Disney's Richard Ross is forceful.
"We’re going for the Best Picture win [for Toy Story 3]. We wanted to have the best movie and the reviews have clearly said that and it’s the number one box office hit of the year so I’m not sure why we would not go for it all... for some reason an animated film has never gotten Best Picture and I always wondered was there not an appetite?" ...
This is a simple one, Richard, so let me clue you in.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is made up of a whole bunch of people, most of whom work in live-action motion pictures. And no matter how good an animated feature might be, no matter how graceful the story-telling or how vivid the images, it's still a car-toon. And a majority of Academy members will never, ever vote in high enough numbers to make a cartoon feature the Best Picture of the Year. It goes against everything they know and love about the movie industry, everything embedded in their DNA.
In other words, an animated feature winning B.P. won't happen in ten gazillion years. Didn't happen in 1937. Didn't happen in 1991 or 2009. Won't happen in 2010.
Okay, Richard. I got that off my chest. Now you can go back into your "hard-headed realist" mode.
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32 comments:
I was taught at a very young age to never say never.
And I was taught, when I got a little older, to get real. Gaffers will not vote for a movie that did not use any gaffers. End of story.
And I was taught to have an open mind.
and i was taught if i never have anything nice to say to keep my trap shut.
You know whats forceful. Your insistence to prove yourself right Steve. You say your unbiased, yet more often then not you come back with the same crap banterish poke to disney and awards. Did you get fired or something and now your left bitter with nothing better to do then monitor a blog.
I wish if Ross was so GD p[ositive that TS3 should and could win he'd put his money where his mouth is and quite WHEN it doesn't win so maybe his overpriced salaryt can be used for better things or smarter people who aren't busy making BS statements to kiss Lasseter's ass.
And it's good to have you back Steve. Now keep bating these Pixie/Disney a-holes
It's hardly a poke at Disney to point out the truth, that animation will always be looked down upon by the live action community. Doesn't matter how successful it is at the box office, that's how it's been, and Steve accurately points out why it will continue to be that way. My bet is that Steve would have written essentially the same post if it had been Lasseter or Katzenberg or some Blue Sky muckety-muck who had made the quotes.
The only two times an animated was nominated for Picture, one was an accident (Beauty&Beast was coasting on a mania, not a film, and had no prayer of being taken seriously)--And the other (Up) had been "groomed" to win all year, but a last minute critics' rush to symbolically praise Hurt Locker ("Why didn't you go see a good film last August instead of Transformers 2?") derailed the good intentions at the last minute.
This year, we've got the same Operation: Pixar rush we had last year (it's been an issue ever since voters wanted to draft Wall-E), and no Be Kind to Hurt Locker indie campaigns to stand in its way.
The voters have done everything by proverbial hook or crook for the last four or five years to get a Pixar into Picture, and the baby might finally get its bottle this year.
Toy Story 3 was grossly overrated.
And Rich Ross is obnoxious.
Well, as a voting member of the Academy, TS3 won't get my vote for Best Picture - and I'm an animator.
TS3 isn't even Pixar's best film and hardly ranks as a Best Film nominee. If there wasn't such a ridiculous amount of nominees needed it wouldn't even make the list.
Ten nominees are needed for Best picture and so the Academy has to scrape together a list that is full of meh films and yet due to missing one more qualifying film there are only 3 noiminees being allowed for Best Animated film. If Lasseter wants to throw his weight around he should get that rule changed. Assuming he wants it changed - which I highly doubt.
TS3 might win Best Animated film, but it doens't deserve it.
And, no, I do not work for Dreamworks.
I disagree with Steve on many things, but he is right on the money with this one.
You know whats forceful. Your insistence to prove yourself right Steve. You say your unbiased, yet more often then not you come back with the same crap banterish poke to disney and awards.
If it was Fox, DreamWorks, or Reel Effx, I would say the same thing: animation won't be winning best picture.
And where did I ever say I was unbiased? Of course I'm biased. Everybody is. But not against Disney. I worked at the studio two or three regimes ago.
But tell you what. If "Toy Story 3" or "How to Train Your Dragon" or "The Guardians" walks away with the Best Picture oscar, I'll eat crow and post "I was wrong" right here on the blog. That should make you feel vindicated.
Happy now?
Honestly though, what is Rich Ross suppose to say? "The Academy is a bunch of biased idiots so I'm not going to bother to even try to win Best Picture?"
As the head of the Studio it is his job to tout his films and make the best effort that they receive every accolade that they deserve.
But of course. He's supporting the product. Isn't his job to wave the white flag and say getting an award is hopeless. He would be remiss in his duties if he did that.
I, on the other hand, can speak on behalf of reality, not Disney.
Ten nominees are needed for Best picture and so the Academy has to scrape together a list that is full of meh films and yet due to missing one more qualifying film there are only 3 noiminees being allowed for Best Animated film.
So, has it been confirmed whether we'll be getting ten Picture nominations again this year?
Thought that was an experimental stunt last year that they stated flat-out was to "get a more diverse mix of mainstream films into the running" (and three guesses which "mainstream film" they had in mind...)
And which proved to be a failure after it produced only the exact same Golden Globes and Critics' Circle reruns on less nomination-voting time, only twice as many of them.
I haven't heard from insiders whether they've abandoned the "experiment" this year, but the shine seems to have worn off.
