OlderThu, 12 March 2009 at 4:57 pm
Matt Damon: The Academy Gets It Wrong
Matt Damon tells Parade that he doesn’t think the Academy necessarily gets it right when it comes down to honoring actors and films.
The 38-year-old actor shares, “I think that the best way to judge movies is, like, 10 years after they’re released. I think they should actually do the awards that way. I think they should have done the Academy Awards this year for movies from 1998. I think it’s better to look at a movie and then step back and look at it again. I don’t think - that the awards necessarily get it right. I think they get it wrong more often than they get it right.”
DO YOU THINK The Academy got it wrong with any of the this year’s winners?
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Boy…did they get it wrong this yr especially!
Ben Button should of been Best Pic. it was a
masterpiece & it will be proven in time.
No Country for Old Men? wtf?
violent, hated that film..not a Best Pic honor
etc. etc. Oscars are rigged I think..the respect is gone
this year w/that Anistin spectacle & acting like a tabloid tv show..
it just turned me off to the Oascars.
wtf was Anistin sitting down for? a PRESENTER????
Matt Damon, you’re correct.
Brad Pitt’s nomination over Leonardo Dicaprio this year was seriously a joke. The Academy nominated a three hour Forest Gump rip off. I was so happy it walked away with only THREE awards. Then, there’s Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas who missed out.
The idiots had to nominate the woman who’s currently filming ANOTHER action movie. I WANT MY SOONNN BACK!
Please.
He’s right. It’s only with time that you can properly evaluate a movie.
he’s just bitter
well, maybe not in ten years, but at least in two to five years later. Although, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to wait at all, being that some movies are influenced by current events and are right on time. Then again, the further away the movie is, the actor may have less passion for it than when he finished filming after that 10 year wait. Maybe an award should be given in 10 years for the highest ranking movie of that year in the 10 year span some how…and be given to the actor and supporting roles. I dunno, just throwing my thoughts around.
You got it wrong too. It’s academy not acamedy.
Tyler! haha you’re right ! that boring performace Brad gave over Leo?
They didn’t get it right with that one!
First! However, my comment is not so much about Matt Damon but about the heading to this post. Jared, don’t you or your intern do any editing before posting ? That “acamedy” is such a glaring typo. For a while I thought this is a newly coined word having to do with comedy ;-)
First! However, my comment is not so much about Matt Damon but about the heading to this post. Jared, don’t you or your intern do any editing before posting ? That “acamedy” is such a glaring typo. For a while I thought this is a newly coined word having to do with comedy ;-)
he has a good point actually.
Matt’s right. Did you ever watch an old Oscar-winning movie from the ’70s or ’80s or ’90s and say, “Huh? What were they thinking?”
A lot of great classics from the ’40s and ’50s are still being shown today but never got any awards when they first came out.
He is so right, for instance Penelope Cruz did not deserve an award for Christina Barcelona, but she deserved one for Traffic. There aren’t that many good actors out there, Hollywood has become a joke with people like Justin Timberlake and Beyonce getting roles. It’s like the quality is no longer there. My questions is where are all the good actors???” you can count them proably on one hand. Actors are picked for rol;es on the basis of popularity not on how skilled they are- For instance this summer I saw a really good documentary about Cadillac Records…it could have been a really good movie had Beyonce not crapped all over it. And Juno last year, for the life of me I don’t get why that piece of crap won so many awards. Benjamin Buttons was such a long boring movie, people either loved it or hated it..I think more hated it, didn’t deserve any awards, or maybe yes for making brad pitty boy look creepy.
Agree w. Matt wholeheartedly.
Funny he said 1998. Because if they did look at ‘98 today, there’s no way they wouldn’t choose Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in Love haha.
but I agree. A big part of how great a film is is its longevity.
Tweetybird, You’re right about Benjamin Buttons.
What were they thinking with that film?!
#12 Penelope wasn’t in Traffic that was Catherine Zeta Jones. I agree with #2 and #7 - I love Brad and his work but he did not deserve that nomination over Leo. Leonardo, Christian Bale, and Joaquin Phoenix keep getting snubbed time after time. Especially Leo and Joaquin. Benjamin also didn’t deserve that many nomination it WAS like another Forrest Gump. #1 jump off the AJ and BP bandwagon for once. Angelina also didn’t deserve her nomination - she was a great actress in the past but in Changeling she overacted too much.
