Awards Aftermath - Part 2

[Lyle (Mooska)]

As a humorous aside: Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher, he had a segment where
he proclaimed that now that The Shape of Water has won Best Picture, Hollywood is going
to jump on the bandwagon and start making lots of movies about interspecies relationships.
He then showed mock up posters for these films, one of which was:  Jake Gyllenhaal starring
in Brokeback Mountain Lion.

I tried to find a photo of that poster or a clip of the segment, but no luck so far.

[B.W.]

This is an article from about a year ago, I'd never seen before, and surely wasn't looking for it:

How Crash Crashed The Oscars
An oral history of a Best Picture shocker.
by Stacey Wilson Hunt

http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/crash-oscar-best-picture-oral-history-c-v-r.html

Preface: In 2006, Crash, a contemporary film about racism made on a $6 million budget, shocked Hollywood, and its own creators, when it won Best Picture at the Oscars — the result of a prescient producing team, a famously canny awards campaign, and an unanticipated flood of support for this apparent underdog to the heavy favorite, Brokeback Mountain. The story of how Crash upended the industry — and changed how Oscar campaigns are waged — is best told by co-writer–director Paul Haggis and the industry players who experienced the film’s journey from a cast-aside TV concept to perhaps the most surprising Best Picture winner of all time. (Someone in the comments wrote: "And not in a good way.")

__________________

AND "WHAT" YOU SAY?  Heath Ledger was going to be in CRASH?

I'd never heard this, the most startling thing in this article:

HAGGIS: Thandie Newton was the second actor I sent it to and she said yes. Others said, “Yeah, I’m not gonna do this,” and ran away. I also lost a lot of actors because it kept getting pushed back. John Cusack wanted to play the Matt Dillon role, Heath Ledger was going play the Ryan Phillippe role; Forest Whitaker was actually locked in to play Terrence Howard’s role but dropped out. And Brendan Fraser was the last one cast, as the district attorney. He essentially green-lit the movie.

YARI: When Heath left the movie, we dropped in foreign value a little bit, which brought the budget down to around $6.5 million.

AND PROVING PAUL HAGGIS STILL DOESN'T GET IT, BUT ANNIE PROULX DOES:

HAGGIS: A few days after the Oscars, Annie Proulx wrote a piece in The Guardian newspaper complaining about Brokeback not winning Best Picture. Million Dollar Baby had won every single award the previous year except my category, Best Adapted Screenplay, and you didn’t see me trashing Sideways. I thought it was all in quite poor taste. And then the theory came out that the Academy was homophobic and that’s why Brokeback didn’t win. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. There were two films that year, Brokeback and Capote, that had gay protagonists. How could they even get nominated if voters hated gay people?

[Editor’s note: Proulx’s rep sent along this statement: “Annie won’t be able to talk to you, but all I can say is that Crash might have won the Academy Award but Brokeback Mountain is the film that has endured.”]

__________

Jezebel did a teaser article about the above article that has some amusement:
https://jezebel.com/the-oral-history-of-crash-is-so-much-better-than-the-mo-1789693637

I have only seen brief excerpts of certain scenes from "Capote" (2005), but I cannot imagine that causing as much discomfort for Academy Award voters as much as a theatrical film that tells the story of a secret 20-year romantic and sexual relationship between two men who have to pretend to lead the lives of married heterosexual men because of society's prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory practices might have.  I have no problem with persons who liked Paul Haggis' "Crash" (2004) over "Brokeback Mountain" (2005), not even Academy Award voters.  There were some members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2006 that refused to watch "Brokeback Mountain" because of its subject matter, such persons include Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine among others.  Personally, I don't believe that Hollywood or the film industry is as "liberal" of a place as what many politically conservative, socially conservative and religiously fundamentalist persons say.

[B.W.]

Let it be known that a romantic love story between two men was shunned for Best Picture by the Academy in 2006,
but that last Sunday AMPAS has awarded Best Picture to an inter-speices romance between a deaf woman and a fish.

I think that what you say about "Brokeback Mountain" is true, however, I might like to see "The Shape of Water" (2017) someday.  When Disney's animated theatrical film version of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture in 1992 during the film's original theatrical release, where was all the fuss about how that film "promoted bestiality"?  By the way, I always enjoy watching Disney's animated version of "Beauty and the Beast", to me it is just a really great film.  I doubt that "The Shape of Water" (2017) "promotes bestiality", but I can imagine some people making that claim.

[gattaca]

^^^^ The religious wingnuts see what they want to see.

Yeah there is implied sexuality in TSoW.  Both characters sincerely connected on a emotional and mental level. Who's to say they were not physically compatible?  Who's to say it/he/? was a beast?  It's in the eye of the beholder.   
OK now that you mention that, I do remember her making a jesture I think.  I didn't know about the actual production of one! V.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

It's more than implied, the two have sex together. Someone even asks her what his penis looks like
and she gestures about what it looks like. A company even came out with one you can buy.
 

[B.W.]

I liked hearing all your reviews!  I so agree about 45 years, but don't
feel like going on about it now, heh!

I put all my picks as to who might win in the movie thread, but I'll put
my choices IF I WAS VOTING here:

Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Director: The Big Short
Best Actor: Bryan Cranston
Best Actress: Brie Larson
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet

This is the TENTH Oscars since Brokeback Mountain, can you believe it?

