Monday, February 23, 2015

'Empire' is a HIT and I Love It!

Blog Post #20
Cast of Empire
The latest ratings news as of this publishing. “From The Hollywood Reporter, February 19, 2015 "Empire's continued ratings growth should be getting boring at this point — but somehow, it's not. Fox's midseason champ rose yet again in its seventh episode, setting another high bar for its live-plus-same-day showing.

The latest high has Empire passing the lofty 5.0 rating and averaging a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49. That's up up three-tenths of a point from the previous high last week, and it could easily still go up even more in final returns this afternoon. Viewership was also up a solid million to 12.94 million viewers.

Empire nearly doubled the demo haul of lead-in American Idol, steady with a 2.7 rating with adults 18-49 and something of a footnote in Fox's easy win for the night."

The Empire ratings have been called “unprecedented” because that’s just what they are! They are breaking decades old records—every week! I call it a “The Cosby Show Level Ratings Event”. When The Cosby Show came on it “shook up the world” and quickly rose to become the number one show on television.

I’ve been a fan of Empire since day one, but some of my black friends stopped watching it. Basically they think it’s “coonery” and shows black people in a bad light. I do not share that opinion and as you can tell by many of my posts on this very blog, like Magic Negro and other posts across other social media, that I’m very cognizant of African American images in the media. I not only think the depictions are fine, I’m enjoying every minute of it!

Below Ernest Owens wrote a great piece and crystallized my thoughts on the matter. After his piece I posted two links to other articles on Empire’s success that I posted on the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Facebook page.

Dear Empire Critics, Stop Hating. You Just Don't Get It.

Ernest Owens, Huffington Post
February 5, 2015

Dear Empire critics,
In a society that is currently more observant of media and entertainment pitfalls than ever before, sometimes we are too quick to judge. The speedy jolt of a tweet to pass prejudgment, or the too-full-of-assumptions Facebook essay to sound off on a quick observation, continues to reflect a culture that misinforms more quickly than it educates.

To all those who quickly critiqued Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels' groundbreaking prime-time drama Empire as nothing more than another television show that is "failing black people": Take several seats and look carefully.

Your misplaced condemnation proves not only that you are showcasing total personal bias but that you are also out of touch.

Critics who pan this show are typically divided into two spheres: They're either advocates of making black television a respectability-politics showcase or they want to improperly use critical race theory.

The former wants programs that showcase blacks in a "proper" light, living behind nice picket fences with both parents in the household and all the children getting along just fine and no "ratchetry" to be found among this well-educated faith-based unit. Basically, these narrow-minded critics secretly desire to recreate The Cosby Show in any way possible, because it makes them feel acceptable under the white perception of a fantasied middle-class black family that ignores the socioeconomic disparity of their peers in America.
The latter also wants to police black imagery. They try to apply very strategic and scholarly approaches to every single aspect of the show. If there are gay black men in the episode, they are quick to misconstrue the inclusion and rather inappropriately cite all the times mainstream programs "emasculated the black man." If they see that a black woman is ever upset or violent, they are quick to act as though the media is in a conspiracy to depict the "angry black woman" trope at every opportunity. They ignore the context of a plot and setting and apply everything they see to their academic prerogative.

What both of these types of critics have failed to realize is that Daniels is a black gay man who is getting the chance to artistically produce his imagination and expression of society for network television to see. This show is not intended to garner white people's approval of our existence -- and if you have been keeping up with the headlines, you should know that your respectability won't save you. It's a prime-time drama for entertainment and reflection, people, not a political editorial or a public-policy initiative. Daniels is a creator who should be given a right to fully explore his cinematic talent without being constrained by the narrow social confines of "making black people look good."

If you are looking carefully at what I and the increasingly impressive millions of viewers are watching every Wednesday night, you will see a multidimensional cast of black characters who all meaningfully contribute to the plot. You will see various depictions of wealth and success, levels of education, shades and body images of black women, sexuality and acceptance, music and style -- a unique and inclusive look at what issues and discussions we are having in 2015.

The show is relevant and bold enough to be presented on network television and tell a tale that doesn't revolve around a white observance. Where else can you find that on television? While Blackish tries to show a black family adjusting in white suburbia, Empire owns the place. While Olivia Pope is chasing after a white president, Empire has their black CEO talking to President Barack Obama. While How to Get Away With Murder (which I am a die-hard fan of as well) has a black leading actress, she still has to put up with the racial confines of her self-identity and vulnerability. Empire has black women who are motivated, complex and self-driven while not having to take into consideration what white people think.

