Days after Brett Ratner said, “Rehearsal? What’s that? Rehearsal’s for fags. Rehearsal. Not much,” he has resigned from directing this year’s Oscars. Her released the below statement:
Dear Colleagues,
Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly.
As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments. And they pale in comparison to what any gay, lesbian, or transgender individual must deal with as they confront the many inequalities that continue to plague our world.
So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.
As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents.
I am grateful to GLAAD for engaging me in a dialogue about what we can do together to increase awareness of the important and troubling issues this episode has raised and I look forward to working with them. I am incredibly lucky to have a career in this business that I love with all of my heart and to be able to work alongside so many of my heroes. I deeply regret my actions and I am determined to learn from this experience.
Sincerely,
Brett Ratner
This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak. Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision.
“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”
I never thought he was the right man for the job, so his resignation doesn’t bother me. I just hope that Eddie Murphy goes with him because I am not how he will do in the job with his director. Maybe they will get Billy Crystal to host? Please, please, please!
I have a feeling that this year’s Oscars will be more about the backstage drama than the actual show. Because it is already November and there is no Oscar buzz whatsoever. I don’t remember a year as silent as this one, do you?
OMG! Eddie Murphy is going to host the Oscars this year and I am so excited. Oh wait, it’s 2011 and not 1991 scratch that.
Hopefully he will do a better job than he did with Vampire in Brooklyn, Holy Man, Bowfinger, Showtime, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, I Spy, Daddy Day Care, The Haunted Mansion, Norbit, Meet Dave, Imagine That and Tower Heist. Oh wait, we haven’t seen the last one just yet, but that is how he got the job. Brett Ratner who directed the movie is producing this year’s Academy Awards. I wonder if they will regret their decision after Tower Heist bombs at the box office. Kind of like that year when they got Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host the show together after they were in that film, you know the name of it. It was a huge hit, the big movie of the holiday season. C’mon…
It is too late to get James Franco back? I kid, Eddie Murphy should do better than him. That is if he remembers how funny he was when he first started out in the business and was a 19 year old kid on Saturday Night Live. I miss the Raw Eddie Murphy, maybe he bring back Buckwheat on February 26th because I don’t believe he is dead. Heck maybe he can even bring back his Marvelous SNL co-star Billy Crystal to help him out on the big night!!!
BTW can I do one of those annoying toldjas because the day after Brett Ratner got the job I predicted that he would get the stars of his upcoming dud Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy and/or Ben Stiller to host the show. Actually it wasn’t as much of a prediction as plea for it not to happen. I guess considering how it turned out, I would so rather have Eddie Murphy do it than Ben Stiller.
James Franco had a revealing interview, with out of all the publications, Playboy and in it he talked about hosting the Oscars. The Oscar nominee, who will most likely never be asked to host the Oscars again, talked about why he did and what went wrong.
PLAYBOY: Some might question how seriously you took co-hosting the Oscars show with Anne Hathaway.
FRANCO: When they asked me to do it, I laughed and said, “How am I going to get out of this?†I had one of the best acting experiences working with [director] Danny Boyle on 127 Hours, and we made something great. The studio was making a push for my best actor nomination, and people had been talking about it. At the time I thought no one had won an Oscar the year they hosted the show—I learned later that David Niven had, about 50 years ago—and I thought my hosting the show would cut down my chances, take some of the pressure off and say to people, or at least to myself, “You’re not going to worry about this.†I had done a bit for the Oscars before with Seth Rogen that was a big hit. I felt confident I could do it. I mean, what are the host’s responsibilities? You have an opening monologue, maybe a bit or two in the middle of the show, and then the rest is just reading names. They knew I could rehearse only on weekends because of school, but how much do you have to rehearse? They told me they knew I wasn’t Chris Rock and that they had designed the show around me.
PLAYBOY: How did it go so wrong?
FRANCO: It’s hard to talk about because it’s like assigning blame—not a fun thing to do. For three or four weeks we shot the promos and the little film that played in the opening. In the last week, when we really started focusing on the script for the live show and did a run-through, I said to the producer, “I don’t know why you hired me, because you haven’t given me anything. I just don’t think this stuff’s going to be good.â€
You know what he is right, they didn’t write for him. The jokes were lame and as he said Anne and him were polar opposites and so much so it didn’t work.
I kind of feel bad for him because he is not going to live this down for a long time. I mean I won’t forget about anytime soon.
So for years there were 5 movies nominated for Best Picture and no one had an issue with that. Then two years ago the Academy decided to double that number to nominating 10 movies. Well yesterday AMPAS announced that they are changing it yet again and it is their stupidest change thus far. They will nominated anywhere from 5 – 10 movies every year based on some point system that no one but them will understand. Academy executive director Bruce Davis said, “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.†OK with hundreds of films coming out each year, you are telling us that via your stupid point system, 10 of then won’t be worthy of the nomination. So you are saying the movies you think are Oscar Worthy are sh!t like the rest of us? I can honestly say I don’t remember the last Oscar winning Best Picture I have seen because the last several have been boring movies that only the elitist Oscar voters have seen. Admit I am not alone in not wanting to see those movies.
Although when it comes to this year’s noms, I hope that the uptight voters have three spots for Super 8, Bridesmaids and Hangover 2. If they don’t then there is a major flaw in their dumb ass point system.
BTW the Academy is also f*cking with how many animated movies are nominated. It will be based on how many of them are released each to determine how many of them will get the nom. So I hope the studios turn them out in mass because almost all of the time the Best Animated Picture is more enjoyable and will have a longer lasting effect on the movie audience than the movie that won Best Picture!
The opening for the Oscars was beyond painful and maybe they would’ve been less so if they included this deleted bit that Anne Hathaway and James Franco did with Grease. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I hope next year they bring back Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.
