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Will Smith spurns my advances and Kenneth Branagh bemoans what could be the biggest ever celebrity super-spreader event, as the awards machine grinds into actionI am in a hotel ballroom in Los Angeles, two floors below street level, the kind of venue I associate with family barmitzvahs and work parties. But I am talking to neither a cousin nor a colleague. Instead, I am talking to Will Smith.So, Will, I say, just about resisting breaking into “In west Philadelphia, born and raised …” Have you been practising your Oscar speech since you were 12? Continue reading...