps and where they “built so many precious memories.”
Reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are known for Hillsconfirmed on social media that their home was lost in the Palisades fire.
On Wednesday, Montag said in an Instagram Story that she only brought two pairs of jeans and two shirts for herself before evacuating. With emotion creeping into her voice, she added that they thought, “Of course, I’ll be back” when they decided what to bring.
Pratt shared a photo from the cameras in the nursery, taken while the house was burning, pointing to the “heart-shaped” flames, describing it as “a sign of how much love there is in this house.”
Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, said in a statement Wednesday that the home they had lived in for 45 years was destroyed in the Palisades fire.
“Janice and I have lived in our house since 1979,” they wrote. “We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our home was filled with love. Beautiful memories that cannot be taken away. We are sad of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this.”
Ricki Lake, a TV presenter and actress, was mourning at home on Thursday. She posted photos of the property she took before it burned, writing that she had lost her “dream home.”
“This loss is priceless,” she said. “It’s where we got married three years ago.”
Singer-songwriter Jhene Aiko He wrote that “My kids and I went to the house,” she said in an Instagram post Thursday, “burnt to the ground with all our stuff inside.”
“Grateful we still have each other,” she added.
Star Trek Actress Denise Crosby posted on X that her home was also destroyed in the fires. “It was the only home I ever owned,” she wrote. “Now, Ash.”
Yesterday morning I had a beautiful Spanish cottage that gave me endless joy, where I met my husband and raised my son, the only house I have ever owned, with fruit trees that I planted, with a garden of native plants. Now, Ash. I am heartbroken 💔 #Palisadesfire 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 lost in the fire shortly after he posted a video of himself evacuating one of the homes. The road is surrounded by fire.
star wars Actor Mark Hamill evacuated his Malibu home on Tuesday, saying there were “small fires on both sides of the road” while driving. Canadian actor Eugene Levy said he was also evacuated on Tuesday Los Angeles Times He had to escape through the dark smoke.
After the latest fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, photos showing the Hollywood Sign on fire began circulating on social media before being proven false.
“The sign itself was not affected and is safe,” Jeff Zarenam, president of the Hollywood Sign Trust, said in a statement Thursday morning.
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