Empire is our Dallas. It transports us into a reality where we can see ourselves as one of the characters on the show. Whether snobby or reckless, gay or straight, dark or mocha, disabled or not, there is more to be seen from just the story line alone. It is one thing to criticize "reality" television that runs the risk of trying to depict black life disproportionately in one light as opposed to a scripted drama led by a black filmmaker who is guiding the plot.

For those critics who argue for diversity in prime-time in one breath but are then quick to tear down a black program that hasn't even made it to its second season, check your reasoning. If we are to demand more diverse programs, we have to also respect the nuance in them as well.

No, every show can't be a black family sitcom or an investigative crime spoof. If we are to actually recognize all aspects of black life, we need to recognize that there should be room for the highly educated as well as the working-class. There have to be shows that have heteronormative relationship dynamics but also gay, interracial ones as well. We need to accept that black programs are not reflections of just our own personal and social views but those of the many multitudes of the diaspora.

Empire is a phenomenal step toward encouraging us to see more levels and faces of the black experience than ever before, and we should be celebrating that alone. If that type of subject matter does not appeal to your taste, then respectfully agree to disagree. But just like the many white-dominated prime-time programs that I see on a regular basis that I don't prefer, you don't see me on a campaign to denounce their existence. Let's give our black filmmakers and actors more respect and understanding than that.

The skill set from your high level of inspection and critiquing of this show would be best applied to the various loopholes in wealth disparity in this country or possible discriminatory laws that have yet to reach the Senate floor, not on an evening program that has not even completed its first season. Do better with your educated efforts and theories analytically.

Here's to hopefully seeing you as part of the high ratings on Wednesday nights.







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Friday, February 20, 2015

Cool Black's Oscar Picks 2015

 By Dankwa Brooks AKA Cool Black

Welcome to my FIFTH ANNUAL Oscar picks! I don’t know why I started doing these five years ago, but I thought it would be fun. To pick who I THINK should win.

I never get to see ALL the nominated films, but I try and in 2013 I actually saw ALL NINE Best Picture nominees before the ceremony.

In December 2014 I also wrote Cool Black's 2014 Oscars Short List before the nominations were officially announced on January 15, 2015. After the nominations were announced I updated that blog post to reflect each Post Nomination Result. You can see if my wishes were fulfilled…and most of them were.

Below though are my picks for what I want to win an Academy award. I couldn’t see every nominated picture so I will bold in red the correlating nominations that I have NOT seen.)

As usual my pick will be under “Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:” These are NOT who I think WILL win; it’s who I think SHOULD win based on my opinion and those who know me, know I am quite discerning.

I try to keep my Oscar picks as general as possible and try not to get to into the technical categories too much even though I have opinions on those as well. This year I include the Best Song category (ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG))
and I never do that. This year I am including again, the Oscar for Production Design and Visual Effects.

As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (usually a novel, play, or short story but also sometimes another film). All sequels are automatically considered adaptations by this standard (since the sequel must be based on the original story).

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

AMERICAN SNIPER
WRITTEN BY JASON HALL

THE IMITATION GAME
WRITTEN BY GRAHAM MOORE

INHERENT VICE
WRITTEN FOR THE SCREEN BY PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
SCREENPLAY BY ANTHONY MCCARTEN

WHIPLASH
WRITTEN BY DAMIEN CHAZELLE

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game. I’ve only seen TWO of these nominees and I thought this one was superior. I really didn’t think the screenplay for American Sniper was that great.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
WRITTEN BY ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU, NICOLÁS GIACOBONE, ALEXANDER DINELARIS, JR. & ARMANDO BO

BOYHOOD
WRITTEN BY RICHARD LINKLATER

FOXCATCHER
WRITTEN BY E. MAX FRYE AND DAN FUTTERMAN

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
SCREENPLAY BY WES ANDERSON STORY BY WES ANDERSON & HUGO GUINNESS

NIGHTCRAWLER
WRITTEN BY DAN GILROY

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Of the three I saw, this was a tough one. I really liked the screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel, it was way subversive and funny than I thought it would be, but the real hard choice to me was between Birdman and Boyhood. Richard Linklater did what I thought was the impossible. He made “average life" interesting and engrossing. It was the screenplay for Birdman that was superior though. Yes it took four credited writers, but I still loved the wild and weird story and I thought that it showed great writing, humor and great drama. 

