03/25/2001

By Charles Ealy / The Dallas Morning News

Marathon ahead

Every year, the producers of the Academy Awards show say they're taking steps to keep the running time in check, but every year, the telecast runs well past four hours.

Then we ask, as if surprised, "What went wrong?"

Typically, the producer blames the long acceptance speeches, ignoring the fact that overblown production numbers and mindless, scripted banter from the award presenters take up more time.

So it's no surprise to hear that this year's Oscar producer, Gilbert Cates, is once again acting as though the acceptance speeches are the source of the problem.

To stem the long-windedness of the winners, Mr. Cates is resorting to bribery: He's offering a high-definition TV set to the victor who gives the shortest acceptance speech.

Reeling, however, is doubtful that Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, who take home more than $20 million per picture, will be willing to trade their time in the limelight for a new TV.

And even if you're a lowly documentary maker, is a new TV set really worth 20 to 30 seconds of international TV exposure?

Ah, Hollywood, the land of dreamy dreams.

Overdue honor

As you've probably heard, Hollywood writers, saying they don't get any respect, are gearing up to go on strike this summer.

So it may be no coincidence that the academy is tossing them a bone by giving an honorary Oscar to screenwriter Ernest Lehman, whose film credits include West Side Story, North by Northwest, The Sound of Music and the Audrey Hepburn version of Sabrina.

Mr. Lehman also adapted the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf for the big screen in 1966.

Now 80, the New Yorker will join past honorary Oscar winners, including Kirk Douglas, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Donen and Elia Kazan.

Bad Americans

It wouldn't be Oscar time without a few complaints from the French about American cultural imperialism.

This time we're being accused of "economic censorship." That's the phrase producer Charles Gassot used to decry the lack of U.S. distribution for his Oscar-nominated film, The Taste of Others.

In an interview with Daily Variety, Mr. Gassot said: "I thought an Oscar nomination meant something, but we have had to beg for screens. It is economic censorship. We have been mistreated, and so I'm not going to the Oscars."

He then added: "The fact is the Oscars are for the Americans, and the rest of us don't exist. America doesn't give a damn about European cinema."

For the record, The Taste of Others, distributed by New York-based Off Line, opened in February on only a few screens in New York and Los Angeles. So far, it has grossed less than $500,000 in North America. In addition, it's not expected to win the Oscar. The favorite for foreign-language film is Taiwan's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which has taken in about $100 million and has become the highest-grossing foreign-language film of all time in the United States.