In Contention
By Josh Spiegel
February 22, 2010
Granted, his was not normal; even when people are emotional while accepting, they usually try to acknowledge the people who helped them get to this point in their lives. This, of course, leads to another issue coming up thanks to the producers. As with most years, the nominees have been encouraged to keep their speeches short or they'll be played off. Also, they're being encouraged to write two speeches: one that they'll deliver on the televised ceremony, discussing what winning an Oscar means to them; and a second, consisting of the traditional thank-yous, to be delivered to an online feed that will go on the Oscar website. First of all, I'll gladly eat a proverbial hat if Mo'Nique or Christoph Waltz, two winners who have gone on long in their acceptance speeches, are played off after 30 seconds. It's not going to happen. And, if it does, you can bet that the winners are going to revolt, and do so while the cameras roll.
Of course, as I mentioned, this kind of plea from the producers is common; how many times have we heard producers of these ceremonies promise to play anyone off after a certain time? Talking the talk is fine, but most producers bow to the potential backlash when it comes to the actual speech-giving. Maybe it's just me, though; the idea of making a speech specifically about what winning an Oscar means is nice, but don't we all want to hear some of those thank-yous? Yeah, I don't really care who Mo'Nique's lawyer is, but she's earned the right to thank her parents, or her spouse, or her friends, right? What if the people who are going to be thanked want to be thanked on, you know, national television? In front of millions of viewers?
I know I've been sounding awfully grumpy during these discussions about the Oscars. Part of it is that the length of the season is starting to become apparent: it's going to have been three months of Oscar talk here, and there are some places that focus on these kinds of awards all year-round, so I don't know how they manage to do this without going nuts. My ire being directed towards Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic, though, is mostly because it sounds like their idea of fun and my idea of fun greatly differ. I know it's not up to them to align themselves with a common guy like me, but I do want to enjoy the Oscars; I'm just worried that the ceremony surrounding all the awards will be something of a slog. Here's hoping I'm ridiculously wrong.
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