Archive for the 'Awards' Category

What a great idea.  The people who run the Cultural Leadership Programme in the UK know that there is a leadership disparity between men and women in the arts.  Lots of times the issue is that the women are just not visible enough in order to get that next job, so they decided to highlight the current women leaders to build the pipeline for the future.

Here’s why they put together the list:

There are nowhere near enough women in positions of power and influence, whether it be in the cultural and creative industries or other sectors. We need to do everything we can to enable and encourage the next generation.

Nominees were submitted and were judged by a high profile panel of men and women heading by BBC radio’s Jenni Miller.

The list of women was released this week.  Check them out.

• Bridget Nicholls
• Claire Whitaker
• Carol Bell
• Cathy Woolley
• Claire Cunningham
• Clare Hudson
• Daisy Heath
• Delia Barker
• Emma Stenning
• Emma Underhill
• Freda Matassa
• Gail Parmel
• Geraldine Collinge
• Helen MacNamara
• Hermione Way
• Indy Hunjan
• Jane Finnis
• Jacqui O’Hanlon
• Jenni Lewin-Turner
• Juliana Farha
• Julie Tait
• Kate Bellamy
• Kate McGrath
• Laura Sillars
• Liz Pugh
• Lucy Worsley
• Dr Maria Balshaw
• Maria Oshodi
• Maxine Millar
• Melanie Abrahams
• Moira Buffini
• Nike Jonah
• Pim Baxter
• Purni Morell
• Rachel Holmes
• Rachel Millward
• Rebecca Dawson
• Roanne Dods
• Ruth Daniel
• Ruth Gill
• Ruth Gould
• Sally Goldsworthy
• Sarah Munro
• Seonaid Daly
• Sharnita K Athwal
• Sharon Watson
• Siobhán Bales
• Sophie Thomas
• Theresa Heskins
• Vanessa Reed

It’s still sinking in — the big Bigelow win — and I wanted to hear what other folks thought, so I reached out to women directors around the world at all levels of their careers and asked them what they thought and what it means for them.  Thanks to everyone who responded.  If other still want to respond, I’d be happy to add.  I would love to get the reactions of the women who have been nominated previously and I am working on that — if you know Lina Wertmuller, or Sofia Copolla and can contact them (I already have a feeler out to Jane Campion), please email me —   I’ll let you know if I hear from them.

Here are the women who participated in alphabetical order (check out their sites to learn about their work):

Allison Anders, director Gas, Food Lodging; Anne Bass, director- Dancing Across Borders;  Tracy Lynch Britton, director, Melrose Place; Gabrielle Burton, Five Sisters Productions; Kathi Carey, director – Worth; Wendy Jo Carlton, director - Hannah Free; Jules Dameron; Katherine Dieckmann, director – Motherhood; Emily Dell, director- B-Girl;  Rachel Feldman, director – Beyond the Break and Sisters; Carey Graeber, director- Rediscovering Dorothy; Rhianon Elan Gutierrez, director- When I’m Not Alone;  Deborah Kampmeier, director-Hounddog; Aviva Kempner, director- Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg; Alex Kondracke, director- GirlTrash; Barbara Kopple, director – Shut Up and Sing, Harlan County USA (Oscar winner); Sue Kramer, director – Gray Matters; Alexis Krasilovsky, Director – Women Behind the Camera; Kasi Lemmons, director- Eve’s Bayou; Suzanne O’Keefe, director- Full Serve; Shamim Sarif, director – The World Unseen; Nancy Schwartzman, director- Where is Your Line?; Dawn Scibilia, director- Home; Nell Scovell, director- It Was One of Us; Therese Shechter, director- I Was A Teenage Feminist; Amy Sewell, director- What’s Your Point, Honey?; Karen Skloss, director- Sunshine; Juanita Wilson, director – The Door (nominated for an Oscar) Continue reading ‘Women Directors React to the Bigelow Win’

Aside from the historic Bigelow win there were several other moments during the Oscar show (which I still strongly feel was really bad, but I was tweeting the whole time) and the wrap up that are worthy of note.

