The Big Picture - The 2020 Oscars: Holy S***, ‘Parasite’ Won! | The Big Picture

Episode Date: February 10, 2020

In a shocking and exhilarating finale to the 92nd Academy Awards, ‘Parasite’ and Bong Joon-ho won Best Picture, capping off an amazing Cinderella run to the top. Sean and Amanda gather their emotions to recap a strange and often dull ceremony that was highlighted by some extraordinary bursts of greatness. They break down all the awards and the best presenters, speeches, and moments from the show. They also try to understand why there were so many damn musical performances. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about the 92nd Academy Awards and Bong Joon-ho! We did it! We did it, everybody! Parasite wins Best Picture.

Amanda, how are you feeling? I'm really glad we dressed up. We dressed up. I was feeling bad about that decision, but now we have something to celebrate. We could have been in jeans and a t-shirt like a couple of jerks. And we're here to celebrate what turned out to be, for the first time ever, a truly excellent across the board Academy Awards. Despite the fact that the show kind of sucked, it doesn't matter.

The show is terrible. It does not matter. I had a joke all planned about introducing this show and saying, welcome to a conversation show about the Grammy Awards, because that's what this show often felt like. There were upwards of 37 musical performances throughout the night, torturing you. Nevertheless, we came to the end and something magnificent happened. Yes.

Parasite won. Bong Joon-ho won Best Director. I am stunned and elated. And I almost don't know what to do with myself right now. I'm just thrilled and overwhelmed. And I think it was one of those things where you and I were protecting against our own hopes. And even throughout the night.

And I kind of wrote down the times when we started to get our expectations up and we're like, maybe this is shifting, maybe this is shifting. But I think we've been burned by Oscars past and we were not willing to believe that this thing that, and this film that we actually believed in could actually triumph. And then here we are. And again, I'm trying to wrap my head around it. And I like how you're so high energy. And I also, I'm high energy on the inside, but I'm still trying to make sense of it or it's sinking in for me. Yeah. I'm a little rattled, but I'm joyful. I think every year we get in front of the mic, Moonlight won a few years ago and that was exciting, but it was so wracked with confusion that it was almost difficult to recognize in the moment what an unusual and special win that was.

It was just clouded in a lot of conversation. This was just like the, if not the best movie of the year, absolutely number two for me, triumphed over the movie that always wins at the Oscars. Yes. And we had no reason to believe that 1917 was going to lose here because of everything that we've talked about on this show for the last six months. We have closely studied the precedents, looked at the Guild Awards. We've thought long and hard about the Academy's relationship to foreign films and foreign filmmakers. South Korea has never even had a film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and now Best

International Feature until Parasite. So when I say this is fucking crazy, I hope you will believe me that this is fucking crazy that this movie won. Is that crazy? It's just beyond expectations or anything that we could have predicted. It kind of blows up all our science, which is fine because our science is always wrong, as we're going to discuss later. I love the fact that now the precedents have all been set on their head. You know, all of that stuff that we leaned on, all of that, if that, this, then that stuff is just gone now. We can just reset now. I don't want to get ahead of myself and say that the Academy has fixed everything from the past and is only going to be good now. Yeah. There's no guarantee of that whatsoever.

But it does indicate something changing. You can't say otherwise. It does. I was thinking a lot about, I was very guild focused in my predictions, which is my way of saying that I was a coward. But I was just kind of like, okay, well, the guilds voted for this. So they'll also vote for it in the main Oscars. And I did pretty well below the line.

I mean, we both did, but I was kind of chucking along and I was thinking, oh, okay, well, the guild thing was right. And I do think, especially with both Best Director going to Bong and Best Picture, I'm wondering whether

there is more of a separation between the guilds and the Academy than we suspect. And also, we've given the Academy a lot of grief for not changing fast enough, and they are making these initiatives, but we're not seeing it. I do wonder a little bit if we're seeing it tonight. It's possible that we're seeing a change. It's also possible that we're just seeing a wave of enthusiasm for a movie that just caught like a virus. It just captured something inside

of people, and it has been fascinating them for months and months. And it is the movie that people want to talk to each other about. I just didn't let myself get to the place where I thought it could happen because it just never happens. And now that it has, it's fascinating. You mentioned your picks. You went 19 of 24 tonight. Congratulations. I went 18 of 24. Thank you very much. I think you have won again. I was reminded of our, occasionally Amanda and I will go on trips over the New Year's vacation together

and we'll play Trivial Pursuit. And Amanda has roundly kicked my ass every time we play. Wow, I can't believe Parasite won and also me being the Trivial Pursuit champion is being made public tonight. This is truly Hollywood's biggest night. Okay?

And also Amanda's biggest night. I mean, I just feel like I'm getting Trivial getting trivial pursuit waves from you beating me in these predictions again this year i believe you defeated me last year as well that being said yeah i should not be trusted ever and this is a final confirmation because this is the fifth consecutive year that i have gotten best picture wrong in my predictions that's five years this is in my opinion the preeminent podcast in which two people yell about the Oscars. And I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm committed to still yelling about the Oscars, even if you can't be trusted. You know, Riley McAtee wrote an interesting piece for The Ringer this week about just the prediction science and how the frontrunner the past five years has always lost. Isn't it crazy? Well, he was right. And I thought that piece was worthwhile. But again, our science is is not as exact as it used to be, which is actually fun. I mean, you and I did sit there. This Oscars was like three and a half hours long, which shame on you. Shame on all of you. And we will talk about it. Don't you think there's a lot to don't you think just because we're happy about Best Picture that I'm going to skip the diatribe about the music, okay?

It's coming. Would you say you're going to lose yourself in the moment? You know what? I like that song, but whatever. Okay. Three and a half hours. And you and I did spend three hours, I would say, being like, this is the most boring thing that's ever happened. It was quite boring. Because I think it wasn't until Best Director that we could both like trust the change in momentum

and also that it seemed like something exciting might happen. And also like the Best Director moment itself was so invigorating and such a surprise. It was extraordinary. That was one of my, that immediately went to the top of my list of my favorite acceptance speeches ever. Because I yelled passionately last week about

how frustrated I was that Sam Mendes might win this award. And I mean, no disrespect to Sam Mendes, but this corrected that anger that I had and what Bong Joon-ho had to say and the way specifically that he toasted Martin Scorsese in an amazing way. And then there was just a sudden standing ovation for Martin Scorsese, which you're goddamn right. And then personally thanked Quentin Tarantino for basically acknowledging that he has been making films for 18 years and not just the last year and a half. Right. And knowing how good the host is and how good memories of murder is and how good mother is and all of his other films.

