With just one day to go before the 94th Oscars telecast Sunday, the feelings of “anger” and “disrespect” over the Academy’s announcement that eight categories would not be presented live during the broadcast hasn’t subsided, nor has a sense of what some describe as a lack of transparency. The Academy continues to stand by its controversial decision, but even when the curtain closes on Oscar night, it’s likely that the internal strife isn’t going to be over.
The plan is to present eight awards — documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short and sound — starting at 4 p.m. PT on Sunday, prior to the live telecast of the Oscars, which begins at 5 p.m., with edited versions of those categories played as part of the broadcast. The Academy has said there would be a seated audience for the presentation though the red carpet is expected to run until 4:45 or 4:50 pm.
Outside of Academy leadership, the decision has been met with wide criticism. Academy members, among them Steven Spielberg and Guillermo de Toro, have spoken out against the plan. Statements were made by roughly 10 societies and guilds. Multiple petitions have been signed. Some have talked about showing disapproval Sunday by wearing their Academy or Guild pins upside down.
As first reported in The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar winning sound vet Tom Fleishman resigned his Academy membership over the decision and four-time sound mixing nominee Peter Kurland says he intends to step down, while two other recent Academy Award winners told THR that they were considering similar moves.
The Academy has stuck to its message. Just Thursday during a press conference, Oscars producer Will Packer asserted, “These are the people that we work with and people that we love. And we want to make sure that everybody has their moment on this show, and is handled with the same reverence and elegance that you’ve come to expect with the Oscars. And so one of the misconceptions is that things are being taken off the show and that’s not the case. It’s not.”
Several nominees in the affected branches say they have heard from Academy president David Rubin or CEO Dawn Hudson since the decision was made, but their words rang hollow.
As all of this occurs, Academy members in various affected branches tell THR that there’s been a deafening silence from one key group: Their Academy Branch Governors. Members of at least three such branches, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say that, amid the outcry, they have not received any formal communication from their Branch representatives since the announcement was made. Which begs the question, Why?
Several Academy members who spoke with THR say the Governors were effectively pressured to maintain their silence. “The anger is still there. And frustration that their own Governors have not been able to speak out,” one Academy member told THR this week.
Sources also say that the decision within the Academy was made by a small group from its leadership and its Awards Committee, and many Governors learned of it shortly before or at the same time as the announcement was made on Feb. 22. “Many feel we have a rogue leadership,” said one Academy member.
The telecast decision was made with ABC, which is the broadcast rights holder through 2028, and the source of the majority of the Academy’s annual revenue (The Oscars brings the Academy an annual licensing fee of about $100 million-plus a piece of the advertising revenue, sources say.) The move followed the lowest-rated Oscars telecast ever — and a most unconventional one, as due to COVID, the awards were handed out in a scaled-down event at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles rather than amid a lavish ceremony at the Dolby.
Oscar winner Bill Corso, a governor from the makeup artists and hairstylists (one of the affected categories) branch and a member of the awards committee, says that he participated when the governors were told about the change just prior to the announcement but he described the meeting as “positive.” He said, “There were a couple of concerns, but nobody was banging their fist on the table. … It was understood that changes had to be made and this was a respectful way to do it.
“We are trying to make the best possible choice for the artists and the awards presentation,” he says, noting that that includes “celebrating the work” while also making the show “more entertaining.”
On March 1, music branch governor Laura Karpman wrote on social media: “I am shocked that the officers of the Academy denied the Board of Governors the opportunity to vote and participate in the decision to exclude the music branch in the live broadcast. This is literally a wound in the heart of the music community. Thank you to the many members of the music branch who have spoken out. I hear you loud and clear. I stand with you.”
Come Monday, the next phase begins. This summer, the Academy will elect a new president, as Rubin has termed out. The Academy also will seek a new CEO to replace outgoing Hudson. “There is so much ill will,” said one Academy member. “Something is going to have to change.”
Source: Hollywood