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
EMMANUEL LUBEZKI

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
ROBERT YEOMAN

IDA
LUKASZ ZAL AND RYSZARD LENCZEWSKI

MR. TURNER
DICK POPE

UNBROKEN
ROGER DEAKINS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). This was also a tough category to pick and one film I didn’t even see, but I know is probably deserving. Roger Deakins is a MASTERFUL cinematographer, who has been nominated for an Oscar like 10 times (literally) and never won, but I haven’t seen his work here. The cinematography for The Grand Budapest Hotel by Robert Yeoman was great and the IDA Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida was outstanding! A beautiful looking film. But Emmanuel Lubezki really knocked it out of the park for Birdman with its continuous shooting style. People who have seen this film will know what I mean.

 ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
AMERICAN SNIPER
JOEL COX AND GARY D. ROACH

BOYHOOD
SANDRA ADAIR

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
BARNEY PILLING

THE IMITATION GAME
WILLIAM GOLDENBERG

WHIPLASH
TOM CROSS


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper. Even though I’ve seen and enjoyed most of these films, it really was a two way race to me between American Sniper and Boyhood. I thought the transitions and editing in Boyhood were outstanding and seamless. Especially as it was filmed over 12 years. But the editing in American Sniper was a highlight of the film to me and really made the tense sniper scenes terrific.

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
(Build and or design sets for the film)

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
PRODUCTION DESIGN: ADAM STOCKHAUSEN
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK

THE IMITATION GAME
PRODUCTION DESIGN: MARIA DJURKOVIC
SET DECORATION: TATIANA MACDONALD

INTERSTELLAR
PRODUCTION DESIGN: NATHAN CROWLEY
SET DECORATION: GARY FETTIS

INTO THE WOODS

PRODUCTION DESIGN: DENNIS GASSNER
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Again, only a two way race for me with Interstellar being the only real contender. But as Interstellar did great things with the space related sets, on land and in—space, I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel really transported you to this wacky hotel and made everything look great.


ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
DAN DELEEUW, RUSSELL EARL, BRYAN GRILL AND DAN SUDICK

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
JOE LETTERI, DAN LEMMON, DANIEL BARRETT AND ERIK WINQUIST

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
STEPHANE CERETTI, NICOLAS AITHADI, JONATHAN FAWKNER AND PAUL CORBOULD

INTERSTELLAR
PAUL FRANKLIN, ANDREW LOCKLEY, IAN HUNTER AND SCOTT FISHER

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
RICHARD STAMMERS, LOU PECORA, TIM CROSBIE AND CAMERON WALDBAUER

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:   Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist for Dawn of The Planet Of The Apes. This was another tough category and as I have seen ALL the nominated films I know EACH ONE did outstanding work! These are truly well worthy nominations. I had to go with Apes because I think they really brought that post apocalyptic world to life and made a race of sentient apes oh so real.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
IDA
POLAND

LEVIATHAN
RUSSIA

TANGERINES
ESTONIA

TIMBUKTU
MAURITANIA

WILD TALES
ARGENTINA

Cool Black’s Oscar PickPoland's Ida. Ida was the only nominated foreign I have seen thus far, but it was well worth it. I heard about this foreign film far in advance of seeing it and all the acclaim was spot on. Such a magnificent film! Acting, story, direction and cinematography. This film could have easily been nominated for Best Picture.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME
THE LEGO MOVIE
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY SHAWN PATTERSON

GLORY
SELMA
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY JOHN STEPHENS AND LONNIE LYNN

GRATEFUL
BEYOND THE LIGHTS
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY DIANE WARREN

I’M NOT GONNA MISS YOU
GLEN CAMPBELL…I’LL BE ME
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY GLEN CAMPBELL AND JULIAN RAYMOND

