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Oscar voters less diverse than moviegoing public

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:08:01 GMT

When the names of winners are revealed on Oscar night, months of suspense give way to tears, smiles and speeches. Yet when the curtain falls, one question remains: Who cast the votes?

About 37 million people tuned in to the Academy Awards last year, and a great deal rides on the show's outcome. Winning a golden statuette can vault an actor to stardom, add millions to a movie's box office and boost a studio's prestige. Yet the roster of all 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a closely guarded secret.

Even inside the movie industry, intense speculation surrounds the academy's composition and how that influences who gets nominated for and wins Oscars. The organization does not publish a membership list. "I have to tell you," said academy member Viola Davis, nominated for lead actress this year for "The Help." "I don't even know who is a member of the academy."

A Los Angeles Times study found that academy voters are markedly less diverse than the public, and even more monolithic than many in the film industry may suspect. Oscar voters are nearly 94 percent Caucasian and 77 percent male, the Times found. Blacks are about 2 percent of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2 percent.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14 percent of the membership. The academy calls itself "the world's preeminent movie-related organization" of "the most accomplished men and women working in cinema," and its membership includes some of the brightest lights in the film business — Tom Hanks, Sidney Poitier, Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg, among others.

The roster also features actors far better known for their television acting, such as Erik Estrada from "CHiPs," Jaclyn Smith of "Charlie's Angels" and "The Love Boat's" Gavin MacLeod.

The academy is primarily a group of working professionals, and nearly 50 percent of the academy's actors have appeared on screen in the last two years. But membership is generally for life, and hundreds of academy voters haven't worked on a movie in decades.

Some are people who have left the movie business entirely but continue to vote on the Oscars — including a nun, a bookstore owner and a retired Peace Corps recruiter. Their votes count the same as ballots cast by the likes of Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.

To conduct the study, Times reporters spoke with thousands of academy members and their representatives — and reviewed academy publications, resumes and biographies — to confirm the identities of 5,112 voters — more than 89 percent of the voting members. Those interviews revealed varying opinions about the academy's race, sex and age breakdown: Some members see it simply as a mirror of hiring patterns in Hollywood, while others say it reflects the group's mission to recognize achievement rather than promote diversity. Many said the academy should be much more representative.

The Times found that some of the academy's 15 branches are almost exclusively white and male. Caucasians make up 90 percent or more of every academy branch except actors, whose roster is 88 percent white. The academy's executive branch is 98 percent white, as is its writers branch.

Men compose more than 90 percent of five branches, including cinematography and visual effects. Of the academy's 43-member board of governors, six are women; public relations executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs is the sole person of color.

"You would think that in this day and age, there would be a little bit more equality across the board, but that's not the case," said Nancy Schreiber, one of a handful of women in the cinematography branch. "Being a cinematographer should not be gender-based, and it's ridiculous that it is."

Academy leaders including President Tom Sherak and Chief Executive Dawn Hudson said they have been trying to diversify the membership but that change is difficult because the film industry is not very diverse, and slow because the academy has limited membership growth since 2004.

"We absolutely recognize that we need to do a better job," said academy governor Phil Alden Robinson. But "we start off with one hand tied behind our back. ... If the industry as a whole is not doing a great job in opening up its ranks, it's very hard for us to diversify our membership."

Questions about the academy's diversity, or lack thereof, have persisted for years. In 1996, the Rev. Jesse Jackson organized nationwide protests over the absence of black and minority Oscar nominees, claiming it was evidence of "race exclusion" in Hollywood.

The question arose again last year, when not a single minority was among the 45 nominees for actor, actress, supporting actor and actress, director and original and adapted screenplay.

Asked about the diversity of Oscar presenters, Sherak said he did not instruct this year's show producers to include more minorities. "Producers produce the show, end of subject," he said. Past hosts have included African Americans Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg, and Eddie Murphy was initially slated to host this year's broadcast.

Age and gender have also prompted questions. Sony Pictures executives said last year that they believed their film "The Social Network" lost the best picture race to "The King's Speech" because older Oscar voters didn't relate to the Facebook story. This year, some believe the 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" made the best picture list because it appealed to middle-aged men.

