The Bagger points us to this story by Linda Obst appearing in the Atlantic. For us, it’s a news flash (cue the “get over it,” “move beyond it,” “[fill in the blank] fangirl” comments):
But in an apparent act of masochism, we in the Academy didn’t see fit to nominate the picture—or its enormously gifted director. What were we thinking?? Did we want no one to watch the Oscar telecast? As a business that depends on the availability of credit, and that suffers as more and more bootleg copies of our DVDs are being sold for $5 on the street corners of Flatbush and Beijing, we are at the precipice of an apocalypse. The Oscar telecast is the industry’s biggest promotional opportunity of the year. But the show’s viewership depends on the audience’s familiarity with the pictures. (The Oscars got their biggest ratings ever the year that Titanic swept). I ask you, do we really expect to draw a crowd with The Reader? Did anyone in, say, Peoria see the reader? Did it even open there?
Well, not that anyone reads us but we did kinda sound the alarm on this one, non? And “Diminished” just barely covers it. I think Bill Condon and Laurence Mark can save the Oscars, though. I really do.
