Editor’s Note: College Media Network gave student newspapers the opportunity to have an exclusive conference call with the people responsible for the Academy Awards.
The red carpet, the presenters, the acceptance speeches. Depending on one’s perspective, the Oscars are either the celebration of a year’s worth of great movies, or four hours of pointless self-exaltation over pretentious art films no one cared to see. Either way, the Oscars are more than just a simple awards show. Countless hours of work go into making the ceremony the spectacle it is.
Tom Sherak, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, describes the Academy as “very well-oiled, well-organized organization” that has over 200 people working 365 days a year in philanthropic work dealing with motion pictures. Putting on the actual Oscars ceremony is just one of the things it does.
Among Sherak’s duties as president is to choose the producer for the show. This year, Sherak opted for co-producers, choosing Bill Mechanic, former CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, and Adam Shankman, director of such films as “Bringing Down the House.”
The producers are responsible for the overall vision of the ceremony. They choose everyone else who will be involved in making the show, from director to choreographer to set designer.
“You have to trust the people that you hire,” Sherak said. “If you hire people who can do things better than you can do them, they’re going to make you look pretty good in the end, and that’s what my hope is for [Mechanic] and [Shankman].”
Sherak said he has stressed to Mechanic, Shankman and everyone else working on the show that the most important thing to do this year is to have fun.
“We want this to be a different kind of Oscars,” Sherak said. “We want you to be a part of our show and enjoy it in a way that you’re not sure what’s going to happen next.”
On that note, Shankman and Mechanic have spent much time matching presenters to various awards, looking for both logical and emotional connections. Mechanic said one of his goals is to have interconnectivity throughout the show.
“Everything makes sense in some way as to why somebody is doing something or why something is in the show,” Mechanic said.
However, one difference between the Oscars and other awards shows, according to Mechanic, is the Oscars will not include any direct plugs. Though each presenter will be somehow connected to the award he or she is presenting, he or she will not be promoting any upcoming projects. Shankman says one way to keep up the pre-show buzz to leak names of presenters early. He declined, however, to leak any details on the music and choreography of the show, saying only that both will be utilized in “a way never before seen.”
Shankman did note one major difference in this year’s show is the innovative set, describing it as “incredibly active.”
“Everything turns and flies or is projected on or has LED screens,” Shankman said. “It will be breathtaking as it starts moving around.”
Because the set is so complicated, an extra five days of rehearsal has been added to the schedule, meaning rehearsals will begin 10 days before the ceremony. There will be only one entire run-through, though.
For the position of director, Mechanic and Shankman chose Hamish Hamilton, who has previously directed The Who’s halftime show during Super Bowl XLIV and multple Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows. Mechanic describes Hamilton as a “younger, fresher director” who will bring a new energy to the show.
“His eye is a different eye than you’ve seen on this kind of show,” Mechanic said.
The hosts of this year’s ceremony will be Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Sherak said he believes these comedic actors connect to the audience and fit the theme of fun well.
“The idea that the two of them together, playing off each other, will give the show that sense of ‘What’s going to happen next?'” Sherak said.
Last year, the Academy alienated many fans when “The Dark Knight,” the top grossing film of 2008, was left off the list of Best Picture nominees.
In a committee meeting following the ceremony, last year’s producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark suggested that the category be broadened so that more popular films could be included. This is not completely without precedent – in the early days, sometimes as many as 12 were nominated in the same year – but the number had been set at five since 1944. The committee chose to nominate 10 films rather than eight or some other number because the standard number for critic’s end-of-the-year list is a top 10, Sherak said. Shankman and Mechanic applaud the decision to nominate 10 films, as both small, elegant films and big blockbusters can potentially be great movies.
“We’re both massive film lovers. As fans we’re not snobs,” Shankman said. “Big isn’t bad, and small isn’t necessarily good. Good is good. We’re trying to take this year to celebrate film in general and celebrate the people who pay our checks, which is the movie-going audience.”
When nominating films for awards, all 5,077 members of the Academy can submit nominations for Best Picture, and only specific branches of the Academy submit nominations for the other awards. Once the nominees are selected, every voter can vote in each category.
The Academy prefers that the voters see the films the way they were meant to be seen – on the big screen. If necessary, the studios will send out tapes of the movies.
The ballots are not counted by the Academy, but by auditing company Price-Waterhouse. The Academy doesn’t even know who wins the awards until the winners are announced.
“The Academy has nothing to do with the counting,” Sherak said. “This would make the CIA proud.”
According to Sherak, last year most observers felt like “Slumdog Millionaire” would definitely win Best Picture, which weakened the show by cutting suspense. This year, there is no obvious frontrunner.
“I don’t think it’s a one-picture show this year, and I think that’s going to be good for the show,” Sherak said.