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Momma Used Her Cane!
Last night's big "what?" moment happened when Music by Prudence won the Best Documentary Short Oscar. Director-producer Roger Ross Williams ran to the stage like an Olympic sprinter and began to say thanks. And then producer Elinor Burkett darted in and pretty much grabbed the mike and took over the shpiel, obviously to Williams' chagrin. Salon's Kerry Lauerman reports the story from both parties:
Salon: "People are already saying you 'pulled a Kanye.' What happened?"
Burkett: "What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn't invited to any of them. And he's not speaking to me. So we weren't even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I'm sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn't get up there very fast."
Salon: "Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?"
Burkett: "The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence.
Salon: "And that led to the rift. But didn't you see him at other events to discuss what would happen if you won?"
Burkett: "He won't talk to me! This whole week, there have been events thrown by the International Documentary Association, and he hasn't passed any of the invitations on to me. The movie was my idea. I live in Zimbabwe. Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this. And you know, I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn't going to happen this time.
Salon: "How do you feel about the final product?"
Burkett: "The final product...it's not that it's bad. It's not what I envisioned when I came up with this project. And it's not what we promised the boys in the band. It's just not what we wanted it to be.:
Salon then spoke to Williams....
Salon: "So what happened?"
Williams: "Only one person is allowed to accept the award. I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry -- she actually removed herself from the project - because she wanted more creative control."
Salon: "But couldn't you decide ahead of time who would speak?
Williams: "That was handled by the publicist for the academy. I don't know what they told her. The academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock."
Salon: "You seemed to run up there pretty fast. Didn't you see her coming up the aisle? What did you think was going to happen when she got there?
Williams: "I just expected her to stand there. I had a speech prepared."
Salon: "She claims she found the movie's story, that she brought it to you."
Williams: "No, not at all. The truth is that she saw the band perform [in Zimbabwe], and told me about that, and then I opened up a dialogue with the [King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities] school and went on my own - which you would've heard about in my speech -- and spent $6,000 going to Africa shooting myself. And when people expressed interest in the film, I asked her to come on board. And then I regretted that decision. Then she sued."
Salon: "It was quite a tussle. Does this diminish the Oscar at all?"
Williams: "Absolutely not. It's such a career achievement, to win an Academy Award. This is what the business is. There are times when there's disagreement and dispute and you always hope that people will rise up to the occasion. It doesn't diminish it. She disowns it and doesn't want any part of the film. I'm so proud of the movie."
Salon: "Did your mother try and block her with her cane?"
Williams: "My mother got up to hug me. And my mother is 87 years old. She was excited."
Hollywood Elsewhere interjection: Probable bunk! Whenever a child points out the age of a parent in the course of explaining any sort of curious or unusual altercation, what they're saying is "yes, my parent acted questionably but you have to cut him/her some slack because old people tend to be confused and don't know what they're doing half the time." Which of course is rarely true. Old people are plenty aware of what's going on at any given moment. They just tend to be a little gruffer or grumpier.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 8, 2010 at 5:57 AM
Essentials
comment #1
JHR
says ...
So that bitch did pull a Kanye...
Posted by JHR
at March 8, 2010 6:38 AM
comment #2
Brendan
says ...
It was an odd moment from last night. I thought it was a prank and the guy from SNL was doing his Joy Behar stichk.
Posted by Brendan
at March 8, 2010 6:41 AM
comment #3
Rich S.
says ...
When your big "what?" moment revolves around the award for documentary short subject, you know you're hurting. Consider the shark thoroughly jumped.
Posted by Rich S.
at March 8, 2010 6:45 AM
comment #4
mccool
says ...
Cant believe you're siding with the suit here .... you corporate, fuck-nature, the-hell-with-my-fellow-man republican lemming!!
Posted by mccool
at March 8, 2010 6:47 AM
comment #5
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
I'm siding with the party who's against the momma with the cane! The cane decides. The cane is all. They obviously should have gotten together and decided to be gracious and let bygones be bygones, but Williams wouldn't speak to Burkett. That makes HIM the bad guy in my book. And then there's the running down to the stage. And then there's momma!
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at March 8, 2010 6:51 AM
comment #6
Eloi Manning
says ...
She was a waffling moron in her speech.
Posted by Eloi Manning
at March 8, 2010 7:16 AM
comment #7
Robert Cashill
says ...
