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Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger as Judy
Sandra Olmsted’s Cinematic Skinny: Oscars 2020
My Dream 2020 Oscars
By Sandra Olmsted
If I were the Queen of Hollywood and anything I did would be legal, as if I had the divine right of kings, who would I decree be nominated and win Oscars? First, I would decree that comedies, dramas, and musicals would each have a separate best picture category. Why? Because films like Jo-Jo Rabbit and Knives Out would have a chance of taking home a Best Comedy Oscar.
In terms of musicals, I’m going way out on a limb here — and you may have to call the fire department to get me down — yet I think Cats was good if a bit long. I saw the stage play several times and still had no idea what the story was; however, the film version clarified it. And please, no caterwauling about not knowing what Jellicles, etc. mean because, if it was a superhero movie, a dozen imaginary terms would be introduced without inspiring whining. Best Drama would still come down to 1917 or Parasite, with 1917 winning.
Who would I nominate who wasn’t and for what? Kasi Lemmons and Greta Gerwig, who both have writing credits for their films, would immediately have nominations for Best Director. Harriet, which would be nominated for Best Dramatic Picture, showed Lemmon’s nuanced, delicate genius in handling the violence of Harriet Tubman’s life while giving us an American heroine. Greta Gerwig opened up a classic story with portrayals of those Little Women that freed them from the male gaze so that they could become more real humans, which made all the characters sympathetic in ways the earlier versions did not. Two other women who deserve nominations for Best Director are Marielle Heller for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Celine Sciamma for Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Maybe we need ten nominations in the Best Director category so that the directing talents of women might be acknowledged by Hollywood’s old boys’ club.
What about films about Hollywood? Since I love them, they would still be a favorite of my perfect Academy. So Judy and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood would do very well indeed. The film Judy would get a Best Dramatic Oscar, or at the very least a nomination, in my perfect world. And no, it is not a musical, but a drama. And Renee Zellweger would win Best Actress because she channels Judy Garland in every facial expression, body movement, and song belted out, yet, more importantly, Zellweger makes Garland not the butt of cruel jokes but a real person. Zellweger, and Judy’s director and screenwriters, reveal the troubled, difficult life of the child star who was stunted physically and emotional by exploitative executives, family members, and harsh studio demands.
Even in the imperfect world where I’m not Queen of Hollywood, Zellweger has a very good chance of winning Best Actress and Brad Pitt a chance of winning a Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. However, that film would only be nominated for Best Dramatic or Best Comedy Picture, depending Columbia Pictures’ positioning of its film.
Would I decree that credit-where-credit-was-due be given to streaming studios? Absolutely! They are producing and distributing some excellent and innovative films. The strategy of snagging big stars, such as Anthony Hopkins for The Two Popes, and director Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci for The Irishman, has given the streaming studios the political connections to get nominations and while giving stars the opportunities to make their vanity films.
My decree would go into effect immediately and not just after the traditional studios invested in all the streaming companies. In addition to Netflix’s Marriage Story, The Irishman, The Two Popes, and Klaus and Amazon Studios’ One Child Nation and Honey Boy, other films would at least get Oscar nods: Netflix’s, The Laundromat and Dolemite Is My Name and Amazon’s The Aeronauts; Late Night, and Troop Zero.
To address the motion picture industry’s problem of distribution, the streaming studios deliver movies to our digital doorstep, just as studio mogul Siegmund Lubin predicted, circa 1917.
“The motion picture machine will be part and parcel of every household . . . and movies will be delivered with the daily mail.”
Well, a girl is allowed to dream of being divinely anointed and to always have her way, at least until the Oscars are awarded Sunday, Feb. 9! I know, it’s early this year. Get your Oscar ballot at <www.indiewire.com/2020/02/oscar-ballot-2020-predictions-1202204894/>!
