The 96th Academy Awards

[slowpoked]

7 hours ago, tv echo said:

Oscars Team Tells All: Getting John Cena Naked, Jimmy Kimmel’s Trump Joke and Why Al Pacino Skipped the Best Picture Nominees (EXCLUSIVE)
'Jimmy Kimmel Live' executive producer Molly McNearney and Walt Disney TV alternative head Rob Mills share the behind-the-scenes scoop on how this year's Oscars telecast went down
By Michael Schneider   Mar 11, 2024
https://variety.com/2024/tv/awards/oscars-producers-nude-john-cena-trump-tweet-1235938486/ 

Interesting that they didn’t address Michelle Pfeiffer’s absence. Maybe it’s really Al’s solo? Last year the producers mentioned that Glenn missed the show due to getting Covid.

 

On 3/11/2024 at 4:09 PM, Phebemarie said:

Dame Judi Dench won her Best Supporting Oscar for 5:52 minutes (four scenes) in Shakespeare in Love doing some fairly straightforward work as Queen Elizabeth.  I imagine the only acting challenge for her was wearing the heavy costumes.  I think Da’Vine’s screen time and work were more than award worthy.

Some of the more memorable small screentime supporting work that were nominated were Viola Davis in Doubt (8 minutes) and Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea (11 minutes). I remember Michelle Williams wrecking me while watching that movie. That was definitely an Oscar-worthy winning performance.
 

Incidentally, Michelle lost to Viola Davis (Fences) that year, whose win was considered by some as “fraudulent” since Viola was arguably co-lead alongside Denzel. But she had a much surer shot at Supporting.

See, Oscars itself can be so political! No need to bring in any crazy, outside politics 😂

Edited March 13 by slowpoked

[libgirl2]

These are the kind of politics I can deal with! In the end its all good. 

[NUguy514]

I never thought Viola was a lead in Fences.  I know she won the Lead Actress in a Play Tony for it, but the film really centered on Troy.

[Dirge]

On 3/11/2024 at 4:11 PM, DanaK said:

Choreographer Mandy Moore talks about how the “I’m Just Ken” number came together

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ryan-gosling-62-kens-im-just-ken-oscar-performance-1235849758/

That was so fun to read; thanks for posting it. I love that Ryan thought maybe no one would stand up and dance. He was epic. I loved that Margot did the little hand gesture that the Kens did in the movie, during the lyric "I'm great at doing stuff." I did it myself while I was singing along! 
 

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, Dirge said:

That was so fun to read; thanks for posting it. I love that Ryan thought maybe no one would stand up and dance. He was epic. I loved that Margot did the little hand gesture that the Kens did in the movie, during the lyric "I'm great at doing stuff." I did it myself while I was singing along! 
 

I almost wish they timed it after the Best Supporting Actor Award, that would have been appropriate. But had they done it earlier, they would have just killed it for all the other numbers and that wouldn't have been fair lol

[MicheleinPhilly]

Oh I don't know. That song about Cheetos really brought the house down. /s

[Crashcourse]

15 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

I never thought Viola was a lead in Fences.  I know she won the Lead Actress in a Play Tony for it, but the film really centered on Troy.

I think Viola's awesome snot crying scene put her in the lead category. 😅

[Shannon L.]

I wish they could have kept the I'm Just Ken performance, especially Ryan agreeing to sing, a secret. That would have been a spectacular surprise. But, I know how difficult that would have been, so....

[Hedgehog2022]

20 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Here is my mini-rant about Paul Newman and the Oscars. Although Paul Newman finally won for The Color of Money, he should have won for The Hustler or Cool Hand Luke. 

Back to the topic of this year's ceremony: I'm not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but there's some fascinating behind the scenes stuff about the naked John Cena bit. It starts at 5:19. 

 

Personally, I would have liked Paul Newman to have gotten the Oscar for Best Actor in Slap Shot...best hockey movie ever.

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, Crashcourse said:

I think Viola's awesome snot crying scene put her in the lead category. 😅

The snot was a new acting technique for her. Previously, she excelled in creating a tear that s.l.o.w.l.y. rolled down her cheek in the movie, Doubt. 

[Hedgehog2022]

22 hours ago, ProudMary said:

I have to disagree here. 1982 was one of the strongest years in Oscar history in the Best Actor category. Ostensibly, the award could have gone to any one of these legendary actors, for some of their very best roles across the board. That said, I think the Academy got it right. Kingsley, the "new kid" at the time, up against a Murderers' Row of multi-nominated and/or previous Oscar-winning actors, gave the best performance that year. Also, calling it Newman's swan song is a bit of a disservice to the actor, who continued to work consistently over many years, and of course, winning the Oscar four years later for his work in Martin Scorcese's The Color of Money. 