And then also kind of golf clapping for Sam Mendes and Todd Phillips, which was nice. He did offer to split the statue in five and give it to them as well. With a Texas chainsaw. Yeah, it was very, very charming. Bring Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Oscars. Only Bong Joon-ho can do it. You love to see it. Yeah.

So that speech was extraordinary. And if it had ended there, and if we had gotten a 1917 win, I think that would have been frustrating, but we would have had that moment forever. Right. But for it to follow through, I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I just, I thought it was extraordinary. I do think also that best director moment with Bong was so wonderful, but we also got like a really genuine best picture moment. And Moonlight, as you mentioned, is another extraordinary film that did actually win best picture in recent memory. And that was great, but it was to some

extent marred by the confusion and they didn't really have that moment of celebration. And that was great, but it was to some extent marred by the confusion and they didn't really have that moment of celebration. And not only did Parasite get the moment of celebration, but you had that really transcendent moment where the, I guess whoever was running the awards tried to turn the lights down and the entire auditorium just starts like cheering and egging them on. And you have that iconic gif of Tom Hanks just being like, turn it back. And they do. And everyone gets to keep celebrating. And it's pretty rare at the Oscars at this point that both the best movie wins and then also everyone is so excited about it. And it feels like a party and a celebration in the moment. And this definitely did.

It absolutely did. It was a wonderful thing. Parasite won four awards total. I think, you know, we talked about some of that precedent stuff. When it won Best Original Screenplay, I turned to you and I said, under normal circumstances, this is usually a tremendous sign for a film to win Best Picture. But for this year and the way things have been going this year with 1917, it actually feels like an acknowledgement that it's not going anywhere beyond this. And for it to have changed is just unusual and really exciting. Anything else in particular that you want to talk about around the Parasite victories before we start going through kind of the stages of this Academy ceremony? I'm really psyched to be proving all of the cowardly

anonymous ballot voters wrong. It's nice when there is, this is a feel-good win on top of everything else, which is kind of funny that a movie for a movie about kind of like the greatest disease of of modern society in a lot of ways. But I think this is the right movie. I think almost everyone can feel proud about it, except for people whose views we just kind of are tired of hearing from. So that is wonderful as well. And I'm curious to see how that'll change the narrative around the Oscars. I'm curious how that'll change our attitudes for the next six months and the next year. And of course, do we get our hopes up and it swings back or is this just a happy place? I'll tell you what, it makes me feel great

about doing this show. It makes me feel great about getting to talk to you and talk to other people about what's great and special about movies and what this award show can do. It took a long-ass time to figure out that it could do this. But it can do this. It can expose the world and specifically America to stories like this and artists like this. So it's just an immensely exciting thing. I can't overstate how cool it is that this happened. And maybe we'll be tricked into believing that all the rights will be wrong going forward. I don't think that will be the case.

And I don't want to pour too much cold water on this moment right now. But I suppose we should talk about the rest of the telecast. Would you like to start at the beginning? I was going to quote The Sound of Music, but you haven't seen it. So yes, sure. The beginning was, in retrospect, not as bad as I thought it was. I thought it was very peculiar. Janelle Monae emerged onto the set of Won't You Be My Neighbor, and she took off her jacket, and she put on a sweater. And she began to sing the theme song to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Yes.

And it was fine and genteel and dull. She went down from the stage and Tom Hanks was in the front row and she was singing to him. I just want to point out that Brad Pitt was in the frame doing some really active listening, which I noticed. And I appreciated that. He was very engaged. That's all. He's nothing if not locked in this Oscar season. And then the sort of quiet performance turned into a classic,

like Janelle Monae, Cab Calloway style freak out, in which characters from various films this year appeared on stage as dancers, including Midsommar, Us, Joker, Little Women. Queen and Slim. Queen and Slim, Jojo Rabbit. Yes, that's a choice. It was a very peculiar collection of characters dancing on stage with her. And it was a bit of a sneak preview of a lot of the, frankly, bullshit that was to come

in the entire night. That performance itself, I thought, was spirited and I thought Janelle Monáe was trying. But it also felt like Janelle Monáe yelling at a of rich white people to like get up and dance and sing. And I always find that to be a little bit weird at the Oscars because those people are just like the crankiest, worst people in the world at times. But I just, I thought it was like, okay. And it's, the Oscars isn't this weird place now where the last several years, they basically just opened with a song that is sort of kinda about the movies, but not really. Last year,

it was the Queen performance. Oh, right. You know, I think a few years ago we had a Justin Timberlake performance. Yeah. I think that the Oscars doesn't really know what it's doing in its first five to 10 minutes. And then after the opening number, Steve Martin and Chris Rock came out and did what was functionally a monologue. And it was really funny and it was good and everybody got loose. And then the show seemed to go well from there. Now, I don't think every choice they made after that was good, but the opening number was just so strange. I didn't hate it as much as anyone who knows me might think I hated it, primarily because you have to get the energy up somehow. And I think if you just started with the monologue, it was I enjoyed that Steve Martin and Chris

Bach were a little self-effacing and they were making a lot of jokes about how we're hosting, but we're not hosts. And and and but it still was a little dry. And the Oscars are a spectacle. I think they were too much of a spectacle this year. But you need something. I'd like that people are I I'd like that the opening number at least recognizes the film,

albeit in weird ways. It did kind of seem like the best Halloween costume award come to life. Yes, that's right. That's fine. I'm happy to do more producing next year if people want to pay me a fee for that.

And I at least know Monet is like an actual performer. Yes. You know, she is talented and she has the energy and she knows how to deal with an auditorium. So I don't know. It's not what I would want. I don't know how you solve that first five minutes.

How did you feel about the fact that Steve Martin and Chris Rock kind of set a theme for the night of the Oscars being very open about all of its failures this year? There were a lot of jokes about representation, about a lack of women, lack of actors of color on stage. Chris Rock, obviously, wielding a blade on this stuff. Yes. I thought it was all very funny. It's always an interesting thing when someone tries to be self-effacing in the face of something that is very meaningful. Like, the Oscars is such a popular rendition of culture in front of so many people every year. And it's the reason that we are doing this show and talk about it and care about it so much. It's because movies just don't get a platform like this only but once a year. And to immediately sort of light yourself on fire by being like, we still kind of suck at this.

I guess maybe they knew they had Parasite in the bag so that they could feel good about the win. Do you think they know? You said this to me a few times when like presenters came out and you were like, oh, well, that presenter could only give it to this winner. And I'm curious,

do you think that they are sitting there in a room with the winners and plotting out the show accordingly? Not with the winners. Not with the, you mean the knowledge of the winners? Yeah.