LOST STARS
BEGIN AGAIN
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY GREGG ALEXANDER AND DANIELLE BRISEBOIS


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: TIE Diane Warren for “Grateful” and John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for “Glory”. I never include Best Song. I’m just never invested in the song choices each year, but this year these two songs I loved since I heard them played over the closing credits for their respective films and I was so delighted that they were nominated. I also don’t like doing “ties”, but I love each song equally and didn’t want to chose, so I didn’t. I also really like “Everything Is Awesome: from The Lego Movie, but it was always just a race between “Glory” and “Grateful”.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ROBERT DUVALL
THE JUDGE

ETHAN HAWKE
BOYHOOD

EDWARD NORTON
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

MARK RUFFALO
FOXCATCHER

J.K. SIMMONS
WHIPLASH


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Robert Duvall for The Judge. I thought Edward Norton and Ethan Hawke were terrific in their roles, but Duvall was just magnificent.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
PATRICIA ARQUETTE
BOYHOOD

LAURA DERN
WILD

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
THE IMITATION GAME

EMMA STONE
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

MERYL STREEP
INTO THE WOODS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood. I thought Keira Knightley was really good in The Imitation Game and Emma Stone was the best I’d EVER seen her in Birdman, but Patricia Arquette just gave so much breadth and compassion to single mother trials and tribulations through her performance.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

MARION COTILLARD
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

FELICITY JONES
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

JULIANNE MOORE
STILL ALICE

ROSAMUND PIKE
GONE GIRL


REESE WITHERSPOON
WILD


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl. Yes I’ve only seen ONE of these nominated performances, but it’s kind of all I need to see. Rosamund Pike was so multilayered in her performance where she could have easily come off as cartoonish. Excellent performance.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

STEVE CARELL
FOXCATCHER


BRADLEY COOPER
AMERICAN SNIPER

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
THE IMITATION GAME

MICHAEL KEATON
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

EDDIE REDMAYNE
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING


Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Bradley Cooper was really good in several scenes in American Sniper, but the race to me was really only between Benedict Cumberbatch and Keaton. Cumberbatch was really terrific in the role and showed layers that I hadn’t seen him in before. Even with those two performances I didn’t get a chance to see, I can’t imagine that they are better than Keaton. Michael Keaton was just a tour de force in Birdman.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU

BOYHOOD
RICHARD LINKLATER

FOXCATCHER
BENNETT MILLER


THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WES ANDERSON

THE IMITATION GAME
MORTEN TYLDUM

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game had really good direction as did Boyhood, but was I wowed by the direction of Birdman from the first scene. The direction was a truly remarkable feat and I literally didn’t want to take my eyes off the screen.
_____________________________________

Before we get the final category of the night (or whatever time of day you are reading this. LOL) Something I haven't done since the First Annual picks in 2011. Here is a list of my Oscar picks for each category.

  • ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Graham Moore for The Imitation Game
  • ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
  • BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR Ida
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG) TIE Diane Warren for “Grateful” and John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for “Glory
  • PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Robert Duvall for The Judge
  • PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
  • PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
  • PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

_____________________________________

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

(Note: The Academy Award for Best Picture goes to the Producers of the movie. That’s why last year Steve McQueen won an Oscar. It wasn’t for directing 12 Years a Slave, it was for producing it. Ben Affleck won his last Oscar the same way for Argo. He wasn’t even nominated as Best Director for Argo)

AMERICAN SNIPER
CLINT EASTWOOD, ROBERT LORENZ, ANDREW LAZAR, BRADLEY COOPER AND PETER MORGAN, PRODUCERS

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU, JOHN LESHER AND JAMES W. SKOTCHDOPOLE, PRODUCERS

BOYHOOD
RICHARD LINKLATER AND CATHLEEN SUTHERLAND, PRODUCERS

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WES ANDERSON, SCOTT RUDIN, STEVEN RALES AND JEREMY DAWSON, PRODUCERS

THE IMITATION GAME
NORA GROSSMAN, IDO OSTROWSKY AND TEDDY SCHWARZMAN, PRODUCERS

SELMA
CHRISTIAN COLSON, OPRAH WINFREY, DEDE GARDNER AND JEREMY KLEINER, PRODUCERS

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
TIM BEVAN, ERIC FELLNER, LISA BRUCE AND ANTHONY MCCARTEN, PRODUCERS

WHIPLASH
JASON BLUM, HELEN ESTABROOK AND DAVID LANCASTER, PRODUCERS

SELMA was terrific and powerful. I thought the direction, the cinematography, the period costume design, all terrific.

