Over the past two days RopeofSilicon writers Laremy Legel and Andre Rivas debated on how to make the Oscars better. Of course the two weren’t able to agree on much of anything other than the system needs fixing. Based on a recent article at Slate I have found the one thing that really needs fixing… THE VOTERS NEED TO VOTE! Check out this clip from the article:
The [Best Picture] field seems to have left a number of academy voters feeling dispirited. One director said he stared at the ballot and considered leaving the best picture category blank. Then he gave Clint a tribute vote. A publicist told us he did not check favorites in a couple of major categories for the first time in his years of voting. “I just said, ‘Fuck it, I don’t like any of ’em,’ ” he explained.
The article goes on to say that the “most passionate feelings in this respect are reserved for The Departed (certain voters say Scorsese would be rewarded for his weakest film in years) and Babel (certain voters say this movie is a wank).”
Personally I love The Departed, but I do agree, in the world of Oscar it is one of Scorsese’s weaker films. As for Babel, I guess wank is a good word, but I think a better discription would be, “an unrelenting trip into depression that never gets happy and ultimately ends with a fully naked daughter hugging her father on their balcony in Japan.” Yeah, you wanna see it now don’t you.
Then the speculation begins as to who will win Best Picture.
The Departed had an amazing cast, but only Mark Wahlberg was nominated for acting—a bad sign, given the clout of actors in the voting. Little Miss Sunshine had no nominations for director or editor. Bad sign. Letters From Iwo Jima was snubbed in all the earlier awards, and it has grossed about $11 million so far.
In fact, here are the numbers:
- Babel – $33,312,919
- The Departed – $131,561,693
- Letters from Iwo Jima – $12,013,291
- Little Miss Sunshine – $59,763,253
- The Queen – $51,618,000
These are the domestic numbers of course, but I will say it would be phenomenal if Letters from Iwo Jima took home the top prize and only brought in $12 million at the box-office. Oh yeah, and how about that Little Children? Here is a film that made it into 115 theaters total, made $4.9 mil and was rewarded with three Oscar noms. Wowsers, smells like a few extra DVD sales right there. No, it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, but I wouldn’t count on the viewing public cheering for that one on Sunday.
Now, if you really wanted to break down the Best Picture category the boys at FilmJerk really dug deep and evaluated the nominees in several distinctions.
The FilmJerk Breakdowns:
- As long as you’re not the lowest grossing nominee at the time of the nominations, you’ve won 28 of 28 times (100%). Advantage: Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
- Best Picture winners have had a nominated director 27 of 28 times (96.43%). Advantage: Babel, The Departed, Letter from Iwo Jima, The Queen
- Best Picture winners have had a nominated screenplay 27 of 28 times (96.43%). Advantage: All nominees (and thus will not be factored into the percentages this year)
- Best Picture winners have also been nominated for Best Editing 27 of 28 times (96.43%). Advantage: Babel, The Departed
- Best Picture winners have had at least one acting nomination 25 of 28 times (89.29%). Advantage: Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
- The director of the Best Picture winner has also won the DGA Award 45 of 58 times (77.59%). Advantage: The Departed
- Stories not predominantly set in the present have won 20 of 28 times (71.43%). Advantage: Letters from Iwo Jima
- The picture with the most nominations has gone on to win Best Picture 53 of 78 (67.95%) times. Advantage: None, since the most nominated film this year is not up for Best Picture (and thus will not be factored into the percentages this year)
- The Best Picture winner has also won the PGA Golden Laurel 11 of the 17 times the latter award has been presented (64.71%). Advantage: Little Miss Sunshine
- The Best Picture winner has come from a movie released after October 1st 18 of 28 times (64.29%). Advantage: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima
- Pictures that have received the Golden Globe for drama have won 18 of 28 times (64.29%). Advantage: Babel
- Pictures based on an adapted screenplay have won 16 of 28 times (57.14%). Advantage: The Departed
- Pictures that feature the director as one of the producer have won 13 of 28 times (46.43%). Disadvantage: Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima
- The winner of the SAG Ensemble Acting Award has won 5 of 11 times (45.45%) Disadvantage: Little Miss Sunshine
If you cared to read all of that you probably don’t want to hear what one publicist told Slate but if you do, “These are five movies that will be largely forgotten. Other than maybe The Departed, as a cable staple.” Forgotten? Damn. Then again, I haven’t wanted to watch Crash since I saw it the first time and the second time I watched Brokeback Mountain I fell asleep after 3 separate tries.
Blank ballots and tight races at the top despite Whitaker and Mirren’s locks might have us viewing an upset, there always is one.
In 2006 the upset was Crash taking Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain. In 2005 it was Million Dollar Baby taking Best Picture and Director out of the hands of Scorsese and The Aviator. In 2003 it was American fugitive Roman Polanski nabbing Best Director over the likes of Scorsese and Rob Marshall. In 1999 Gwyneth Paltrow took hom gold for Shakespeare in Love and Cate Blancett went home empty handed. So, what will be 2007’s upset winner?
We’ll have to wait and see, but if Scorsese loses that Director nod there might actually be an all out Hollywood riot involving a catfight between dames in gowns and blokes in tuxes. I really want to see it and my fingers are crossed.
Stay up-to-date at all times with everything Oscar at RopeofSilicon’s official Oscars 2007 page.
