Academy to Slumdog Millionaire: Love Your Film, Hate Your Actors
From the desk of:
Harold P. Stuffedsuit
Publicist
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Dear adoring public,
We at the Academy would like to congratulate Slumdog Millionaire on its history-making 10 nominations. In acknowledging the grand collective effort that made this film a reality, and in keeping with the Academy's longstanding tradition of recognizing Indian contributions to the film industry, we pay tribute to Slumdog Millionaire by excluding it from our acting categories.
We are aware that the film's lead, Dev Patel, was nominated for Best Actor awards by both the Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. We are also aware that Slumdog Millionaire's actors won the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Sadly, we don't know any of these people.
Had their characters been impersonated by other, better-known actors, the situation may have been different. We are, after all, the same people who gave Ben Kingsley a Best Actor award for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi. Thankfully, director Danny Boyle's commitment to authenticity spared his cast from inclusion among the Frank Caliendo-like impersonators nominated this year.
There weren't any gay actors playing gay men in 2008, but Sean Penn played a gay man in Milk. Considering that we nominated him in 2002 for playing a developmentally disabled man in I Am Sam, we couldn't overlook his latest stretch. There weren't any prominent African-American actors nominated this year, but Robert Downey Jr. played an actor who played one in Tropic Thunder. That was good enough for us. There wasn't even a Tom Hanks film to nominate this year, but we felt that Brad Pitt did such a good job emulating a Forrest Gump-era Hanks in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that we couldn't pass him up. The only way an actor from Slumdog would have been recognized was if Regis Philbin was cast as the Millionaire host.
We realize that an Indian film industry that produces nearly 1,000 movies a year has only received three Oscar nominations (Mother India in 1957, Salaam Bombay in 1988 and Lagaan in 2001) in its history. We also realize that Bollywood is kicking the U.S. film industry around the globe to the tune of a billion more moviegoers each year and a growth rate double that of Hollywood's. However, the Academy will not be accused of xenophobia. If 2005 nominee Water wasn't filmed in Sri Lanka, India would have four nominations all to itself. It would still have no wins, mind you, but that would have narrowed the odds a bit.
Besides, we were honoring actors from other countries before it was even a thing to do. Back in 1964, we gave all our acting awards to Rex Harrison (England), Julie Andrews (England), Peter Ustinov (England) and Lila Kedrova (France via Russia). Last year, our best actors were Javier Bardem (Spain), Marion Cotillard (France), Tilda Swinton (Scotland) and Daniel Day-Lewis (an Irish Brit, whodathunkit?). What more do you people want?
Nominees from somewhere other than Western countries, Japan or China? We gave one to Charlize Theron and she's from South Africa. That totally counts! What about Cambodia's Haing Ngor for The Killing Fields in 1985? Sidney Poitier is from the Bahamas. You need a passport to go there, right? In some cases, it's an honor just to be nominated. Isn't that right, Djimon Hounsou?
For foreign films, however, the Academy feels the greatest honor for actors is not to be nominated at all. We gave Roberto Benigni a Best Actor award for Life is Beautiful and look what happened: Damaged upholstery, ruptured eardrums and uncontrolled gesturing. Never again. Two years later, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon took home four awards. You didn't hear Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh or Zhang Ziyi complaining about being shut out for acting nods, did you? It's because we wouldn't let them.
We hope that the cast of Slumdog Millionaire will appreciate this honor and appreciate the delicate balance that the Academy is trying to maintain. After all, if we nominated actors such as Patel, Toshiro Mifune or Catherine Deneuve, how would Art Carney, Tommy Lee Jones or Marisa Tomei ever get the recognition they so richly deserve?
Patronizingly yours,
The Academy
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truthosauraus Rex also dev patel on a side note, was a first time movie actor but he was in the british show" skins" before being cast in slumdog...and as far as first time actors, in movies, leonardo dicaprio was on the show "growing pains" before being nominated for a oscar for "whats eating gilbert grape" that was one of his first movies roles if not the first itself....so you should not say that oscars are only for seasoned actors because he was nominated on one of his first movie roles back then for "whats eating gilbert grape"...if leonardo was nominated then on one of his first movie roles, why not a dev patel, or one of the slumdog child actors or even irfan khan ....
truthosauraus Rex, dev patel , frieda pinto and kid actors whom played young salim and latika and the guy whom played the older salim all were first time actors, but there were some veteran actors in the movie, anil kapoor has acted in nearly 100 hindi movies, and irfan khan has starred in many flicks, including recently "the namesake" and the angelina jolie movie " a mighty heart" as well as numberous hindi films. and same goes with mahesh madrekar, whom played the villian whom house latika was staying in when jamal found her in the movie. mahesh as acted in many many hindi movies and hindi tv projects. Irfan khan and mahesh both have new films and shows coming out. Irfan has "billo barber" the movie and mahesh has a tv show. Anil kapoor has new movies coming out too. I agree with you that some were first time actors, but not all....irfan khan is one of the best actors out there, and he was great.