"The film is about men trying to be good fathers, sons trying to be good sons," said Terry Press, a public relations branch member who has helped mount many Oscar campaigns. "It's about unfulfilled conversations with your father and that's an extremely middle-aged man thing. It's like 'Field of Dreams.'"

Black actress and academy member Alfre Woodard, 59, cited the sexually explicit "Shame," which got no nominations, as a film whose Oscar hopes may have been doomed by the academy's demographics.

"Maybe if the median age was 45 to 50, a film like 'Shame' might show up, which I thought was a brilliantly rendered piece but a subject matter that you don't expect a certain older demographic would flock to see," she said.

This year, several minorities landed nominations in the acting categories: Davis and her fellow cast member from "The Help," Octavia Spencer, and Demian Bichir, a Mexican-born performer who starred in "A Better Life." All of the year's five nominated directors are white men, and none of the 21 producers of the nine best picture nominees is a person of color.

Were there more Latino academy members, Bichir said, opportunities for Latinos would improve. "That would mean there would be a lot more roles for Latin actors," the actor said, "and a lot more movies for (Latin) cinematographers."

Oscar Nominations 2012: Will There Be A Shock On Sunday?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:49:26 GMT

The 84th Annual Academy Awards comes live from Los Angeles on Sunday (February 26, 2012), with several categories wonderfully poised and others looking like foregone conclusions. As has been well-documented, the silent French flick The Artist is almost certain to take home the Oscar for Best Picture, with its director Michel Hazanavicius also likely to take home an award for his filmmaking.

It was Martin Scorsese's movie 'Hugo' that stole the headlines when the nominations were announced in January - the family fable has 11 nods including for Best Picture and Best Director. History suggests the film with the most nominations often takes home the evening's top award, though Hugo beating The Artist would easily be considered the biggest Oscar-upset of the past decade. In the acting categories, George Clooney was the runaway favorite with the bookmakers for Best Actor when the nominations were announced, though he appears to be losing ground to The Artist's Jean Dujardin, who is now joint-favorite.

Brad Pitt and Gary Oldman would no-doubt be popular choices for the award, though their well-received turns in 'Moneyball' and 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' respectively are still unlikely to win silverware. Perhaps the tightest category to call at this year's Oscars is Best Actress, with Meryl Streep no longer considered the favorite for her role in 'The Iron Lady'. The Help's Viola Davis is now fancied to take that award, though she faces further competition from Michelle Williams and Rooney Mara. This year's Academy Awards will be hosted by veteran comedian Billy Crystal, with presenters including Bradley Cooper, Tom Cruise and BEN STILLER.

Who should win the Best Actress Oscar?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:36:09 GMT

Barring a major upset this year, this award is essentially a two-horse race. Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) and Viola Davis (The Help) have split the main awards leading up to the Oscars and it seems certain one will walk away with the Academy Award. The decision does, however, rest with Academy voters - and the result is not always easy to predict.

Few actresses demand attention come Oscar time like Meryl Streep. The 62-year-old has now been nominated for 17 Academy Awards and has won twice - Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980 and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice in 1983. In The Iron Lady, Streep took on the role of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and again had critics raving.

The biopic, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, charts the divisive Thatcher through various points in her life, including her rise to the top job in Britain. Fairfax film critic Tom Ryan praised Streep's performance in the film as "truly extraordinary". "There'll be no need for the other contenders for best actress at the forthcoming Oscars to do anything more than applaud," Ryan wrote in his review of the film.

"Her performance might initially seem to be merely a case of expert mimicry: Streep gets the voice, the intonation, the posture and the movement with breathtaking precision. But then she also takes us far beyond it, making her character a tragic figure, driven by her idealism (however misplaced) and destroyed by her blindness to her own failings and to the social breakdown that is a direct consequence of her decisions."

Streep collected a Golden Globe and a BAFTA - two of the three major awards in the run-up to the Oscars - for her performance , but faces tough competition from Viola Davis. Odds: According to many bookies, Streep is not the favourite. We saw odds of $2.15 available on the Australian market.

Viola Davis collected a Screen Actors Guild award for her performance as maid Aibileen Clark in The Help and, according to many bookies, is the short-priced favourite to walk away with the Academy Award on Monday.

