Team Experience Oscar Reaction #1: Odes to the Fallen!
Monday, January 13, 2020 at 5:56PM We've polled Team Experience to answer the following two questions and we hope you'll chime in too.
- Which omission most upset you? Sing your ode to the fallen!
- Which nominee/nominees would absolutely kill a moody commissioned short film about you and your reactions / feelings on Oscar nomination day? Tell us all about it.
Let's begin.
WHICH OMISSION MOST UPSET YOU?
CHRIS FEIL: Did the acting branch not get their Swimona swag?? Jennifer Lopez's omission will be a wound that is going to take some time to heal for all of us, a snub some had been predicting because of whispers of a misogynistic and reductive POV on Hustlers from voters. It's not just the omission of the performance that infuriates, but the probable reasons for it...
A second omission that stings: Atlantics in International Feature. Why didn't Netflix give this film, its only contender in the category, the effort afforded even its many documentary contenders, let alone their major players?
ERIC BLUME: Two things. Booksmart missing Best Original Screenplay, when they found room for Knives Out. Booksmart is an honest and hilarious teen buddy comedy, an update of that genre, a subversion of that genre, and packed with actual jokes written in classical joke formats. Knives Out...isn't any of those things in regards to its genre. Also, a bummer that Shia LaBeouf couldn't find his way into Best Supporting Actor for Honey Boy: it's a truly brave and uncompromising piece of acting in a beautiful movie.
CAMILA HENRIQUES: I knew Awkwafina and Lupita were fighting for that last spot, but it didn't stop me from being sad over their snubs. J.Lo's omission crushed me the most, though, as she gave a career-best performance that was also the best of her category and also because I feel like she won't have another chance like this.
MICHAEL FRANK: The Farewell getting shut out of the ceremony as a whole. Though Oscar expectations should remain tepid for A24 films, Wang’s story of love and family shot out of a cannon during its release, creating both awards buzz and commercial success. The story features strong performances by both Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen, and creates a heartfelt atmosphere full of honest struggles and real family dynamics. It deserved a Best Picture nomination.
EUROCHEESE: The Academy's determination to avoid diversity at every single turn. The Academy had eight women with viable options at taking an Actress slot. Four were white, and hey look, four white women made it. Also that Farewell movie doesn't need any love. Let's give another nod to Joker!
MARK BRINKERHOFF: Jennifer Lopez, but more broadly Hustlers‘ zero noms. I mean, having spent three and half hours watching The Irishman, I can’t recall a single memorable moment but vividly remember dozens in Hustlers.
NATHANIEL R: You guys I feel so weird typing this because a) I don't like Joker and b) it got 11 nominations (gulp) but what does Production Designer Extraordinaire Mark Friedberg have to do to get a nomination? While it's true that the word "snub" is overused, doesn't this qualify? Everyone from this movie is nominated EXCEPT YOU! And they've ignored him before. He's done everything: Best Picture nominees (Selma, The Help), incredible feats of showmanship (Synecdoche New York), whimsical visual spectacles (The Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited), sober period dramas (The Ice Storm), critical darlings (If Beale Street Could Talk) and yet his own branch just won't nominate him. What gives?
Okay okay that's not what upset me most (that'd be Lupita Nyongo's absence for a shockingly inspired dual role in a huge hit. It's right there Academy, COME ON) but it's the one I've been thinking about the most since this morning.
JASON ADAMS: I'm always more surprised when something I love gets a nomination than when they didn't -- Oscar and me ain't super simpatico. That said I suppose it at one point early on seemed possible that Willem Dafoe could have been nominated for The Lighthouse, but I don't think anybody's truly surprised that the sadomasochistic semen-drenched old-timey sea-yarn slash my favorite movie of the year only had its title read once today. Dafoe and Elisabeth Moss gave my performances of the year and they were both clearly Too Much for yawn-inducing AMPAS from the get-go.
LYNN LEE: No Lulu Wang (The Farewell) for Original Screenplay - I had a feeling the movie was going to get shut out, but held on to a sliver of hope that it would squeak through here. Alas, 'twas not to be. And while I really dug 1917, I'm scratching my head at its inclusion in this category.
SPENCER COILE: Nothing hit harder than “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” missing that Song nomination. In a relatively bleak year for the category, it shone like the brightest star. How dare they deny Mary Steenburgen this !?!?
