2017 Academy Award Nominations Thread (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

From Deadline.

How could this happen? This is the thinking: Price Waterhouse has two envelopes (two copies) for every winner. So when they handed the envelope to presenters they opened that for Emma Stone for Best Actress rather than the envelope for Best Picture. That’s why Beatty sputtered and was confused wondering what was going on. This has happened before, according to our colleague Pete Hammond, back in 1964 when Sammy Davis, Jr. also got the wrong envelope for the two music categories.

 

[Tino]

FUBAR

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Just finished watching on a DVR delay. My only real prediction before the show was that I expected the Academy to split the Best Picture/Best Director awards. I kinda thought the split would have been the other way around.

 

[David Weicker]

Part of the problem is the way the show is paced.

People are so concerned about 'running over', that all the time wasting bits are early, and big awards are rushed.

If they weren't clock watching, then the major envelopes get double-checked

Personally, I think of this like the Super Bowl, and it should get a 4-4.5 hour slot. Give as much time to the big awards as given to the early awards. If a sports event is allowed to be long, so should the biggest film event.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Still a bit stuck on the fact that Suicide Squad is an Academy Award-winning motion picture, to be honest.

 

[Edwin-S]

Part of the problem is the way the show is paced.

People are so concerned about 'running over', that all the time wasting bits are early, and big awards are rushed.

If they weren't clock watching, then the major envelopes get double-checked

Personally, I think of this like the Super Bowl, and it should get a 4-4.5 hour slot. Give as much time to the big awards as given to the early awards. If a sports event is allowed to be long, so should the biggest film event.

The difference is watching a football game for 4 hours can be exciting due to the constant action and movement. A 4 to 4.5 hour award show would be excruciating to watch.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Still a bit stuck on the fact that Suicide Squad is an Academy Award-winning motion picture, to be honest.

I thought the makeup in Star Trek Beyond was better.

Also think it's funny that the Razzie went to Batman V Superman when Suicide Squad was easily the inferior of the two. The extended BvS is actually kinda almost a good movie, which is more than can be said about any version of SS.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Part of the problem is the way the show is paced.

People are so concerned about 'running over', that all the time wasting bits are early, and big awards are rushed.

If they weren't clock watching, then the major envelopes get double-checked

Personally, I think of this like the Super Bowl, and it should get a 4-4.5 hour slot. Give as much time to the big awards as given to the early awards. If a sports event is allowed to be long, so should the biggest film event.

More than any particular target on the running time, I get really annoyed when they start playing people off, particularly when it's the quick hook. They don't even do it consistently - more famous winners seem to get way more leeway than lesser known people or categories. If more than one person wins, I feel strongly that each winner should have a chance to speak (if they want to), and there were many times tonight and in years past where it was clearly obvious that not all people sharing the award were even allowed to speak. In the end, if everyone who looked like they were about to speak but got the hook before they could open their mouths was allowed to speak, and if everyone who was cut off was allowed to finish - how much would that really add? Five extra minutes? Ten extra minutes? Winning an Oscar is the highest honor for people in this profession, and one that many people won't get a second chance at - let them have their extra ten seconds.

If they need to cut something, trim the skits, cut the montages from previous movies from previous years, cut Seth Rogan watching Back To The Future (no offense meant to actor or film, I'm a fan of both - but there was no reason for that bit to have been in the show). Cut the extra minutes the In Memorium song went on after the montages were over - again, nothing against the singer personally, but she's not an Oscar nominee this year and there was no reason to make her appear more prominently than the people being honored in that segment.

There are plenty of places to trim from, but it seems that the first place they always start is with the speeches. I can see montages of my favorite movies anytime; seeing the winners first reacting to their wins is something that can only happen in that moment. Don't shortchange the live moments for the sake of running more pretaped crap.

And yeah, put the Lifetime Achievement Award back in the show. It doesn't seem like much of an honor if the recipient isn't even granted a chance to accept the award in a meaningful way.

 

[Mark Booth]

FUBAR

No, it was still recognizable.

I bet this is the last time the Academy lets a couple of septuagenarians announce the most important award of the night. It's not Beatty and Dunaway's fault, but I think most presenters would have realized there was something wrong (which Beatty and Dunaway apparently did) and NOT announce it until checking with someone. I think this is truly a case where age was an issue.

Mark

 

[Josh Steinberg]

In all of the years I've watched the Oscars, let's say at least 20, I've never once seen a presenter say "I don't think this is the right card, can someone check this?" - which is not to say that it's never happened, either on-camera or off. But the fact that I can't remember any examples of that suggests to me that it's extremely infrequent. And if it's that infrequent, it means they've probably never rehearsed what to do when that happens. They always make a big deal of highlighting the work of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in tabulating the winners and the secrecy of the envelopes - they often mention it during the broadcast itself.

I expect the Academy to mention that the envelopes got mixed up, point some general blame to backstage chaos in general and PWC specifically but gently, and next year, they'll probably have an extra envelope double checker before the awards, and extra preshow coaching for the presenters.