The Help, a success during the awards season (it won the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture), tells of a young journalist who embarks on a book about the experiences of black maids working in Mississippi in the early 1960s. It is Davis' second Oscar nomination after her nod for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Doubt at the 2009 Academy Awards.

"Her quiet, poignant, understated performance gives The Help gravity and sense of purpose," wrote Fairfax film critic Philippa Hawker in her review. Critic Sandra Hall, who awarded the film four stars, said Aibileen served as the film's linchpin "largely because Viola Davis can do so much with a long, silent look and an air of unassailable dignity"

Oscars 2012 – Best Picture: The Sounds of Silence

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:39:48 GMT

The year started off 9 months ago with The Artist taking the early lead in Cannes. It had the early advantage in Cannes of being one of the few wholly uplifting films to screen there. A tiny tasty bonbon that melts on our tongue in flavors of honeyed nostalgia did not really seem like a film that could really make it all the way from May through the brutal frenzy of Oscar season and still feel fresh. But it had one advantage. No one could imagine it might catch fire and prevail. Had people seen it coming the surprise factor might have let some air out of its balloon. Sometimes you just get lucky.

The Artist is the one different one. Like The King’s Speech was the only “Oscar movie” in last year’s crop of much more daring fare, The Artist gives the people what they want — a sweetly satisfying story that doesn’t reach higher than its arms will stretch. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy loses job, boy gets girl and job back. And there is a dog. What makes The Artist so good is that it involves you in the story so that you are forced to pay attention to the characters. Despite the unique mask it wears — silent, in black and white — it is the more traditional of the nine. Other than War Horse, The Artist is the only film that could have been made in any era and probably had the same impact.

It’s a French film the way The King’s Speech was a British film but no one really thinks about that nor cares. What matters is execution, story and how it makes you feel. It’s hard to complain about this particular movie winning every award. Like Slumdog Millionaire there are fights worth having and fights that aren’t. Is it the BEST film of 2011? Hardly. But it’s the least offensive, most satisfying and ultimately the one most people can agree is best.

Two stronger films this year, that will wear much better over time, are Moneyball and The Descendants. They carry baggage, of course, that is hardly the fault of the filmmakers. Moneyball carries Brad Pitt baggage. And Social Network baggage; when people started calling it the “Social Network of baseball movies” you know that the bar would simply be set too high. They both carry the baggage of being competing single father dramas about men finding their way in the world, that it happens to be Sexiest Men Alive twins Pitt and Clooney adds yet more baggage. Anyone not inclined to vote for The Artist is going to split up their vote — some will go for Brad’s movie, and others will go for George’s movie.

But neither of them will carry enough momentum to break up the consensus vote for the frontrunner. Many out there are saying that The Help has a shot at surprising in the 11th hour. This, because the Screen Actors Guild went for it over The Artist. But without a screenplay OR director nomination that would make it the most unlikely of the bunch (next to War Horse or Extremely Loud, both of which are out).

There are, to my mind, only two films that really have a chance of beating The Artist and they are Hugo or Tree of Life. Of course neither will.

The one unifying theme among all or most of the films is a need to find one’s voice. Despite that being last year’s marketing plan for The King’s Speech, it really is true this year. In each of the films save War Horse, the character are swimming to the surface and rediscovering themselves, rewriting their own futures by walking away from their past. This is especially true with The Artist, where the lead character must accept that he is outmoded now by talkies and therefore forced to adapt or die. In The Descendants, Clooney must forget about the numbed out way he’d been living his life before and he must start looking at reality — he has two daughters to raise and the future of a landscape that needs the preservation of its natives to prevent paving paradise to put up a parking lot.

In Moneyball, Brad Pitt has to make everyone start thinking differently about what defines success. Moneyball is probably the most poignant and timely of all of the films because this is really the future of America — the game can’t be about the star players anymore. Premature expectations will ruin even the most ambitious and talented among us. That Pitt’s character decides to give up the “highest paying” manager’s job in Boston to stick it out with the A’s and his daughter? That’s some kind of hero.

What is at stake in Hugo is the end of real film as we know it, as we move away from it and into the realm of the digital. Hugo is a reminder to preserve the history of film, but it also a story about Hugo himself finding his own voice and purpose.

