Gross Behaviour - by Leonard Klady

Passion, Pageantry, Pomp … and Circumstance

A week in the life of Hollywood is at best a surreal confluence of ideas, characters and activities bereft of logic. However, the past seven days were a daunting challenge as the calendar conspired to serve up the Academy Awards, the American Film Market and The Passion of The Christ. Somehow they were intertwined, if only by geographic proximity.

The trinity of the godfather of awards shows, the son of sales palaver and the holy cash register was enough to shake anyone's faith. The Oscars seemed benign while The Passion preached a lesson curiously devoid of human kindness and the film market was close to moribund. And at unpredictable moments two or three of the elements collided in peculiar fashion.

In the five decade history of Oscar as a nationally televised sport, it's generally played up emotional sentiment rather than political or social controversy. Most of its memorable moments have derived from an iconographic performer finally receiving his/her overdue recognition. It occurred when Elizabeth Taylor got her statuette shortly after surviving a life-threatening surgery and the likes of John Wayne ambling up to the podium in the twilight of a career. Jane Fonda at the height of her Hanoi Jane persona decided not to turn her prize for Klute into a much-anticipated political moment. Earlier on that night in 1972, Ben Johnson played on that anxiety when he began his acceptance speech by presaging his remarks with what was expected to be a political statement. But after a sly pause he said, "this couldn't happen to a nicer fella" and one could hear the audience let out a collective sigh of relief. It was also the night that the Academy forgave Chaplin with an honorary Oscar following 20 years of artistic exile.

But, on the whole, the Academy would sooner forget Sacheen Littlefeather reading Marlon Brando's Oscar refusal for The Godfather, Vanessa Redgrave's pro-Palestinian remarks back in 1978 when she was cited for Julia or Michael Moore's screed against George W. Bush just last year. While there must have been some discussion about whether to approach Mel Gibson to present this year, one can just imagine producer Joe Roth and the Academy executive coming down on the side of keeping it nice.

So, the place to be on Oscar night for those with a taste for spice should have been ICM agent Ed Limato's annual soiree. The event has long been a coveted invitation among Hollywood insiders and this year had received an extra bit of publicity when Variety columnist Army Archerd told the world how he had been taken off the guest list as a result of negative remarks he had printed about Limato's most famous current client Mel Gibson and his film The Passion of The Christ.

A friend who attended confirmed Gibson's presence but though ordinarily anyone that had made a film with such commercial potency would be the center of attention this was not the case last Sunday. Gibson and a small coterie were pretty much entrenched in a corner of Limato's home and that circle was rarely broken by the usual rounds of well wishers. It would be difficult to give the proper weight and balance for this but it involved a combination of social shunning and a tacit "do not enter" vibe coming from that particular nook.

Nonetheless, this particular individual was not going to be cowed by convention and approached the group. It wasn't a Braveheart moment. He said that Gibson was angry and had lost any vestige of the sort of self-deprecating humor we've come to expect of him. When he asked the actor-director how he felt, the response was a muted "richer." It was evident that there would be no joy in Mudville tonight.

One could well imagine Gibson preparing himself to be blamed for another year of declining ratings for the Oscar telecast. He'd already experienced months of media and industry bashing and could hear the blades being sharpened, as pundits prepared headlines like: Christ Killer K.O.s Kudos. The unheard whispers in the alcoves and recesses of the Limato residence had to be echoing with why he had chosen Oscar weekend to launch his controversial movie. Was he intent on bringing down the system? The timing of the release simply couldn't be coincidental and was a further indication of his latent sentiment against the godless secular forces that control the purse strings and entertainment choices in every corner of the globe.

However, whether the faithful were also fans of The Lord of the Rings or simply not part of the viewer's pool, Oscar's ratings improved for the first time in four years and its audience increased by about 30% from last year's broadcast. It doesn't seem to matter whether the show itself has drama or flair when it comes to attracting an audience. At least in the past decade, the ups and downs in the ratings arena appear to be most influenced by the likely choice for best picture and other high profile categories. Popular choices such as Titanic or the current The Return of the King get eyeballs and when more modest box office successes such as last year's slate of The Piano, The Hours and Chicago dominated, attendance declined.