But I don't think they'll stop asking Hollywood legends to present the big awards. I don't think age is the issue. I think the issue is that they've got all these plans for what to do if the envelope is lost (having a double for each, having the PWC rep on site memorize the winners in advance) but probably no plan for a simple mixup. With all the pressure to come in on time and keep the show moving, there was no mechanism rehearsed or available that would have allowed any presenter to stop and confer due to any confusion without making it obvious that they didn't think something was right. I just think it's more of a hubristic mistake, not imagining it could ever happen, therefore not working out a plan.

I think everyone onstage was as classy as possible given the circumstances.

 

[Bryan^H]

Ok. Here are my picks in all 24 categories on who I think will win tonight at the Oscars.

Best Picture....La La Land
Best Director...Damien Chazelle
Best Actress....Emma Stone
Best Actor.......Denzel Washington
Best Supporting Actor...Mahershala Ali
Best Supporting Actress....Viola Davis
Best Animated Film....Zootopia
Best Editing....La La Land
Best Cinematography....La La Land
Best Original Screenplay.....Manchester By The Sea
Best Adapted Screenplay.....Moonlight
Best Score....La La Land
Best Song....City Of Stars..LLL
Best Costume Design....La La Land
Best Sound Mixing...La La Land
Best Sound Editing....Hacksaw Ridge
Best Visual Effects.....The Jungle Book
Best Makeup....Star Trek Beyond
Best Production Design....La La Land
Best Foreign Language Film.....The Salesman
Best Documentary Feature....O.J. Made In America
Best Documentary Short....Joes Violin
Best Animated Short.....Piper
Best Live Action Short.....Ennimis Interieurs

Another prediction....I'm gonna do pretty bad this year. Lots of potential for upsets in many categories.

My best score was 22/24 a few years ago. I'll be happy with 17/24. Should be a GREAT show.

Anyone else?

I really thought Denzel would win best actor too. Awesome performance, but Casey Affleck winning was fine too.

 

[Bryan^H]

As for Moonlight winning best picture, even though I disliked the movie(I could hardly sit through it once, And will never watch it again) I can't deny the the acting was stellar, and great direction.

Oh well, it isn't the first time I have disagreed with the choice for best picture.

 

[Robert Crawford]

As for Moonlight winning best picture, even though I disliked the movie(I could hardly sit through it once, And will never watch it again) I can't deny the the acting was stellar, and great direction.

Oh well, it isn't the first time I have disagreed with the choice for best picture.

And it won't be your last time either.

For the most part, I don't place much credence into these award shows. Too much industry politics which has always been the case, but at my age, I don't have much tolerance for it any longer. The final straw for me was Saving Private Ryan not winning the Best Picture.

 

[Adam_S]

Still stunned. I was tallying my wife and mys scorecards when she said you better watch this, and I started paying attention.
.

 

[Alan Tully]

He-he, there's a lesson there. Whatever is being done, no matter how careful everyone is...mistakes will happen.

 

[Tino]

Update on the mixup from Deadline.

UPDATE with PricewaterhouseCoopers statement: The Best Picture gaffe that marred tonight’s Oscar broadcast was caused by a doppelganger Best Actress envelope mistaken for the night’s final prize, which caused the unprecedented screw-up that temporarily bestowed the top trophy to La La Land instead of rightful winner Moonlight. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed just now that the fault was theirs:


"We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation."

http://deadline.com/2017/02/oscar-best-picture-screwup-the-real-story-1202009744/

 

[Matt Hough]

The envelope mix-up happened on the Tony Awards once, too. Anthony Quinn was announcing Best Book of a Musical and was given the envelope for Best Play and he read what the card said without thinking the name he was reading wasn't in the list of nominees he had just read (Neil Simon won that year. Later, when Best Play was given, Simon on accepting quipped, "Did anything happen earlier? I was in the bathroom.").

 

[Tino]

No, it was still recognizable.

I bet this is the last time the Academy lets a couple of septuagenarians announce the most important award of the night. It's not Beatty and Dunaway's fault, but I think most presenters would have realized there was something wrong (which Beatty and Dunaway apparently did) and NOT announce it until checking with someone. I think this is truly a case where age was an issue.

Mark

Beatty knew something was amiss. That was obvious. All he did was show the envelope to Dunaway who probably saw the words "La La Land" and blurted it out.

I agree that unfortunately Age was the issue here.

 

[TravisR]

In all of the years I've watched the Oscars, let's say at least 20, I've never once seen a presenter say "I don't think this is the right card, can someone check this?" - which is not to say that it's never happened, either on-camera or off.

Yeah, the presenters only job is to read the name. They trust that someone else has done their job in making sure that the card was right.

 

[Tino]

It was a terribly sad moment for all.

The presenters made to look foolish by Price Waterhouse Cooper's flub.

The La La Land team thinking they won and eventually realizing they didn't after many said their speeches. Just look at Damien Chazelles face on stage.

And the Moonlight team that was unfairly denied to celebrate their win normally but instead awkwardly told by a LLL producer they won during the chaos on stage (however I'm sure they cheered up pretty quickly [emoji16]).