I think the producers are, yeah. I mean, I don't know what level that goes to. I mean, we saw, for example, not to get ahead of ourselves, but we saw Best Adapted Screenplay being given by Natalie Portman, who has been very vocal about the lack of representation of women in the Best Director category, and Timothee Chalamet, who is one of the stars of Little Women and was one of the stars of Lady Bird. And there was a feeling like by putting those two people up there to present, maybe Greta Gerwig had a chance at that award. In fact, that wasn't the case. And so sometimes they'll do that sleight of hand thing where they'll say like, oh, you think, you know, historically, I think a big example of that was Harrison Ford

gave Best Picture the year that Shakespeare in Love won. And many people thought Saving Private Ryan would win because of Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford's long relationship as collaborators. So, you know, I think they do plan with that in mind in some cases, but I don't know if they would let someone write jokes to that point, which is a little bit different. Right. So I'm not sure. I think that the self-effacing thing would have played very differently if you'd had a 1917 sweep. I think either they knew or they got a little bit lucky in terms of how the narrative of the night goes, because this way you get to acknowledge that the Academy has some flaws or things. And they're like, we know we're working on it. We have this new museum where, you know, we'll solve all of it or whatever. The museum ad in the middle is just hilarious to me.

But by the end, it's like, and see, our efforts actually are manifesting in the fact that a film like Parasite can win Best Picture. Do you think that there should be a host of the show? I'm the only one who doesn't think there should be a host of the show. I felt very safe in Steve and Chris's hands. Yes, but besides the opening

monologue, what do you really need a host for? Well, what they did this year, which in the absence of a host felt like a time suck, was, for example, George Mackay introduced someone who then gave an award. You pointed out Beanie Feldstein introduced Mindy Kaling. Yes. And then my, actually my wife texted me and she was like, why do we have to watch Mindy Kaling walk across the screen, across the stage after Beanie Feldstein just introduced her? Shouldn't she just throw directly to Mindy Kaling standing somewhere else? It's, it seems like your wife should also be producing for a fee.

Very efficient woman. But I, I don't, I, if we had a host, the host could just come out and say, Hey, yeah,

Mindy Kaling, come on out. I didn't mind it just because I like, the host could just come out and say, hey, Mindy Kaling, come on out. I didn't mind it just because I like Beanie Valstina, George McKay. I don't know. My theory about the Oscars is it's all the famous people in a room. You want to see all of them. You want the reaction shots. You want bits of the famous people. So if you have one host, then the host is monopolizing the time and you don't get the sprinkles of people.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but that somehow in the sprinkles of people. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but that somehow in the grand scheme of the Oscars doesn't bother me. So the first big change that we saw was the way that the categories were presented. Now, we're not going to do the minutiae of the telecast all the way through here, but this was a notable one because ahead of every acting category, they essentially introduced a montage of the performances. So rather than that traditional clip package that they show where they show you, you know, 11 to 18 seconds of every actor or actress performing their part, they kind of blended it together and mixed it all up. Now, I, of course, love the clips. I also love montages during the Oscars.

I must say, I did not like montages during the acting presentations. So I'm not doing this just to be a contrarian or just to have podcast fodder, but I did say to you, I like this. Explain yourself. Because the clips make no sense. The clips are always like eight seconds of someone screaming. As Katie Baker said today, it's like a vine of someone's most hysterical moment in their movie. And it does it's not representative of the performance. It doesn't teach you anything about the movie. And it just like takes time. And as people often shrieking at you, the montage at least was thoughtfully put together.

And I have some thoughts about some other montage editing later in the show. But these you kind of the performances spoke to each other. And I thought you did actually get a later in the show. But these, you kind of, the performances spoke to each other and I thought you did actually get a sense of the movies. But what I really wanted, and I got it in like a snippet form as part of a montage, but I wanted, don't compare me to my father! You know, driver going full blast for 15 seconds instead of for three seconds.

I felt robbed. I felt robbed of Cliff Booth in all of his glory. Don't you feel, it's like autoplay when suddenly it's just someone yelling at you. Like the intense emotional climax of a movie is just a pop-up ad in your face. I don't understand that. It's what I want.

Why don't you want some context? I just, I wanna just watch movies forever until I die. I thought that this was a good choice on behalf of the producers. How'd you feel about Brad Pitt's win? I felt wonderful. He did great. Yeah, he looked wonderful.

I thought that the speech was the right amount of speechwriters who may apparently acknowledge backstage or someone asked about it. And he said, I have some very funny friends. They've been helping me. But also did hit the emotional notes that you wanted. I thought towards the end when he's just talking about like his life and his career and he's starting to get a little trembly. He got choked up. Yeah. And then he and then he acknowledged his kids at the very end, which I thought was lovely. And I want everything in the world for Brad Pitt. He is wonderful. He really ran the gamut in terms of acceptance speeches.

And I would say that this was not a great night for acceptance speeches across the board, but his, he made a political statement. And frankly, it was basically the last true political statement, barring what Joaquin Phoenix did, which we'll discuss. And that was fascinating. We heard the phrase, the words John Bolton on stage, which was actually a little strange and had me nervous at the beginning of it. But then he very quickly veered into huge praise for Quentin Tarantino, huge praise for Leonardo DiCaprio. He then found a way to work in the title of the film into his own personal story as he was getting choked up and thanked his kids, like you said. And it was a nice moment and it was the

right way to essentially really kick off the show. We knew he was going to win. There's nothing surprising there. But, you know, Brad Pitt rules. This has been a pro Pitt pod for how many? Seven, eight, nine, ten months now. A lifetime. Since you were born. A lifetime. Since a young Amanda saw Legends of the Fall and was born again.

And a river runs through it, weirdly. Truly. Joe Pesci and Anthony Hopkins just didn't bother to show up. This is incredible. Fucking iconic. They've earned it. I mean, they're both great and they both have Oscars. And I wish them nothing but the best.

But just to not show up is elite. That is, I really respect the hell out of it. And they knew Brad was going to win. And clearly they don't respect him, which is just hilarious. That's their loss. Yeah. So immediately after this, a funny thing thing happened which is there were two animation awards given out

and you though you don't watch animated movies got both categories right I have seen the animated short that won tonight oh Hair Love yes

congratulations to Hair Love and congratulations to Toy Story 4 of course a wonderful film that I was pleased to see win then we had to watch a performance of Into the Unknown

by Idina Menzel and 45 women who don't Speak English. That was not good. The real low point for me, and I have to say, as Elsa after Elsa came on the screen and kept singing, and I just, live singing is very tough. You either got to be Idina Menzel or Cynthia Erivo or don't sing live. And there were a lot of people singing live,

but whoever had that key change just didn't get there. I think it was the Danish candidate. Didn't get there. And that was a particularly tough moment for me. And I think that started kind of my two-hour internal meltdown throughout this ceremony. Let's just set the stage for what it's like to watch the Oscars with you and I.

