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Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 4:13 pm
by Damien
Organizers Can't Find Honorary Oscar Recipient Godard
By Stephen Galloway
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Where is Jean-Luc Godard when you need him?
Oscar organizers have spent almost 24 frantic hours trying to reach the iconoclastic filmmaker ("Breathless") to inform him he's getting an honorary statuette -- and by late Wednesday they still hadn't been able to find him.
Godard, a Swiss citizen born in Paris, is notoriously anti-Hollywood. He's also anti-flying and has avoided long plane flights, one insider said, because he's not allowed to smoke. This means Godard, 79, could be one of the rare no-shows for an honorary award. Audrey Hepburn died in 1993 before her prize could be presented.
"We've been attempting to reach him since 7 o'clock Tuesday evening and we have as yet had no confirmation," Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences said late Wednesday afternoon. "We have tried by telephone, by fax, by emails to various friends and associates. We have sent a formal letter by FedEx. But we have certainly not been told he will show up at this point."
Davis said that possibility played no factor when the Academy's board determined recipients of the honorary Oscars, which will be presented in November at the second annual Governors Awards. Other recipients will be Eli Wallach, Francis Ford Coppola and silent film historian Kevin Brownlow. The Americans were informed Tuesday night. Brownlow was awoken in London by a call from Academy president Tom Sherak.
"They were all thrilled, Mr. Brownlow especially," Davis said. "He had no idea why the president of the Academy had reached him in the middle of the night."
Presumably, at this point, Godard has no idea either.
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:29 pm
by Big Magilla
Apparently the Academy is still trying to "find" Godard to let him know about his honorary award.
He was supposed to appear in person in January, 1995 to accept his career achievement award form the New York Film Critics but was a last minute no-show. His letter of apology began "Too little good health. Too big snow to the airport, and too few banknotes saved for the ticket."
http://filmbrain.tumblr.com/post....e-nyfcc
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:34 pm
by Damien
Mister Tee wrote:Brownlow is a great choice. Is there any precedent for a historian being honored, besides the French guy (name escaping my aging brain) cited in 1973?
In addition to Henri Langlois, Kemp Niver was a film historian and cinematographer who received an Oscar ib 1954 specifically for having designed a printer that transferred very early films from perishable paper prints onto 16-millimeter film stock, those saving thousands of movies that wouldn't have survived.
Interesting guy. The LA Times obituary stated, "A Los Angeles native, Niver was a teenage Navy aviator, commander of a Navy destroyer during World War II, a homicide detective in the Los Angeles Police Department, an investigator for the Los Angeles County district attorney, an actors' bodyguard and a traveling photographer for President Dwight D. Eisenhower before he settled into becoming a film historian."
And the Museum of Modern Art Film Department has twice been Oscared, in 1937 and 1978.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:19 pm
by OscarGuy
Remember, this is a separate, non-televised event. It's possible Godard could actually show up for it. Or perhaps even appear live on tape?
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:49 pm
by FilmFan720
The press release notes Godard's influence on several modern directors, whom they name, so I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them (Scorsese or Tarantino) present his.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:34 pm
by Reza
Quite an eclectic group. Happy for Wallach, the second character actor they have honored after Ralph Bellamy. It appears that with Bacall last year and Wallach this year I can hope that Doris Day or Jeanne Moreau might make it next year.
Godard is an excellent choice. So what if he doesn't come to accept it in person.
Wonder who will be asked to present to the four honorees? Maybe Eastwood will hand it over to Wallach? And Jane Fonda to Godard? Spilberg, Lucas or Scorsese to Coppola?
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:32 pm
by anonymous1980
What are the chances of Godard showing up and accepting the award? Chances are, quite miniscule.
I have to applaud the Academy for voting him the award anyway most likely knowing this.
Edited By anonymous on 1282761228
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:03 pm
by Big Magilla
Eli Wallach is a nice man. He was once a neighbor of mine. I remember standing between him and his wife Anne Jackson at our local polling place circa 1972. He refused my offer to let him go ahead of me so he would be right behind his wife.
It's a funny but a lot of the locals came up and chatted with Anne, asking about her children and so on, but they all kept their distance from Wallach who seemed rather shy especially next to his extroverted wife.
Years later I passed him in the street and he looked as though he recognized me but couldn't place the face.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:01 pm
by The Original BJ
Godard is a truly sensational choice -- there aren't too many individuals left alive whose work genuinely changed the face of cinema.
I don't think Wallach was ever someone widely thought to be "overdue" for an Oscar, but the sheer longevity of his career seems worth honoring. Honestly, when I saw him pop up in The Ghost Writer, I'd forgotten he was even still alive.
Always nice to see a film historian honored.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:50 pm
by anonymous1980
Godard - HOLY SHIT!!!
Bravo, Academy.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:12 pm
by OscarGuy
Well, if it makes you feel better, the Thalberg award isn't an Oscar. It's a bust of Thalberg, so it's not like he's getting another.
I don't believe there is another individual historian to have won, though I'm not very familiar with Henri Langlois, though, so I can't say if he would count as precedent or not.
I guess I'm indifferent on Eli Wallach. It's a name I'm familiar with, but whose work I am not. There are so many other deserving names out there, I'm saddened they didn't want to go that way...but, I guess they didn't want to do a woman two years in a row...though the history of these awards seem to favor the gents anyway, especially in the non-acting fields.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:57 am
by Mister Tee
It's deeply disppointing we'll be denied the cognitive dissonance of Godard facing the worldwide/Hollywood audience. The suspense over what he'd say in such a context would be rich beyond belief.
I've always viewed Wallach as a tiresome ham, but I suppose he's being honored as one of the last representatives of the Method era.
Brownlow is a great choice. Is there any precedent for a historian being honored, besides the French guy (name escaping my aging brain) cited in 1973?
You'd think Coppola already has enough Oscars, but he's decent enough choice for the Thalberg.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:43 am
by Damien
Jean-Luc Godard getting an Oscar -- who would have thunk it? Brilliant!
Strange that Eli Wallach was neevr even nominated for an Oscar.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:36 am
by FilmFan720
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:43 am
by anonymous1980