Had any of this backstage drama been known there's no way the film would have won. The much publicized tension over UP IN THE AIR's writing credits doomed it. But no one except for Taylor Hackford cares about this category.
Speaking of which, was Fletcher the first African-American to win for writing?
Posted by Robert Cashill
at March 8, 2010 7:26 AM
comment #8
doug
says ...
The real "what?" moment had to be that cut to George Clooney (who looked slightly pissed off all night) giving the evil eye directly to the camera while waving his hands wildly to direct its attention away from him. I can't remember exactly when that happened, did anyone else catch it?
Posted by doug
at March 8, 2010 7:42 AM
comment #9
Eloi Manning
says ...
Clooney did look pissed off all night. But I couldn't tell if it was a joke, or if he'd fallen out with his bird or something. It seemed pretty awkward when he was describing his Up In The Air role to Sherri Shepherd before the show. Talking about how the character couldn't commit or settle down, and that's why he was picked to portray him. His lady friend didn't look too pleased about it.
Maybe he was just mad at his terrible finance-guy haircut.
Posted by Eloi Manning
at March 8, 2010 7:45 AM
comment #10
Robert Cashill
says ...
Even if it was partly play-acting Clooney looked like a guy who's gotten everything he could have off the Hollywood ride and is just looking for an exit. That whole actors-saluting-actors thing is just excruciating and really freights the show at the 11th hour.
Posted by Robert Cashill
at March 8, 2010 7:50 AM
comment #11
PCP
says ...
Jeff, great to bring this out. otherwise I'd not known this story. Williams should be ashamed!
Posted by PCP
at March 8, 2010 7:56 AM
comment #12
Eloi Manning
says ...
Deathtongue Groupie mentioned in another thread how it seemed funny that every time a black person or Precious was mentioned, the camera would cut to Morgan Freeman or Samuel L. Jackson. "Let's get a black reaction shot!"
Posted by Eloi Manning
at March 8, 2010 7:58 AM
comment #13
Snoop Marlo
says ...
I guarantee Clooney had a big fight with his girlfriend in the limo. My wife even noticed he was looking annoyed from the get go.
Clooney will be unattached by tomorrow.
I agree with Rich S : If the short documentary gets the most attention, you know its not a buzzworthy Oscar nite.
Posted by Snoop Marlo
at March 8, 2010 8:18 AM
comment #14
EDouglasCS
says ...
Has anyone interviewed the cane to find out its side of the story?
Posted by EDouglasCS
at March 8, 2010 8:19 AM
comment #15
Steven Kar
says ...
Eloi,
Sometimes they's just cut to some random black dude in the audience.
Posted by Steven Kar
at March 8, 2010 8:20 AM
comment #16
York "Budd" Durden
says ...
I thought using the bucket-of-chicken sequence was particularly illustrative of why Precious SHOULDN'T win Best anything.
Posted by York "Budd" Durden
at March 8, 2010 8:29 AM
comment #17
dinther
says ...
Wait - wasn't the Clooney tude part of a bit between Martin, Baldwin, and him. They included the stare-down as part of their opening?
Posted by dinther
at March 8, 2010 8:47 AM
comment #18
Mark
says ...
whatever that lady was talking about, is exactly the reason people want the short oscars banished from the show. they did a whole nice setup on how the short categories are extremely important in launching future feature directors, and then some producer who didn't even approve of the final product goes and cock blocks the director to rail on about the subject matter. she should have been booed off the stage.
Posted by Mark
at March 8, 2010 8:59 AM
comment #19
Abbey Normal
says ...
I agree with Mark @18. It sounds to me like her claim to be onstage was tenuous at best to begin with; if she's going to then take it a step further and actually cut in like that, in front of millions and millions of people, she could have at least had something coherent to say. Instead, she seemed scattered, rude and bossy. Based on what I saw last night, I have no problem believing she was the unreasonable one in the producer credit distpute.
Posted by Abbey Normal
at March 8, 2010 9:15 AM
comment #20
Abbey Normal
says ...
I agree with Mark @18. It's pretty brash to beat back an old woman's cane and jump onstage to begin with; if she's going to then take it a step further and barge into the actual speech, in front of millions and millions of people, she could have at least had something coherent to say. Instead, she was scattered...irrational, even. Based on what I saw last night, I have no problem believing she was the unreasonable one in the producer credit dispute.
