THE DEPARTED: This year's Oscar Necrology segment faces the same questions as in most year -- what to do about too-recent deaths (Ramis), given that the footage likely has already been edited to fit its time slot? Who gets tributes beyond having their photos in the montage?
Given this list of those who passed away in the past year, I'd try to make room for oral tributes to Shirley Temple Black (Drew Barrymore?), Harold Ramis (Bill Murray, ideally), and Philip Seymour Hoffman (P.T. Anderson?), in that order of importance. (If you'd rather have a Peter O'Toole tribute than Hoffman, I'm okay with that.) Make sure to include Roger Ebert in the montage—his love of movies brought so many of us such joy, and he deserves to be remembered Sunday night—and don't forget Deanna Durbin.
I just hope they don't have any oral tributes. I'm a fan of somewhat democratic montages where everyone is in the same package.
ReplyDeleteI don't have an issue with oral tributes for true giants (and Black, Ramis, Hoffman, O'Toole and Ebert all have solid cases), but they get weird when overused (e.g., "a special tribute to Cory Monteith" at the Emmys?)
ReplyDeleteMurray for Ramis? Do you know something we don't? Murray's statement on Ramis's passing suggested to me that their feud was still a major issue.
ReplyDeleteI said "ideally," and "He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him," doesn't entirely shut the door. Judd Apatow would be a logical choice as well.
ReplyDeleteMy guess, sight unseen, is that the documentary on Ebert wins next year, so there will be that.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much you can read, one way or the other, into a short statement like that. The Chicago Trib's obit mentioned that Bill and his brother Brian has visited with Ramis during his illness -- now, that could have been a couple years ago for all we know, and maybe fences remained unmended, but still, there's hope.
ReplyDeleteCan't say what it means, but Bill apparently missed the funeral yesterday (at the temple I was bar mitzvahed at, so I've got that going for me). In attendance: Dr. Raymond Stantz, Ty Webb, Stuart Similey, Doug McKenzie and Stan Schmenge.
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-26/entertainment/chi-harold-ramis-funeral-20140226_1_second-city-harold-ramis-david-pasquesi
I seem to recall that the Academy refused to include Gene Siskel in the necrology when he passed away, and Whoopi Goldberg (who was hosting) giving a big thumbs-up to him separately. [Just googled it. And that's what happened.] I've seen different reasons for this---whether that Siskel was not a member of the Academy or that he "didn't work in the film industry." The question is what standard they'll apply here as to whether Ebert will get an official inclusion in the necrology.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule, I do not believe critics are members of the Academy. Ebert did have (admittedly terrible) film credits before becoming a critic, so may be treated differently.
ReplyDeleteIn re: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, campy, yes. But not terrible. (And Ebert had been a working critic at the Sun Times for a few years before co-writing the screenplay; he later did other pseudonymous writing work on a couple more films for Russ Meyer.) Aside from the early screenwriting, he also has a documentary short producing credit and is the subject of a new documentary directed by Steve (Hoop Dreams) James. So, probably more justification than existed at the time for Siskel, but all that said, no clue how the Academy will handle it.
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