My choices for 2005 were so much easier:

Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain
Best Director: Ang Lee
Best Actor: Heath Ledger
Best Actress: who cares
Best Supporting Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal
Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams

LOL at the Best Actress, who cares comment.  I wish that "Brokeback Mountain" would have won all eight of its Oscar nominations and would have been nominated for more than just those eight.

[B.W.]

I heard that "Brokeback Mountain" (2005) was selected for preservation by being included in the United States National Film Registry list by the Library of Congress.  I believe that it in the most recent theatrical film to be included in the Registry.  Finally, I was wondering when it would be included in the Registry.

[gattaca]

^^^^ Yes it has been -> https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-brokeback-mountain-jurassic-park-national-film-registry-20181212-story.html

[Lyle (Mooska)]

YES!

Really, this is quite remarkable. It was eligible after ten years and I'm pretty sure only two films made
the list when they were first eligible. This is only three years later!

BRAVO!

This is the entire list.
It's a great list overall this year, IMO!

Here's the whole list:

Films Selected for the 2018 National Film Registry
(alphabetical order)

    Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
    Broadcast News (1987)
    Brokeback Mountain (2005)
    Cinderella (1950)
    Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
    Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)
    Eve’s Bayou (1997)
    The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
    Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984)
    Hearts and Minds (1974)
    Hud (1963)
    The Informer (1935)
    Jurassic Park (1993)
    The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
    Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
    Monterey Pop (1968)
    My Fair Lady (1964)
    The Navigator (1924)
    On the Town (1949)
    One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
    Pickup on South Street (1953)
    Rebecca (1940)
    The Shining (1980)
    Smoke Signals (1998)
    Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)

And the official announcement on the National Film Registry site.

The National Film Registry Turns 30!
'Brokeback Mountain,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'My Fair Lady' Among the Titles Added

https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-144/library-of-congress-national-film-registry-turns-30/2018-12-12/

"Two contemporary Western dramas headline this year’s list: the 1961 “One-Eyed Jacks,” Marlon Brando’s only directorial endeavor, and Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed “Brokeback Mountain.” Released in 2005, “Brokeback Mountain” also has the distinction of becoming the newest film on the registry while the 1891 “Newark Athlete” is the oldest."

THANKS to all here who submitted nominations to the National Film Registry the past three years!

[ingmarnicebbmt]

Great - "Broadcast News" too!

I really like that movie.

[heavenonearth]

YES!

Really, this is quite remarkable. It was eligible after ten years and I'm pretty sure only two films made
the list when they were first eligible. This is only three years later!

BRAVO!

This is the entire list.
It's a great list overall this year, IMO!

Here's the whole list:

Films Selected for the 2018 National Film Registry
(alphabetical order)

    Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
    Broadcast News (1987)
    Brokeback Mountain (2005)
    Cinderella (1950)
    Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
    Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)
    Eve’s Bayou (1997)
    The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
    Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984)
    Hearts and Minds (1974)
    Hud (1963)
    The Informer (1935)
    Jurassic Park (1993)
    The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
    Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
    Monterey Pop (1968)
    My Fair Lady (1964)
    The Navigator (1924)
    On the Town (1949)
    One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
    Pickup on South Street (1953)
    Rebecca (1940)
    The Shining (1980)
    Smoke Signals (1998)
    Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)

And the official announcement on the National Film Registry site.

The National Film Registry Turns 30!
'Brokeback Mountain,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'My Fair Lady' Among the Titles Added

https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-144/library-of-congress-national-film-registry-turns-30/2018-12-12/

"Two contemporary Western dramas headline this year’s list: the 1961 “One-Eyed Jacks,” Marlon Brando’s only directorial endeavor, and Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed “Brokeback Mountain.” Released in 2005, “Brokeback Mountain” also has the distinction of becoming the newest film on the registry while the 1891 “Newark Athlete” is the oldest."

THANKS to all here who submitted nominations to the National Film Registry the past three years!

Days of Wine and Roses is a heartbreaking movie. It stays with you.

[ingmarnicebbmt]

The Lady from Shanghai - yay! Love it.

[fritzkep]

I really like Bad Day at Black Rock. It was highly unusual at the time to have a Western set in the present day.

[Sara B]

Oh dear, I think I’ve only seen 6 or 7.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I want to point out that one of my other favorites on this list, Hud, with Paul Newman and Brandon De Wilde and
Oscar winners Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal, is also based on a Larry McMurtry story. IMO, Hud should've won
Best Film that year. It had seven nominations, three acting (won 2), screenplay, directing, cinematography (won)
and art direction, but somehow failed to get a Best Film nomination. Patricia Neal's character is also named Alma!
In the original story Alma was black. That never would've flown at the time it was made.

I like or love all these films on the list:

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Broadcast News (1987)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Cinderella (1950)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Hud (1963)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
My Fair Lady (1964)
On the Town (1949)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Rebecca (1940)
The Shining (1980)
Smoke Signals (1998)

I've also seen:
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
The Informer (1935)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Most of the ones I have not seen are silent films:
Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)
The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984)
Hearts and Minds (1974)
Monterey Pop (1968)
The Navigator (1924)
Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)