Will Smith ‘understands’ if people aren’t ‘ready’ to see new film after Oscars slap: ‘Absolutely respect that’
After an Oscar snub, Adam McKay’s ‘This Is the End’ gets Oscar-friendly treatment
It has been an epic week of awards show snubs throughout Hollywood. Most people had high hopes for Tom Cruise’s Best Actor win for the epic Ocean’s 13. Instead, it was “Big” to win for Ocean’s 16 and “Boom” to win best original screenplay for The Big Short. In addition to Cruise’s loss, Matt Damon lost Best Actress to Cate Blanchett for her work in Lady Bird and Natalie Portman, who was originally nominated for The Shape of Water, went home when that film, of course, did not win.
In order to prepare for the Oscars, the Academy was forced to make a number of changes to their rules and guidelines for the ceremony. The Academy released a statement, saying that they were going to review the Oscars and make their own version of the Academy Awards, in regards to how the award show is structured. The new plan would see the Oscars become what they call the Academy Awards: The Academy Awards may not use the word “Oscar” and they are not going to announce the winners onstage instead of in the following weeks.
In a statement, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, “The Academy remains firmly committed to providing viewers the best experience possible in all aspects of the ceremony, including Oscars programming and fan voting, and we are now in discussions with the organization running the Emmy awards, which we have historically consulted with on all aspects of the ceremony.”
The academy did not reveal who would be running the Academy Awards, but did confirm that it has been working with other awards bodies such as the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America on all-star Oscar nominees.
Smith said, “I have to say, on behalf of America, I just want to say I absolutely respect that – absolutely respect that – that you guys (the president, the academy) have to do that. I absolutely respect that. Now, we’re talking about a movie – It may not be the best movie that was ever made – it’s an amazing movie and I want those people to go to it. But you’re not getting this movie