But tell you what. If "Toy Story 3" or "How to Train Your Dragon" or "The Guardians" walks away with the Best Picture oscar, I'll eat crow and post "I was wrong" right here on the blog. That should make you feel vindicated.
I'd agree with 8:16 that if you want to quibble details, TS3 wasn't exactly Pixar's best-best, and frankly, neither was Up.
But then, I'd always thought Fellowship of the Ring should have won Picture instead of Return of the King, and likely, so did a few of the voters.
"Symbolic" causes can play a big role, and while animators used to their job can say "Oh, I can think of better films this year than Pixar", animators aren't the only ones voting the open-category Picture--We also have a lot of actors, technicians, and generally gushy regular-folk on the outside who think that Pixars are made by magic elves in a hollow tree, and even trying to qualitatively compare any TS3 shortcomings vs., say, Nemo or Incredibles will fall on deaf ears.
When I can remember one past campaign where voters were asking "Is it possible to nominate Patton Oswalt for Best Actor on a voice performance?", just as an excuse to get Ratatouille's foot into the door for the Big Six, they ARE that desperate.
And if being animated weren't enough of a handicap, it's a comedy, too. Comedies have always had dismal odds of winning Best Picture.
The Academy Awards and all other award shows are nothing but pep rallies for the product and the industry. There's nothing wrong with that, and I tune in every year to watch the fun.
You honestly can't take this stuff seriously. No actor is ever gonna vote for a drawing or a digital puppet no matter how cool they are.
I'm gonna vote for myself!
-Tom Hanks
I confess, Beauty&Beast is a movie that personally gives me hives, on the level that Tim Burton's Alice or even Lion King can't approach--
And yet, to this day, we have fans praising it as "the most acclaimed Disney classic ever", unquote, because, well, it got nominated! (In a slow year right after the Work-in-Progress screening got all the critical attention, stage-Broadway was in a slump, the December NY/LA limiteds hadn't opened yet, and nobody thought we'd remember a better movie from February.)
Friends, do not be so naive as underestimate the Neato factor that non-animator voters hold for getting a real Disney/Pixar into the Big Running and out of the BAF "ghetto". (And it isn't new, either--They laughed at Gregory Peck for trying to nominate "Jungle Book", years before TS2 or Lion King.)
The obsession may have moved from 90's-Katzenberg to Pixar, but it's now gone far past the point of their even caring what gets in there anymore. The urge is now everything, and until the itch is scratched, a solid percentage of voters will keep trying. And trying. And trying.
If getting a Best Picture Oscar gives me a bonus, let me know.
Otherwise, I couldnt give 2 shits.
"If getting a Best Picture Oscar gives me a bonus, let me know.
Otherwise, I couldnt give 2 shits"
Ah, the voice of the artist in his most natural setting...
This blog shout be retitled the 839 Piss n Vinegar Post. Seriously, the amount of bashing on this site is unbelievable.
Bashing is the spice of life.
So, care to explain WHY we should care about the oscars then?
Why?
Floyd -
I've been saying that about the Oscars for years. Its marketing and a exercise in "Who's popular".
On the other hand, I don't watch and haven't since I was in single digits.
I'd love to take you to lunch one day Floyd. For no other reason, than I love your comments
The fine romance seems over between "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker and her husband, Tony Parker, All-Star point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.
Why isn't this story posted on the blog?
I've been saying that about the Oscars for years. Its marketing and a exercise in "Who's popular".
You might say that "nobody cares" who gets Best Picture--
But round our theater, we have little mini-poster plaque displays of the chronological Best Picture winners down one of the long cineplex hallways: And every time I start out passing It Happened One Night and Mutiny on the Bounty...And then farther down by the 60's, turning the corner past Oliver and Sound of Music...I usually get to that end of the hall where the 80's of Amadeus and the 90's of Unforgiven is on the other wall, and I have to walk in right where Crash sits there like some kind of interloper right next to Return of the King, and I just wanna punch somebody for the last six years--It feels like the wall had been vandalized with graffiti.
Yes, it's partly frustration that some average civilian folk would rather have seen Wall-E on that wall instead of Slumdog Millionaire....But then again, taking an entire hallway into consideration, it wouldn't have looked too out of place there, either.
Anonymous 12:48 is quite right.
Toy Story 3 was one of the most depressing, manipulative and over-hyped movies in motion picture history. This push for Best Picture is just more over-hype.
As for Rich Ross...he's not just obnoxious, he's a grade A A-hole. Hopefully, after Tron, Tangled, Pooh and Muppets tank he'll elope with his boyfriend and get the hell out of the Mouse House.
Thank you, Steven. I'd like that.
The Oscar ceremony is a lot like high school. Silly, superficial and a lot of fun. I'm not against it - I actually enjoy it.
Sure, it adds a few bucks to the box office, but who becomes "prom queen" is really not that important.
I bash my wife for fun!
I loved Crash and Return of the King, and thought they were very deserving.
/shrug
PS) You have a theater? You mean at work or at home? Cuz...if you mean at home, you can shut up now.
""Toy Story 3 was one of the most depressing, manipulative and over-hyped movies in motion picture history. This push for Best Picture is just more over-hype.""
You're right completely. Another unnecesary and corny sequel... really depressing, almost a nightmare.
Nice to "see" you again Steve!
the only way I see a toon winning best pic is if it's a combo like Roger Rabbit. then both sides could vote. It still won't happen, but it'd have the best chance.
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