What is going on here??
Okay, let us take stock of what has happened so far.
About six months back, there was a big announcement that the 2019 Oscars would, for the first time ever, would be giving a new award, titled “Best Popular Film”.
There was an immediate, huge backlash to this, as it was pretty much seen to make sure that massively commercial films like Black Panther would get to go home with a trophy, while the more… well… Oscar-y type movies could still go home with Best Picture.
So that was that.
Next came the announcement of Kevin Hart as the host for this year’s ceremony.
And we all know how that ended. So now there will no host for the ceremony at all.
Then came the news that instead of letting all of the Best Song nominees to perform, the Academy would only be letting two of them perform at the show, with initially only Kendrick Lamar and SZA performing ‘All The Stars’ from Black Panther, and Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performing ‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born.
There was another huge backlash to that, with people reasoning that this was another form of favouritism, as the songs from Mary Poppins Returns, RGB, and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs less likely to win the award if they weren’t even getting to perform on stage.
So, again, they reversed that decision.
And now, finally, for now, another back-track.
Last week, the Academy announced that some of the biggest awards – Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Live Action Short, and Best Hair & Make-up – wouldn’t be shown live during the ceremony.
There was an immediate response, this time from within Hollywood, as everyone from Brad Pitt to Martin Scorsese to Emma Stone to Alfonso Cuaron added their names to a list of famous industry folk who were staunchly against the removal of these four awards from the live ceremony.
And now, The Academy have stated “All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, February 24”.
At this rate, it feels like they’re the only ones looking forward to it.
Is it took late to get them to change their minds about Bohemian Rhapsody getting a Best Picture nomination?
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