I didn’t what to think or expect going into THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, but I thought it was excellent. Subversive and wickedly funny.

THE IMITATION GAME was terrific as well. A really great period piece that was built like a great mystery and managed to interweave personal stories in without taking away from the main story.

AMERICAN SNIPER was good, but I thought only when it had to be.

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) was just excellent. From the writing, to the acting to the direction and cinematography. Everything!

My PICK for BEST PICTURE goes to BOYHOOD. Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers.

When I read about it, I thought Boyhood’s story of following a boy growing into a man in real time was clever and a good gimmick. Who does that? Twelve years filming the same actors for a narrative film? It has been done for documentaries of course, but not narrative film that I can recall. To my surprise the film pulled it off!

I was totally engrossed by this story that didn’t involve the boy getting bit by a radioactive spider or anything. It was just a story of a kid growing up with his single mom. Of course there were story arcs and dramatic twists, coupled with terrific acting by the cast and brilliant directing, but it was just that a boy’s story. Everything, every single thing, worked for this picture and I thought it was phenomenal.


So that’s it, my picks this year. As always looking forward to the ceremony!

_____________________________________


Click the graphics below to see my Oscar picks from the last four years






http://coolblackmedia.blogspot.com/2014/02/cool-blacks-oscar-picks-2014.html

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

'Selma' and the woman who should have made history: Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay

By Nicole Sperling, Entertainment Weekly 
January 21, 2015

Ava DuVernay knew last month she wasn’t going to be nominated for an Oscar. She knew it before the controversy began over how President Lyndon B. Johnson is depicted in her movie, Selma, and before screening copies failed to reach Academy members until late in December, hobbling the film’s awards hopes. She knew it before the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild, and Producers Guild awards all declined to nominate the movie in any category. Despite widespread critical praise for her film, DuVernay predicted that she would not be the first black woman to land a directing nod.
“It would be lovely,” she told EW over lunch in L.A. on Dec. 18. “When it happens to whomever it happens to, it will certainly have meaning.” But it would not be her. “This is not me being humble, either,” she said. “It’s math.”


While all 6,000-plus members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote on who wins an Oscar, the nominations are determined only by Academy members in the appropriate profession. Actors nominate actors. Directors nominate directors. The directors’ branch of the Academy is, quite literally, a boys’ club. According to a 2012 study by the Los Angeles Times, the directors’ branch is 91 percent male, and 90 percent white. That alone wouldn’t prevent a DuVernay nomination, of course, but her lack of personal and professional connections with those directors would, she thought. “I know not one person in my branch,” she said.




Minutes after the Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 15, news sites and comment boards exploded with anger and accusations of racism. Selma had secured just two nominations—Best Picture and Best Original Song. DuVernay had been shut out, as had her star, David Oyelowo, who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the film—an oversight that gives this year’s Oscars the dubious distinction of having the first all-white group of acting nominees since 1998.


“Oh, my, did we miss it this year,” says actress Alfre Woodard, a longtime Academy member, and a vocal supporter of the film. “But people can vote for whatever they want, and half of the things I voted for weren’t recognized. I’m used to that,” she says with a laugh. “I live in America—and I’m a woman of color.”
But the real reasons behind the Selma snubs are more complex than race alone. They speak to the entrenched nature of Hollywood politics, the intricacies of Oscar campaign strategies, and the simple power of perception to define a filmmaker’s place in history.


DuVernay, a 42-year old Los Angeles native, began her career as a publicist, working on films such as Spy Kids and Dreamgirls before making the almost-unprecedented segue into directing. Her 2012 film, Middle of Nowhere, about a woman who puts her life on hold while her husband is in prison, won the Best Director prize at the Sundance Film Festival. But over the years she had concluded that female and minority filmmakers were often held to a higher standard. Directors as varied as Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), Karyn Kusama (Girlfight), and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) each had successful early films, only to see their careers stall. Unlike male directors, they seldom got second and third chances.


As production on Selma, her 1960s civil rights drama, began in Atlanta last year, DuVernay was determined to keep a promise to herself. “It was important to me that my voice, my vision, stayed intact,” she says. “Because if this movie failed, then it did so based on what I truly liked rather than on some compromise someone got me to make. I would have never forgiven myself because I knew there was not going to be another chance.”


