OSCARS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

from Hollywood International Filmmaker Magazine I Spring 2022

by HiFex

COMING SOON

rethink needed

The Academy Awards have celebrated the best in film for 94 years. But a major rethink is needed if the ceremony is going to make it to 100 in good shape. The nominations for 2022 show how out of touch the voters are with public tastes – and that gap needs fixing for the sake of the event. It’s a change in mindset which is needed because, in the 21st century especially, voters have repeatedly dismissed popular films as not worthy of awards recognition and continued to favor more artistic but less commercial choices. As former Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel joked on his US talk show: “The Power of the Dog got 12 nominations – one for every person who saw it!”

Box office juggernauts like Spider-Man: No Way Home and No Time to Die didn’t just make big money but received big acclaim too – except from Oscar voters. And so, instead of James Bond v Spider-Man in a battle of the blockbusters, or even House of Gucci v Shang-Chi, Academy Awards viewers were left with Drive My Car v Coda. No wonder TV viewing figures for the ceremony continue to fall. Jimmy Kimmel also asked: “Why do best picture nominees have to be serious? When did that become a perquisite for getting nominated for an Academy Award?” The answer is: about 20 years ago. Among the crowd-pleasing movies to have nominated for the best picture Oscar in the past are Jaws, The Towering Inferno, Rocky (which won), E.T., Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghost, The Full Monty and The Sixth Sense. It would seem unthinkable for films like that to be nominated now. But it shouldn’t be the case. Memo to the Academy: popular does not mean bad. Don’t be movie snobs, be movie lovers like the rest of us.

Editorial by Sandro Monetti

MOST

Memorable Moments

In the 94-year history of the Academy Awards, the Oscars ceremony has provided some amazing, historic and unforgettable moments – like these…

2001 Swan Dress

OOPS! 2017 Wrong Winner

Singer Bjork took to the red carpet in one of the most memorable Oscar outfits ever, the notorious swan dress.

Moonlight wins best picture after La La Land was originally wrongly announced by Warren Beatty as the winner.

2014 Epic Selfie

Bradley Cooper (using host Ellen DeGeneres' phone ), snapped a selfie with superstar nominees which quickly became the most retweeted photo of all time.

1977 PUSH -UPS

When Jack Palance won best supporting actor for City Slickers at the age of 70 he did one-armed push-ups on stage to demonstrate his physical prowess. WoW!

1999 Best Victory Walk

When Italian actor-director Robert Benigni won for Life is Beautiful, he climbed over chairs and through the audience in celebration.

1972 Lon gest

Ovation The longest standing ovation in Oscars history – 12 minutes – was given to Charlie Chaplin when the silent film legend returned to Hollywood to accept a special lifetime achievement Oscar. 1973

Brando's Stand -In

Marlon Brando didn’t show up to accept his Best Actor trophy for The Godfather but sent in his place, as a protest at Hollywood’s treatment of American Indians, Native American activisit Sacheen Littlefeather.

1974 The Streaker

Naked stage invasion: Robert Opel streaked nude across the stage prompting co-host David Niven to quip: “Probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings.”

OSCARS:PAST,PRESENT & FUTURE

MAKING HISTORY

1940 - Gone With The Wind’s Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar winning best supporting actress. Sidney Poitier was the first black Best Actor winner in 1964 and it took until 2002 for Halle Berry to become the first African American best actress winner.

OSCARS

By The Numbers!

Most Oscar Wins By One Film – 11 Shared by Ben Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Most Oscar Nominations by One Film – 14 Shared by All About Eve, Titanic, La La Land Most Oscar Wins by a Man – 22 – Walt Disney (various categories) Most Oscar Wins by a Woman – 8 – Edith Head (all for costume design) Most Best Actress Wins – 4 – Katherine Hepburn Most Best Actor Wins – 3 – Daniel Day-Lewis Most Best Director Wins – 4 – John Ford

Most Times Hosting the Oscars – 19 – Bob Hope

TITANIC

ALL THE OSCARS VENUES

The 2022 Academy Awards saw a return to their usual modern home of Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre – but that’s far from the only place the Oscars have been held. Over the event’s 94-year history, some of America’s most famous theaters and hotels have hosted the ultimate movie ceremony.

The event began in 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood – ironically just over the street from the current venue. From 1930 to 1943, six Oscars ceremonies were held at the Ambassador Hotel across town. Another glamorous hotel, The Biltmore, staged eight ceremonies from 1931 to 1942. The 1944 ceremony was the first time the Oscars were held in a movie theater and the venue that year was Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which also hosted in 1945 and 1946. The Shrine Auditorium took over in 1947 and 1948 and that downtown Los Angeles venue would end up hosting many times decades later. The Marquis Theater got its one and only turn in 1949. Then in 1950 the Oscars kicked off an 11-year run at The Pantages Theater.

In 1953 came the first bicoastal ceremony with the event split between the Pantages in Hollywood and the NBC International Theater in New York. From 1954 to 1957 the New York portion came from the NBC Century Theater. Los Angeles alone has staged every ceremony since and the honor fell to the Santa Monica Civic from 1961 to 1968. Then an even more regular home was found as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion hosted every year from 1969 to 1987 and then it alternated with the Shrine Auditorium from 1988-2001.

The Dolby Theatre, previously known as The Kodak, was specially built with the Oscars in mind and has served as permanent home every year since 2001, with the exception of Covid year, 2021, when Union Station was used as the venue.