Mo’Nique

The woman rocks.  She did everything this whole season on her own terms and every time people tried to bring her down and shame her for it, she said I am not playing by your bullshit rules.  The fact that she won proves that art triumphs over bullshit.  She took all the shit that was shoved at her and rose above it, big time.  I really hope Hollywood learns a lesson from how Mo’Nique was treated.  There were racist quips, sexist shit (you know the crap about her shaving her legs) and in general a whole lot of you need to kiss some Hollywood ass if you think you are going to win this award.

Yesterday, on Oprah she talked about dedicating her win to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar which she did for the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.  McDaniel, as Kate Harding at Salon reminds us, was not able to attend the opening of Gone with the Wind because the theatre was segregated.

Here’s what Mo’Nique said about the moment before they announced her name:

They are going through the nominees and I know this woman Hattie McDaniel had to endure so much in this industry.  And because of her is why you sit (talking to Oprah) where you sit and I sit where I sit because she did so much for all of us.

Sandra Bullock

So she beat Meryl and poor Meryl has not won in some 25 years which is unbelievable to me.  Part of it is that everything she does is Oscar worthy so that people think they don’t need to vote for her because she will be back again and again.  News flash people.  She’s taking some time off.  She made two movies this past year, both directed by women directors.  Both made $100 million.

But the thing about this year and the Sandra Bullock factor is that we all know that not everything that Sandra Bullock does is Oscar worthy.  She’s the first to admit it.  The Blind Side hit a chord in the country.  As did Sandra Bullock.  Remember, things suck out there (out here).  No matter how much they tell us the recession is over.  Things are still really hard and The Blind Side gave people a moment to feel better about things and themselves.  That’s why it has made a fortune.

And Bullock rode those waves all the way to the Oscar win. She was so funny talking about her kiss with Meryl that people can’t let go.  She talked about how during the awards season the group of nominees became a sorority and that they all liked and respected each other.  And she tore down some more bullshit about how women hate each other.  Here’s what she said to Oprah:

They pit women against each other all the time.  They don’t do it to the men.  I am so sick of it.

Here’s her wonderful acceptance speech.  I loved how she gave tribute to her mom It is worth watching again:

Barbra Streisand

How poignant must it have been for Barbra to have the honor to announce the first female directing winner when she has been so visibly snubbed by the Academy in the past.  There are of course women who directed great films before Barbra.  One, Lina Wertmuller, was nominated before Barbra made Yentl and The Prince of Tides which was nominated for best picture and best actor for Nick Nolte but she was not nominated for best director.  Barbra chose to direct when she was a gigantic huge acting and recording star.  She chose to direct and got shit for it.  She is a trailblazer and let’s not forget it.  Here’s what she said after she gave the award to Bigelow:

I hope there will come a time when it will not be about a woman director or a man director but will just be about who the best director is.  When there is no regard for gender.  That it’s just about the talent.

Other Thoughts:

I did love Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious.  Now I know people are upset because he forgot to thank Sapphire.  In his defense he was beyond shocked.  You could see it on his face and hear it in his voice.  The fact that Precious got that award over the film everyone (including me) expected Up in the Air really shows how much that film resonated within the Hollywood community.

I loved Gabourey Sidibe’s awesomeness on the red carpet.  She showed no signs of nervousness and has come through this Oscar season as the most unexpected and  success.  Every single time I see her I smile.

BEST PICTURE AND BEST DIRECTOR

Those were the words that Barbra Streisand uttered when she announced Kathryn Bigelow’s name as the winner of the best director Oscar.  The moment came at the end of a long and boring show that featured many male winners in most categories, but DAMN, staying up was worth it.

I never really thought this was possible even six months ago since the gender problem in Hollywood is so pervasive, but DAMN, it happened – a woman won for BEST DIRECTOR.  Director is the ultimate leader in Hollywood, the big kahuna, and now, finally a woman is in the club and that my friends, is a big deal.