Posted by Abbey Normal
at March 8, 2010 9:20 AM
comment #21
Abbey Normal
says ...
Sorry for the double post
Posted by Abbey Normal
at March 8, 2010 9:21 AM
comment #22
Eloi Manning
says ...
Was Tom Hanks told to hurry things along by the producers? I know they ran down the Best Pictures as the show went on, but it seemed awfully rushed at the end. By that stage they were around 30 minutes over schedule, so perhaps they needed him to wrap things up as quickly as possible.
Posted by Eloi Manning
at March 8, 2010 10:00 AM
comment #23
Gordn27
says ...
"Speaking of which, was Fletcher the first African-American to win for writing?"
Yep. I notice that that was so far off their radar as a possible win that they didn't have that factoid handy when talking about what a milestone it was for Bigelow.
"I guarantee Clooney had a big fight with his girlfriend in the limo. My wife even noticed he was looking annoyed from the get go."
Watching the pre-show, I thought that might be the case, but he also seemed to be running really late.
Posted by Gordn27
at March 8, 2010 10:33 AM
comment #24
Colin
says ...
My profound belief is that Producers shouldn't speak for anything. You win Best Film let the writer/director speak.
She came off as a attention-whore.
Posted by Colin
at March 8, 2010 10:55 AM
comment #25
actionman
says ...
"She was a waffling moron in her speech."
that's exactly what I thought
Posted by actionman
at March 8, 2010 11:59 AM
comment #26
teeem
says ...
J.W.... does Burkett come off as someone you CAN talk to?
and she admits in her phone interview that it isn't the movie she would have made.
i'm thinkin' i'm on the RRW/cane side.
Posted by teeem
at March 8, 2010 12:06 PM
comment #27
Travis Crabtree
says ...
Maybe she's completely in the right. I don't know.
Point is, she looked like a classless, pushy, babbling buffoon.
Posted by Travis Crabtree
at March 8, 2010 4:56 PM
comment #28
shahriar khan
says ...
Excellent dude. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the article a lot while reading. Thanks again for sharing.
Cane
Posted by shahriar khan
at March 8, 2010 9:01 PM
comment #29
F.X. Feeney
says ...
I side with Williams in this dispute.
Burkett was intrusive, ungracious. Small wonder the film's hands-on maker gave her the heave-ho as a producer, and refused any contact with her in the ramp up to the awards. How can you hope for a reasonable conversation with such an overbearing character?
Note that she wanted the film to be very different from what the Academy awarded. This is in itself a conclusive argument in favor of Williams as the sole and rightful speaker. If his mother delayed his nemesis for a few seconds with her cane, I say Well Done. She knew what she was doing. If he's covering for her, it's not to lie but to imply, "leave my mother out of it."
As for George Clooney's grumpy facial expression, I interpreted as part of a gag that fell flat between him, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin -- though I must admit as the evening wore on, I began to see him as a reliable channel of my own boredom with the proceedings.
Not that the show was bad -- as evenings go, it boasted some of the best dance numbers & clips, and Baldwin and Martin were fine as far as they went. What made it dull was that there were almost no surprises. We all knew Jeff Bridges was going to get it. I assumed HURT LOCKER was a lock - as did the majority in the room -- ditto for Monique in PRECIOUS. Who can blame Clooney for sitting there looking like he's thinking, "Why do I even bother to show?" -- especially after he was such a good sport conceding the inevitability of Daniel Day Lewis, two years ago? This is why Paul Newman and Michael Caine steered clear after awhile -- and were absent when they finally won.
The one gratifying surprise of the night was Geoffrey Fketcher's win for PRECIOUS. He was on the cover of WRITTEN BY (the Writer's Guild magazine) in the month prior to voting. Richard Stayton, WRITTEN BY's editor, wrote an incisive op-ed at the front of the book excoriating Oprah and Lee Daniels and everybody else who have consistently failed to acknowledge Fletcher's exceptional contribution. (PUSH by Saphire Jones may be an acclaimed novel, but by all accounts turning it into a viable film was a miracle of the loaves and fishes at screenplay level.) Stayton's editorial, the interview with Fletcher, and long consideration by Academy members (especially writers) helped it ascend over the no less excellent but amply praised script for UP IN THE AIR.
Posted by F.X. Feeney
at March 9, 2010 11:31 PM
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