The Help, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Midnight in Paris are also about a similar thing — one character finding the strength to become someone new — to let go of the past and bring the truth to light.

All of these stories are uplifting in their own ways, but we knew that going in, didn’t we? This wasn’t going to be a year where feel-goodism didn’t rule the day. There was never going to be any room for a darker themed film — the darkest we get is Tree of Life, which is spiritual but nowhere near all that dark. It, too, is about letting go of the past while honoring it. It’s about reaching forward through life.

When we think about Best Picture we aren’t really talking about the best film. We’re talking about the studio, the distributor and the consensus vote. We’re talking about capturing the buzz.

But we’re also talking, unfortunately, about a closed system. A system that is in danger of become much more like the Tony Awards than about the film industry as such. In order to start honoring popular films and move into a new era, the Academy will have to do what Jean Dujardin is forced to in The Artist. They will have to let go of the past and embrace the future. There will need to be a new definition of what constitutes best — and it probably means the Academy going back to ten nominees so that it can begin to honor films that make a whole shitload of money alongside those that don’t.

After all, BEST should not be “best movie that Oscar voters like,” because then you really are in danger or selected yourself out of the big picture. Somewhere in there has to be a happy medium. This year more than recent years shows what a closed, male-driven, white-centric system the awards industry has become. We fumble awkwardly towards Oscar — when in fact, we have to lead the way. The reason we have to lead the way is that we are simply making it too easy for them to fall back on these humdrum choices. By validating their formulas we help predetermine the path for lazy, conventional Oscar voters to follow. We essentially plow the ground for their turnips — or worse, slice and serve their dubious pie. We hold the door wide open for them and they waltz right through.

I really hope that next year, advocacy reigns supreme. We are way past predictions being anything important worth talking about.

Oscar nominee 'Undefeated' scores outside the lines

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:45:28 GMT

Undefeated chronicles a championship season but covers turf that extends miles beyond the football field. A coming-of-age story, a tale of a dedicated coach and an inspirational sports saga, this Oscar-nominated documentary is a stirring testament to resilience and determination amid staggering odds. Directors Daniel Lindsay and T.J Martin provide an intimate view of a sorely underprivileged group of African-American high school football players in north Memphis.

One of the most eye-opening segments has little to do with football but everything to do with why their story is important. Speaking to the team, former NFL player Aaron Hayden asks how many have two parents who graduated from college. No hands are raised. But when he asks how many have had a close relative in jail, nearly every hand goes up.

"You've got to think outside your circumstances," Hayden tells them. "It's not where you start, it's where you finish."Succinctly put, that's what Undefeated is all about. The film opens in 2009 with Bill Courtney, a volunteer coach at Manassas High School — and a tough-love proponent if ever there was one — listing absent students: "Starting right guard shot, one linebacker shot, two players fighting right in front of the coach, star center arrested for shooting someone in the face with BB gun. For most coaches that would be pretty much a career's worth of crap to deal with. I think that sums up the last two weeks for me."

One of the film's first scenes features a startling view of the neighborhood surrounding the school. Shack-like homes, abandoned buildings and shuttered businesses fill the landscape. Courtney's mantra: "Young men of character and discipline and commitment end up winning in life. Football doesn't build character. Football reveals character."

Some of the players he coaches make powerful impressions. There's O.C. the hulking left tackle, an easygoing senior who lives in a tiny house with his grandmother and sees football as his way out of Memphis. Montrail, aka Money, plays right tackle. His father, who died when he was 13, emphasized education.

Courtney points out that Money, who has a 3.8 GPA, is "always outmanned physically and he always wins. That's not because he's some physical specimen. It's because he's so mentally tough."How these kids come together as a team and face down obstacles and personal demons is riveting. The well-crafted film's only misstep is the use of occasional subtitles accompanying some of the players' dialogue. Their words are understandable, and there's something demeaning about attempting to translate their diction.

Deftly balancing the students' stories with that of Courtney's, the film creates a fully rounded portrait of a corner of America rarely examined. Where 2009's The Blind Side scratched the surface, focusing on one African-American football player adopted by an affluent white family, Undefeated gives a more comprehensive account. By the end of the season, students have indeed revealed their depth of character. It's impossible to be unmoved by the struggles and accomplishments detailed in Undefeated.