Was Newman's performance in The Verdict stronger than his performance in The Color of Money? If I were ranking them I would say yes, but that's just the way it goes with the Oscars. Was DiCaprio's performance in The Revenant his best? Was Pacino's in Scent of a Woman?  Definitely not, in either case, but that's the Oscars for ya!

According to this enjoyable Oscar-hierarchy article, Paul Newman is quantifyingly one of Oscar's Five Kings. Fun read!

Yeah...
Kingsley gave a great performance but I felt that Newman really put it all out there in his portrayal of a down and out ambulance chaser in over his head with a case where he is up against a large big name law firm with money and other resources at their disposal. But that's just my personal preference.

And yes...Newman continued acting until his health was failing...but, in my opinion, none those other roles could match his performance in The Verdict. Thus I called The Verdict his swan song. 

[Hedgehog2022]

23 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Let me just say that I love Paul Newman. But Ben Kingsley EARNED that Oscar and deserved it. He was absolutely phenomenal and Attenborough had been working to get Gandhi made for 20 years. 

And Newman earned it too...I liked Ghandi too but my personal favorite that year was Newman. I feel the Academy most of the time avoids giving Oscars to actors who are politically left of center. Case in point, in 1970 Wayne was nominated for Best Actor in "True Grit" as Dustin Hoffman, John Voight, Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton...what a who's who of great actors! Even the Academy admitted they voted for Wayne out "sentiment" and acknowledged his performance in True Grit was more or less similar to his other cowboy type roles he had done many times before. Dustin Hoffman was brilliant in Midnight Cowboy...what a great movie that was too.

[ProudMary]

19 minutes ago, Hedgehog2022 said:

And Newman earned it too...I liked Ghandi too but my personal favorite that year was Newman. I feel the Academy most of the time avoids giving Oscars to actors who are politically left of center. Case in point, in 1970 Wayne was nominated for Best Actor in "True Grit" as Dustin Hoffman, John Voight, Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton...what a who's who of great actors! Even the Academy admitted they voted for Wayne out "sentiment" and acknowledged his performance in True Grit was more or less similar to his other cowboy type roles he had done many times before. Dustin Hoffman was brilliant in Midnight Cowboy...what a great movie that was too.

I disagree with a bit of the logic here. Jane Fonda--one of my very favorite actresses--has two Oscars! (Klute, 1972 awards and Coming Home, 1978 awards.)

There's no doubt John Wayne's Oscar was a sentimental one, but Hoffman and Voight likely split the Midnight Cowboy vote, and Wayne then cruised to victory over Oscar's (sadly) perennial bridesmaids, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, neither of whom ever received what should have been their sentimental awards. 😢 (At least O'Toole received an honorary Oscar.)

[NUguy514]

4 hours ago, ProudMary said:

There's no doubt John Wayne's Oscar was a sentimental one, but Hoffman and Voight likely split the Midnight Cowboy vote, and Wayne then cruised to victory over Oscar's (sadly) perennial bridesmaids, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, neither of whom ever received what should have been their sentimental awards. 😢 (At least O'Toole received an honorary Oscar.)

Well, Peter O'Toole was robbed blindly the prior year for The Lion in Winter.  He should have blitzed to the Oscar, and Cliff Robertson's win is up there among the worst ever in that category.  Also, Katharine Hepburn should've won Actress outright over Streisand.

[Crashcourse]

1 minute ago, NUguy514 said:

Well, Peter O'Toole was robbed blindly the prior year for The Lion in Winter.  He should have blitzed to the Oscar, and Cliff Robertson's win is up there among the worst ever in that category.  Also, Katharine Hepburn should've won Actress outright over Streisand.

The Lion in Winter is one of my all-time favorite movies.  I still like to recite some of the dialogue between Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.

[Quickbeam]

To this day Peter O’Toole in My Favorite Year is one of the greatest performances I ever saw on film. It crushes my soul that he never got the recognition he deserved. 
 

However Ryan’s Ken performance was * chef’s kiss”.

[annzeepark914]

Lainie Kazan gushing over "Swannie" was my favorite part of this movie.  I need to watch this movie again. The music for the opening credits set the tone for that era: Les Paul & Mary Ford performing "How High the Moon".

[Calvada]

On 3/12/2024 at 8:23 AM, Milburn Stone said:

IMO, the problem with singing during the memoriam is that it forces the viewer to evaluate "are these words appropriate?" in a way that an appropriate orchestral backing doesn't. Or put it this way: it increases the risk of a wrong choice considerably. 

I wish they would eliminate the live singers and do a recorded orchestral backing so they can turn off audience reactions in all memoriams during all awards ceremonies, meaning that we cannot hear the sporadic applause for various names/faces.  I really dislike that; I believe there should be respectful silence and this seems to be the only way to ensure that happens.  

