Chastened Oscars producers crumble before the power of Big Cinematography, Makeup, and Hairstyling
The nice thing about the current state of the Academy Awards is that it opens up a whole new set of betting pools for Oscars fanatics; specifically, those hoping to predict exactly when, and how, the Academy will fold in the face of its next, big, inevitable controversy. Congratulations to anybody who had “Friday, February 15th at 5:00 p.m.” and “abjectly” in regards to the organization’s recent decision to run some of the show’s awards during bathroom breaks in the annual telecast this year: You’re our big winners tonight.
The Academy has been picking up increasing flack over the last week or so about the decision, which would have seen the awards for Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling all get shunted to—to put it diplomatically—Shitter Town in favor of giving viewers a shorter Oscars broadcast. No attempt to mollify the growing hordes—including promises that the skipped categories would rotate annually, or that the presentations would be showed in taped form later in the evening—seemed to quiet the revolt. Once you’ve got Marty Scorsese baying for your blood, the jig is pretty much up.
Per THR, the Academy officially relented tonight, prostrating itself before the power of Big Cinematography. “All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format,” they said in a short statement. “We look forward to Oscar Sunday, February 24.”
Hundreds of Hollywood luminaries, including directors, actors, and producers, all joined the protest against the decision, which was seen as disrespectful to several branches of the film-making industry that do indispensable work making the movies we love, while receiving relatively little in the way of credit. Other protesters included Alfonso Cuaron, Spike Lee, Bradley Copper, Glenn Close, Emma Stone, and many more, all of whom came together to kick Oscar’s ass yet again.
The Oscars air this year on ABC on Sunday, February 24. Per usual, they will last approximately 8 million years.