The Academy will doubtless find a self-serving rationale to explain the upturn because the alternative of not having much control of whether people tune in or not is too painful to confront. A good conspiracist like Gibson could create a dandy scenario that linked the Academy to the Motion Picture Association of America's screener ban as the means to shut out those arty movies that gross less than $40 million from award contention. He could point to the absence or near absence of such critical favorites as American Splendor, Whale Rider and Dirty Pretty Things on the 2004 ballot as proof of the ban's effectiveness. Still, contrarians would make note of this year's nominations and wins for Monster and Lost in Translation. And the final words might be, "yes, but that's only because the ban was lifted."

Frankly, the show has evolved into a dreary and innocuously repetitive progression of announcements and acceptance speeches. The evolution of winners thanking people for doing their jobs has become tiresome and should have been nipped in the bud long ago. Other people's need for affirmation has robbed the actual winner's of an opportunity to say something personal and heartfelt because once one thanks all those agents and handlers, co-workers, family members and studio executives there's not much left in the 90 seconds allotted for oneself. This year foreign-language nominee and winner Denys Arcand of The Barbarian Invasions had mapped out a plan with his two producers that should they receive the Oscar, Denise Robert would do the now obligatory corporate thank yous and he would follow with a more personal note. When the picture was announced the trio bounded to the stage and as Robert began to speak a countdown clock in their direct eye line began to tick down. Arcand says the clock had a mesmerizing effect and what he intended to say in French suddenly evaporated. He just wanted to get off the stage.

The clock may have been a distraction for Arcand just as the Oscars could well have diverted activity over at the American Film Market. While the organization was announcing record attendance, the corridors at the Loews Santa Monica were far from teaming and sales of any sort were not in evidence. AFMA has put down the gauntlet in the market wars and will "permanently" move its annual date to November beginning this year. It's also formed an alliance with the American Film Institute Film Festival that will allow AFMA attendees to see festival screenings and reciprocal rights to market events for attending AFI filmmakers. The fact that the two events take place at opposite ends of Los Angeles may limit the true interchange even with a shuttle bus running throughout the day.

The calendar change is AFMA's latest challenge to the long-standing MIFED market in Milan. MIFED organizers have withstood past assaults and just recently announced that it too would shift its dates and it will now take place three weeks prior to the fall American Film Market. Historically, this is an arena where being first is an advantage and the latest twist in the market wars will require considerable effort on the part of those supporting the AFM not to be swayed by product debuting at MIFED at a time when - as clearly evidenced by the current market - buyers are ravenous to acquire any movie with the slightest appearance of a commercial pulse. Gibson's The Passion of The Christ had largely been pre-sold in major territories prior to the American Film Market, but for some quirky reason had failed to secure distribution in heavily Catholic France. Icon Entertainment finally closed a deal during the opening days of the market but part of the condition of the sale was that the buyer could make the official announcement on French television.

And as we dust off the glitter from the 76th Academy Awards it may not be too soon to speculate on The Passion's prospects for edition 77. Whether one embraces, rejects or is indifferent to the film, the simple fact is that it will not be ignored and likely not forgotten when it comes time to consider the best films of 2004. The film grossed $10 million Monday and if, as anticipated, it continues to do strong weekend business, it will succeed the $240 million gross of the reigning non-studio release My Big Fat Greek Wedding that secured an Oscar berth for its screenplay.

Gibson's film at this writing is a contender in several technical categories including cinematography as well as more obvious above-the-line areas. But to my mind, its producers would be well advised to consider submitting it in the foreign-language category. No one has ever submitted an American film in this category though such past films as El Norte and Picture Bride qualify be dint of largely non-English language soundtrack. What would have to be resolved is the government or artistic panel making the submission. Obviously the Academy itself cannot be involved and an organization such as the American Film Institute would have to be approached about being the conduit for Oscar.