You'd think it'd be a rollicking good time, right? We're super invested in this. We've spent a lot of time thinking about it. We know all the data points. You know, you and I have got great rapport.

Probably a lot of jokes. Most of the time, it's me looking at Twitter and Amanda with her head in her hands. And anytime someone is singing, Amanda looks like her dog

has just been shot in the face. It is truly upsetting for you. It's not my comfort zone. It's not my passion. It's not something I want to be a part of. Can we go ahead and talk about the number of musical performances? We should talk about it.

I mean, Into the Unknown was the second of what ultimately, if you include the montage of original score was 14 musical performances 14 there are only 24 awards it's what are we doing i don't know the the grammys joke and comparison has been made but it it's right there i what are we doing they talked more about music than the movies there was a montage that was about songs in movies if they just like played snippets of music cues and that by the way was like the experience that i feel watching clips because it was just these weird

hard cuts there was absolutely no editing together or no attempt to turn it into some sort of... I don't... It was like an 11-year-old got QuickTime movie. It was just like, here's a part from a movie. Here's a part from a movie. Here's a part from a movie. Bad. It was bad.

Let me just say, great songs. I, too, like it when there are songs in movies. Huge fan of music. Sure. Put on a song. I'll love it. It's not hard. I'm interested in music.

I especially, when it's recorded in a studio and not live, I'm thrilled. Congratulations. This is the first entry in a new category on this show. Yes. This section is the Al Pacino Godfather Part 3. It was not what I wanted award. And we don't want 14 musical performances at the Oscars ever again.

This can never happen again. I think I said to you, I will be running for Academy president and my platform is no music at the Oscars. Absolutely. None. Absolutely. No musical performances.

Should we talk about some of the more musical performances? I mean, we saw Chrissy Metz sing for Breakthrough later to see Diane Warren lose the Oscar again. Diane Warren officially in the Susan Lucci zone here at the Oscars. After Chrissy Metz performed, we saw Laura Dern's win for Best Supporting Actress, which was not a surprise. Though, this weekend, that was the one acting race that I had a couple of birds in my ear saying, watch out. And then there was a little bit of action in Vegas. The odds went from like minus 1,500 to minus 800 for Scarlett Johansson. I had a couple of birds in my ear saying, watch out. And then there was a little bit of action in Vegas.

The odds went from like minus 1500 to minus 800 for Scarlett Johansson. People started to think that we would, maybe things would get a little wonky. This category historically has been a little bit wonky. This is the home of Marissa Tomei's win. You know, we've seen some strange stuff. Not to be Lord during one. This was actually one of my favorite speeches as well, mostly because I loved what she said about her parents and her mom, Diane Ladd, was in the audience. It was actually like, this is going to seem wonky as well, but good producing on a show like this is really important. And the producers and the camera

folks knowing to go to Diane Ladd in this moment and find the right person and show us that person and tell the story in that moment was really well done. So I really appreciated that. I agree. I thought it was the right amount of, you know, Oscar history and also emotion. It, she kind of, she really brought it together, which is not surprising because it's Laura Dern. While we're talking about Laura Dern, I would just like to say briefly, the Indie Spirit Awards were on Saturday and there was a, they were wonderful. They were wonderful. And one of the things that was wonderful was actually a musical number. Here I go. I am contradicting myself, but I believe it was the Gay Men's Choir of Los Angeles. Yes. And they did a performance of all of the queer moments in the nominated films at the End of Spirit Awards. And it just culminated with them singing Laura Dern for like 30 seconds. And I thought that was great.

That was really entertaining. You mentioned that montage that was quite terrible. That montage segued cleanly into a performance of the song Lose Yourself by Eminem, which premiered in 2002 in the film 8 Mile. I have no idea why this was performed. Notably, Eminem was not present at the Oscars in 2002 and did not accept the award nor perform the song then. So maybe this was a makeup of some kind.

Nevertheless, Eminem is an old rapper now. Yes. And has nothing to do with the Oscars. No. Except for one time when he was in a movie and then never in a movie again. There was absolutely no reason to have Eminem at the Oscars or performing this song.

That said, I will say that Lose Yourself is a great song. And also, I just want to say that as soon as that movie song montage happened, I did turn to you and I said, this is going to turn into a live performance. And then it did. You predicted it. Yeah. As you predicted, 19 of the 24 races tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much.

But you failed on the big day. When the big award came, you fucked up. That's true. There was another musical performance after this performance. This was like a I'm in hell moment. This was truly the one that, and this is with no disrespect to Adkarsh Ambakar. It's almost unfair. He was put in an unfair position.

He was put in a bad spot. He was asked to essentially write a rap recap of the first 100 minutes of the telecast, apparently, for whom I don't know. People who just got back from Pilates that needed to catch up on the show. Like, I have no idea what the purpose of this was. It was like kind of funny, but not really. And it just, it was useless. And we need to start cutting out the useless in the telecast. I want the show to be long. You know, I want there to be like 75 awards given out so I can just keep screaming Bong Joon-ho. Right.

But I don't want there to be people who don't need to be there wrapping recaps of what we've already seen. I agree with you. We have Twitter. I agree with you. Okay. Roger Deakins won after that. That was great.

That was tight. Yeah. We have praised Roger Deakins really at our own personal expense that was tight yeah we have praised Roger Deakins really at our own personal expense at the expense of our friendship on this show right

we have gone to war we lost Chris Ryan he will no longer be invited on the big picture banned for life from this podcast Chris we love you Chris I hate you

but I love Roger Deakins I'm very happy for him this is his second Academy Award for his work on 1917 I thought that this would kick off the 1917 wave of wins we only saw two more as mentioned before, I believe it was in sound editing.

And what was the other category that this film won for? I believe it was visual effects because that's when you started yelling at me about Endgame 4. I had a lot of low moments during this house because it really went from low to high. But I will say, the visual effects category, which is when I believe it was James Corden and Rebel Wilson showed up in their Cats costumes. Yes, you were very unhappy. That was tough. That was like a collision of the moment in the show,

I think we're probably close to two hours in at that point, it's some blood sugar issues. I really didn't like the Cats experience. I was afraid they were going to start singing. You know, there's a little trauma at this point. And then 1917 wins. And then you start yelling to me alone in the room about how don't I understand that they just created the whole world. Endgame. Like, that's a real thing that happened. And you were like serious. I was 100% sincere. And it's the most weirdo fanboy I ever was.