Oscar race: Best Actress race spices up ho-hum year for films

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:25:49 GMT

2011 wasn't a great year for movies. In fact, we don't think that any of this year's nine nominees for Best Picture will be remembered as a classic film 50 or even 25 years from now. That said, there were some admirable performances from veteran actors and newcomers alike.

We'll be watching the Oscars on Feb. 26, eagerly waiting to see who brings home the trophy for Best Actress — and who gives the worst speech. (So often, those two are one and the same!)

Eric: That really is the race to watch. Three actresses have a good shot at it: Viola Davis from "The Help," Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady" and Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn." It seems like Streep should be a shoo-in, but she has 17 nominations and just two wins, one each for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Does that work in her favor or against her?

Rachel: It's hard to say. Davis gave a great performance in a tremendously popular film. "The Help" wasn't a perfect movie (or a perfect book, for that matter), but it was great to see women carry an entire movie like that. In some ways, I'd like to see Davis go home with the prize, even though Williams was spectacular as Marilyn Monroe.

Eric: Yeah, Williams and Streep are both examples of the dynamic in so many films this year. A great performance in a film that was just OK. Nobody is mistaking "The Iron Lady" for "Gandhi." What makes it more interesting is that the awards so far haven't produced a frontrunner. Davis won the Screen Actors Guild award; Streep and Williams won at the Golden Globes. In my opinion, this may be the only category with a sense of suspense. Who do you think will win?

Rachel: Viola Davis. How about you?

Eric: I'm torn; my heart says Davis but my head says Streep. I think the Academy will honor "The Help" with the Best Supporting Actress prize for Octavia Spencer.

Rachel: If you're saying that Best Actress is the only category that can surprise us, does that mean you think "The Artist" has Best Picture sewn up? I'd still like to see "The Descendants" win.

Eric: It's not only a shoo-in; I'm saying you can go to bed before the category even airs. For better or worse, "The Artist" is "different" and has been the frontrunner since the beginning of Oscar speculation season.

Rachel: That may be, but part of me wouldn't mind seeing the Weinstein hit machine get taken down a peg. Do you think "The Artist" is going to win on its merits or because of the incredible push it received from the studio?

Eric: Let's just say I'm not a fan of movies that don't show up until January winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

Rachel: Agreed. Do you think "The Artist" can sweep Best Director and Best Actor categories as well? You wouldn't recognize Jean Dujardin from "The Artist" if he were sitting on our couch. Do you believe he can beat George Clooney?

Eric: Do you really believe the wife in "The Descendants" would cheat on George Clooney?

Rachel: Touché. Maybe not, but he did everything possible in that film to not be appealing. I liked the performance and I liked the film. It's one of those screenplays that feels somehow more true than real life, like you're really seeing a family and all its quirks and secrets laid bare.

Eric: Clooney has replaced Jack Nicholson as Mr. Hollywood. He'll have a front-row seat at the Oscars every year for the next 25 years. But this isn't his year to win.

Rachel: I don't see Mr. No-name from our couch beating Mr. Hollywood and Brad Pitt, quite frankly. Coming back to director, what do you think about "Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius vs. his competition?

Eric: He's the favorite, but one can never discount Marty Scorsese.

Rachel: Marty? You act like you roomed with him at college. I must be in good company when I say I was surprised by how many nominations Scorsese's "Hugo" received.

Eric: I would love to see Woody Allen win for "Midnight in Paris." It was one of my favorite films of the year.

Rachel: I loved "Midnight in Paris," too. It's one of my favorite Woody Allen movies. But as long as Terrence Malick doesn't win for "The Tree of Life," I can be happy with the winner in this category. That film just made no sense to me whatsoever.

Eric: "The Tree of Life" is a love-it-or-loathe-it film. I will admit that I ranked it below "The Smurfs" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" on my best of 2011 list.

Rachel: That's quite a statement! Any loves or hates up for Best Supporting Actor?

Eric: Christopher Plummer is the favorite, and it would be a well-deserved Oscar based on his long, workmanlike career.

