The Big Oscar Shakeup

Posted – 6/28/09

Article by Todd Plucknett

Big Oscar news came this past week that will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the Oscar race this year and in future years. On Wednesday, AMPAS President Sid Ganis announced that on March 7, 2010 the next Best Picture of the year will be chosen from 10 nominees, that way it originally was over 60 years ago.  In his press conference, Ganis started by stating that he had exciting news, and this is what he explained. He did the smart thing, though, by explaining himself before blatantly coming out with the information, which would have most likely brought about shock and concern throughout the people in attendance.

Ganis sighted 1939, arguably the best year for movies ever, as one of the major reasons for going back to this classic category makeup. (The nominees that year were Dark Victory, Gone with the Wind, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Wuthering Heights.) He explained that these are 10 of the greatest motion pictures ever made, and if everyone were asked to narrow this list of 10 nominees down to 5, then everyone would most likely do this differently, due to the diversity of these 10 films. Half of those all time elite films would not have gotten the recognition of being a Best Picture nominee if the current system was in place. He explained that after several discussions at the Board of Governors meetings on this particular issue, they finally decided to go back to this system.

During the ensuing questions from the press, Ganis revealed that The Dark Knight was one of the 10 or so non-nominated films discussed that helped sway the governors’ votes toward returning to the 10 nominee format. He also explained that he thinks this will open up the competition for those films that get nominated in several other categories but miss out on the top prize. It will give those films a chance, and the race will be much more wide open when the ceremony actually takes place. He said something to the effect of, “We are casting our net farther… it could mean that a Documentary might be nominated some time. A Foreign Language film might be nominated. Certainly, there is a possibility that an animated film could be nominated. And who knows? Maybe even a comedy can be in that group of 10!” He mentioned that if an animated, foreign, or documentary feature is in the Best Picture category, then this will not exclude them from being in their own category, and vice-versa. He said that in today’s time with so many films coming out, this new system will help validate the selecting of the year’s best achievement in film.

Reaction toward this from the press was somewhat positive. The press was more curious than anything. Ganis made his case for the change, and it seemed reasonable. There are several problems with it, though. The prestige will be reduced when returning to this system. Being a Best Picture nominee in recent memory was an incredible honor, due to the fact that there were only 5 of them. Now with 10, this will most likely cause even less deserving films to be recognized as Best Picture nominees. Also, it has been tradition having every major category have exactly 5 nominees. They are the only award ceremony to not be flexible in their nomination amounts. The term “Best Picture nominee” will become a looser term, losing the honor in simply being nominated. In addition, a director’s film has 10 chances to be nominated, yet the director will only have 5 chances, which seems sort of unfair. This will also result in more countries pushing their best film for Best Picture, leaving it out of the Foreign Language Film race. If the picture does not make the cut of 10, then some of the best movies of the year will be completely ignored.

While this announcement bothers me, it is also intriguing in some ways. Now films like The Dark Knight will certainly make it in along with other diverse genres of film, which will likely spark interest and cause people to actually watch the ceremony. Also, films like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Leaving Las Vegas will not be nominated in every major category, yet fail to get the Best Picture recognition. However, this has all been part of the intrigue and prestige of the nominations in past years. Nothing is guaranteed, and there is always a shock on nominations morning. This will take that shock value away, most likely, because every realistically worthy film will be in that category. However, this will leave the possibility that any of those 10 can actually win, which is interesting in itself.

Needless to say, I have mixed feelings on the issue. I have come to the point of indifference toward it. It is an interesting idea to try to spark interest, and perhaps if this is a failure and the honor of being nominated in this category becomes somewhat diluted, then maybe it will return to the traditional top 5. Or perhaps something truly exciting and radical will happen that will make everyone pay attention. I can see it going either way.

Ganis said that in their meetings, they speculated on what would have happened if this system was in place last year. These are the other 5 films that I think would have been included last year:

The Dark Knight

WALL-E

Doubt

Frozen River

The Wrestler

I can see why they chose to make this change after this year. When groundbreaking and widely appealing films like The Dark Knight and WALL-E, a film with 4 acting nominations in Doubt, a widely-loved film with a lead actress and screenplay nomination in Frozen River, and the best movie of the year in The Wrestler are not included in the category, then a change needs to be made. But in 2006, what would have happened? Dreamgirls and ...what? Bobby? Notes on a Scandal? It is not going to work every year, and I think the world would have imploded if Notes was called a Best Picture nominee by anyone. We will see how this all plays out. If I had to bet, though, I would say that it will be poorly received, unless something amazing happens this year that grabs the attention of everyone. I wouldn’t count on it, though.