![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Mar. 24th, 2003 09:23 amOkay, so I'm a little annoyed about Chicago getting best picture. Lemme tell you why.
A: Every set used for Chicago was not only modeled on the Theatre sets, but could have been done as a theatre set, with only street scenes as a possible exception. (And given the increasing skill of stage designers and illusionists, I don't even know about that.)
B: Every costume was based on the theatre version.
C: The script and songs were from the theatre version.
So, what we have is Chicago the film basically just being Chicago the broadway version, sans audience, and with less immediate skill required, because the Film cast could afford retakes, something which a theatre won't get so long as an audience is involved. (Yes, I concede they would during rehersals, but if the point of the filming was that every take was ideally for print...)
Also, that this film was a loaded die as far as the academy is concerned. Nearly every major actor and cinematographer was an Oscar recipient, and with more nominations behind them than most films could dream of. Plus, you've also got the association by promotion with actors like Michael Douglass, another academy favorite.
This wasn't really a film, guys. It was a re-creation of a broadway show. And real films, like Two Towers, or The Pianist, got passed over for it. And that annoys me.
(Okay, so yeah, I also hoped TTT would get it just to piss off the Chicago-fanatics, but I realize that a genre film is probably never gonna win Best Picture, ever.)
A: Every set used for Chicago was not only modeled on the Theatre sets, but could have been done as a theatre set, with only street scenes as a possible exception. (And given the increasing skill of stage designers and illusionists, I don't even know about that.)
B: Every costume was based on the theatre version.
C: The script and songs were from the theatre version.
So, what we have is Chicago the film basically just being Chicago the broadway version, sans audience, and with less immediate skill required, because the Film cast could afford retakes, something which a theatre won't get so long as an audience is involved. (Yes, I concede they would during rehersals, but if the point of the filming was that every take was ideally for print...)
Also, that this film was a loaded die as far as the academy is concerned. Nearly every major actor and cinematographer was an Oscar recipient, and with more nominations behind them than most films could dream of. Plus, you've also got the association by promotion with actors like Michael Douglass, another academy favorite.
This wasn't really a film, guys. It was a re-creation of a broadway show. And real films, like Two Towers, or The Pianist, got passed over for it. And that annoys me.
(Okay, so yeah, I also hoped TTT would get it just to piss off the Chicago-fanatics, but I realize that a genre film is probably never gonna win Best Picture, ever.)