After she won last night I was thinking about other female firsts that I have experienced in my lifetime.  I remember when Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice; I remember when Madeleine Albright became the first Secretary of State; I remember when Shannon Faulkner became the first female to go to the Citadel; I remember when Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle mission; I remember when Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.

And I will remember last night.

I will remember it because it came on the dawn of International Women’s Day, when many of us pause and think about the struggles that many women and girls in the world go through each and every day just to survive.

We all know that last night was symbolic, that one woman winning an award won’t help all the other women working each and every day to get their films made.  But I am betting that this morning women directors around the world will walk a little taller, smile a little brighter, and feel a bit stronger and more confident as they sweep up the glass that Bigelow shattered last night.

I hope that moms and dads around the world take the picture of Kathryn Bigelow and talk to their daughters and sons about the fact that this is a big deal for our world because it had never happened and maybe those young girls will believe that they too can win an Oscar, and maybe those boys will grow up believing that women are their equals in each and every profession.

Here’s Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar speech and backstage comments:

This really is… There’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime. First of all, this is so extraordinary to be in the company of such powerful, my fellow nominees, such powerful filmmakers who have inspired me and I have admired for, some of whom, for decades. And thank you to every member of the Academy. This is, again, the moment of a lifetime.

“I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page and wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate enough to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life. And Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. And, I think the secret to directing is collaborating and I had truly an extraordinary group of collaborators in my crew. Barry Ackroyd and Kalle Júlíusson and Bob Murawski, Chris Innis, Ray Beckett, Richard Stutsman and if I could just also thank my producing partners, Greg Shapiro, Nick Chartier and my wonderful agent, Brian Siberell, and the people of Jordan, who were, such a… so hospitable to us when we were shooting. And I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe. Thank you. (via Alt Film Guide)

Backstage comments (via The Wrap)

First of all, I hope I’m the first of many. And of course I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I wait for the day when the modifier can be a moot point.

“But I’m very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmakers and make them feel that the impossible is possible,” she added.

“I’ve been making films for a while. Only about 30 years. So when I say don’t give up, I mean it. …. Work on stories you really, truly believe in, because then no obstacle is too great.

The last couple of weeks have been all Bigelow all the time, but since The Hurt Locker and the blue people weren’t up for any awards at this year’s Indie Spirits, it allowed other films to shine.

I was so psyched to see Gabby Sidibe (and Precious) win since she her performance was heartbreakingly beautiful.

I was also very excited to see Lone Scherfig get up there for her film An Education.  Other notable female winners include Lynn Shelton, writer/director/producer of Humpday who got the John Cassavetes Award (for a feature made for under $500,000); and producer Karen Chien received the Piaget Producers Award.  Her new film Exploding Girl starring Zoe Kazan opens Friday.

There’s no denying that Sunday is a big night for women in Hollywood.  One of the things that has been so exciting about this awards season is that finally paying attention to the fact that no woman has ever won the best director Oscar.  It’s one of the issues around women and entertainment that most people can wrap their heads around.

I’ve also personally enjoyed watching Kathryn Bigelow on all the interviews and how her voice has grown in strength over the season.  A couple of months ago she didn’t say much and seemed quite uncomfortable in the limelight, but in the last few weeks everything she has said has been so outstanding and confident. I also like the fact that because of the content of her film we don’t spend the whole time talking about gender and issues related to women and women’s opportunities (not that those conversations aren’t important too.)

I remember when I worked in women’s organizations and when an important news event happened or an event was scheduled, people would try and get together with some talking points so that people could be on somewhat the same page.  While there is no concerted movement on this topic, I have been pondering some thoughts about what — a Bigelow win or loss –  would mean for women and wanted to know what other people are thinking.

Here are the points I am focused on:

If She Wins:

• A glass ceiling that has been in place for 82 years has been shattered.
• Young women and girls around the world now have an image of seeing themselves as a potential best director winner and hopefully that will dare them to dream bigger than they might have.
• Shows boys and men that women are just as competent as the men.
• That you don’t have to direct a movie about so-called women’s issues as a female director.
• That women can direct kick-ass action films and get noticed for it.
• AND that this is just the beginning and that there are relatively few opportunities (7 percent) for female directors and that we cannot let this win symbolize anything other than the fact that we still have so much farther to go.

