It's Oscars weekend, which means it's also Razzies weekend -- but also time to read the thoughts of anonymous Academy voters. These "honest" Oscar ballots are almost always baffling, although sometimes you get good insight. In this case, a male producer broke out of the gate with his Best Picture contenders, insulting several nominees on his way to ultimately picking Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for his #1 vote.
Here's more from that anonymous male producer to THR on the Best Picture nominees:
My favorite film of the year didn't even get a nomination — I'm embarrassed to admit it because a lot of people hated it, but it was Yesterday. That movie made me feel fucking great. Two movies that I really hated were Ford V Ferrari and Little Women. The director [of Ford, James Mangold] knows nothing about racing, and admitted as much at the Q&A after it screened at the Academy — you don't have someone putting on their goggles once they're already driving or staring longingly at the guy in the next car as he passes him! [The 1966 film] Grand Prix had class and style and knew what it was about. With Little Women, the timeline was ridiculous — I was really confused sometimes, and I know I'm not the only one. Thank God she [star Saoirse Ronan] cut her hair, because that at least gave me a bit of a reference point.
Wow. So he's mad that Ford V Ferrari wasn't more accurate to racing but couldn't even follow the timelines of Little Women. I heard about some fans being confused by The Witcher's timelines, but not so much Little Women. At least this producer was not confused by The Irishman's timeline, although he did later complain that "after Hoffa was dead, the movie was done for me, my ass was sore and I wanted to get the fuck out of there."
The producer added that he loved Parasite, but "once the murdering started happening they lost me." For him, the choices came down to Jojo Rabbit and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He put Once at the top and Ford V Ferrari at the very bottom of his list. Apparently he's OK with QT taking creative license with history but creative license with racing is a no-no.
That producer was not the only Oscars voter to share a ballot. An anonymous actress posted a ballot bashing Little Women as "badly acted and confusing," putting it at the bottom of her list. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was at the top with 1917, Joker, and Parasite, followed by Ford V Ferrari. For her, accuracy was also important and movies got called out when they didn't fit her standard:
Marriage Story was phony: You don't have an off-Broadway director and an off-Broadway actress living in a nice house with no day job — if an off-Broadway actor makes $150 a week, that's a lot. If someone besides Martin Scorsese had directed The Irishman, it wouldn't have all the accolades; it does because of his years in the business. It was too long and too repetitive, and the reverse-aging did not work — they erased the lines in their faces, but they still walked like old men.
The actress did like Ford V Ferrari and wishes it had been promoted more to get more attention. She thought Parasite was beautifully done, "but it didn't hold up the second time, and I don't think foreign films should be nominated with the regular films." (Hmm. They're not just regular films too?)
Going into Oscars weekend, it looked like 1917 was all but a lock for Best Picture after all of its other wins. But if the Moonlight/La La Land fiasco taught us anything ... it's that we need an Oscars host to capitalize on such moments. Also, that there's no given in any race. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood still seems to be a pretty popular contender for Best Picture, although I do hope these "honest" Oscars ballots don't really represent too many of the Academy voters. How depressing would that be?
The 2020 Oscars air Sunday, February 9, aka tomorrow, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Here's the full list of nominees. Stick with CinemaBlend for all the winners, speech clips, and analysis.
