Roma director Alfonso Cuarón on set with star Yalitza Aparicio.
Many Hollywood insiders are relieved that the Academy has backtracked on its decision to cut four awards from the live Oscar telecast—particularly Roma director Alfonso Cuarón. Cuarón, whose Netflix film has earned 10 Oscar nominations—including nods for best picture, director, and cinematography—was one of the first high-profile filmmakers to denounce the Academy’s plan to present the cinematography, film editing, hair and makeup, and live action short awards during commercial breaks at the Academy Awards on Feb. 24, in an attempt to shorten the ceremony.
“I am very happy the Academy changed their decision,” said Cuarón at the 71st annual Writers Guild Awards in New York on Sunday night. “I think it is important to start calling and even changing the definition of technical categories as art versus not being art. We are talking about artists. Editors, the photographers, the makeup artists, costume designers—they are all artists, so it is important to support them and treat them equal. Maybe in film production there’s a chain of command, but in the mixed Academy of filmmakers, they should not have a hierarchical system that says one category is less or more important than another. Filmmaking is a collaborative process. Without one, there is no film. Every category should be honored equally.”
Cuarón is heading to the Academy Awards on Sunday as a front-runner for best director, and may well grace the Dolby Theater stage more than once. He plans to attend the ceremony with his family, but without Liboria “Libo” Rodríguez, the housemaid who helped raise Cuarón along with his sister and two brothers. She is the woman who inspired Yalitza Aparicio’s character in the film, Cleo—the heart and soul of Roma. Cuarón dedicated the movie to her.
“She’s not really into all of this awards stuff,” said Cuarón on the W.G.A. arrivals carpet, inside the Edison Ballroom. “She is one of the people I love most in my life, and she is proud of me even if I don’t win awards.”
Roma is Cuarón’s most personal film yet. An ode to his childhood while growing up in Mexico City, he draws on his own memories to create a vivid, poignant look at domestic discord and social hierarchy amid the political turmoil of the 1970s. He said that about 90 percent of what viewers see in the film comes directly from his memory.
“The thought process of going through my memories and making notes took maybe a year, but the actual writing of the script was three weeks,” he explained. “I have to say most of my scripts have been like that. For me, the thinking process can be a very informal way for years or months, and then sitting down and writing is very quick. I wanted to share my life story because film is the only thing I know. Film is pretty much the way and the language I know to express myself. I wanted to do this to reconstruct who I am, my culture and where I came from.”
Although Cuarón is also up for an original screenplay Oscar, in a surprise upset at the Writers Guild Awards ceremony, Roma lost the prize to Bo Burnham, who wrote and directed the coming-of-age drama Eighth Grade. Burnham, however, did not get an Oscar nod for his indie picture. Another unexpected victory at the W.G.A. was Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s script for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which won the adapted screenplay award over A Star is Born, If Beale Street Could Talk, and BlacKkKlansman.
In the television category, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was named best comedy series, while The Americans was honored as the year’s best drama series. The Writers Guild Awards marks the final stop for the cast and creators of The Americans, as the acclaimed series has come to a close after six seasons on the air. Production ended in early 2018, but the team behind the show has since reunited at the Emmys, the SAG Awards and at the Golden Globes, where they also won best drama TV series.
“The sadness of tonight is this is the very last one. It really is farewell,” said Noah Emmerich, who played FBI agent Stan Beeman on the FX Cold War spy drama. “Farewell to The Americans ensemble, but not to the group of people who made it together. We had such a great time making the show. We always had a core fan base and the critics were always very kind to us and the fact that people are catching up now is really gratifying. It’s just pure sweet. There’s no bitterness, really. We are going out with a bang tonight!”
More Great Stories from Vanity Fair
— The worst-kept secret of Trump’s presidency
— Is Silicon Valley suffocating the media? Jill Abramson weighs in
— Bernie Sanders’s plan to eat the rich
— The 25 most influential movie scenes of the past 25 years
— Broad City and the pivot to millennial rage
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.
This story was originally published by Vanity Fair
via USAHint.com
No comments:
Post a Comment