If She Loses:

• This is another lost opportunity to break down a glass ceiling that has been held in place for over 8 decades.  Women go to the movies in equal numbers to men, yet our voices and visions are not seen as equal to men’s.  This issue is not going to go away and it’s not just about awards, it’s about opportunities and we need more for women.
• While it would be a huge disappointment, the nomination and all the attention has raised much needed awareness about the lack of opportunities for female directors in a way that has never been highlighted before.
• We need look at this as part of a continued effort to achieve gender equity in all areas of the entertainment business both on the screen and behind the scenes.

In general, I think this is a great opportunity to encourage people to think about the movies that they see and suggest they ask themselves a series of questions before buying tickets.  Who directed this film?  Who wrote this film?  What is this film about?  Sometimes the fact that so few women’s names will come up won’t matter, but if you ask the question enough times it starts to sink in that things are just not right and maybe, just maybe, the next week that person will choose a woman directed film.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Here are my bets as to who will pick up Sunday night’s awards.  Also don’t forget, the Indie Spirit Awards are tonight at 8pm.  You can watch it live on IFC.  Here are the nominees.

Keep in mind that these are just my picks based on the movies I saw and other things I have been reading.

I hope everyone has a great time on Sunday night.  We’ll be live tweeting: If you want to join in follow me at: @melsil.

Best picture: “The Hurt Locker”
Actor
: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Actress: 
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Supporting actor
: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Supporting actress: 
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Animated feature: “Up”
Original screenplay
: “Inglourious Basterds”
Adapted screenplay
: “Up in the Air”
Best foreign-language film
: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
Best film editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Art direction: “Avatar”
Cinematography: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Costume design
: “The Young Victoria”
Best documentary feature
: “The Cove”
Documentary short: “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
Makeup
: “The Young Victoria”
Music (original score): 
”Up”
Music (original song)
: “The Weary Kind (Theme from “Crazy Heart”) from “Crazy Heart”
Short film, animated: 
”A Matter of Loaf and Death”
Short film, live action: 
”Kavi”
Sound editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Sound mixing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Visual effects: “Avatar”

So it wasn’t perfect, but it’s the beginning and next time will be better. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If you can make it through the first couple of minutes of me talking to myself about Kathryn Bigelow and the Oscars, the show starts to rock when Sasha Stone of Awards Daily joins.

Let me know what you think.

I know I beat the drum consistently for Kathryn Bigelow but I want everyone to remember that if, and when she wins, the best director award at the Oscars on Sunday it will be only the beginning.   Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking things are equal just because a single woman wins the award.

There is still so much work to do to improve the situation for other female directors.

Martha Lauzen, the guru of stats from San Diego State U.  for one, won’t let that happen:

Just because you can name four or five women directors doesn’t mean no problem exists. If you don’t think there’s any problem then you’re not going to be looking for a solution. And that perpetuates the status quo.

If Kathryn Bigelow wins, media stories could talk about how everything has changed now and that women are equal. And that would be unfortunate.

We must all be vigilant.

Women Directors Face Celluloid Ceiling (AFP via Yahoo)

Here’s the beginning:

In less than one week, March 7 to be exact, the Hollywood awards season will be over, and chances are very good that for the first time a woman—Kathryn Bigelow—will have won the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker.  Three other women (Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion and Sophia Coppola) have been nominated in the 82 years that the Academy has held its awards, but with due respect to them and their films, none of them had a shot.

This year is different.  Based on earlier awards by critics and more recently by the Directors Guild (a first for a woman director) and the British academy (BAFTA)—as well as conversations with several Oscar watchers—the consensus is that Bigelow is at the front of the pack to win the award.  Last week, Time magazine got into the act titling its story “The Front Runner.” Forgive me for not sounding the trumpets in advance but we all have seen female front runners fade. While there are many reasons to believe that Bigelow will win, there is something in the back of my head that screams caution remembering the Gloria Steinem piece from the 2008 election season “Women are Never Front-Runners.”