Decent movie, with satisfactory actors. Sorry, but first-time actors simply are not experienced enough to get a best actor award. Like in any industry, the "best of" award should go to the person who has demonstrated that they are in fact, better than all the rest.
truthosauraus Rex also dev patel on a side note, was a first time movie actor but he was in the british show" skins" before being cast in slumdog...and as far as first time actors, in movies, leonardo dicaprio was on the show "growing pains" before being nominated for a oscar for "whats eating gilbert grape" that was one of his first movies roles if not the first itself....so you should not say that oscars are only for seasoned actors because he was nominated on one of his first movie roles back then for "whats eating gilbert grape"...if leonardo was nominated then on one of his first movie roles, why not a dev patel, or one of the slumdog child actors or even irfan khan ....
They are supposed to be "better than all the rest" for that YEAR only.
Cant compare this year's effort with Last Years...otherwise NO ONE NEW would get an Oscar...comprende?
and most indians see the movies on dvd pirated dvds the same day the films open, in indian grocery stores for a doller or two, so that takes a bite out of potential profits from ticket sales....
referring to joecechini's comment on gajini, gajini has grossed $33m (Rs1.62bn) in india's domestic markets and its gross collections in overseas markets (distributed by Big Pictures) stands at $8m (Rs390m) since it released worldwide between December 25 and 26.
Starring Aamir Khan and Asin, Ghajini was released with 1,200 prints in the domestic market and in 300 cinemas in overseas markets.
On those figures, a sustained run would mean that Ghajini looks likely to topple the $9m (Rs440m) overseas record of Karan Johar's 2001 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and the $35m (Rs1.7bn) domestic record of Anil Sharma's Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, which was also released in 2001.
Keep in mind, 300 cinemas worldwide, and the hindi movies play in american cinemas only about 2 weeks only, thats only 14 days to see the film, and i live in ct, only 2 or 1 theatre is playing it here...american movies gross more also because they play in wider release and for longer times, like 2 months in theatres or more...
for the little time films like gajini play, they still make a good profit....
i meant to post the beginning first of my comments but it didnt post properly, to the point that bollywood is not around the world it is. its in various countries and bollywood actors like shah rukh are highly recognised otherwise he would not be named one of the 50 most powerful people in the world in 2008 by newsweek, he is more popular then say tom, cruise. if you read my comments before this one, you'll see bollywood is everywhere. In more recent years, Bollywood has also begun influencing Western cinema, particularly the Western musical; Baz Luhrmann's successful musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001) was inspired by Bollywood musicals and the film also incorporates a Bollywood-style dance sequence;The Guru and The 40-Year-Old Virgin feature Indian-style song-and-dance sequences; A. R. Rahman, a film composer, was recruited for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, he also did the soundtrack of slumdog millioniare; and a musical version of Hum Aapke Hain Koun has played in London's West End. So to say that bollywood is not known globally is wrong, and to say it has not much influence around the world is wrong because these are facts that i've presented here. i liked slumdog millionaire and young jamal was brilliant, dev patel was good, but whether it wins oscars or not bollywood is here to stay and growing.
Bollywood films are particularly popular in the former Soviet Union. Bollywood films have been dubbed into Russian, and shown in prominent theatres such as Mosfilm and Lenfilm. Comingt back to the US, Bollywood has experienced a marked growth in revenue in North American markets, and is particularly popular amongst the South Asian communities of such large cities as Chicago, Toronto and New York City. Again they play hindi movies mainly in areas many indians live. Yash Raj Films, one of India's largest production houses and distributors, reported in September 2005 that Bollywood films in the United States earn around $100 million a year through theater screenings, video sales and the sale of movie soundtracks.[In other words, films from India do more business in the United States than films from any other non-English speaking country. Numerous films in the mid-1990s and onwards have been largely, or entirely, shot in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto.
