Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

rolotomasi99 wrote:While I want the two screenplay awards to go to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and HER, I predict they will go to 12 YEARS A SLAVE and AMERICAN HUSTLE.

I was not aware of John Ridley's issues with the unions, but I am really, really surprised more has not been made out of the fact that the two likely winners of the screenplay categories were/are bitter enemies over credit for the screenplay of THREE KINGS. While Warner Bros was able to ultimately solve the issue, if you read the below Entertainment Weekly article on Ridley, it is clear he was/is very angry about the whole experience.

The feud with Stone cooled down, but hostilities with Three Kings director Russell are still simmering. "This is a guy who every step of the way has tried to grab credit," Ridley says, firing off a round. "I never heard a word while he was shooting the movie. Never saw any of the script changes. And then finally, a year later, I get a copy of the script, and my name isn't even on it. It's 'by David O. Russell.' My name is nowhere."

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,271057_2,00.html

They both appeared on stage together recently during one of the Jeff Goldsmith Q & A interviews. There didn't appear to be any tension between the two, though it was a podcast I was listening to, so it was a bit hard to tell. Thinking back though, I'm sure if all was fine between them then they both may have spoken about Three Kings given that it was a screenwriters Q&A.

flipp525 wrote:Julie Delpy (nominee) to TMZ:

Oscar nominee Julie Delpy has some pretty HUGE BALLS for a chick ... because the screenwriter just spanked the Academy hard -- saying it's just a bunch of crusty white dudes who take BRIBES for votes.

Delpy -- who's nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Before Midnight" with Ethan Hawke -- told the Independent the awards are meaningless because voters are, "90% white men over 70 who need money."

"They haven't done anything in a long time," Delpy continued ... "You just need to give them two or three presents and they're in your pocket. It doesn't mean anything to me."

The actress also roasted the Weinstein brothers claiming they killed the independent movie scene ... and then dissed her own flicks, saying, "Every time I've become a part of the Hollywood mainstream, it's been crap! Let's be honest: 90% of movies made in Hollywood are crap."

Guess no one ever told her not to bite the hand that feeds you ... even if it's old, white and (allegedly) corrupt.

see offsite link on http://www.tmz.com

She's not completely wrong - especially about movies made in Hollywood. But she could have said all this right after she was Oscar nominated.

Julie Delpy (nominee) to TMZ:

Oscar nominee Julie Delpy has some pretty HUGE BALLS for a chick ... because the screenwriter just spanked the Academy hard -- saying it's just a bunch of crusty white dudes who take BRIBES for votes.

Delpy -- who's nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Before Midnight" with Ethan Hawke -- told the Independent the awards are meaningless because voters are, "90% white men over 70 who need money."

"They haven't done anything in a long time," Delpy continued ... "You just need to give them two or three presents and they're in your pocket. It doesn't mean anything to me."

The actress also roasted the Weinstein brothers claiming they killed the independent movie scene ... and then dissed her own flicks, saying, "Every time I've become a part of the Hollywood mainstream, it's been crap! Let's be honest: 90% of movies made in Hollywood are crap."

Guess no one ever told her not to bite the hand that feeds you ... even if it's old, white and (allegedly) corrupt.

see offsite link on www.tmz.com

While I want the two screenplay awards to go to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and HER, I predict they will go to 12 YEARS A SLAVE and AMERICAN HUSTLE.

I was not aware of John Ridley's issues with the unions, but I am really, really surprised more has not been made out of the fact that the two likely winners of the screenplay categories were/are bitter enemies over credit for the screenplay of THREE KINGS. While Warner Bros was able to ultimately solve the issue, if you read the below Entertainment Weekly article on Ridley, it is clear he was/is very angry about the whole experience.

The feud with Stone cooled down, but hostilities with Three Kings director Russell are still simmering. "This is a guy who every step of the way has tried to grab credit," Ridley says, firing off a round. "I never heard a word while he was shooting the movie. Never saw any of the script changes. And then finally, a year later, I get a copy of the script, and my name isn't even on it. It's 'by David O. Russell.' My name is nowhere."

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,271057_2,00.html

Tee. Ridley may not be a charmer, or he may have changed since you last saw him. If you can find video of his speech at the USC Scripters, I think you will be suitably impressed. Either he's a much more affable person than he used to be or he's a brilliant actor.

Up till the BAFTA surprise, I didn't think this category had the remotest possibility of surprise. It's still a wild long shot, that anything but the favorite can win, but we can at least give it brief discussion.

A single-category nominee like Before Midnight simply isn't going to win in a pack of best picture contenders. The film's best shot was with the sometimes quirky Writers' Guild (with 12 Years off the boards), and even there it couldn't finish first. So, no dice.

The Wolf of Wall Street has a lot of dynamic dialogue, but the film was just too divisive to be in the running for a best picture-related category.

Adding on to all the other shots people are taking at Philomena, let me say I found it disappointingly square work, from a writer like Coogan who carries around such a hipster aura. I hated the way the film first mocked Philomena for her philistinism, then turned around and knocked Sixsmith for his elitist cynicism. Probably the intent was to show balance, but it felt condescending to both at the same time. I seriously doubt this film can repeat what was probably a hometown win at BAFTA.

