Oscar nominees furious about exclusion from telecast
By Tribute on February 14, 2019 | 11 Comments
The Oscars just can’t seem to catch a break with this year’s show. On Monday, Academy president John Bailey informed the membership via email of the plan to have four Oscars presented during commercial breaks at the upcoming awards show.
Those four categories include Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Make up and Hairstyling. The aim of this decision is to trim the running time of the show and keep it as close as possible to a brisk three hours.
Filmmakers and leading craftspeople in the industry overwhelmingly decried the decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Director Alfonso Cuarón, whose film Roma is up for an Oscar in Cinematography tweeted his discontent in regards to the decision: “In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtograpy and without editing.”
In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing.
— Alfonso Cuaron (@alfonsocuaron) February 12, 2019
Guillermo del Toro, last year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, expressed his disappointment, tweeting out his initial thoughts before amending them with this revised version, “Reposting, revised: I would not presume to suggest what categories should occur during commercials on Oscars night, but please: Cinematography & Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical or literary tradition, they are cinema itself.”
Reposting, revised: I would not presume to suggest what categories should occur during commercials on Oscars night, but, please: Cinematography & Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical or literary tradition: they are cinema itself.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 13, 2019
Others offered a blunter take on the decision, such as Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, who simply tweeted, “The Academy is removing cinematography, editing and make up from the televised show? This is just such a fundamentally stupid decision, I’m not even going to be bothered trying to be a smart arse about it. It’s just too f***ing dumb for words.”
Adding salt to the wound was that the announcement came from John Bailey, a cinematographer by trade and part of the Academy’s cinematography branch as well as a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
The decision is just the latest in a series of choices that have seen huge blowback, including scrapped plans to introduce a popular film category, an abandoned move to keep Best Song nominees from performing during the broadcast, and the decision to name Kevin Hart as host before he ultimately stepped down after incurring controversy surrounding past homophobic tweets and jokes. ~Paolo Maquiraya
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Who is this Oscar they’re talking about?
I can understand why they would choose those ones…the people watching the oscars on tv are interested in the awards like: who wrote it, who starred in it, who directed it…that kinda thing. Not that those other categories aren’t important, but how many people can sit and name who the cinematographer was on a movie? But I bet those same people could tell you who the stars were, and maybe even the director…
Sandie………..EXACTLY!! I totally agree with you. And at the end of the movie, how many people do you see still sitting there reading all the credits at the end of it??? Fact is — nobody gives a toss — other than their friends & family perhaps.
These awards are supposed to be about excellence in film — not about music or popularity. This decision is wrong. The same misguided thought process is turning the Superbowl from a football game to a rock concert / advertising spectacle.
George I agree 100%.
Sandie, I sit and watch the closing credits.
I may not be able to name the cinematographer but I can tell you the movie that won for that category.
An excellent movie is the sum of its parts.
Without Cinematography and Editing there is no movie, period! That’s how important it is. Like thousands of other viewers, I may not remember the names of the winners at the end of the show but I will surely sit through it and applaud the winners. Praying good sense will prevail.
Everybody both at home and in Hollywood should boycott the awards this year to show their displeasure with this decision. It is totally asinine that they would even think to cut categories yet try to bring in others. There are many friends and family at home of the involved film making process who want to see their loved ones on the screen once a year, not just read about it the next day – if it is even going to be reported there, too. It is not every year you get nominated so it is a big deal to a lot of people.
I think this is absolutely idiotic. They may as well put all the awards during the commercials then and have a bunch of nonsense un between. Or just cancel the show entirely because it’s obviously not about awards but about the popular awards. Smh
A good movie would be nothing without great cinematography and editing. Those who make a live action short do put effort into the final product; why ignore them? Hair-styling and make-up are important also. I agree 4 hours is too long for the show. Maybe without a host and a long drawn out opining it can be shorter. Don’t need gimmicks. Cut out the fluff but leave the categories alone.
I think it is a bad idea to eliminate those categories. I am interested in all of those areas. I don’t know what the big rush is to cut down on the time. The Oscars happens once a year and I’m happy to sit through them. 3 hours or 4 hours. Whatever.
I am on the fence with this one. I can appreciate the importance of these categories, but I am so tired of hearing the winners thank everyone they worked with on the film. I realize they don’t win these awards themselves and they are part of a huge team. But it’s so boring!!! I usually mute the sound and watch something else on my Ipad.