Countdown to the Oscars: Hollywood rolls out the red (or, this year, maroon) carpet

There is no turning back: the Oscars are just around the corner. The most famous awards in the world of cinema (and perhaps even in the world in general) will be held on Sunday, March 2, and the celebrations have already begun. They have done so four days earlier and with great pomp, with the unfolding of the red carpet that thousands of celebrities will walk on Sunday before entering the gala and that millions will follow from their homes.

The host of the gala, the new comedian Conan O'Brien , was in charge of unrolling the more than 270 kilos of carpet - 600 pounds, according to those in charge - on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at the doors of the Dolby Theatre. He was accompanied by three of the technicians who have been putting it up for days, Anthony, Rudy and Ignacio, whom he thanked effusively, hugged and said that "they are the heroes." The three are part of a team of 14 people who have been working on the carpet for two days, since Monday, and will continue to do so until Sunday, so that it looks perfect. Afterwards, it will die: the carpet is thrown away and recycled, the three have declared to EL PAÍS.

Very elegant, O'Brien posed formally with the carpet, stretched his arms and legs, just in case the exercise was hard, let himself be photographed on it doing a military salute, and using his comic vein he slowly unfolded it until he lay down on the remaining roll, knowing how to provoke the photographers. After barely four minutes he left, thanking everyone and inviting them to come back for Sunday, when the ceremony will take place , starting at four in the afternoon (one in the morning the following day, Spanish peninsular time).

But from a couple of hours before, the carpet will be the star, the base on which global celebrities will show off the most exclusive dresses and jewelry in the world. More maroon than last year, most of the 3,400 guests at the gala will walk along its 270 meters, from nominees like Karla Sofia Gascon, who will attend the gala, to presenters like the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz . From this Wednesday until Sunday, technicians are working hard to put together the 10 meters wide carpet - actually several rolls - and make it smooth, without imperfections, not only for those who walk, but for the images that will be seen by 20 million viewers in the United States (and many more in the rest of the world). During these days, technicians will join the carpet, stapling it and then fixing it with an iron at a temperature of about 175 degrees. The base has a heat-sealing material, similar to that of textile patches, which with heat makes it stick to the floor and thus does not move.

The deployment paralyses the city, because the carpet actually occupies a stretch of street, Hollywood Boulevard, between Orange and Highland avenues. It is in the very heart of Hollywood, where there are other famous cinemas such as the Chinese Theatre and El Capitan, and where the famous pink stars rest, as well as many businesses, for which these awards are not particularly appreciated. Because that little stretch of about 400 metres, central to the city, was already closed on Thursday 20th and will be practically closed (completely to traffic and with narrow sidewalks for pedestrians) until Wednesday 5th March.

It's two long weeks, but it's the time needed to set up and take down the big event of the season, but it's quite inconvenient in the area, the most visited in Los Angeles. There are huge detours to deal with, to the suffering of tourists (50 million a year), merchants and residents, already accustomed to constant cuts in the area's theaters, but on this occasion they last almost two weeks. Not even the subway stops at the Hollywood station during the whole Sunday. All so that nothing can detract from the shine of the maroon carpet and its glittering stars.