Agree that they get it wrong as often as right. And I’m not even talking about who wins out of the nominees but who gets nominated in the first place. But ten years is ridiculous. No would care anymore except a few navel gazers. Two years is the most one could get away with, and even then they’d probably still get it wrong, so what the hey. The answer is not to worship the Oscars. If I hear one more time that so-and-so is an “Oscar winning” whatever… It seems to putty over a lot of misjudgements and mediocre performances.
I agree with Matt somewhat but I don’t think it should take 10 years to judge a movie. The academy certainly gets it wrong more often than they get it right. There are too many undeserving recipients for me to mention but I honestly think Benjamin Button was robbed this year. In a few years, no one will remember SDM but every movie will pattern the new technology used in BB.
Penelope Cruz wasn’t in Traffic, #12.
Hi is absolutely wrong, the film is perceived in the context of time, it is differently interpreted 10 years later, but intend of the film makers to make it for that year’s release. Another words, if you want to judge the film in 10 years, than release it in 10 years. Films are entertainment, not lessons in history and should be judged when they are released. If you think your film is better in 10 years, than make it in 10 years.
I agree. Some of Martin Scorseses’ finest work was overlooked by the Academy in the past. He was only recently honored with an Oscar for The Departed when he actually did a better job with films like Casino, Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Raging Bull. Even Al Pacinos’ Scarface was not recognized or appreciated back then.
I think the awards should be judged on what people go to see, and the takings at the box office. The one film that did not get a lookin for what it was, entertaining from begining to the end was The Forbidden Kingdom. I know a lot of poeple saw this as a Karatie Kid type picture but you have got admit it was action from start to finish. I looked at Michael Angarano who I had not heard of who played Jason in this film, and saw he had done some great acting parts before, Black Irish for one. Why this had never been entered into the oscars at the time, I have no idea. It’s a great fim. There is another called “The Bondage” which after four years now has neve been release he did. It’s reported has being a briliant film. Only a few poeple have seen this.
I’m with Matt on this totally. I still remember 1994 (or was it 1995?) when Mel Gibson’s Braveheart won over The Shawshenk Redemption. Just why did that shallow medieval action movie took the award away from one of the best and deepest dramas I have ever seen is beyond me. The academy are first-class morons.
Matt should stick his foot into his mouth. He’s always saying things in public with such arrogance, like his opinion should be the final authority. He’s even made political statements which show his lack of intelligence and knowledge on issues.
Lets not forget when Helen Hunt won the Oscar in 1997 for As Good As It Gets over Kate Winslets’ performance in Titanic.
I agree with Matt. Plus, they snub Matt Damon all the time. And I agree how in God’s name can the academy say Brad gave a better preformance than Leonardo Dicaprio in Rev. Road? WTF?? retards…
And how could the “I WANTT my son Backk!” actress get a nom over Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas? And what about Shakespeare in Love win best picture and now Saving Private Ryan? Or how could they take over 20 years to give Al Pacino an award and Martin Scorsese? The academy sucks!
Oh no, Kate Winslet did not deserve anything for the Titanic. She was miscast as she looked way older than 17 and Leo. Also, Titanic was hell of a boring film.
By the way, Matt Damon does indeed need to zip his lips.
voe, you seem to not know anything about acting. Kate Winslet was not miscast and Titanic is NOT a boring film.
Go somewhere to spew your ignorance.
I agree.
Matt, I agree.
definitely got it wrong. i think they are on this kick of just awarding new obscure talent.
Thank you Matt. Finally someone is telling the truth about this Oscar Award. Politics, politics and jealousy, hate, money talks.
I’m more concerned with the precedent that the oscars set. Boring dramatic films usually win and therefore actors would rather do this than meaningful or entertaining movies. It’s not really the best movie anymore, but the “oscar” movie that wins. Same goes for the “oscar” best actor and actress. A reflection of this would be how easy critics predict the nominations and usually they’re right.