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, NUguy514 said:

Well, Peter O'Toole was robbed blindly the prior year for The Lion in Winter.  He should have blitzed to the Oscar, and Cliff Robertson's win is up there among the worst ever in that category.  Also, Katharine Hepburn should've won Actress outright over Streisand.

On O'Toole/Robertson, we are in complete agreement. 

I adore Katharine Hepburn and The Lion in Winter may well be her greatest performance. It's certainly up there. That said, I sort of like the tie. I love Funny Girl and Barbra was amazing, carrying the entire two and a half hour movie at 26 years old. If I'd been an Academy member voting that year, I think I'd have been praying for a tie!

[NUguy514]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

The Lion in Winter is one of my all-time favorite movies.  I still like to recite some of the dialogue between Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.

Well, what family doesn't have its ups and downs?

[tv echo]

Oscars 2024 Recap: Biggest Moments and What Didn't Air on TV!
Entertainment Tonight   Mar 11, 2024

[ProudMary]

The Academy has released its official portraits from the 96th Oscars. I'm posting 12 of the portraits here, which I'm assuming will require 3 or 4 posts based on file size. The full gallery, which includes all the below-the-line winners, can be viewed at this link:  https://aframe.oscars.org/news/post/gallery-96th-oscars-winners-portraits?photo=0

 

More portraits. 

 

[ProudMary]

Sadly, even the full gallery only has portraits of the six Best Actor winners and the Six Best Supporting Actor winners. The women in the two acting categories are not posted at the Oscars' site. 😢

[ProudMary]

I had to post the portrait of the Godzilla Minus One VFX team as I fell in love with all of them from the video that was released of their reaction to their nomination on announcement morning. I love the Godzilla action figures they carried on the red carpet and at the ceremony. I'm so glad they've been immortalized here!

[Hedgehog2022]

On 3/13/2024 at 5:27 PM, ProudMary said:

I disagree with a bit of the logic here. Jane Fonda--one of my very favorite actresses--has two Oscars! (Klute, 1972 awards and Coming Home, 1978 awards.)

There's no doubt John Wayne's Oscar was a sentimental one, but Hoffman and Voight likely split the Midnight Cowboy vote, and Wayne then cruised to victory over Oscar's (sadly) perennial bridesmaids, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, neither of whom ever received what should have been their sentimental awards. 😢 (At least O'Toole received an honorary Oscar.)

But Jane Fonda is the daughter of Henry Fonda...one of Hollywood's much beloved iconic actors.

[ProudMary]

44 minutes ago, Hedgehog2022 said:

But Jane Fonda is the daughter of Henry Fonda...one of Hollywood's much beloved iconic actors.

I'm going to move this discussion over to the General Discussion topic in this forum as we've ventured away from the 96th Academy Awards for a few too many posts.

[Sarah 103]

On 3/14/2024 at 5:18 PM, ProudMary said:

I love the Godzilla action figures they carried on the red carpet and at the ceremony. I'm so glad they've been immortalized here!

I not only LOVE that they carried the Godzilla figures on the red carpet and when they went to accept, but also that they were part of the official picture for the winner.  

[tv echo]

Can People Stop Helping Boston Rob Win? Is Sistas Paternity Twist 2 Much? How’d Taylor Not Crash Disney+? Is Password Now Pyramid? More TV Qs!
BY VLADA GELMAN, MATT WEBB MITOVICH, DAVE NEMETZ, KIMBERLY ROOTS, ANDY SWIFT, RYAN SCHWARTZ, NICK CARUSO, KEISHA HATCHETT, CHARLIE MASON
MARCH 15, 2024
https://tvline.com/features/taylor-swift-the-eras-tour-disney-plus-crash-avoided-1235187773/ 

Quote

2 | Who at the Oscars got a stern talking-to after Ryan Gosling’s microphone stand was at the wrong height — meaning he had to fix it on the fly — during “I’m Just Ken”? With that performance, has Ryan Gosling earned himself a spot in TVLine’s roundup of the Most Memorable Oscar Moments ever? Why did Arnold Schwarzenegger act like he co-starred with Michael Keaton in a Batman movie when it was George Clooney in Batman & Robin? And are the producers of other awards shows such as the Oscars too proud to simply mimic the respectful, clips-inclusive way that SAG handled the In Memoriam montage this year? 

Edited March 16 by tv echo

[ProudMary]

The Oscars' website has another photo gallery posted with tons of backstage photos of winners, presenters and performers. Although there wasn't an official portrait of the six Best Actress/six Best Supporting Actress winners, there are, thankfully, backstage photos. I'm posting those here along with two photos from "I'm Just Ken" performers that I particularly enjoyed seeing.