Captain Phillips is very likely the second most-liked film in the category (maybe even first). But it's really not a writers' film and, like most of this slate, benefitted from the slim pickings on the adaptation side of the aisle. (Though I, like BJ, was disappointed voters didn't invoke their traditional homage to foreign films and nominate Blue is the Warmest Color)

Suggesting 12 Years won't win this prize is essentially consigning it to the bin with The Color Purple and Gangs of New York, because if it misses here it isn't winning a thing. (And, as we all know, that's the spot the Internet has designated for American Hustle this year.) I don't know if John Ridley's union-animosity is causing him any issues, but I will say that I saw him at a mystery writers' event a decade or more back, and...umm...it's not likely he's picking up any extra votes on basis of charm. But his work is, on the whole, the best in the category, with many memorable dialogue exchanges (like the aforementioned Alfre Woodward scene, or the scene where Ejiofor is forced to improvise when Fassbender confronts him about his letter). I wish, though, shows would quit highlighting that "I don't want to survive; I want to LIVE!" bit; I think that's the clunkiest moment in the film -- not least because I heard Sammy Davis Jr. sing roughly the same thing 45 years ago ("I want to live...not merely survive...and I won't give up this dream of life that keeps me alive...")

I think a bet on anything but 12 Years is crazy-time. The film's not going to be Color Purple II. At worst, it'll replicate Chinatown and win screenplay.

It didn't happen that way in real life. Philomena's daughter found the information on-line before she left for America. The film is heavily fictionalized. The book it's based on is 75% about Michael Hess with Philomena's story bookended at the beginning and the end. It should really have a companion piece called Michael to tell the rest of the story.

Oh in the movie? Impossible.

ITALIANO wrote:

The Original BJ wrote:

flipp525 wrote:And, I'm sorry, whoever wrote that scene in the hotel breakfast room where Martin Googles and finds Philomena's son ten seconds later doesn't deserve an award for it. It was simply laughable.

I kept thinking -- is no one going to even MENTION how ridiculous it is that no one bothered to do a pre-Google over in the UK before willy-nilly hopping a flight to the states?

I did mention it. That's really absurd.

I meant the characters in the movie! Even if that's the way it happened in real life, someone onscreen needed to call out how silly that was.

The Original BJ wrote:

flipp525 wrote:And, I'm sorry, whoever wrote that scene in the hotel breakfast room where Martin Googles and finds Philomena's son ten seconds later doesn't deserve an award for it. It was simply laughable.

I kept thinking -- is no one going to even MENTION how ridiculous it is that no one bothered to do a pre-Google over in the UK before willy-nilly hopping a flight to the states?

I did mention it. That's really absurd.

flipp525 wrote:And, I'm sorry, whoever wrote that scene in the hotel breakfast room where Martin Googles and finds Philomena's son ten seconds later doesn't deserve an award for it. It was simply laughable.

I kept thinking -- is no one going to even MENTION how ridiculous it is that no one bothered to do a pre-Google over in the UK before willy-nilly hopping a flight to the states?

flipp525 wrote:

ITALIANO wrote:Well, 12 Years a Slave may not win ten Oscars (including three acting ones) as some proclaimed as soon as it opened. But it will win at least one - and this is still the category where that should be.

That was me, Italiano. e.

Not just you - it was something more general, and not only on this board. And probably understandable, considering the emotional impact this movie had on people. But now we know that it probably won't get more than, let's say, three Oscars. We'll see.

ITALIANO wrote:Well, 12 Years a Slave may not win ten Oscars (including three acting ones) as some proclaimed as soon as it opened. But it will win at least one - and this is still the category where that should be.

That was me, Italiano. Where else but here is there to make such bold proclamations like that? I obviously don't think the same today as I did back in October. At the time, I really saw that as a distinct possibility. The film could still very well net two acting gongs, but will probably only get one for Nyong'o.

I agree with BJ. I felt like the Philomena screenplay was just all over the place, tonally. The movie never decides what it wants to be about and so ends up being about nothing. And, I'm sorry, whoever wrote that scene in the hotel breakfast room where Martin Googles and finds Philomena's son ten seconds later doesn't deserve an award for it. It was simply laughable.

FilmFan720 wrote:BJ, you are more connected with the industry than most of us...is the picket-line crossing going to play into this race at all? Will it hurt John Ridley?

Are you referring to the WGA strike a few years ago? Is that why Ridely is not a WGA member.

FilmFan720 wrote:BJ, you are more connected with the industry than most of us...is the picket-line crossing going to play into this race at all? Will it hurt John Ridley?

I bet there are some writers who are probably still annoyed at Ridley for crossing the picket line (though the one WGA writer I know who knows Ridley well is rooting for him, so take that for what you will), but I can't imagine this being a deal-breaker. This hasn't gotten much press at all, and I would have to imagine it isn't even on the radar of plenty in the Academy. Plus, remember a lot of people in Hollywood -- especially below the line -- were pretty annoyed the writers went on strike, so I doubt too many outside of the writers' branch would deeply hold his actions against him.