Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Could Scorsese get a Thalberg award?

The thing seems to be that right now, the list of really possible and worthy Thalberg winners are all about the same age, in their late 50s, and so maybe are a few years away from the award (although Lucas and Spileberg won at a younger age):
Scott Rudin
Brian Grazer
Kathleen Kennedy
James Schamus
The Weinsteins

You also have a string of Hollywood players whose jobs aren't primarily producers, but who produce enough that they could show up here, a la Clint Eastwood or Warren Beatty: Clooney, Pitt, Guillermo del Toro, Chrisotpher Nolan, etc.

I also wouldn't be horribly surprised to see Kevin Feige win a Thalberg.

As much as everyone despises him, Bob & Harvey Weinstein seem likely, potential options for the Thalberg. Spielberg could easily if he hadn't already won. Scott Rudin would also be a strong possibility.

Other minor possiblities: Albert S. Ruddy. Letty Aronson.

HarryGoldfarb wrote:

Eenusch wrote:I'm not up on my knowledge of film producers so I can't really say who is overdue among them for recognition.

Are there any that are "Thalberg-worthy" that have been overlooked?

Probably Kathleen Kennedy qualifies. At 62, she's not precisely "young"... And after NINE unsuccessful Best Picture nominations (this may be a record) she can be considered overdue...

I guess her Thalberg time will come, as soon as her term on the board of governors is over, as governors aren't eligible for Honorary Oscar consideration.

Eenusch wrote:I'm not up on my knowledge of film producers so I can't really say who is overdue among them for recognition.

Are there any that are "Thalberg-worthy" that have been overlooked?

Probably Kathleen Kennedy qualifies. At 62, she's not precisely "young"... And after NINE unsuccessful Best Picture nominations (this may be a record) she can be considered overdue...

I'm not up on my knowledge of film producers so I can't really say who is overdue among them for recognition.

Are there any that are "Thalberg-worthy" that have been overlooked?

Seeing Spike Lee get an honorary Oscar will be interesting given that last year he said the Academy can go "fuck themselves" for ignoring Selma in most major categories. He's also still bitter that Do the Right Thing was ignored by the Academy in the same year that Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture. He does have a point there. His film Chiraq, about gun violence in Chicago, is coming out later this year and may contend for nominations in 2016. We'll see.

At first, I didn't quite understand why Debbie Reynolds was getting the humanitarian award specifically. Then it dawned on me that her work in collecting and preserving film memorabilia and donating all of it to the new Academy museum is probably why.

Reza wrote:

flipp525 wrote:

Mister Tee wrote:Because I never felt Gena Rowlands was "robbed" for A Woman Under the Influence, I don't react to this with the "At last!" many of her greatest fans do. But she's a good actress, who's had a long, honorable career, so I'm fine with it.

I thought Rowlands was robbed of a nomination for Opening Night (1977) although I'm not entirely sure who I'd replace in that lineup. I find her work in that film just fascinating and think about it to this day.

I feel the same way about her performance in Woody Allen's Another Woman - robbed of a nomination.

Actually, I feel the same way about her performance in Another Woman too. Sandy Dennis was also phenomenal in her cameo in the same film and was also worthy of recognition.

flipp525 wrote:

Mister Tee wrote:Because I never felt Gena Rowlands was "robbed" for A Woman Under the Influence, I don't react to this with the "At last!" many of her greatest fans do. But she's a good actress, who's had a long, honorable career, so I'm fine with it.

I thought Rowlands was robbed of a nomination for Opening Night (1977) although I'm not entirely sure who I'd replace in that lineup. I find her work in that film just fascinating and think about it to this day.

I feel the same way about her performance in Woody Allen's Another Woman - robbed of a nomination.

My favorite Rowlands performance was in Minnie & Moskowitz, another one of those films that had a delayed L.A. opening. She was the runner-to Jane Fonda in Klute for the New York Film Critics Award for it in 1971 and despite its delayed L.A. opening the film still registered strongly enough for Cassavetes to be nominated for a WGA award the following year for his screenplay. Oscar, however, ignored it.

As for Opening Night, aside from Joan Blondell's performance, I didn't much care for the film. I don't think Rowlands was in strong consideration that year despite a Golden Globe nomination with all five nominated performances plus Sophia Loren in A Special Day and Shelley Duvall in 3 Women stealing the thunder.

Unless I've forgotten someone, Spike Lee becomes the first African American director to win an Oscar honorary or otherwise. I know Sidney Poitier has directed, but neither of his two Oscars were for directing.

I don't know how it factors into her Oscar consideration but I noticed in the headline on The National Enquirer or one of those rags this morning that Debbie Reynolds is battling kidney failure.

flipp525 wrote: I thought Rowlands was robbed of a nomination for Opening Night (1977) although I'm not entirely sure who I'd replace in that lineup. I find her work in that film just fascinating and think about it to this day.

My favorite Cassavetes film.

Mister Tee wrote:Because I never felt Gena Rowlands was "robbed" for A Woman Under the Influence, I don't react to this with the "At last!" many of her greatest fans do. But she's a good actress, who's had a long, honorable career, so I'm fine with it.

I thought Rowlands was robbed of a nomination for Opening Night (1977) although I'm not entirely sure who I'd replace in that lineup. I find her work in that film just fascinating and think about it to this day.

Because I never felt Gena Rowlands was "robbed" for A Woman Under the Influence, I don't react to this with the "At last!" many of her greatest fans do. But she's a good actress, who's had a long, honorable career, so I'm fine with it.

Spike Lee's overall filmography isn't that impressive -- a startling number of credits, but few that truly stand out: Do the Right Thing, of course, and Malcolm X; some of his documentaries; Inside Man is fun; and I like his film of Passing Strange. I wonder if some on the Board of Governors don't see him as akin to Orson Welles (who also won an honorary award, 45 years back): someone most celebrated for one film that was seen as insufficiently honored in its day, for which this is payback.

The Hersholt is of course given to someone who's done active charity work, and Reynolds well qualifies. But it's also over the years been a way to honor popular Hollywood personages who don't quite fit into normal categories for prizes, and I think the Board is happy to put her in that slot, as well.

Debbie Reynolds being given the Hersholt is way overdue.

Honorary Oscars: Spike Lee and Gena Rowlands
Jean Herscholt: Debbie Reynolds
No Thalberg this year.

Great line-up, although Spike Lee feels a little young to me.