Read full piece here

Don’t forget that Women & Hollywood is launching our bi-weekly radio show tomorrow at 12pm EST.

Our guest will be Sasha Stone, Managing Editor of Awards Daily and we will be talking about the upcoming Oscar Awards.  To listen to it live click here.

I hope to take some calls from the audience, but you will also be able to listen to the show at your convenience or can download it to your ipod using itunes.

Hope you enjoy.

With all the hoopla over Kathryn Bigelow (as well the nomination for An Education as best picture) I missed another women directed film — The Milk of Sorrow directed by Claudia Llosa — which is up for the foreign film Oscar.

Not only is this film directed by a woman, it is about sexual violence against women in Peru.  Here is the description from IMDB:

Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

So here’s an example of a movie raising important issues — about women’s lives — that clearly works and is resonating.

It can be done.  I’ve got it saved in my netflix queue.

Peru film on sexual violence nominated for Oscar (AP via Yahoo)

“The ‘cumulative’ factor of a series of pre-Oscar wins can be a powerful aphrodisiac for Academy voters.” So says Pete Hammond of the LA Times, quoting “one producer and former studio head who told me he very much understands the psychology of Oscar voting.”

Yes, women, the handicappers will all tell you that your vote no longer matters. They’ve posted their predictions, the dye is already cast, and they dare you to say otherwise. But remember those great headlines from 1948: “Dewey Defeats Truman!” We all know “it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings,” and this particular fat lady is still in mid-aria.

On what basis are the handicappers handicapping? Do the prognosticators really know what you are thinking?

The “cumulative factor” is based on all the votes of all the people who have already voted, and people have been voting since early December. I know this for a fact because I voted in early December (as a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association).

But drill down, and you will quickly learn that the New York Film Critics Circle lists 33 members, 8 of whom are women (24%), while the LA Film Critics Association lists 52 members, 10 of whom are women (19%). And here in Chicago, I am one of 8 women on a membership list of 57 (14%).

(To keep my sanity, I just assume that all the names I can’t identify, like LAFCA’s “F.X. Feeny,” belong to women. In fact, “F.X. Feeny” is a man. I just checked and found him on Google. But I can’t check every name, so I’d rather overestimate than underestimate.)

What about the Guilds? If you’re a DGA member, then you know better than I do who your fellow DGA members are, and ditto if you’re a WGA member. But suffice it to say that in both cases, the pattern holds. Well over 50% of both groups are male.

Right now, I’m not concerned with the whys and wherefores of this statistical distribution. I just want to confirm what most of you already know: women are significantly underrepresented in most of the groups whose votes are combined to create the “cumulative factor.” In other words, this “cumulative factor” primarily represents male opinion.

Facts like these used to be very difficult to find. A few years back, I contacted the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and asked for a membership list. No luck. But after recent critiques by journalists like Sharon Waxman, the HFPA is now happy to post a membership list on its website. And surprise, surprise, the current list is almost equally balanced between male and female members. And this is how change happens: women must dig deep, question assumptions, and make our voices heard.

This year, there’s been a big rule change (from 5 Best Picture candidates to 10), so there’s a great deal of interest in “the rules.” Handicappers can’t handicap if they don’t know the rules, so all kinds of information is suddenly a few clicks away. For example, I recently learned from the Wall Street Journal that approximately 6,000 Academy members will vote this year, and approximately 1/3 of you are women. Numbers like that make me smile.

Final ballots are due next Tuesday, March 2, at 5 PM (PT).  So before you vote, I’d like to make one final appeal: forget everything you’ve heard, resist the “aphrodisiac” effect of the “cumulative factor,” and just vote with your heart for the films, performances, and technical accomplishments that you really believe are the best. If you do, then March 7, 2010 might well be filled with surprises!