The awareness of Hindi cinema is however more spread in the United Kingdom,[ where they frequently enter the UK top ten. Many films, such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) have been set in London. Bollywood is also appreciated in Germany, France, and the Scandinavian countries. Various Bollywood movies are dubbed in German and shown on the German television channel RTL II on a regular basis.A considerable number of Hindi movies has been shot in Western Europe as well, particularly in Switzerland, starting with Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge.
Hindi films have also been popular in numerous Arab countries, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt, as well as the Gulf countries.] Imported Indian films are usually subtitled in Arabic upon the film's release. Since the early 2000s, Bollywood has progressed in Israel. Special channels dedicated to Indian films have been displayed on cable television.Some Hindi movies also became big successes in the People's Republic of China during the 1950s. The most popular Hindi films in China were Awaara (1951) and Do Bigha Zameen (Two Acres of Land) (1953). Raj Kapoor was a famous movie star in China, and the song "Awara Hoon" ("I am a Tramp") was popular in the country. In africa today "mother india" is still being played in theatres decades after its release.
Other actors from hindi cinema are also recognized around the world, aishwarya rai was voted one of peoples most beautifu people a couple years ago and shes in the upcoming "pink panther 2" movie. Bollywood esides being popular among the India diaspora, is popular in such far off locations as Nigeria to Egypt to Senegal and to Russia, generations of non-Indian fans have grown up with Bollywood during the years. But the reason why bollywood films don't gross as much as say a american film in the usa is because they are not played in many theatres, and its not due to popularity but due to demographics, most indian movies are played in mainly areas where lots of indians live not in areas where lots are not so thats why they don't make as much as american movies gross.
And also because to be a really really really GOOD Indian movie, it has to be LONG and have a lot of music and dancing...and Americans can't sit still for longer than 2 hours, tops
Le Figaro,The Time,The Guardian all agree that Shahrukh Khan is the most appealing actor and the greatest superstar in the world with a fanship of more than 3.6 billion fan all over the world.
Khan's life-size wax statue is on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museum, London, installed in April 2007.Khan has been accorded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Legion of Honour(Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government for his “exceptional career”.
In October 2008, he had been conferred the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka which carries the honorific Datuk (in similar fashion to "Sir" in British knighthood), by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, the head of state of Malacca in Malaysia, for "promoting tourism in Malacca" by filming One Two Ka Four there in 2001.Khan's life-size wax statue is on display at Grévin museum in Paris with only one Indian got this honour: Gandhi.
He is the sexiest thing ever!
just wanted to point out, bollywood is a big thing in other countries, from india, to the middle east, germany, sweden, belgium, france, malaysia and indonesia many of these countries play hindi bollywood movies.Bollywood films are particularly popular in the former Soviet Union. Bollywood films have been dubbed into Russian, and shown in prominent theatres such as Mosfilm and Lenfilm. Bollywood films are also popular in africa, where decades later "mother india" is still being played in theatres today. Newsweek magazine named the actor shah rukh khan as one of the most powerful people in the world in their power list in 2008, and he has many more fans then say tom cruise. (he was at the golden globes this year)In 2005 he appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of the National Geographic magazine dated February 2005. This was a rare honour extended by National Geographic since unlike many other magazines celebrities are not their natural choice for a cover image.In 2004 Time magazine in their third annual special on Asia's heroes selected him along with 19 other Asian's as the 20 Asian Heroes under the age of 40.
PS: Art Carney and Tommy Lee Jones are great actors. Marisa Tomei was adorable in MY COUSIN VINNY and she is great in the WRESTLER.
If you want to snarkily throw stones then at least say KIM BASINGER - a true insult to anyone nominated for an oscar that she has one.
I think Art Carney, Tommy Lee Jones or Tomei could sit in a chair and look intense on WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONNAIRE
Well maybe the film studio and Danny Boyle should have chosen to showcase the younger actors who did the "heavy lifting" of the film rather than focusing on the aesthetically pleasing Pinto to promote the film.
Ben Kingsley is half Indian, so there is nothing wrong with him playing Ghandi. His birth name is Krishna Bhanji.
See Jason Notte's Profile
The Screen Actors' Guild and BAFTA respectfully disagree with some of you about Dev Patel's performance, as do I. However, an excellent point has been raised about the child actors who portrayed Jamal. The Academy once saw fit to nominate Tatum O'Neal, Mary Badham, Anna Paquin, Quinn Cummings and Abigail Breslin before their 12th birthdays. There is no reason not to nominate Ayush Mahesh Khedekar.
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