So she fought for what was hers, and it worked. What we see on screen in Selmais entirely her vision. “So much of it is real,” says Congressman John Lewis, who marched with Dr. King. “The first time I went to see it, I cried to be reminded of what happened on Bloody Sunday.”That refusal to yield created one of the best films of the year, but on the Oscar-campaign trail it would prove to be a double-edged sword.


In Selma, President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) is reluctant to make the Voting Rights Act, which protected voting rights for minorities, a top priority. That interpretation came under fire from LBJ historians, who asserted that the president had been eager to lead on the issue. Many biopic Oscar contenders come up against charges like this. “We saw it with Lincolnand we are seeing it with Selma,” says Lewis. “People took some liberties, but it’s art.”


Usually, a careful statement from the filmmaker can mitigate the damage. But DuVernay fought back. Citing a New Yorker story, which reported that Johnson asked King to wait on civil rights, she tweeted, “Notion that Selma was LBJ’s idea is jaw dropping and offensive to [civil rights groups] and black citizens who made it so.”


It’s impossible to know what thousands of Academy members are each thinking when they ink their ballots, but through interviews with voters, most of whom spoke to EW on condition of anonymity, it seems this response came off as strident and defensive. “[The filmmakers] misrepresented history with the way LBJ was presented,” says a member of the actors’ branch. “They had an obligation to present it correctly and they didn’t.”


Underneath that assessment is a Gordian knot of a question: Would Academy voters have felt the same way if the filmmaker had been, say, Steven Spielberg? Or if the film were about a reluctant Franklin D. Roosevelt being dragged into WWII by Winston Churchill?
Race continues to be a thorny issue for the Academy. “We are committed to do our part to ensure diversity in the industry,” Cheryl Boone-Isaacs, the Academy’s current and first black president told the New York Times. “We are making great strides, and I personally wish it was moving quicker, but I think the commitment is there and we will continue to make progress.” As of 2012, according to the Los Angeles Times, voters were 94 percent white, and 77 percent male. Still, in the last 15 years that membership has awarded more nonwhite actors and films about people of color (e.g., Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave) than in previous 60 years combined. When it comes to racial issues, they like to think they’re the good guys. Confronting them on that topic can backfire. “The Academy loves to be liberal,” says one member. “But they like to be nice and comfortably liberal.”


Just as when Zero Dark Thirty smashed into real-world events that snuffed out its Oscar hopes, Selma marched into theaters just as the country was swirling in racial tension. In November, after Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., DuVernay joined other black filmmakers in protest, asking her 58,000 Twitter followers to boycott all retail stores on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. And last month in New York, after a grand jury declined to charge the officer who had caused the death of Eric Garner using a chokehold, she and her cast gathered on the front steps of the New York Public Library, without the knowledge of studio publicists, dressed in “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts.


Journalists consistently—and accurately—drew a line between the film and current events. Oddly, this seemed to rankle some Academy voters, as if DuVernay, the media, and the film’s campaign were all saying: If you don’t vote for Selma, you’re not taking a stand against this outrage. “It’s almost like because she is African-American, we should have made her one of the nominees,” says one member. “I think that’s racist. Look at what we did last year with 12 Years.”


It’s also possible, it must be said, that DuVernay was overlooked for a far less interesting reason, one that has nothing to do with race or gender or politics: Maybe the Academy just didn’t think she was one of the five best directors of 2014. If true, she’d be in great company: David Fincher (Gone Girl), Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), and Clint Eastwood (American Sniper) didn’t make the cut this year either. “Think about all the brilliant directors who have never gotten an Oscar or been nominated,” Woodard says. “We just need to all stay real about it and keep watching this woman.”


DuVernay’s ambition now is to take the momentum from Selma and build a sustained career. She’s just not quite sure how. “I’ve never been in this place before,” she told EW in December. “There is no precedent for it and there is no black woman I can call and ask.” So she has relied on the closest person to her situation: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), the sole woman to win an Oscar for directing, who advised her, after moderating a Selma screening Q&A with DuVernay, to stay focused and keep following her own path. “I’m trying to be clear and follow my own footsteps because there is no black woman’s footsteps to follow,” she says.


With luck, she’ll lay them down for the women behind her. 

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Read my review of Selma at the 'Nother Brother Entertainment blog here