The winner of last weeks Favorite Oscar 2007 Moment poll, with 52% of the vote: Marketa Irglova being allowed to return to the stage and speak after being unceremoniously cut off moments after winning the Oscar for Best Song. According to the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was producer Gilbert Cates who made the call immediately after Irglova was rudely played off the stage and her microphone silenced. Wouldn’t it be nice if Cates had an epiphany as a result of this situation and realized that playing off the winners is a patently offensive way to try to trim the length of the Oscar show down? The Academy Awards are about giving the winners their moment of glory; every time Bill Conti’s orchestra rises out of the pit to shush some overwhelmed winner is an AMPAS-stamped moment of hypocrisy.
And speaking of Entertainment Weekly, the same article that shed light on the backstage maneuverings to ensure Irglova her moment in the spotlight has also printed the only known photograph of Roderick Jaynes as it appeared on the Oscar telecast when the reclusive (and exhausted) technician was announced as one of the nominated film editors for No Country for Old Men.
Maybe I'm wrong, but didn't they start playing people off in the first place due to the perennial, ubiquitous and incessant complaints about the show running so long, both from the stars in the theater who couldn't wait to get to the parties and the people at home who wanted to see the big awards but still get to bed on time?
ReplyDeleteSympathy for the devil, I guess...