Post Oscar Re-Cap

Ok, so here’s my 2 cents on this year’s Academy Awards.  First off I’m thrilled that Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton won!  I was really rooting for both of them, but I thought that Julie Christie and Cate Blanchett would win.  I was thrilled with the way it turned out!  While the Bardem and Day-Lewis wins were expected, I was still satisfied to see their excellent work rewarded.  I was also happy for the Coen Brothers.  I have always been a huge fan of theirs.

I notice that there seems to be a big backlash against JUNO writer Diablo Cody, but I’m glad she won.  I think perhaps she has been overexposed in the press and maybe that’s why people are now having a negative reaction to her.  There also may be many jealous people out there who resent her for having such quick success.  Jealously is pretty rampant in Hollywood.  I am not one of the haters though.  I thought the screenplay was great and I loved JUNO.  I’m glad she won.  Nuff said.  I’m also glad to see so many female screenwriters being nominated this year. 

I literally cheered when TAXI TO THE DARK side won the Best Documentary award.  I saw it opening night and I was so affected by it that I couldn’t sleep.  The film really stayed with me and I’m hoping the award will help the film to get wider distribution.  TAXI is a brutal and heartbreaking film, but really deserves to be seen.

I enjoyed the tribute to legendary production designer Robert Boyle.  That man has lived an incredible life.  I wish I could meet him and hear his stories.  I bet he has a million amazing tales from his life and times here in Hollywood.

Here are also some interesting Oscar facts:

-All four acting winners were from overseas: Marion Cotillard (France), Daniel Day-Lewis (England), Tilda Swinton (England) and Javier Bardem (Spain.) This is apparently only the second foreign sweep in Oscar history.  The first one was in 1964, when Brits Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Russian Lila Kedrova swept the acting awards.

-Marion Cotillard is only the second actress to ever win an Academy Award for a foreign language performance.  The first was Sophia Loren who took Best Actress in 1961 for TWO WOMEN.

-Marion Cotillard is only the third French woman to win an Academy Award.  The other two are Juliette Binoche in THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996) and Simone Signoret in ROOM AT THE TOP (1959).  Both Binoche and Signoret won for English speaking performances.  Signoret was also nominated for SHIP OF FOOLS (1965).  Other French actresses to receive nominations include Marie-Christine Barrault for COUSIN, COUSINE (1976), Anouk Aimee for A MAN AND A WOMAN (1966) and Isabelle Adjani for THE STORY OF ADELE H. (1975) and CAMILLE CLAUDEL (1989). 

-Daniel Day-Lewis won his first Academy Award for MY LEFT FOOT (1989).

Overall, I enjoyed the Academy Awards but I tend to agree with LA Times columnist Patrick Goldstein that the show is in serious need of re-invention. The problem is that almost every year the ratings come out and are usually very low.  I think the only year in recent memory they were high was in 1997 when TITANIC won several awards.  Typically the studios don’t make prestige or artistically challenging films that win awards.  They make movies that generate millions of dollars and sell popcorn like TRANSFORMERS and NORBIT, etc.  The more daring fare is usually from the mini-majors.  Sometimes artistic excellence and huge box office go hand in hand...but often that is not the case.  I also think that many people lose interest in the Oscar telecast simply because there are so many award shows all at the same time of year.

In 2006 the Academy had a Centennial celebration of Janet Gaynor, the very first Best Actress Academy Award winner.  As part of the tribute, they showed a later in life interview with Gaynor.  They asked her about her Best Actress win.  She said that first year was a very simple and tame event.  She said that the winners were informed well in advance and that the event was a very casual.  There was no hype or hoopla.  It was casual.  I even found a photo to back this up.  Douglas Fairbanks isn’t even wearing a tuxedo!  Janet Gaynor is wearing very simple 1920s style day wear.  Quite a far cry from the red carpet glamour we have today.

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