Rachel: Those are my least favorite Oscars, the ones recognizing past performance rather than the actual movie at hand.

Eric: If there's an upset, it usually happens in one of the supporting categories. I won't rule out Max Von Sydow or Nick Nolte. Ready for the Oscar Lightning Round?

Rachel: Yep. Let me get in one plug for the "Harry Potter" franchise. Each movie was better than the one before, the leads grew into their roles beautifully, the supporting performances were stellar and the set design never disappointed me. It's rare for me to like movies made from books as much as I liked those films, and I'm sorry that the Academy Awards didn't find a way to pay the series some recognition the way it did for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Is there anyone you feel was snubbed this year?

Eric: I think Albert Brooks from "Drive" has reason to be upset. Best movie not nominated for Best Picture?

Rachel: "50/50" didn't get much love from anybody this awards season, which is a real shame. It's maybe the only movie that made me laugh and cry last year, and it had an absolutely genuine moral center to it. It should've at least been able to pick up a screenplay nomination. How about you?

Eric: "Super 8" will be remembered long after this year's Best Picture nominees have faded away. Is there a nominee you're most eager to see win?

Rachel: Probably Viola Davis, though I'm pulling for George Clooney as well. You?

Eric: Bret McKenzie for "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets." It's the best movie song of the past decade. It's a shame the Muppets don't get to perform it on the show.

Rachel: At least Billy Crystal is back as host. It'll be good to see him, especially after last year's train wreck of a show. Eric: It is what he does best at this point in his career. I'm guessing we won't be seeing "My Giant 2" or "City Slickers 3" anytime soon.

Rachel: And now for the question on everyone's mind. When will the Oscar broadcast end?

Eric: I'll say 11:48, but you won't miss anything if you go to bed at 11:35. Rachel: Thank God, since I never make it much past 11:15. Wake me up for Viola Davis' speech, OK?

Oscar dress predictions

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:51:22 GMT

The Academy Awards is almost as much a parade for glamorous dresses as it is a venue for Hollywood heavyweights to congratulate themselves on a year’s well-done. With all eyes on them, too often do celebrities either go overboard in flashy couture, or let themselves fade into the background in safe, unmemorable gowns.

Oscar organizers honour film science, technology

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:25:54 GMT

Los Angeles: Hosting Oscar organizers' Scientific and Technical Awards on Saturday night, actress Milla Jovovich, a veteran of effects-driven movies like the 'Resident Evil' franchise, confessed she knew little about what actually goes on behind the cameras.

"I'm not an expert in technology. However I will say that as an actor, I certainly benefited from the many innovations you bring to filmmaking," she told a packed ballroom of technical wizards being honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. The annual awards event is typically overshadowed by the Academy Awards, or Oscars, which will be given out on February 26 for the best film, performances, directing, writing and other film work of the year.

Saturday's scientific and technical awards were reserved for honorees including Douglas Trumbull, recipient of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for work that has "brought credit to the industry."Trumbull has been at the forefront of visual effects for decades, working on classics like "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Blade Runner" and more recently, "The Tree of Life," a contender in this year's best film race.
He spoke to the audience about rapidly changing technology in cinema and challenges facing the industry as attendance dips.

"I think we can make movies that make people say, 'I'm going to go out to a movie tonight because it's so cool, it's so big, it's so grand and it's so spectacular and there's so much showmanship," said Trumbull. "I think we can bring movies to new heights."Other scientific and technical winners included the late John D. Lowry, inventor of the Lowry technique that is used to enhance image quality. Lowry died in his sleep only three weeks ago on January 21. Upon accepting the honor in his absence, his widow kissed the plaque then held it to the heavens.

Honorees also included achievements in lens development, high-speed digital camera systems, camera stabilization rigs and high-resolution stock used in archival preservation. Visual effects guru Jonathan Erland was awarded the John A. Bonner Medal for a lifetime of dedication to the academy. With a career spanning over 50 years, Erland joined legendary effects house Industrial Light & Magic in the 1970s and worked on such classics as "Star Wars."

