I must admit that when I found out Monday night that our friend Anthony Breznican was embedded with AMPAS brass and nominations co-announcer Anne Hathaway for this USA Today feature story (and, therefore, knew the nominees at 9:00 that night), I was incredibly jealous. But that it yielded such an insightful little piece, well, fine by me.
Breznican offers a unique first-hand perspective on the Academy’s preparations for the big morning announcement, divulging intriguing little tidbits throughout (like the fact that Oscarcast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic were happy to see “The Blind Side” shortlisted, while it induced groans and eye-rolling from others in the room). That PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants go to an “undisclosed location” to tally the votes is just hilarious. I picture them in some underground bunker like in the denouement of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”
I bet if there’s ever a nuclear holocaust the night before an Oscar announcement, the PwC guys would be survivors, like Burgess Meredith emerging from a bank vault with “all the time in the world.” Imagine it. Anyway, I digress…
Here’s a bit of Breznican’s perspective on the night’s goings-on:
The presentation takes time, preparation and rehearsal. (You try rattling off the names of the foreign-language nominees before dawn.) But doing so means locking a tiny group of trusted Academy-ites inside the organization’s headquarters overnight.
Once in, there’s no leaving. Cellphones are gathered in plastic mail bins. Internet access to the entire building is severed. Guards stand sentry at the doors.
If the word got out early, there are many places for it to escape: blogs, websites, Facebook, Twitter, a viral spread of text messaging or e-mail. But so far, the Oscars have never had a leak…
At 8:58 p.m. Monday, the two dark-suited accountants roll a cart with three boxes of printouts into the fourth-floor gallery at academy headquarters, where an exhibit dedicated to Noel Coward is on display. The cigarette-smoking playwright gazes curiously from photographs behind the dozen people gathered for the big reveal.
The accountants have the solemnity of undertakers, but the workers rip open the lids and pull out pages like overeager kids on Christmas morning.
Read the rest at USA Today, well worth the time.
Comments
5 responses to “In the trenches with AMPAS”
I love this insider look at nominations morning. It mirrors the excitement felt by those of us far away from Hollywood who watch the public announcement. This is one part of a great American ritual. Long may it live! [This year will mark my 47th year of watching the telecast of the awards.]
Kris,
Are you going to do a best shots of the year feature?
So if the actor co-presenter knows the nominees beforehand, what was up with Salma Hayek? She looked like she having a nervous breakdown when Penélope, Pan’s Labyrinth and Babel were announced. Maybe she’s a better actress than I thought…
NG81,
Kris has put up a few posts saying that he will be doing a best shots of the year feature, that it’s just taking a while.
Is it just me, or does it feel a bit like Shankman and Mechanic are producing an oscartelecast directed toward the wide audience instead of us loyal “oscarwatchers”? Do any of you really want to see more musical numbers? I think people will tune in, of course, just to see “Avatar” and now probably “The Blind Side”, but I feel like the ceremony NOW will do very little to promote movies like “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” or “An Education” or “Up in the Air” even. Isn’t that what all the actors, writers, etc. like about the awards…that they inform people that there are “other” movies out there beside I don’t know, “The Book of Eli”. I feel I’ll probably be in the minority come oscar time…most viewers will root for popular movies in races and not have even bothered to go watch “The Messenger” for example, while I’ll root for my favorite, whoever that may be, whilst having seen ALL the movies in competition…
Anyone feel the same??