Petition to Reinstate Eight Oscars to Live Telecast Signed by More Than 350 Industry Pros
variety.comJon Burlingame editorOpposition to the Academy’s plan to award eight Oscars prior to the live telecast continues to grow, with more than 350 new names — including more than a dozen Oscar-winning editors, cinematographers and production designers — added to the petition sent last week to Academy president David Rubin urging a reversal of the plan.Among the new signers are Oscar-winning cinematographers John Seale (“The English Patient”), John Toll (“Braveheart”) and Dean Semler (“Dances With Wolves”), and Oscar-winning editors Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch (“Star Wars”), Mikkel Neilsen (“The Sound of Metal”), Pietro Scalia (“JFK”) and Zach Staenberg (“The Matrix”).Oscar-winning production designers Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther”), Barbara Ling (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), Adam Stockhausen (“Grand Budapest Hotel”) and David and Sandy Wasco (“La La Land”) also signed on.
Cinematography will be presented during the live show, but editing and production design are among the eight awards to be presented during the 4 p.m.
Sunday hour on March 27, with edited excerpts of the nomination announcements and winner speeches to be included in the live show beginning at 5 p.m.
The other six categories are original score, makeup and hairstyling, sound, documentary short, live-action short and animated short.“Given the overwhelming response to the open letter of March 9,” says the revised petition, “below is an updated copy that now includes the names of more than 350 additional industry members who have asked to sign it.
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