You can see the full photo gallery here.

 

[ProudMary]

From the "I'm Just Ken" performance, here's a photo of Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir, along with one of Wolfgang Van Halen with Slash.

 

[ProudMary]

20 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I not only LOVE that they carried the Godzilla figures on the red carpet and when they went to accept, but also that they were part of the official picture for the winner.  

And their shoes!!! ❤️

[slowpoked]

18 hours ago, ProudMary said:

The Oscars' website has another photo gallery posted with tons of backstage photos of winners, presenters and performers. Although there wasn't an official portrait of the six Best Actress/six Best Supporting Actress winners, there are, thankfully, backstage photos. I'm posting those here along with two photos from "I'm Just Ken" performers that I particularly enjoyed seeing.

You can see the full photo gallery here.

 

I think there was no “official” photo of Supporting Actress because JLC left shortly after giving the award. I assume the official photos happened at the end of the show. It looks like she had to fly away somewhere immediately:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4WpLl_Pq4z/?igsh=MW40c3h4djl4cjQ3dA==
 

The juxtaposition of the Actress and Supporting Actress shows there’s still so much more to be done in Hollywood in the diversity on quality lead actress roles. If not for Michelle Yeoh - who just won last year - that’s an all-white lineup. And they probably couldn’t ask Halle again because she already presented last year. Who else is there?

Contrast with supporting, and they probably still have someone they can call from the bench (Viola, Ariana, Penelope, Whoopi). Heck, Octavia was also at the show and she got to present the Oscars with her bestie MM instead for another category, because they can afford to have her do that instead.

Edited March 17 by slowpoked

[ProudMary]

8 hours ago, slowpoked said:

The juxtaposition of the Actress and Supporting Actress shows there’s still so much more to be done in Hollywood in the diversity on quality lead actress roles. If not for Michelle Yeoh - who just won last year - that’s an all-white lineup. And they probably couldn’t ask Halle again because she already presented last year. Who else is there?

@slowpoked First, thanks for the JLC info, which probably does explain why there was no portrait of the six Best Supporting Actress winners.

As to your quote I've added here, I was thinking the exact same thing when I posted the photos yesterday. It was a big part of the reason I was pulling so hard for a Lily Gladstone win over Emma Stone; not to mention why I thought it was not only correct, but also important that Lily's nomination was in the top acting category, not in the secondary one.

When you look back at the Best Actress nominees historically, there have been way too many years where all five of the nominees were white. Viola Davis alone, should have won for The Help and/or for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, although I'd have been more inclined to believe that was a supporting role. Honestly, and I know I'm out in left field on this one, (although she did win a Golden Globe) if I were an Academy voter that year, my Best Actress vote would have gone to Andra Day for her remarkable performance as Billie Holiday. At least there were two Black women nominated that year. Last year, it was beyond reason that Danielle Deadwyler was not nominated for Till. 

IMO, the Academy must nominate more non-white women in the Best Actress category and then, vote for them to win!

[slowpoked]

18 hours ago, ProudMary said:

It was a big part of the reason I was pulling so hard for a Lily Gladstone win over Emma Stone; not to mention why I thought it was not only correct, but also important that Lily's nomination was in the top acting category, not in the secondary one.

Well, like that article said, it’s arguable what Lily’s role really is in the movie, but it looks like she made the right choice because she just booked another lead role.

And I think there’s some truth to that. You bag a win for Supporting, and it’s hard to get to the next level. People see you as a great team, ensemble player, but not really someone who can carry a movie. Case in point - Lupita Nyongo. You’d think after her inspiring win for 12 Years A Slave, she’d be the next IT girl and be booking roles left and right. But the truth is, since then, she has nowhere been close to another Oscar than her peers are, and also hasn’t exploded in lead roles like Brie, JLaw and Emma Stone have. There’s US, but what else is there? That project is also known more as a Jordan Peele movie, rather than a Lupita Nyongo movie. 
 

Look no further than the last black woman who won the Lead Actress Oscar - Halle Berry. There is no one single factor in her career trajectory - Halle’s career choices, Halle’s life choices, Hollywood opportunities, etc. - that has determined where she is now. But the sad truth is, the likes of Jessica Chastain, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, even Meryl Streep, Frances McDormand, etc., have been much closer to their second, third, or fourth Oscar than Halle ever was, or sadly, ever will be.

18 hours ago, ProudMary said:

IMO, the Academy must nominate more non-white women in the Best Actress category and then, vote for them to win!

Yes, it eventually comes down to the law of averages. When a lot more minority women are nominated in the category, not just the token single slot, the chances are higher that somebody, someone, someday, will eventually win. 

Edited March 18 by slowpoked