I have to agree with most people here, CCBB was a boring movie, but it was “oscar” material, so I don’t blame the directors, writers and definitely not Brad Pitt for making this movie.
You’re obviously entitled to your opinion as everyone is (including Matt Damon)-but the 11 Oscars and millions of people who seen the movie and contributed to the phenomenal worldwide box office success-don’t exactly agree with you.
Titanic turned Kate Winslet into a household name and her performance was good enough to be nominated for an Oscar. I know beauty AND chemistry is in the eye of the beholder, but majority rules again who thought Kate and Leo were a perfect casting together.
^^^^Yeah, I think so too. But what makes me furious about the Academy are the nominations, especially this year. You wanna know why they are wondering why the ratings have become crap? It’s because Hollywood has become a bunch of overstuffed vain sycophants slapping each other on the back for playing dressup in movies that people barely see. Christopher Nolan got snubbed. Yeah, TDK got billions in the box office. So what? That movie transcended comic book movies. It wasn’t a comic book movie. I was watching a psychological thriller with action, a detective movie. I keep wondering, if Ledger was alive, would he have gotten his Oscar? I think if he was alive, he would have picked up a couple of awards regardless, but do you think he would have gotten the Oscar? I don’t know, I really don’t know.
For starters, the nominated movies are the most boring of bores! Or have only been viewed by like, 6 people and of course, this so-called AMPAS members of about 6000 who are supposedly invited by what i think, a bunch of snotty old-crusty farts who think only intellectually-defined movies are worthy of any Academy nominations.
Who gives a shite about the Oscars? I only watch it for the fashion, the entertainment in between and who’s taking whom down the red carpet. And that Brad and Angelina nomies…what the fcuk!!!
Good thing, HJ did a fab job this year!
Matt Damon is right to an extent a movie’s lasting importance can only be determined only after time has passed. And I will even concede that the Academy more often gets it wrong more then it does right. But his idea that Oscars should be awarded ten years after the fact is with all due respect to him just goofy for a couple of reasons.
A) It would be patiently unfair to the current year’s films. Granted the argument could justifibily be made that the Oscars have never been about “fairness.” But stil great work done in film ever year and it deserves to be recognized for the year it’s done. Anyother way is a slap in a face to people who make the films.
B) Who would watch it? Over the past couple of years Oscar rating have been slipping (although this year was an improvement over last year). People aren’t going to watch a show rewarding movies many of which they most likely hardly remember from over decade ago.
Finally I think he’s still bitter about “Saving Private Ryan” losing to “Shakespeare in Love” ten years ago. I share his pain but I think that much like I have it’s time for Matt to let it go and move on. I have.
I put my trust in who or what the Academy rewards, period. Somewhere in the posts above, someone said whatever grosses highest at box office should get the awards…to which I say a resounding NO!!! That doesn’t determine quality, either. I watched the awards this year, which I don’t usually do, and it just sucked how Brad and Angelina acted and were treated like, some kind of royalty. I wanted to spew my Lucky Charms. I’m completely turned off by them, and don’t care if anybody ever interviews them on the carpet. They can walk on by with their noses in the air all they want to. Just spare me all your humanitarian PR bullsh!t, you self-righteous cows.
Sorry, rant over. I’ll part by saying, for a lot of the nominees, the Oscars are a way for them to be way more up their butt than usual, and that’s all.
Oops, meant to say “I DON’T put my trust in who or what the academy rewards.”
The Oscars an adult popularity contest, more often than not. It explains why people get snubbed when they say something politically incorrect during a year when they give an excellent performance, and it explains why someone who is “hot right now” gets a nomination for an average performance. He’s right, one way to objectively judge a film and its components is to look at it again when the novelty of it’s newness wears off.
