Man, this year's Academy Awards is shaping up to be very interesting for all of the wrong reasons. Forget about the lack of diversity in the nominees for a moment (I know it's tough!) and focus on a major change that was just revealed which will affect the other major complaint people have about the awards: it's too God damn long.
According to Deadline, show producer David Hill says the acceptance speeches will be accompanied by a scroll, a ticker tape of everyone the winner wants to thank personally. So for the two or three of you who watch Fox Business Channel, it might feel kind of comforting to have a bunch of crap scrolling at the bottom of the screen, but the rest of us will be annoyed at the distraction when we're carefully studying Kate Winslet's dress.
All of the nominees were asked to submit the names of everyone they would thank if victorious, so they can be added to the scroll. The most laughable part is that they think this will cut down on speech length, but it doesn't prevent the winners from still thanking everyone in the way they are accustomed to. The reason for this has to do with what happened last year when Dana Perry took the stage for winning Best Documentary Short for her film, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. Perry began telling a very personal, heartfelt story about her son who tragically committed suicide, but she was stepped on by the exit music. The show organizers tried to recover but...nah, it didn't really take.
Now, the interesting thing about this is that it's people like Perry who get the shortest leash, while the more famous stars get extra time to blather about whatever they want. Will that change? How long until they just put up a 24 second shot clock like the NBA?
Whatever the case, this should make for entertaining fodder for yours truly and WAFCA president, Tim Gordon, since we will be hosting the Oscar Night Party at the Arlington Cinema 'n Drafthouse! If you're interested in attending (and you should be), simply go here and get a ticket or two or three!