And I don't know if it was because my brain had been poisoned by concern that we weren't going to get a good outcome tonight. And so I'm looking at my life in covering movies and thinking about movies, right? And there's two versions of this. There's obviously, there are the parasites of the world. There are these sophisticated films that really tell us something about our life and show us something new. And those things are really meaningful to me. And I feel proud to get the chance to talk about that stuff. And then there's movies like Avengers Endgame, which just fucking rule. I am inevitable. And are cool. And I don't care that that makes me

sound like an unsophisticated dweeb. That movie is good. And it's so stupid that every year at the Oscars, movies like this that people love, that take a lot of time and effort and money to make and create, that are wholly dependent on visual effects. They are reliant on them to tell their stories. 1917 is like Guy Jumps in Waterfall. Let's do a flash cut. Why did that win an Oscar for visual effects? It doesn't make sense. They let the hammer fly into Cap's hands.

Okay. All right. That was beautiful. I just, I really don't want to be a part of this narrative. I just don't want to be a part of this narrative. I just don't. I support you. I just didn't think it looked very good. And I didn't know what the hammer meant.

And I didn't care. You haven't known here. At 6.56 p.m., Ford versus Ferrari won best editing. And Sean got his hopes up. Yeah. And I wrote this in because I was like, you're weak. And you're letting them get to you. And I'm writing down the time that you gave in. Yeah, this is when I was like, and not weak and you're letting them get to you. And I'm writing down the time that you gave in.

Yeah, this is when I was like, and not because 1917 didn't win this. I was just kind of like, oh, things are messy. Like people thought this could happen. And this is a little bit of a messy win where now Ford versus Ferrari has two Oscars. And that means we have this like really diffuse field. Right. I mean, Ford versus Ferrari winning two Oscars, 1917 winning three and Parasite winning four. I'm not sure if I would have bet on that.

No. At the top of the night. So hopes got high. And then they just they played more music. Oscars, 1917 winning three and Parasite winning four. I'm not sure if I would have bet on that at the top of the night. So, hopes got high. And then they played more music. There was more music. This was actually, the performance that came after this I thought was easily the best of the night. And I am

consistently blown away by Cynthia Erivo. You and I were not huge fans of Harriet, but sort of everything else that she does is kind of amazing. It's actually kind of amazing. She's just like on the outsider giving a totally different kind of performance right now on HBO. She's such a versatile actress and her voice was the opposite of what you were saying about that poor woman during the Into the Unknown performance. You have to hit some very difficult and high notes in stand up and she just aced them.

I mean, she's just a master, and she was so in control. And I thought that, again, too many musical performances. But that one was just entirely effective. Like, they had a concept. She knew exactly what she was doing. She's a professional. She has a tremendous voice. Like, okay, I understand this.

That was very good. Bong Joon-ho shortly thereafter in Parasite won Best International Feature, and that's where the thank you and I'm ready to drink meme began. I pray to God that right now, Bong and the whole team from Parasite and Neon

and all those people are drinking their asses off. You know, there is a, there is right now a party. There are two parties, really. I'm sure there are many parties, but there's the Vanity Fair party, which is, of course,

the most famous Oscars party. Very exclusive. Very Tony. But the Parasite After Party is the party that many people have been saying, this is the party I'm most excited to go to. Now, people thought that was going to be the Losers Party. It's not the Losers Party now. Is Bong just getting lit right now? Just like fireball shots? What's he doing? What do you think he's drinking? I don't know. I thought the best treat of the night was like, this poor man just wants a cocktail and they keep giving him Oscars, which is very true. He was like, that was an hour and a half before Best Picture. It's truly amazing. Shortly after that, Bong won Best Director. Yeah. And we recounted that a little bit.

I just, I can't believe it. I really can believe it. I know I'm acting like I had a son born or something, but I just can't believe it. No, it was so beautiful because he is obviously number one, just a genius made a stone cold masterpiece and has also been such a fun and happy presence on the campaign trail. You know, he is a little bit of a meme but he's making the right jokes he's calling the Oscars local he is um always has great speeches and knows who to thank and is like really engaged um but I don't know that I've seen him kind of emotional or and he seems like really moved by this this is the one and this was his his last speech because he ceded to his producers for Best Picture. That's right.

So the Martin Scorsese thing was just really, really lovely and from the heart. And then to watch the entire room respond to that, I mean, that's why he watched the Oscars. Absolutely. It is totally the reason why I got obsessed with this stuff. It was very cool to see. You know, someone pointed out on Twitter earlier today that this is the second year in a row, or excuse me, this is the second time in history that a Martin Scorsese movie has gone 0 for 10 at the Oscars. Gangs of New York in 2002 went 0 for 10, and they did not give the Irishman one award tonight.

That is nuts. Pretty crazy. I mean, you know, even by the standards of the Ford versus Ferrari thing that we're talking about here, I like Ford versus Ferrari, but I mean, the Irishman is the fucking Irishman. That's like five of the greatest ever to do it coming together at the end of their lives to make one more special thing. Right. Not only is the Irishman an excellent film, but it is also just on paper such a give us some Oscars movie. Yeah. Very strange. We've mentioned it before, but I think both Marriage Story and the Irishman really kind of fell by the wayside at some point during this awards season, which is a real shame.

And honestly, ultimately, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I mean, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won production design tonight, which was great and well-deserved. And obviously Brad Pitt won, but that's it. And that's also a movie that, on paper, not only is it because of the people involved, Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, of course. But just what it was about and what it meant and how Hollywood it was. I don't know if that was just a factor of people becoming sick of it over time or the parasite wave just being so powerful and so unusual, but nevertheless, just two awards. Let's take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsor.

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That's REGmovies.com slash podcast. Let's talk about best actor and best actress. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have to gather myself? This part sucked. Yeah. What? I have to gather myself. This part sucked. thought that there were parts of the speech that were memorable and there were parts of it memorable in a positive way and memorable in a negative way. How about that?

I thought it was bad. I thought it was very sincere. And I think he, I admire the fact that he knows that it's rare to get this much exposure to this many people. And so when you're giving speeches at award shows to make something of it is it can be powerful. And you want to say something that could really impact people's lives and get them thinking in different ways. I completely respect that he wants to do that. He's done that at every award show, sometimes more successful than others. In fact, I think I praised him last week for how much better his speeches have gotten over time. This last speech seemed to be the most sincere of the bunch, so I don't want to just callously dismiss what he was doing, but it was confusing and strange,

and it got very awkward in the room, you could tell. And he did not really seem to make his point coherently at all. It was like there was talk of cows and artificial insemination, and then it very quickly veered into a dedication to his late brother, River Phoenix, which is, of course, very touching, but just out of left field. And it just seemed confusing. I thought the River Phoenix thing, as soon as he got out there, I did wonder whether he would bring it up. Because if you know that history and- And he has not brought it up at all. And he has not at all, but this would be the moment. And I was kind of waiting for it. And

when it did, and he was so visibly moved that I was moved by that as well. I thought the rest was just kind of tonally inconsistent and ultimately not quite effective. Because at some point, it's not just what you're saying, but how you're saying it. And I do think he lost the audience a bit. And I don't think that has anything to do with the message itself or its sincerity. But it did. It was not his best speech of the awards season. Let's just put it that way. It wasn't. And I mean, it comes on the heels of the BAFTA speech, which was so incredibly powerful and concise and smart. You know, what he said was

just so straight on. And this speech kind of got off into this weird tangent of like, I've done bad things, but it's not about canceling people it's about forgiving them and like that was a jag that it that just far be it for me to tell people what they should and shouldn't say when they win an Oscar I don't know the first fucking thing about it but it just didn't seem like the right place for that that just seemed like a weird place to be veering into and I think like sensitivity and honesty is important but for coming off of that exultant Bong Joon-ho moment, it was just kind of like, whoa, okay, why this? Yeah. In this way.

