A friend recently asked me
who I think will win the Super Bowl. My
response was: “The Super Bowl? It’s this
Sunday? Are the Cowboys playing?” Obviously, I am not planning to watch the
game on Sunday (although I heard Madonna will be performing). Lately, my focus has been diverted to my own
version of the Super Bowl: the Oscars.
Some guys are into fantasy football; I’m into predicting the Oscars.
My earliest memory of the
Oscars was in 1991 when Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best
Picture. I was 8 years old then living
in Southern California and my school took a field trip to watch the film at the
El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. It was perhaps the first time that I had
actually seen a film that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and I
hoped it would win. Instead, another
film about a beauty and a beast would eventually win (Silence of the
Lambs). Since then, I was hooked on the
Oscars.
Fast forward several years
later and I would find myself a student in film school attending friends’ Oscar
parties still debating who will win. I
would religiously read Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of the Oscars and
frequent many Oscar message boards and blogs especially Sasha Stone’s
OscarWatch site (now called Awards Daily).
I became obsessed. Before the
Academy cracked down on unofficial Oscar-viewing parties, I used to attend the
Alamo Drafthouse’s annual Oscar party.
For two years in a row, I won their prediction contest and was asked to
go to the stage to accept a fake Oscar and give a speech.
This may all seem silly, I
know, but what makes predicting the Oscars so fun and interesting is that it
opens a dialogue about a film’s merits.
Just because a film wins an Oscar, does it validate it as the best film
of the year? As I’ve come to realize
firsthand as the director of a screenplay competition, judging art at any level
is, by nature, extremely subjective. The
measure of an artist’s talent is not subject to the outcome of a competition or
an Academy Award but it sure is fun to debate about it.
So who will win the Super
Bowl? Unless Meryl Streep is playing
quarterback this Sunday, I have no idea. In the meantime, I’ll eagerly await my
Super Bowl on February 26th.
In the weeks leading up to
the Oscars, I’ll reveal my picks for each of the categories. This week, I’ll give my predictions for the
writing categories.
Writing (Adapted
Screenplay)
Will Win: The Descendants should take this but the
dream team of Zaillian and Sorkin for Moneyball might be enough to upset.
Will Win: Midnight in Paris.
The Artist could win here but I think Hazanavicius has a better shot for
Best Director and the Academy probably can’t resist giving Woody Allen another
Oscar even though he probably won’t show up.
--Matt Dy, Screenplay & Teleplay Competition Director
1 comment:
Great blog, Matt!
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