The 95th Academy Awards will be held tonight. Numerous filmmakers, writers, actors, crew members and films will compete for the Oscar, one of the most prestigious awards in the world. Ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California. But it is not possible to invite everyone, although critics and fans loved it.
Two Oscar (Blade Runner 2049 & 1917), BAFTA and winner of countless awards, and cinematographer ofFargo, The Big Lebowski,Sir Roger Deakinshas received his 16th Oscar nomination and will be on red carpet tonight for Sam Mendes’Empire of Light. James Friend (All Quiet on the Western Front), Daris Khondji (Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths), Mandy Walker (Elvis) and Florian Hoffmeister (Tár) will compete in the same category. However, this is not enough for 73-year-old.
Deakins stated thatThe BatmanandTop Gun: Maverickshould have been nominated at the Oscars, and that the jury is snobbish when it comes to directors of popular films. Deakins told toDeadline.
‘‘The best cinematography hasn’t been nominated. It’s The Batman. That’s the best work in my view. The picture should have been a contender in that category. The reason it wasn’t is pure and simple: snobbery. There’s this unfair tendency to avoid the Marvel universe and the other popular universes.
The another one that was shut out is Claudio Miranda, the director of photography of Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick. It comes down to the work. Good work is good work whatever the genre.’’
Related:Here Are the Best Films From Cinematographer Roger Deakins, Ranked
‘I’ll never talk to you again if you don’t direct it.’
Speaking of the Oscars, Deakins has a memory with Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, which he worked with them for many years. Deakins' persistence was one of the reasons behind the success of for time Oscar winner,No Country for Old Men. Deakins said the Coen brothers initially wanted to be part of the project only as screenwriters. The British filmmaker toldGQ.
‘‘Joel said we’re doing this script ‘No Country for Old Men’ I had just read the book, so I said ‘aren’t you gonna direct?’ And he said, ‘well, we might.’ I said ‘I’ll never talk to you again if you don’t direct it.
The thing about Joel and Ethan is they love getting into different kind of worlds. They kind of just move around in different genres in a very interesting way. But they’re very prepared, they spend a lot of time talking about it, doing drawings, storyboarding, and studying locations. One of the things early on that Joel and Ethan said when we were shooting was ‘just be aware, we’re not going to have any music on it’ They knew right at the start, well before we started shooting, that the only sound would be natural sound.’’
The 95th Academy Awards will be broadcast on March 12 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