I just don't think it worked as a speech. Yeah. Which, a speech is a performance all itself, and it didn't quite come together. What did you make of Renee Zellweger's win for Judy? Renee Zellweger seems like a lovely person and I have enjoyed her in many movies. You nor I understand. We don't understand this. It's just absolutely baffling. And I thought that the speech was just a confirmation of what are we doing? And you were saying like, we'll look back on this and be confused. I was confused then. And I thought she was fine in Judy. I really don't mean to be rude or dismissive of her, but it was absolutely not

the best performance by an actress, even if it was a weak year for the actress category. You know what can happen, though? Sometimes you can have these super chalky awards happen where best actor and best actress, we know for months that these two are going to win. And we have known for months that Joaquin and Renee were going to win for a long time. And it has made this a significantly less exciting race. But sometimes somebody comes through and they give a speech and you're like, you know what? It doesn't matter. It didn't matter.

I forgot. And I don't know what the fuck Renee Zellweger is talking about either. I thought that was a really weird speech that she gave. I think she's given a couple of daffy speeches. But more specifically, when you give an odd speech for a performance that I think most people in the world are like, what? Why is this here? I mean, I'll just read what I tweeted, which I usually hate, but I just can't say it any better. Okay.

Why did Renée Zellweger win every single award this season? Every award. It's a bad movie that was little seen. She already has an Oscar. Her speeches are strange, and the movie says nothing about the world today. I have not heard a compelling case for this at all. It is so strange that people just in August, they're like, well, it's going to be Renee. And then she just rolls on for six months. Why even do this? Well, I don't know what it was in Scarlett Johansson or Saoirse Ronan's performance that was not good

enough to have pierced the armor on this one. It's so strange. It is equally baffling to me. The only hint of an answer that I can give is that I do think that this performance and movie is more popular with a generation that is not you and me. See, you're right. I think that's savvy, but Parasite just won Best Picture. So like, what is going on? I don't know. You know, we can't have everything. I know. That's kind of where it is. I'm being greedy. It's not even really in favor of another performance to me, ultimately. It's just like, why this movie? Why this dumb sort of thing that always sort of wins,

where it's like, famous person impersonates other famous person. We went through this with Rami Malek last year. It was the same thing. It was like, Rami Malek is a good actor who appeared in a bad movie portraying a real person, and everybody was like, we got to give it to him. I really do not understand this choice either. On a personal level, it's not what I would vote for.

And I just do also think the idea that we just treat the acting categories as coronations now and that we just decide really early on. And it's not about competition or discussion or even really valuing acting. We're not even pitting the performances against each other and talking about, well, this person was able to do this and this other person brought this, which, you know, theoretically brings light to what these people do. I still believe that acting is a skill most of the time, but we just are kind of handing out trophies because we think that people deserve them. It's not fun. It's not interesting. I don't think it also, like, it doesn't celebrate the work. So I don't really understand why the actors themselves are in on this. I totally agree. It's a very confounding thing. Nevertheless, it is where we are. I don't know. why the actors themselves are in on this. I totally agree. It's a very confounding thing.

Nevertheless, it is where we are. Parasite won Best Picture. We'll talk about that a little bit more in a bit. Should we give out some hardware, some awards of our own from this award show? Yes. Best Presenters. I thought they did a solid job choosing folks this year. Once again, I think that they're better served picking more gifted comedians

rather than less. I don't think it's as good to just go to a well-known actor who doesn't have anything to offer. I'll pick up Mahershala Ali, for example. Phenomenal actor. Love the guy. Did he do anything on stage that is useful? Yeah, but he won last year, so that's why he was there. And that's a tradition where the winners of the previous year present to the, so you know what? I'm never going to turn down seeing Marhershal Lee on my TV screen. Okay. That's where I am. They should get like TikTok stars out there presenting. Absolutely not. This is no. I thought the best presenters were the funniest. That doesn't mean that they were all comedians, but they were definitely the funniest. You've picked out four sets of presenters.

You want to read them in order that you think that they should appear here from four to one in terms of the best? Okay, yes. So Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig at four. They were doing a lot. They were doing a lot. And I will just, Maya Rudolph is another person where put her on my television screen and I am thrilled. And she is consistently one of the best Oscar presenters. That's kind of a career, a side hobby that she has.

It is. You're a little up and down on wig, though. I love wig. I like her as a comedian and I have a hard time taking her seriously in serious movies because she's really good at standing on stage and being a little weird but funny and bringing some energy to an Oscar show. I enjoyed when they imitated an absentee father and son as an example of their acting.

They were very funny. There were the traditional typical calls for these two to, I don't know, host the Oscars. Maya Rudolph is always nominated to host the Oscars the next year. And my thing is that Maya Rudolph should continue to be the best presenter or one of the best presenters at the Oscars every year. Okay. Who's next?

Next, I will go with Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves just doing a Something's Gotta Give sequel. This was good. That was personally delightful to me. If you are not familiar with the Nancy Meyers movie Something's Gotta Give, check it out. Diane Keaton, spoiler alert, doesn't pick Keanu Reeves, but maybe this time she will. She picks Jack Nicholson, sadly for her.

But yeah, they were great together and it was the kind of like unlikely but also makes a lot of sense pairing that I wish the show had a little bit more of. Most of them were like,

oh, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig, they were on SNL together. Aren't they great together? What's next? Next is Olivia Colman, who I love. Was she just making a lot of jokes about how she had sex with her husband last night?

Is that what that was about? No, I don't know. Maybe. What was really going on there? I think that she was just making fun of him for having a great time at all the parties and just kind of, I don't know. Was that what it was? Or was it like, I'm blonde now, so my husband is excited?

Well, she was talking about last year and how last year was the best night of his life. When she won the Oscar, it was the best night of her husband's life, is what she said. Okay. At least that's what I heard. Was there any sexual innuendo or am I just a complete pervert? A little bit, but Bobby is like putting his thumb up. So I guess there was a sexual moment. Thank you, Bobby.

