James Cameron and Others Joined Forces to Slam Oscar Category Changes
By Kirby Dean -
Anyone who has been on a movie set knows how much work goes on behind the scenes and that there are people who make things happen better than others. From composers, production designers, and editors, to other craftspeople, there are so many more essentials to the production professionals that viewers behind the screens don’t know about. Now, a group of Oscar winners and other big names in the industry gathered together to ask the Academy to give these professionals their proper due.
James Cameron and Others Joined Forces to Slam Oscar Category Changes
Oscar Winners Standing Up for a Change
A group of over six dozen people, including James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Kathleen Kennedy, and John Williams, sent an open letter to the Academy president David Rubin, urging the Academy to reverse the decision to not hand out eight Oscar statuettes. This happened before the 27th of March when the Oscars ceremony was held.
What the Letter Said
The letter sent by these titans in the industry read that critical artistic crafts, such as music scoring, film editing, production design, hair styling & makeup, and sound deserve the same respect and recognition as crafts like acting, directing, and visual effects. The letter also pointed out that diminishing any of these separate categories would do irreparable damage to the Academy’s standing as impartial arbiters and responsible stewards of the industry’s most popular and important awards.
James Cameron and Others Joined Forces to Slam Oscar Category Changes
On the 22nd of February, the Academy decided to cut eight categories from the broadcast. This was met with extreme criticism. Even Steven Spielberg has publicly disagreed with the decision. At a luncheon for Oscar nominees, neither Rubin nor producer Will Packer mentioned the category cuts in their speeches. Later, the decision to award several statuettes during commercial breaks felt like a distressing sign of what the Oscars might bring.
The Letter’s Conclusion
The letter also said that seeking new audiences by making the telecast more entertaining is a laudable and important goal. However, this can’t be achieved by demeaning the very crafts that, in their most outstanding expressions, make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration, the letter concluded.