______________________

Film critic Jan Lisa Huttner blogs at The Hot Pink Pen.  Her article on the 2004 Oscars for Women’s eNews (which showed how a record number of women directors and screenwriters had impacted the most high profile nominations) received the “Best News Writing for the Web” award from the National Federation of Press Women in 2005.

If you didn’t know any better after reading this AP article on the Academy’s technical awards you’d think that only men worked in Hollywood. This piece is one of the strangest takes on the industry that I have seen in a while.

Here’s the first line:

Forty-five men you’ve probably never heard of were honored with an Academy Awards ceremony of their own that recognized scientific and technical achievements in moviemaking.

The event awarded the “nerds” of Hollywood, the techies, who are clearly smart, but please don’t tell me that only guys work in this area.

Wouldn’t a better story have been, here we are giving out the technical academy awards and you’d think in 2010 there would be a woman on the winner list. Huh? What’s wrong with this picture?

But no, nobody thinks to ask these questions. So I will. What is wrong with this picture?  How can this be a celebration of anything when only men are recognized?

Motion picture academy honors nerds of filmmaking (AP via Yahoo)

The awards season keeps rolling on for Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker. Not only was the film named best picture last evening at the BAFTA’s (the British version of the Academy Awards), but Bigelow became the first woman EVER to be named best director.  The film won six awards kicking some Avatar ass on its way to the podium.

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank was named outstanding British Film and for the first time in a long time Carey Mulligan took best actress honors.

So that means two films directed by women won best picture.  And both women also won awards from the London Film Critics Circle earlier in the week.  How great is that?

Here’s what Bigelow had to say about winning:

“I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving — we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field.”

She also said she hoped she was “first of many” women to win the prize.

Her grace in winning continues to make me even more and more excited for her.  She’s not getting a big head or acting like the “queen of the world.”  She is a great example for all directors  — men and women — to follow.

Bigelow is first woman to win BAFTA director prize (Screen Daily)

THE HURT LOCKER: BAFTA’s Big Winner (Alt Film Guide)

Bigelow Takes Directing Prize From London Film Critics Circle (The Wrap)

I am traveling and seeing family for the next several days and also working on the book (I have made some great progress) so I won’t be blogging until mid next week.

But, I couldn’t resist sharing these two clips one from James Cameron on Charlie Rose (via Deadline Hollywood) and one from Kathryn Bigelow (and writer Mark Boal) on The Rachel Maddow Show.

Cameron told Charlie Rose that his film deserves to win because his team “worked so hard” (as if the other nominated teams didn’t) and that Bigelow should win the best director honor cause “he already has a couple and doesn’t need another one.”

I don’t know why anyone let this man speak in public. I truly believe that he thinks he is doing something nice by saying that she should win. That’s how tone deaf he is to his own voice. If I were her I would call him and say shut the hell up.

The whole transcript made me nauseous cause he is really setting himself up as her biggest cheerleader if she wins, and if he wins he can at least say, oh, well I tried, I said I didn’t need another.

Gross.

Bigelow and Boal are total class acts talking to Rachel who has of late gotten into the Oscar race (she interviewed Quentin Tarantino recently.)  Rachel said that she “didn’t expect to like the film as much as she did” and I think that is a very consistent feeling that I get from lots of people.  People do shy away from war films (especially ones about Iraq) but this one just feels different and that’s the reason why it is resonating for so long.  It’s just that good.

This Oscar race is way tighter in the best picture and best director categories than expected.  It’s going to be a nail biter all the way to March 7th.

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Yesterday, 121 Oscar nominees gathered to celebrate themselves and get their marching order for the show (speeches can only be 45 seconds.)

Anne Thompson has a report from the event.

How fun would it have been to be in that room where Tom Sherak the head of the Academy said to the nominees that “everyone is equal.”

Here’s the 2010 class picture

In  case you care- Kathryn Bigelow is in white on second row third in from the right side between Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner.

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?!

Continue reading ‘Oscar Campaigning’