That's great. I didn't totally pick up on that. Bobby and I are on Olivia's sexual wavelength. That's great. I have to say. You are not. I have to, maybe, I'm embarrassed now because I would like to be. I thought she looked fantastic.

She did look very good. Yeah, I really like that dress. The hair looks cool too. I thought that she was very funny and I just like her energy. She's your fave. Yeah. I thought she was good too. Okay.

Who's number one? Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell. Yeah, we got a preview of this routine between the two of them at Sundance when after they screened their film. What's that film called? Downhill. Downhill, which is coming out in a week. They did a little song and dance during the Q&A and they have what is called chemistry. It was 10.15 in the morning and they were festivaled out and still it was very funny. Still riffing impressively. They really have timing together and they were very, very funny. And, you know, I have a longstanding rule about this stuff, which is just put Will Ferrell in everything.

Just put him in everything. He will not let you down. When you got JLD with him, it's a double bonus. Like these are the two funniest like improv and comic actors. I don't know, the last 15 years, like they're incredible. I agree with all of that. And I also like that the bits were jokes about the categories that they presented. They presented, I believe, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing.

And they were pretending that they didn't know what those two awards were. And that was very funny. And maybe it doesn't actually teach the audience the significance of those awards. But maybe people Google it as a result. One can hope. It's a smart continuation of, you know, Julie Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell are best known for playing high-level blowhard buffoons. You know, Ron Burgundy and Selina Myers are powerful, stupid people. And that's just like a good lane for them all the time. So if you just write some jokes that

amplifies that version of their comedy, you're going to get good stuff. I think that's a pretty good list of presenters. You know, we were missing, there's something interesting going on in Hollywood right now. Just one? Well, there's a few things.

Parasite fucking won. That was cool. When you and I were growing up, the Oscars were Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, but they were also Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. They were a different kind of heavy celebrity. And now they're movie celebrities.

And I don't mean that pejoratively, but they're just like people who are in movies. And sometimes there's people like The Rock, but like even The Rock wasn't there tonight. You know, there's no George Clooney there tonight. This sort of like, and the only reason that Brad and Leigh were there was because they were in a movie and they were nominated.

That's sort of like upper and the only reason that Brad and Leah were there was because they were in a movie and they were nominated. That's sort of like upper tier Hollywood's biggest night, kind of almost like crusty version of high level fame is just kind of gone. This is so funny. My husband was saying the exact same thing to me this afternoon. Like, what Twitter thread were you reading? Both of you. Nothing. Zach and I are very connected. That is true.

In many ways. I'll say to you what I said to him, which is that is correct. But I just think that that is a reflection of how celebrity has changed. Billie Eilish was also at the Oscars tonight performing one of the greatest Beatles songs. Second tier. You monster. You're a monster. I was trying to get ratio, but it didn't happen. Okay. Anyway, Billie Eilish is a mega celebrity to young people. And probably has like in terms of the number of followers, you know, these days it's like the actual number of people who know who you are versus the dedication of the fandom. And there are more people who are very dedicated to whoever they are a fan of, whether they're a movie star or Billie Eilish or whatever. But it's true. We don't have Tom Cruise's anymore in the same way that just because that's not both the nature of movies in

pop culture and also that's just really not how fame works anymore. Is it bad? I don't I don't mean to get philosophical about it, but it does feel sincerely different to me than it did even 10 years ago. Yeah, I think the bummer is that like politicians have replaced them, which. Yeah. So that is ultimately bad. I'm sorry to take this to a dark place on what is a happy Hollywood's biggest night.

What did you think about Mayor Pete's tweet? Nope. I read it to you so you know what I think. I just tweeted him that he should check out Crawl. Okay.

I thought he would enjoy that. Alright, keep it moving. If you guys are interested in Crawl, I would encourage you to see it. It's about alligators trying to eat Barry Pepper in a basement in the

bayou. I know. We talked about it. It's great shit. Should have won an Oscar. Best VFX. Avengers Endgame 1. Crawl 2. Best speech. There's one obvious winner and it's not actually listed here. It's the next one. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. But we'll do some honorary, like honorable mentions.

What's number two for you? Brad Pitt. Yeah, he was good. His was great. It was great. Great tux, great hair, great speech, great win. Were there any speeches that you enjoyed from the rank and file winners, from the below the line folks?

Anybody stick out to you? You groaned audibly during one of the animation award speeches. I think it was just because in both in animation and in score song, whatever, we had to do a lot of girl power stuff. And I both believe in girl power and find when it's crammed down my throat in this way, in,

in service of promote promoting whatever financial endeavor people are promoting that I get bummed out. So I think that's what I was groaning at. And that is not directed in any of the awards or any of the films that were won. I think it was just the narrative. I did think Julia Reichardt and Stephen Wagner's speech for American Factory, which was a great win for a great film. And I liked what they both had to say.

And I liked how they said it. It was very similar to what they said last night at the Independent Spirit Awards as well. And then I thought Carol Deisinger as well for Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone, which she had to say, was very good too. But, yeah, I mean, there were not a lot of mega standouts, you know, like the sound editing, sound mixing. You know, Deakins' was fine. You know, McCusker and Buckland for film editing was fine. Kazuhiro's for Bombs's was fine. You know, McCusker and Buckland for film editing was fine. Kazuhiro's for Bombshell was fine. Sometimes you get the, like, I just proposed to my wife moment during some of these.

We didn't really have one of those this year. That's true. There weren't that many total surprises. No. Below the line. It was easy to pick, you know? And even the ones that, at least that I got wrong,

aside from director and picture, I was like, eh, I don't feel great about this. I don't feel great about original screenplay. I don't feel great about live action short. I don't feel, you know, those categories already felt like the choices I made were a little flimsy. And it's like, on a different day,

you or I could have finished 22 out of 24. That's true. And I don't know. That's not great for the award show. You know, we're quote unquote experts. But as I said, I've gotten best picture wrong five years in a row. So I don't know what I'm doing. And I still, I don't know, what did I hit tonight?

800%. That's pretty bad. 700%. Do math for me. I'm not going to do math. You're very intelligent. Thank you very much. Let me ask you a philosophical question.

Okay. Do you think that it's better for the oscars to have surprises sprinkled throughout but an overall kind of or to have kind of fun-ish moments sprinkled throughout but if like fairly predictable straightforward ceremony or to have what we had tonight which was like three hours of meh and then 30 minutes of real excitement. Well, I've never used the drug cocaine. I have a very clear rule in my life.

