You have to check out the NY Magazine piece that Mark Harris wrote on the Oscar campaign. The more I read and learn about this stuff, the more it resembles politics with handlers telling people what to wear, what to say, where to go and how to act.
It seems so bizarre, but there is a lot at stake here, not only money, but prestige and bragging rights. If you were a person in the film business and lucky to work on something that had Oscar potential, you would work your ass off to get there. Cause, really, how many people in the world can say they are an Academy Award winner or even nominee. Oscar is the top of the mountain.
But while on the surface everything looks pretty, Mark Harris dives into the ickiness factor that starts seeping out of the awards circuit if you look a bit too closely. Looking at the reality of the merry go round these actors, directors and stars go on reminds me of the push towards election day. Kissing babies and shaking hands all towards that coveted Oscar nomination.
Here are some of the parts I liked.
When Sandra Bullock tied with Meryl Streep at the Broadcast Film Critics Awards:
Bullock, who has never come anywhere near an Oscar nomination but is riding a wave of big box office and positive press for The Blind Side, is almost as good as Streep at the podium: She gives the kind of emotive, funny, ingratiating speech that makes people say, “Maybe she should win,” just because it seems like fun. All at once, we have a contest—and the most interesting acting face-off of the season, since the excellent narrative behind Streep (namely, There Is No Way on God’s Green Earth That This Woman Should Have Fewer Best Actress Oscars Than Hilary Swank) must now fight off Bullock’s, the much simpler Who’da Thunk It?!
Streep and Bullock, whispering and giggling, are about to leave together when their ultrapowerful CAA agent Kevin Huvane—three-way hug!—arrives, followed by Bigelow. Streep and Bigelow are introduced, and for a moment, you think that if these two women have made it to the center of this race, Hollywood might actually be doing something right.
The Kathryn Bigelow story has turned out to be, in many ways, the apex of Oscar excitement during this relatively quiet season; although she and James Cameron were amicably divorced in 1991 and talk about each other with unfailing respect, there is undeniably a gossip-ravenous appetite for this year’s voting to be coarsened into The Revenge of the Ex-Wife and decided as a kind of California joint-property settlement in which he walks away with the grosses but she gets the statuettes. And Bigelow’s principled refusal to play into this, or to present herself as anything resembling a scorned underdog, only makes people root for her harder.
And finally the first hand description of The Hurt Locker’s Producers Guild Win:
As the usual suspects gather for the next night’s Producer’s Awards at the Hollywood Palladium, gossip is that, of the ten nominees (eight of which make the eventual roster of Oscar contenders), Avatar is a shoo-in. Nobody doubts this. And then—nothing more gratifying can happen during Oscar season—everybody turns out to be wrong. The Hurt Locker wins.
“It was beautiful,” a veteran executive says the next morning. “Kathryn Bigelow had to walk right by Cameron’s table. I know they’re friendly. Whatever. But still, the look on her face was so wonderful. It was surprise, and it was affection for him, but maybe there was just a little defiance too. You know, like ‘Not so fast, Jim.’ ” One week later, she does it again, beating Cameron for the Directors Guild of America Award. By all reports, the room, and even her competitors, approved. And it’s easy to imagine what many of them were thinking: It’s her turn. It’s time.
It’s. Her. Turn. It’s. Time.
If Kathryn Bigelow wins Hollywood will have accomplished something the American people couldn’t and wouldn’t do in 2008, putting a woman at the top of the mountain. Fingers crossed.
Read the whole piece. The Red Carpet Campaign (NY Magazine)
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Yes, fingers crossed for the first female win! It is a very political process and Fox interns are busy at work slamming “The Hurt Locker”. But does it look good for a movie that’s made 2 billion dollars to try and crush a little independent film under it’s big corporate boot? And ironically that’s also the theme of “Avatar”, a corporation trampling everything it’s path in pursuit of profit.
In the end, you just have to hope that the academy picks what they truly believe is the best film. I really enjoyed “Avatar”, but I think “The Hurt Locker” was better.
What a testament this year. And I really believe the momentum is there for The Hurt Locker and Bigelow. And I like your analogy Stacy. If Avatar wins it’s like the big successful corporate bigwig beats the small startup.
I’ve seen both films and honestly I think both are excellent in their own right. I know the criticisms of Avatar but it was a fascinating and engaging film. I thought it was incredibly entertaining. I literally could not take my eyes off the screen it was so engaging.
The Hurt Locker – well I actually watched it 2 times before I appeciated it. It’s really a thoughtful, raw, and real depiction of it’;s subject matter coupled with great performances and compelling well rounded characters. I don’t know if it’s better than Avatar, it’s different, but I do think it’s more difficult in the end to make a film like this, the subject matter is so real and raw. So for that reason I think this film deserves it more.
Thank you for not falling into the ‘bash one to praise another’ trap that so often happens in filmdom. We can like Star Wars AND Star Trek, we can like The Blind Side AND Precious, and we don’t have to dismiss Avatar to praise The Hurt Locker.
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