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You could go batty trying to figure out why Oscar voters like what they like -- these are the rocket scientists who thought Crash was Best Picture material, as opposed to say, a candidate for the worst movie of that year -- so it was only with mild bemusement that I greeted the Academy's decision this year to snub Atonement director Joe Wright, who deserved a Best Director nomination for every reason you can possibly summon. A few reasons: 1) He managed the extraordinary challenge of taking a piece of dense, modern literature and turning it into a compelling drama and a romance that works as a movie without dumbing down the material. 2) He's a talented, 'every shot counts' style of director, who labors over his shot selections and has the visual acumen of a Stanley Kubrick. 3) He deserved a nomination for his last film and got snubbed that time too.
The Guardian recently got its own elaborate set visit to Wright's upcoming movie The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, and the topic of Wright's snub was on everyone's mind. Downey, in particular, was ready to open up about it, saying that "it's a f**king crime Joe wasn't nominated. He's the goods, man, he really is." When Wright was asked directly about it, he responded "Well, out here it's all they bloody talk about, so yes for twelve hours or so I was gutted because everyone seemed so angry about it on my behalf. Then I just looked around and thought: What am I even thinking? I'm making a movie in Hollywood with these amazing actors I'd only ever seen sitting there in my cinema seat like a mad fan -- and they seem excited to work with me for some reason." A pretty classy response.
The snub talk is only one part of a huge and interesting set visit report that includes new details about The Soloist and a lot of funny stuff with Robert Downey, Jr. Here's a sample, to leave you with -- Downey talking about his working relationship with Wright: "First day, I said 'Listen Joe, just don't f**k with me and we'll be okay.' But the whole point is that we're supposed to f**k with each other and he did f**k with me -- for some reason he got under my skin and f**k, it worked."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-10-2008 @ 6:14PM
Gregory Rubinstein said...
My respect for cinematical has dropped significantly after reading this article because you have to be completely insane and not know anything about movies to think that Crash wasn't Oscar material. My jaw dropped when I read that. Brokeback Mountain has very good acting in it and was definitely groundbreaking, but groundbreaking does not automatically equal Oscar. Crash on the other hand had great acting, great directing, and is one of the most beautifully woven together stories that I have ever seen. You'd have to be mental to think that it wasn't Oscar material and it blows my mind that you think Crash was one of the worst movies of that year. Let me think what other movies came out that year.... Hmmmmm, well there is The Pacifier, Sahara, Miss Congeniality 2, Beauty Shop, Stealth, Doom, Aeon Flux, Man of the House, Kung Fu Hustle, Rebound, The Honeymooners, The Man, D.E.B.S., House of Wax, Elektra, and my pick for the worst movie of 2005: Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. I'm starting to suspect that you slept through 2005 and only took a break from napping to watch Crash because the is the only explanation I can find that would defend your claim.
Atonement is the only Oscar nominee I haven't seen (I'm seeing it the day before the Oscars), so I can't say whether or not Joe Wright deserves to be nominated for an Oscar, but what I can say is that almost every person I know that has seen Atonement hated it and since it seems like you liked it, I wouldn't be surprised if I saw it and it turned out to be trash.
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2-10-2008 @ 6:46PM
Stella said...
I think Crash is one of the worst movies to ever win Best Picture. It's a just another stain in the history of the Academy Awards.
As for Joe Wright, I was pretty upset that he didn't get a nomination either. And then I thought about how political Hollywood is (which is why Crash won in the first place) and I remembered that I guess it doesn't really matter if you have the talent. Hollywood is going to do what it wants.
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2-10-2008 @ 6:56PM
Philip said...
Here let me buffer my opinion by stating that if you don't agree with it, you must be uncivilized and ignorant of real film appreciation. There!
I thought Crash sucked as well. It may be one of the few things Ryan and I agree on, but I found the movie to be pretentious and overly preachy. When I want race relations closely examined, and examined well, I watch the Wire, or better yet, Colors, with Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. The fact that Crash was an Oscar candidate speaks to the dearth of worthwhile movies that year. Perhaps, Gregory, someone told you it was a deep and emotional look at race relations, and you chose to agree rather than disagree. That's ok, it happens a lot with movies. Some people I know swear by O Brother Where Art Thou as a comedic gem, but frankly I've yet to see the overwhelming humor in it.
What happened with Crash was, they didn't want to give Spielberg another Oscar OR he didn't have a movie up for an Oscar. Either way, Crash blows and gets worse with repeated viewings. There isn't one scene in that movie you can't see coming from a mile away.
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2-10-2008 @ 10:18PM
JFK said...
'Crash' was barely good enough to be on television, greg. You'll be pleased to know that the powers behind it care so much about the material that a "crash" television series in in the works. I guess you'll be riveted to that shallow, divisive, but somehow "controversial" trash.
Ask yourself when the last time a best picture was exploited and turned into a prime-time commercial pusher?
Crash was a rip off of Soderbergh's 'Traffic' with a sophomoric stance on race filling in for the war on drugs. Did your jaw just drop again.
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2-11-2008 @ 12:44AM
Ryan said...
Crash was not awful. In fact it was in my Top 20 of that year... as #18. So it was good, but Oscar material? I agree with Ryan, not so much.
Out of the 5 films nominated that year, I thought it was the one that deserved to get nominated/win the least.
Again not saying it was a bad movie, but Best Picture? Hardly.
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2-11-2008 @ 9:43AM
AJ Wiley said...
Well, I thought Crash was great. The best picture of that year? No, but one of them.
In any case, Joe Wright's snub is a snub I agree with. While Atonement is a good movie, it's hardly Oscar material...it's pretty, it works, it's "respectable." But it's nothing amazing, nothing you haven't seen before, and nothing I'd pay to see again.
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2-11-2008 @ 4:28PM
Gregory Rubinstein said...
Actually JFK, I did know they were going to do a TV series on Crash and I actually agree with you that that is taking it too far. However, there was no way that Crash was a rip off of Traffic. I will agree with you that they had some similarities, but no way was it a rip off of it (both of them were great movies). Whether or not a movie is made into a TV show has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is a good movie or not, but if you wanna keep thinking that, go ahead. Oh and your comment about my jaw dropping didn't make any sense. You just wanted to work that into your comment somehow. Guess what? Didn't work.
As for Philip, well I can make my own opinions thank you very much. No one "told me" that it deep and emotional, I came up with that all by myself. I just happen to be smart enough to know a great movie when I see one, which obviously you can't do. Oh and by the way, while Steven Speilberg is a great director, everything he touches doesn't automatically turn into gold. If you don't believe me, maybe you should watch War of the Worlds or Artificial Intelligence. Ironically, artificial is exactly what you and JFK are, a poor imitation of someone that knows a lot about movies.
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2-11-2008 @ 6:17PM
Philip said...
Crash sucked.
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2-12-2008 @ 12:44AM
Gregory Rubinstein said...
That's a very deep and well thought out response Philip. You have made me change my mind. I now no longer like Crash (that was sarcasm by the way, if you were too stupid to get that, which I wouldn't be surprised if you were).
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