The academy's science and technical awards chairman, Erland holds a patent for the Blue-Max flux projector, a traveling matte process, and was instrumental in establishing visual effects as a separate branch of the Academy. "The real task before us is to manage the present so that motion pictures stay relevant to the academy's mission and the ideals we espouse," declared Erland. "When all motion pictures are excellent, then, perhaps, we can talk about a new vision for this body.

Oscar nod sinking in for McKenzie

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:01:33 GMT

Bret McKenzie is still pinching himself over his Oscar nomination, The Muppets director James Bobin has revealed. The Flight Of The Conchords star, who was chosen by his former Conchords director James to be the film's music supervisor, secured his first nod from the Academy for his original song, Man Or Muppet?
"I'm not sure Bret can believe it. Bret was asleep when the nominations were announced, he slept through his phone calls and was surprised," the filmmaker said.

"He has taken it in his stride, he's the most modest person I know," he added. James will be glad to don a smart suit for the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on February 26. "It's an event I have never been to before and I'm thrilled to be able to go, so I'm looking forward to it," he continued.

"These things are normally quite long, as I remember from my Emmys experience, but it's a fun thing to go and do. The odds are quite good - I can't remember a time when the chances of winning an Oscar is 50-50 so I'm very pleased about that.

Man Or Muppet? is up against Sergio Mendes' Real In Rio from Rio in the best original song category.
Bret has described the nomination as an honour, telling The Huffington Post: "It's very mind-blowing. It feels like one of those 'I made it' moments. After you go to the Oscars, what else do you do? That's where Hollywood stops."

Oscar ballot counting 'surreal' for L.A. accountant

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:12:24 GMT

Go ahead. Call Rick Rosas superstitious. He won't mind. For the past 10 years, the Los Angeles accountant has worn the same tuxedo to the Academy Awards. He'll be donning the same one on Oscar night, as one of the official ballot counters for this year's ceremony.

"I'm still glad the tuxe fits," Rosas jokes. Rosas also executes one other unwavering ritual as the lead ballot partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm that counts the ballots for the Academy Awards. "I stand on the same side of the stage every year. I'm not about to switch now," Rosas told CTVNews.ca recently in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

Rosas, along with his balloting partner Brad Oltmanns, will be the only two people in the world who will know the identity of the Oscar winners before the 84th Academy Awards, which will air Feb. 26 on CTV.

Those secret results will be carried down the red carpet and onto the stage of Hollywood's Kodak Theatre by the duo in a slick black briefcase. That ritual has not changed since PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC as it is also known, counted its first Oscar ballots 78 years ago.

Since 1934, PwC has counted more than 450,000 ballots by hand, spending approximately 1,700 hours each year to count and verify the votes. "It's been quite a run for this company," said Rosas. "We take control of the voting process from beginning to end. This process has been going on now for three months, going back to the late fall and winter of 2011," Rosas explained.

Ballots are issued each year to voting members of the Academy. Today's mailing list includes 5,800 members. The ballots are then returned to PwC and kept under tight security. This year's ballots were mailed out on Feb. 1. They are due back on Feb. 21.

"We never disclose where the ballots are stored. We don't even open them until the week of the Oscars themselves," said Rosas. Surprisingly, technology hasn't changed this balloting process in recent years. "We still do it by hand," said Rosas. "We count all the 5,800 ballots individually to determine the winners for each category."

Since 1941, when this system was first introduced, papers with more than 2,600 winners' names have been stuffed into those famed Oscar envelopes. That system has never been cracked, according to Rosas. "If anyone were successful, one ballot by itself wouldn't do a lot to hurt a particular individual or category," said Rosas.

Indeed, all that has changed over the years is the number of men who carry in the briefcase bearing the winners' names. "Decades ago one man did the job. Today two partners do it. That's partly because of the logistics of TV. It also ensures that at least one man won't be held up by L.A.'s traffic," said Rosas.

Eleven years into the job, Rosas still calls his gig "a little surreal."When Oscar day arrives, Rosas and Oltmanns will each be escorted by an undercover police officer. That security will continue until the night's winner for Best Picture is read. "I'm an accountant," said Rosas. "To spend the day shadowed by one of LAPD's finest still feels strange to me. But you'll never spot the security guys," he said, as a warning to any would-be pranksters. "They'll be in tuxes, just like the rest of us."