ABE FRIED-TANZER: "Glasgow" for Best Original Song. Jessie Buckley's BAFTA nomination made it clear that the fantastic Wild Rose at least reached British audiences, and its placement on the finalist list for one of its best tunes, by Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (!) , meant it might have been able to sneak away with one small representative bid. I've been singing it as I type the names of other nominees.
BEN MILLER: I get that Best Supporting Actor has turned into the Brad Pitt coronation, but Song Kang-Ho was right there! Anthony Hopkins doesn't need another nomination and I don't know of anyone championing his placement. How often do we have the chance to nominated actors in foreign films? Wouldn't it be nice if that happened occasionally for character actors instead of only movie stars (like Banderas)?
PAOLO: None for The Farewell? None for Zhao Shuzhen? None for Awkwafina? None for the way Lulu Wang wrote and directed a movie with subtle politics? Did the Academy watch their screeners?
WHICH NOMINEE WOULD ABSOLUTELY KILL A SHORT FILM ABOUT YOUR REACTIONS THIS MORNING?
GINNY O'KEEFE: Adam Driver begins a deep dive investigation on what happened to JLo’s oscar nomination. Charlize Theron reports about it on Fox News as Megyn Kelly. Laura Dern shows up to defend JLo in court because JLo sues the academy. It ends with Saoirse Ronan retelling the tale at a publishing company. She’s trying to get her novel, “Little Strippers” published. The entire thing is a story she came up with. Credits roll. Directed by Greta Gerwig and written by Rian Johnson!
CLAUDIO: I trust Florence Pugh could pull the sort of emotional whiplash these nominations caused. One moment there's the elation of Petra Costa and Parasite, and then there's the nightmarish realization Joker's the nomination leader. A mixture of her delightfulness from Little Women's and Midsommar's traumatized catatonics would be perfect. Throw in some of the wrestler's combative spirit from Fighting with My Family and you have a good semblance of today's emotional rollercoaster.
BEN: I had to get ready for work while catching the announcement, partially while driving. The natural pick would have been the Safdie Brothers, but they missed a nomination. Instead, I'll go with Scorsese so that the short would receive undue praise for subpar work while inexplicably being scored by a Rolling Stones song.
MICHAEL: Going with a non-nominee. Howard Ratner played by Adam Sandler from Uncut Gems by a long shot. His pure mania, huge confidence, and ultimate struggle to balance his emotions and decisions feeds into my own topsy-turvy feelings about Oscar nomination day. Sandler deserved a nomination himself, but his pure insanity in the Safdie brothers’ film encapsulates how many of us feel towards the Academy. Admiration, anger, uncertainty, and disappointment.
TRAVIS CRAGG: I am tired and just want to retire (to bed, because it's 1.15am here in Australia), and am very underwhelmed by the state of affairs today. That seems to fit with Anthony Hopkins' Two Popes performance.
How about you dear reader? Which snub (sorry about that word) most bothered you and which nominee might best act out your feelings about today's announcements?
Reader Comments (53)
JF, Eddie Murphy was nominated for Dreamgirls, and to say he has contributed nothing of value to the medium is inaccurate. I do agree on the others, though. I'm sure that limited their Oscar appeal.
Jeremy and JF - I don't really think it's the case with Sandler either. He's worked with PT Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Tom McCarthy, Jason Reitman, James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow, and now the Safdies. Some of those were poorly reviewed films, but still, he's contributed to cinema; he is more than willing to take a risk when he is offered a project with a good director.
Just like other types of genre bias, the Oscars have a long-time bias against comedians - they've only nominated a handful of people who've been Saturday Night Live cast members for acting (Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd... I can't think of any others), and none have ever won, despite the fact that Murray and Murphy were heavily favored in their respective nomination years.
Honestly I've never expected LOPEZ to be nominated for Hustlers (the same for Sandler and the horrible Uncut Gems) they're both actors with very limited acting skills, dubious career choices and are famous more for insistence than talent; Lopez is fierce in Hustlers and I expect her to keep picking roles that showcase her range; The omissions the most upset me were: 1- Why haven't SIENNA MILLER and OCTAVIA SPENCER even been in the conversation for their phenomenal work in AMERICAN WOMAN and LUCE ? I'd have them over Ronan and Bates anyday. 2- No PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE or QUEEN OF HEARTS in Foreign Film ? 3- No ZHAO SHUZHEN for The Farewell; 4- TAIKA WAITITI over Hanks; 5- BOOKSMART over the dreadful Knives Out in Original Screenplay.