The 82nd Academy Awards

Heh. I lean more towards the latter. Apparently this stuff goes on all the time and the whole thing sounded more like slightly over-the-top trash talk than real tampering or anything. Heck, I think it'd be fun if they were all allowed to lobby and badmouth each other, provided nothing of value actually changed hands.

Anyway, voting ends on Tuesday, I believe, so the effect it has (if any) would depend on how many people wait until the last few days to make up their mind, I suppose. I hope Up in the Air or Inglourious Basterds takes it, but I'm still betting on The Hurt Locker.

Thanks for the link, mark.

I hadn't heard anything about it and, while it's all much ado about nothing (and nothing out of the ordinary, IMO) it is against the rules and, therefore, there should be a punishment. Of course, what really needs to happen is to abandon that rule and, as Yoda suggests, let aggressive lobbying be out in the open. It's only what goes on behind closed doors, on the golf course and at the restaurants anyway, but it'll never happen, of course, because it devalues 'the spirit of the Oscars and what they're about'. Yeah, like the best film wins. Hell, the best film's probably not even nominated half the time.

I was also surprised to see all the talk about the accuracy of The Hurt Locker on that link. Who are these idiots who thought that was a realistic representation of what goes on over there and what those guys do? If you have to explain to anyone over the age of 10 that the actions of SSG James are for dramatic purposes only, then they need to be held back a year. If you have to explain it to an adult, then they should be sent back to school, have their vote taken away and sterilized.

The Hurt Locker is a series of set pieces linked with some marginal story that fills the time between the 'exciting/tense bits' and illustrate its main point, which is some people get addicted to the excitement/danger/adrenaline/freedom/whatever that being in a warzone can provide. Personally, I thought it was a little clumsy in its approach to making this point, an approach which, IMO, bottomed out in the scene at the supermarket and the cereal. I'll leave it there so as not to spoil it for someone who hasn't seen it.

I can't wait, and I think Alec and Steve will be fine. Martin has already done it by himself, so I don't know why they chose the duo--maybe to increase ratings. I think they have already made a big change this year with the list of Best Picture nominees, and the idea that more choices means more people will tune in as they will have an interest.

Here's a cool breakdown of what disciplines the Academy Awards voters come from:

For anybody who wondered what that microphone wrangling was about during the acceptance of the Best Documentary Short Oscar last night (from Salon.com)...

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The story behind Oscar's "Kanye moment"
We talk to the two filmmakers whose personal fight
became one of the ceremony's weirdest moments

By Kerry Lauerman



Bigelow vs. Cameron? Streep vs. Bullock? Forget it. The most riveting face-off during Sunday's Oscar ceremony came early: When producer Elinor Burkett wrestled the microphone away from director-producer Roger Ross Williams after their film, "Music by Prudence," won for best documentary short (Mediaite has the video).

What really happened? We reached both shortly after by cell phone, and got both sides of the story. We first reached Burkett – a onetime Salon contributor who spends much of her time in Zimbabwe – as she took a smoking break as the proceedings continued inside:

People are already saying you "pulled a Kanye." What happened?

BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn't invited to any of them. And he's not speaking to me. So we weren't even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I'm sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn't get up there very fast.

Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?

BURKETT: The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence...

And that led to the rift. But didn't you see him at other events to discuss what would happen if you won?

BURKETT: He won't talk to me! This whole week, there have been events thrown by the International Documentary Association, and he hasn't passed any of the invitations on to me.

The movie was my idea. I live in Zimbabwe. Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this. And you know, I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn't going to happen this time.

How do you feel about the final product?

BURKETT: The final product, it's not that it's bad. It's not what I envisioned when I came up with this project. And it's not what we promised the boys in the band. It's just not what we wanted it to be.

About 15 minutes later, Salon reached director-producer Roger Ross Williams by cell phone as he celebrated backstage with family and friends. We asked for his side of the story.

How did that happen?

WILLIAMS: Only one person is allowed to accept the award. I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry -- she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.

But couldn't you decide ahead of time who would speak?

WILLIAMS: That was handled by the publicist for the Academy. I don't know what they told her. The Academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.

You seemed to run up there pretty fast. Didn't you see her coming up the aisle? What did you think was going to happen when she got there?

WILLIAMS: I just expected her to stand there. I had a speech prepared.

She claims she found the movie's story, that she brought it to you.

WILLIAMS: No, not at all. The truth is that she saw the band perform [in Zimbabwe], and told me about that, and then I opened up a dialogue with the [King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities] school and went on my own – which you would've heard about in my speech -- and spent $6,000 going to Africa shooting myself. And when people expressed interest in the film, I asked her to come on board. And then I regretted that decision. Then she sued.

It was quite a tussle. Does this diminish the Oscar at all?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely not. It's such a career achievement, to win an Academy Award. This is what the business is. There are times when there's disagreement and dispute and you always hope that people will rise up to the occasion. It doesn't diminish it. She disowns it and doesn't want any part of the film. I'm so proud of the movie .

OK, did your mother try and block her with her cane?

WILLIAMS: My mother got up to hug me. And my mother is eighty-seven-years-old. She was excited.

What are people saying about it?

They're saying it looked like she pulled a Kanye.

WILLIAMS: She did! She pulled a Kanye. And it's a shame, because this is such positive, happy film.

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/m...udence_burkett
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

The percentage breakdown of how many forum participants correctly predicted the Oscar winners is great, but did anyone get a perfect score? Who were, say, the 10 people with the largest numbers of correct picks?

Remember when Chill Wills tried to boost Academy support for The Alamo (I think he took out some ads in Variety or maybe some LA general newspapers) and the whole thing blew up in his face? Sounds like the Hurt Locker exec was doing something of the same thing, trying to buttonhole Academy members to push his product.

Nope, no perfect scores. I posted some stats about the highest scorers in another thread in the Movie Forums Site Stuff forum, but here's a link to a quick list:

Oscar Picks

Im so offended that The Hurt Locker was even nominated. Well. At least Zoe Saldana got to announce? A crying shame.

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something witty goes here......

Had a quick look at my Oscar picks and I appear to have had some kind of brain kiniption with a couple of my picks. For some reason I voted Avatar best picture and An Education best Adapted screenplay?!?! I don't remember doing that at all (and while I did consider whether they'd give BP Oscar to Avatar, only Precious and UitA were in contention for BAS). Ah well, there's always next year, as they say.

You were offended The Hurt Locker was even nominated? Damn! And I thought I considered it overrated. I'm presuming there's another reason for thinking that. Am I right?

No Yoda. Take some deep breaths. You just clicked on the wrong name. You voted for The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air, respectively, in those categories.

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I know. honeykid was the one saying he's not sure why he voted the way he did.

Yep, twas me. Stupid brain. I also noticed that both 'picks' are at the top while the ones I wanted to pick were at the bottom. Not so bad with the first pick, as it's directly below it, but An Education was the first pick and Precious was the last. God knows what happened there. Had I got those round the right way and taken the 'locks' for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song, I'd have been up at the top. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Gah i made some last minute changes from from ones i'd hoped would win to more likely to actually win, forgot to save it, otherwise would have had higher hit rate.

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I scored 52%, including if memory serves best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best song, best cinematography, and best visual effects, and I've not yet seen a single one of the nominated movies. Simply based my picks on reviews I read (including some in this forum), other awards won, and the Vegas odds on various pictures. I would have had a better percentage of hits if I could have just selected the top awards without having to guesstimate the lesser categories such as best sound, best foreign film, etc., that often are not written up in advance. Who says Hollywood and the Academy aren't predictable? I think they're easier to pick if you don't care who wins--no excess baggage that way.