THE ELATION, THE DISBELIEF AND THE KWAN : BACKSTAGE AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS.

Byline: Amy Dawes and Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writers

They're going to have to show him the money now, but Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. wasn't about to say so at the podium, instead demonstrating the exuberance that animated his performance in ``Jerry Maguire'' by overstaying the cutoff time to shout out his thank-yous, a stunt that drew standing applause from some amused academy members. Backstage, he commented, ``That music came in quick, didn't it? What was that about? They've got four hours for the show!''

``This is the kwan!'' Gooding said backstage, brandishing the Oscar and referring to ``Jerry Maguire's'' holy trinity of money, respect and community. Asked how he felt about winning, he teared up and said, ``I've been so blessed this year that it really didn't matter. I know that sounds like bull, but I just concentrated on what I'd say to people when I didn't win.''

As for the shortage of African-American Oscar nominees, Gooding just grinned and said, ``I just want to say, `Hi, Denzel (Washington).' Damn, it feels good, brother.''

A giggling Juliette Binoche, who won for Best Supporting Actress, said she was certain she would not win, assuming, as many others did, that the Oscar would go to Lauren Bacall.

``It's so moving. It feels like a dream. Miramax gave me a chocolate Oscar, and I thought I was going to go back home and eat it. Knowing I was not going to get it gave me freedom.''

She said she hoped that Lauren Bacall wins a lifetime achievement award because ``she's still alive.''

Joel Coen, who won a screenplay award with brother Ethan for ``Fargo,'' said the film's several nominations were unexpected.

``We were very surprised it got the recognition it got from the academy. We didn't think we were doing anything different than we have in the past, so it was a surprise.

Joel Coen said he was not surprised, however, when told that it snowed Monday in the real Fargo.

The brothers stumbled on a question about whether they had a passion for film. They turned to Frances McDormand - Joel's wife and winner of the Oscar for Best Actress - and called her up on stage. McDormand said she was passionate about her character in the dark comedy, saying she was proud to play a working woman who likes her job and does it well.

``She's a symbol of that. She's a woman who is good at her job, she happens to be the chief of police, and she also happens to be pregnant. The moment her name was read was ``a very strange one. What's great is that we were surrounded by friends. So that was kinda nice. We were all whooping and hollering about everything.''

Of not winning for screenplay - an award that went to Billy Bob Thornton, ``English Patient'' director Anthony Minghella said: ``When you've won nine Academy Awards for your movie, it's very grumpy to say anything (negative). But it is ironic. But we've been honored and blessed this evening, and I'm very happy to take one of these guys home,'' he said, holding his Oscar.

``The English Patient'' was originally a project of 20th Century Fox, which pulled funding three weeks before filming was to begin. Miramax then stepped in and saved the project. Of the movie's rocky start and triumphant ending, Minghella said: ``It's a great vindication. And it's a great feather in the cap of Harvey and Bob Weinstein (of Miramax), who were the only ones in this town who believed in us.

``It's marvelous that the film found an audience and was so marvelously received.''

He also talked about how editor Walter Murch had to leave the project because his son fell ill in the middle of shooting.

``I had no editor during the filming. We had no dailies. We had weeklies. We were shooting blind. But we had faith and courage, and we were rewarded.''

Oscar-winning screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton is the son of a psychic, but he said he didn't ask his mother to predict the outcome of the Oscars. ``I told her I didn't want to know,'' he grinned. Sporting a ZZ Top cap and Billy Martin cowboy boots backstage, the Arkansas native said he was overwhelmed by his win for the screenplay of ``Sling Blade'' and couldn't really think yet. ``I'm on another planet,'' he said. ``But the award on this movie came a long time ago because of the way people received it. I didn't know that would happen. I thought this movie was for a very limited audience.'' Thornton said he'd written the script in about seven days over a two-month stretch. ``I tend to write about 50 pages a night.''

Thornton thanked Elizabeth Taylor on stage, he said, because ``she is a legend and she talked this movie up, even though she didn't know me.'' Having grown up in the small Southern town of Malvern, Ark., Thornton said he didn't think the current hoopla would change him into something different. ``You don't really work at staying a hillbilly,'' he said. ``It's just something you can't help.''

With four Oscars now, including one for producing ``The English Patient,'' Saul Zaentz said he couldn't say which one meant the most to him. ``There's no answer to that,'' he said. ``We made a very good picture, and we knew that while we were making it.'' Despite the predictions of a sweep for ``The English Patient,'' he said he wasn't counting on the Oscar. ``You never hear your name being called - you always hear the other four names. People tell you you're the favorite, but they're not the ones waiting.

As for the abundance of Oscars won by independent films this year, Zaentz said, ``I think it's an abberation, but I also think that independent filmmaking is really not very old, as filmmaking goes, and the cream is now coming to the top. People like the Coen brothers will now get more money to get pictures they've been dreaming of, and other good independent writers and directors will take their place.'' The most important thing about winning the Best Picture Oscar, he said, ``is the vindication of the belief of everyone who helped you.''

Best Actor winner Geoffrey Rush said he met David Helfgott, whom he plays in the films ``Shine,'' ``quite early on in the process. I found it good to hang out with him socially and start to appropriate his ways into my own behavior.''

As for Helfgott's reaction to Rush's Oscar win, the actor said, ``I heard as I walked through the corridors that Gillian, his wife, is absolutely over the moon. And he'll probably say something to me like `brilliantissimo,' because he tends to invent words like that.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) ``That Thing You Do!'' made for a spirited production number, even if it didn't win an Oscar.

David Richard Crane/Daily News

(2--Color) Elastic-faced ``Liar Liar'' star Jim Carrey presents the award for Visual Effects.

(3--Color) Madonna performs ``You Must Love Me'' from ``Evita,'' which won for Best Original Song.