I agree Karla Brangelina this award season were treated like royalty when they both are really bad actors and adulterers. Angelina did not deserve her nom for Changeling, she completely overacted. She’s not a gr8 actress and only does action films and don’t any of you bring up Girl, Interupted because she bascially played herself. The only preformance I’m pretty sure was the best of hers was A Mighty Heart. As for Brad, his emotionless preformance in The Curious Case of Forest Gump get nominated over Leonardo DiCaprio heart wrenching preformance in Revolutionary Road? Such a shame. Brad never has interested me as an actor and is only considered A-list because of his looks & presonal life. Though he was good in Jesse James. Screw Brangelina!
careful there; all the the brangelina fans just may come out and let you have it for attacking st angelina. however, i agree with you. thank god neither angelina nor brad won.
oh god.i totally like matt because he is honest and not afraid to say what he thinks.and he is always right.remember that comment on sarah palin.the man is far sighted.i agree with him.i mean i haven’t seen ben button but my friends have told me that it is awfully long.and angelina?come on the only roles she takes on are the great mother or the troubled girl(which she is good at because she is being herself) or the sexy dangerous girl.leonardo totally deserved a nomination this year.and by the way,i don’t get the oscar guys at all.anne hathaway deserved that oscar this year.don’t get me wrong she was more than great in the reader but anne has won all the critics awards.they are just following the golden globe trend and the popularity issue.if they didn’t know that people would attack them,they would have given the award to angelina jolie.but anne has to steal a man from his wife and adopt all the kids around the world to get an oscar.but i am not saying that kate winslet won because of her popularity.she was really good.and matt was snubbed more than three times in the last years.why wasn’t he nominated for the departed or the good shepherd?or the bourne ultimatum?if heath ledger can win for an action movie,why can’t matt get a nomination for his jason bourne role?i mean he was put among 100 greatest impersonations ever for jason bourne.the man is a walking genius when it comes to acting and global issues.
i cant say i agree with him that much but he makes a point
10 yrs back is a bit 2 long imo, more like a few years, 3-5
but i think that would be a drastic change tbh
I agree with Matt. First, I rarely agree with the Academy’s choices (although I was glad to see them skip over Benjamin Button and its actors this year). Secondly, I think they quite often give out awards for sentimental reasons rather than merit. Heath Ledger may have deserved his Oscar this year, but would he have gotten it if he was still alive? Probably not. And that left a lot of other good actors in that category that lost out unfairly. And sometimes the movies are about issues that are still to raw (like after 9/11) and we can’t judge them fairly because it’s just too soon.
I agree.. Especially this year, slumdog beating Benjamin Button come on?… Benjamin Button was a brilliant and lovely film! Should’ve won the best pic award
He’s right they should have never given him one for good will hunting.
yes…it’s not fair to have a commercial value movie over artfully created movie..
Tyler,
LMAO! Do I need to go to school learning about “acting” to perceive someone’s acting? Perception forms opinions which I think you have loads on other celebrities. My opinion of KW in that role is stated, and it is MY opinion.
Ben Button was too much of Forest Gump to win best picture. i mean it’s visually amazing but overall okay/pretty good. Cate Blanchett and Tarajie P. Henson along with Tilda Swinton made the movie, to #43 like I care what the stalker fans think.
Matt hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar in 10-11 years now, he should stop getting snubbed. And he’s right the academy definitley got it wrong this year.
-Meryl Streep should’ve won Best Actress or Melissa Leo. Don’t get me wrong, I love Kate Winslet but she should’ve won back in 2005 for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind not Hilary Swank!
-Best Actor should’ve went to Mickey Rourke hands down, his preformance was heartwarming.
-Best supporting Actress should’ve went to Viola Davis, even with her few little scenes, she was ah-mazing in Doubt
-Best picture was right but there should have been more love for Frost/Nixon and Milk
and well there’s more issues!
And to #50,
I kind of agree with you on KW’s acting in Titanic. I love Titanic but that’s probably because I’m a sucker for romantics and yes it’s really long but oh well, the visuals were amazing. But I felt the only Oscar worthy person in it was Gloria Stuart a.k.a. old Rose.(Who did get nominated for it and she should’ve won! btw, she’s 98 now!) While I thought Kate did good she wasn’t memorable to me and I even thought Leo did better than her. She shouldn’t have gotten nominated that year because all she really did was cry and whine to me. I love her accent though and she looked really pretty in her red-head days!
Absolutely, he’s right!
