"Little Children" Shafted at the Golden Globes
Those who tuned into the Golden Globes telecast on Monday saw the usual pomp and circumstance of a Hollywood Foreign Press Association awards show. Save for that pesky clip of dramatic Best Picture nominee "Little Children" that failed to make an appearance alongside the other nominated films throughout the evening.
Yes, Jennifer Garner was supposed to waltz on stage and present the clip, but the moment was pulled from the rundown due to a bloated running time, according to a line of reasoning being fed to New Line Cinema and Bona Fide Productions.
No one at New Line went on the record here, but suffice it to say those behind the awards push for "Little Children" were upset at the decision. They did, in fact, provide Dick Clark Productions with a clip of the film, one especially chosen by director Todd Field. The excuse given to them by the production company for it's unceremonious withdrawal was that a decision had to be made as a result of the show running over schedule. One of the clips had to go.
"I was mindful of the fact that the show was running long and that our clip hadn't shown yet," said Albert Berger, one of the producers of the film with partner Ron Yerxa. "And in this case, the film hasn't gone wide yet and we were hopeful of the platform of an awards show like this to reach a larger audience. We were disappointed."
Of course, the question these circumstances begs is what criteria is used to decide which clip gets pulled? After all, the clips are shown in alphabetical order. So if it is discovered that the telecast is running over, the final clip ought to be the one to go, right? If such a course of action is indeed necessary, that is. In this case, that would have been the clip of "The Queen," which ended up taking two wins Monday night. "Little Children" took home none.
"Next year it could be my film," was the point made by an insider not connected with the film. "I just think everyone should be on a level playing film."
No one from Dick Clark Productions returned phone calls, but New Line is in a dialogue with the production company, Mr. Berger said. Perhaps something in the way of an apology is in the cards, perhaps not. But a side note of editorial, if I may:
I've worked in live television. I know these decisions are made on the fly in a tight control room by script supervisers and directors looking at a giant red clock ticking down and people scrambling to update the rundowns. I know. But there's a lot more to take into consideration in this scenario than the fact that a show is going to run over schedule, especially when the show went over schedule anyway. (Just ask the poor souls that failed to TiVo the evening news following the telecast and thereby missed the Governor hobbling out to say his catch phrase one...more...time.)
A lot of hard working people pour themselves into this job. They get to work early, they leave late and you don't know any of their names. Getting a film nominated for anything, let alone one of the most televised film awards shows in existence, is an exhausting marathon that deserves the breath of relief that is seeing that clip displayed alongside all the other nominees. To take that away from them and the filmmakers, whatever the eventual fate of their film at the awards show in question, is a bit cold-hearted - even by entertainment industry standards.
Comments
Kris, I agree with you if a film clip has to be excluded it should be the one last in alphabetical order. Why do you think Little Children was the one to get the shaft?
Posted by: cleopatrajones![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 05:52 PM
One can only offer conjecture, I suppose. But I guess "Little Children" and "Bobby" are the two films in the category that went away empty-handed, and the "Bobby" clip had already run. Infer what you will.
Posted by: Kristopher Tapley![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 05:58 PM
But they didn't know that at the time. Silly excuse.
If I were New Line I'd be extremely angry. They have a right to be. As you quoted, the film was going into wider release and needed the exposure. The Departed didn't need any more exposure. The Devil Wears Prada didn't. Little Children did and to just pull a 30-second clip (30 second! Maybe a total of a minute extra with Garner's intro) is shameful.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 06:16 PM
Camel, more is known ahead of time than you think.
Posted by: Kristopher Tapley![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 06:56 PM
Ben Affleck "revealed" on the Golden Derby chat room (hosted by Tom O'Neil) a few days before the Golden Globes that Jennifer will be presenting for Little Children. Maybe this film is getting punished for this.
Posted by: numberina![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 08:50 PM
I suspect that "Little Children" was a victim of the long Beatty tribute. The Golden Globe producers had to realize the length of that section was too long before the telecast and trimmed it.
