Dune director Denis Villeneuve and The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion have spoken out about the Academy Awards cutting categories from their ceremony. Earlier this year it was revealed that eight Academy Awards would be cut from the official live broadcast, instead being presented before the ceremony and edited into the broadcast later. The categories include Documentary (Short Subject), Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Production Design, Short Film (Animated), Short Film (Live Action), and Sound. Academy President David Rubin has stated that this choice was made in order to make more time for audience engagement, saying that it will leave more time for things like comedy and musical numbers.
This is not the first time the Academy has made a decision like this. In 2018, it was decided that some categories would be presented off-air in order to leave more time for some of the “bigger” categories during the actual broadcast. Naturally, this sparked a huge amount of backlash from the film community as well as fans of the Oscars, leading to the Academy almost immediately backtracking on this new format. While their new decision does endeavor to include all categories in the broadcast, it has still received a lot of backlash and many are hoping that the Academy will once again retract their new format.
Among those who oppose the Oscars’ new format are Villeneuve and Campion. During the Art Directors Guild Awards, Villeneuve told Deadline that he thought presenting the awards before the official show was “a mistake.” The director went on to state how he feels that “filmmaking is about teamwork.” Villeneuve points out how the media is often all about the directors and actors, but the people working behind the scenes to make the films happen “need to be seen and recognized.” Campion also joined the conversation at the ADG Awards (though via Video as she has recently tested positive for COVID). She expressed similar opinions to Villeneuve, focusing specifically on the area of Production Design. Campion believes that the award for production design should be included in the main awards due to “how important production design is to creating a good film.” See their full quotes below:
“Honestly, I think that the Academy’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I think it’s a mistake. And I understand that they’re under tremendous pressure, but I think it isn’t the right decision. The thing is that filmmaking is about a teamwork. It’s like a football team. It’s like you have like all different kinds of jobs that everybody needs to get the top of its game; otherwise the movie collapses, you know? It’s a team effort. In the media we are a lot about the directors. We are, of course, a lot about the actors. All the people that are working in the shadows there, unfortunately, they need to be seen and to be recognized, and these award shows are made for them.” – Villeneuve
“With the recent changes in the format the Oscars I want to take a moment to express particularly how important production design is to creating a good film. I would have definitely included design in the main body of the awards because design is so vital. It’s one of the most important relationships.” – Campion
Villeneuve has gone on to state that he believes the decision is due to the Oscars “going through an identity crisis.” According to Villeneuve, everyone is expecting a long show, so there’s no need to cut it down. He has stated that every Academy Awards ceremony contains beautiful moments and boring ones, and that’s why he loves it. It does make sense that both Villeneuve and Campion feel strongly about this issue, as both of their films are nominated for several awards. Dune is nominated for ten Oscars, five of which are in the newly cut categories, while The Power of the Dog is nominated for twelve, with four nominations in the newly cut categories.
The directors’ objections are easy to understand. By trying to make the televised ceremony more audience-friendly, it puts a clear importance on entertainment over what the night is actually meant to be celebrating. Indeed, the argument could be made that the Academy is ironically proving Villeneuve’s point about teamwork, as after cutting the Film Editing category from the main ceremony, they will be using the magic of editing to make it look as if they didn’t. After this much backlash, it is possible that these categories will be reinstated by next year’s awards, however, until then these eight awards will be somewhat pushed to the side, though they may still be swept by either Dune or The Power of the Dog.