I could cite dozens of times they got it wrong. Most recently with “Juno,” a somewhat entertaining film where the praise (and hype) just got out of hand. Another movie “The Savages” was far superior and worthy, but lacked the same crazy attention and was soon forgotten. It’s a huge bummer that Academy voters are suspect to the same kind of delirium as the media is. Cooler heads and brains ought to prevail.
i think he shouldn’t start every sentence with “i think”
K.G,
I love romantic movies too but there are a few movies I could not finish and one of them is Titanic. I did not buy KW as a 17 year-old and Leo who at the time looked really young with his teenager built and face was too young for her thus their coupling was not believable to me. Her body was definitely not a 17 year-old body; it looked to have been pleasured by many Jacks before Leo’s :) in an era where most proper girls of that age were virgins. I tried to watch it a few times because a friend of mine loved the movie, but the same feeling came up every time. Every thing else was good. Loved the opulence and grace of the era which was reflected realistically.
#55
I think Kate and Leonardo had great chemistry on screen in Titanic, though. But Kate did not look like a 17 year oldat all but if you believe Kate and Leo didn’t have good chemistry in Titanic go watch their new movie Revolutionary Road which stars both of them and now they both look the same age so the chemistry totally shows.
Revolutionary Road:
http://fataculture.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/revolutionary-road.jpg
Titanic:
http://blogs.nypost.com/movies/photos/titanic.jpeg
Boy for once I agree with him.
I have to agree with Matt on this one. The worst oversight the Academy made was giving Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar for best Supporting Actor for his role in “The Fugitive when it should have gone to Leonardo Dicaprio for his role in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” I honestly thought Leo was a retarded kid when I first saw that movie! I watch “The Fugitive” now and I scratch my head at Tommy Lee Jones’ over-the-top acting in it.
Some very wise comments here-any many of them are why I no long watch these Award Shows. It is no long about talent but how popular someone is this year or how much money they brought to the box office. Go see the movies you want and forget all the rest of the garbage that is put out about the movie industry by the studios.
Wow. I mean, come on, most of the films/cast/crew that won this year totally deserved it. Just because ppl are hating on the winners this year DOESN’T mean that the academy does it wrong. The Academy and other awards don’t only judge the nominees, and other films/cast/crew on ONLY how good they were. Everything also ties with the production companies of the films and if they nominate them to become potential nominees at the award shows.
And Matt, come on. Just ’cause you’ve never won an academy award doesn’t mean other people don’t deserve it. I love you Matt, but I’m not gonna side with you on this one.
I agree with Matt! :D I’m not allowed to give my opinion because it keeps going into moderation, even though there is absolutely nothing offenisive in my post.
He’s right.. A good movie also is a movie you want to see years from now… There are some movies I like from the 80’s and 90’s that probably never won awards and are great movies…
lol I thought I was the only one who wasn’t allowed to post my opinions because it keeps going into mod as well lol..
Careful, Matt. Your own oscar might be revoked if they follow your advice!
i have to agree with all the comments about kate winslet in titanic.she was great but she certainly didn’t look 17.on the other hand,leo should have really won over tommy lee.it has been years and it is still many people’s favourite performance of leo depite his other great roles.and the academy should start recognizing other actirs like matt and viola davis.and why didn’t they nominate sam mendes for best director for rev. road.it was great movie.
I agree with Matt except the time element of 10 years in judging a film after it’s released. Two or three years is reasonable enough.
I agree..Benjamin Button should have won more awards. Also, I don’t agree with how one movie can get like a billion awards, it’s just not fair!
@xuxx:
Are you insane ? Box office has nothing to do with quality. If they gave Oscars for box office then Transformers and Saw would be up for best picture and true films that are smart and well made would get nothing.
@Patty: Sorry kiddo but the academy knows much more about acting than you or Damon. If they say something is a great performance than it is, end of story. Get over it.
@{cher}: 10 bucks says you don’t even watch most Oscar films and have no idea what you are talking about.
@feebz: feebz, the Oscars is a show for artists, true artists. You are not an artist and thus will never understand the appeal of smart, well written films. Go back to your low brow transformers movies and leave the real cinema for the adults.
@Bunny: bunny, listen little girl, making money has nothing to do with oscars which is why most Oscar films are small indie’s that the mainstream has not seen. Your logic fails.
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