It's also unfortunate that the majority of the media outlets (both old and new), some of whom love to criticize the Globes, have ignored the omission of the clip. In fact, Kris' article is the only one I've seen thus far.
Posted by: Ladymerlin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 08:58 PM
let's just blame Tom Hanks...
Posted by: CarlinhosBrown![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 09:04 PM
I had noticed it immedeatly. I was like that's just 4 films but I did not realize which film was missing. All said Little Children could have done with some wide-spread exposure. Too bad for those guys.
Posted by: redwine![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 19, 2007 10:31 PM
Ladymerlin brings up a good point: Why is it that none of the major media outlets (NYTimes, LATimes, Variety, HR, etc.) carried this story, or noted it in any of their coverage? It's almost as if the network, HFPA, and the rest of the world took their cues from New Line, a studio that is utterly incompetent at releasing their movies. Kudos to Kristopher Tapley for paying attention – especially when no one else is.
Posted by: Jomby![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 20, 2007 11:30 AM
LITTLE CHILDREN is a powerful and haunting film, with some of the highest critical praise , I believe it is considered to be one of the best films of the year. So there was no surprise when it was nominated for BEST PICTURE by the hollywood foreign press. What is surprising and really shocking is the truth behind this organization and what really transpired at the Golden Globes on Monday night. Five films are nominated for BEST DRAMA, all considered equal until that final ballot is opened. Clearly, this is not the case with this show or this organization. THE QUEEN was the last clip of the night, yet they hand picked LITTLE CHILDREN to be cut from the show. WHY??? Because, the five nominees are NOT equal according to the Hollywood foreign Press. Not all the nominees and studios give equally important gifts to the members of the Hollywood foreign Press., Therefor not all the nominees can be equal. Why in the world is this obvious corruption not being picked up by other news organizations? Are they intimidated? It just seems obvious it's time to shed some truth on what is really going on.
Posted by: truthbetold![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 20, 2007 05:58 PM
LITTLE CHILDREN is a powerful and haunting film, with some of the highest critical praise , I believe it is considered to be one of the best films of the year. So there was no surprise when it was nominated for BEST PICTURE by the hollywood foreign press. What is surprising and really shocking is the truth behind this organization and what really transpired at the Golden Globes on Monday night. Five films are nominated for BEST DRAMA, all considered equal until that final ballot is opened. Clearly, this is not the case with this show or this organization. THE QUEEN was the last clip of the night, yet they hand picked LITTLE CHILDREN to be cut from the show. WHY??? Because, the five nominees are NOT equal according to the Hollywood foreign Press. Not all the nominees and studios give equally important gifts to the members of the Hollywood foreign Press., Therefor not all the nominees can be equal. Why in the world is this obvious corruption not being picked up by other news organizations? Are they intimidated? It just seems obvious it's time to shed some truth on what is really going on.
Posted by: truthbetold![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 20, 2007 05:58 PM
Thanks Kris for mentioning this! Little Children is a near perfect film that is so far superior to Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine.
And yes New Line is beyond lame at marketing and getting awards recognition. ( Who didn't even campaign Joan Allen for Upside Of Anger? )
But that was an inexcusable decision.
Really tacky.
Posted by: Sam![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 20, 2007 06:20 PM
A:It's a damned shame that something with such a potential to move was never given the opportunity to shine before the audience.
B: Yeah, the globes should be ashamed for cutting Little Children out.
A: Globes? I'm talking about the third act!
Posted by: Feelthefelt![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 22, 2007 07:42 AM
Well, of course the biggest problem was the interminable, windy, self aggrandizing Warren Beatty tribute. [I took a bathroom break after 5 minutes] But on an only slightly less onerous scale, we were treated to the overly long tributes by minor winners to their lawyers, pet walkers and first grade teachers. Yawn.
The producer of the show carries a lot of blame for not handling the timing more efficiently. Little Children is a terrific film, one that has stuck with me, and it deserved more exposure. Personally, I think its far superior to The Queen, which is really all about Helen Mirren's performance.
Posted by: hatchling![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 22, 2007 10:06 AM