No white drugs, no white condiments. Yeah, I know. But, when Best Picture was, actually, really when Best Director was given a bong

and you didn't see my face right as the moment was happening, but when that happened, for the speech, when that happened, I was like, this is is cocaine i am so excited that this happened and it didn't matter that we had to deal with that lady from uh denmark absolutely annihilating into the unknown in a bad

way you know like i was willing to forgive that i was willing to forgive you know like a completely anodyne elton John performance. No disrespect to your pal. Just like we just didn't need it. Like it was just, the night would have been fine without it. He could have just won his award and been on his way. Randy Newman, like one of my five biggest heroes of my life. I didn't need to hear him sing tonight. There was so much like wasted time, so many things that were meaningless. Still, the best director win. I was just elated. So that honestly would be fine with me. What about for you?

I agree with you. And I think that aside from the endless music performances, which were really upsetting to me, I think this is best case for us of we were going along, we got a lot of things right. We felt proud of ourselves. And then we got surprises in the categories that we want. I don't know how much

that narrative translates outside of people who listen to this podcast and people who have been following it really closely. Like, if you haven't been really, really locked in on the Oscar race,

is Bong Joon-ho beating Sam Mendes? Like, amazing television to you? I mean, I think the moment is. And I do think that translates, but I don't know whether everyone else is familiar with the stakes as we are. I kind of hope not for everyone's mental health. You want to hear a dark take on this? Yes. You know what? I'll save the dark take. I think what people at home were saying was, why isn't Jarn Blaschke on screen more for his work in the lighthouse why haven't we seen more about the

lighthouse here at the Academy Awards millions of people around the world arm and arm linked together that's so nice asking twas ye I just it's nice to see you happy I am happy are you gonna start singing again maybe I don't know we Maybe. I don't know. We'll see. I don't know. My voice is shot because I've been yelling a lot. You know, just to wrap it up on Best Speech, we mentioned Bong for International Feature and I'm Ready to Drink Tonight. That obviously was a great one. Just a huge, huge, not even a great look, but just a flex for Sharon Choi for months

and months. Bong's a translator who has been been stalwart throughout this process. First time I saw her was at Telluride after a screening of Parasite. The first time I saw it, he had a hilarious 45-minute Q&A with her. She's just been very good at ably communicating his specifically

odd and wry sense of humor, which has always come through, which is so special and is a big part of, I think, why people have connected to him so much too. Obviously, Bong speaks a lot of English and intersperses in his acceptance speeches. But Sharon has been very present. Sharon, also a filmmaker in her own right. Notable.

Must be fun to be sitting alongside Bong being able to pick his brain. I saw that she said tonight that she now wants to make a movie about awards season, which I would absolutely love to see. Such a good idea. Best moment. The Bong Best Director speech. I think for the pure surprise and also getting to see him, thanks, Scorsese, and the entire room be so excited about Bong and just kind of be on the journey. That's like a special Oscar

moment. I completely agree with you. It's an international moment, but it's also just eminently relatable. Like who can't imagine winning an award, beating the person that you've idolized your whole life, and then being able to pay tribute to that person. That's just such a cool and special thing that happened for them. So here's the darkness. Okay. Oh. I've already thought that the ratings on the show are going to be way down. Mm-hmm. For a variety of reasons. I am a little concerned that this extraordinary win for Parasite is going to get lumped in with the Oscars is in free fall.

Okay. If the numbers are down 5, 10 million people. It doesn't have to. We can stop it right here. We have no power. Well, you're already trying to lump it together. And we can say that that's nonsense. No, we don't control the media.

I have no influence whatsoever. We control this corner of the world. Okay. I appreciate all of the people that consume and participate in this show. But unless they are the president of the Academy and the editor-in-chief of Deadline.com, I'm not sure that we can really change anything about how this is going to be communicated to the world.

Okay. And I've got some concerns. And the truth about Parasite is, now, more people have seen Parasite than have seen, say, Moonlight. Moonlight was a smaller box office success than Parasite. But Parasite is a foreign film. And even though it's a phenomenon, it's still a small film

that has yet again won Best Picture. Big films are not winning Best Picture. They continue to not win Best Picture. Right. Big, massive, successful movies. Yeah. People tune in when big movies win and they don't tune in when big movies don't win. Okay. You've been saying this to me for like five to eight years. I think nobody watches live TV anymore. I think this problem is so much bigger than the Oscars. And if like the entire goal of the Academy is just to make sure that they're having as many people as possible watch the Oscars, then they're screwed. And that has nothing to do with the

movies that are being made or winning. That's just like, that's time and technology. I don't know what to say to you. Let me throw an idea your way. Okay. I'm calling it the popular Oscar. Okay. All right. We take 10 films that everyone loves. For example, Avengers Endgame. We put it at the top of the heap. Okay. Number two, the second highest grossing film of the year. What was that? Dumbo? What was it? Probably.

Help me out. I don't know. I didn't pull up Box Office Mojo because I thought tonight we might have a night off. By the way, just who redesigned Box Office Mojo? I'm so upset. I don't even know where to look. I have it open now. You ruined Box Office Mojo.

Then there's nothing I can do. Where do I click? We had 10 years of beauty and ease on box office mojo and you ruined it i'm clicking domestic i don't know okay here we go 2019 this is scintillating podcasting you know what i don't know i don't know what number two is okay joker what else uh it's just spider-man far from home saying days of the week what the Number two is, okay, Joker. What else? Spider-Man, Far From Home. This is literally saying days of the week. What the hell is happening? Lion King.

Lion King, shut out tonight. Okay. Shameful. Okay. No, I don't want a popular Oscar, and I don't want to just give awards to popular movies. I think that's a bad idea. But I do think that the Academy, which is, as we learned,

on December 14th, 2020, opening its new museum, which is the biggest initiative in the Academy history. And I have never had a more complex relationship than I do with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That's your most complex relationship? Which is why I'm a sad man. Okay. That's good in a way. They put on the Oscars, they capture film history, but they also put on the Oscars and capture film history. And this museum that they're building, which has been a boondoggle for years and years,

and it's apparently finally on track and finally on its feet. We'll see. We'll see nine months, 10 months from now when it opens. They need people to care about their TV show. The money is all hooked together. This is all a chain.

In order for the TV show to be big and successful and the most important thing in popular culture and the museum to be thriving and the endowment to be big, that all has to work together. And when they recognize Black Panther, people are like, I want to watch this show. When they recognize Dark Knight, they're interested. And when they recognize Titanic and Avatar, they're interested.

And when they don't, people are not that interested. Yeah, but you genuinely can't compare Titanic which which was 1998 or 19... Was that the year that the... 1998, that sounds right. Yeah. 99? 99.

99. 97. 97. Okay. Late 90s. Yeah. We're confident about that. It was 1942.

I was a teenager. Yeah. You cannot compare Titanic and now in terms of the media climate and how people watch TV. It's just like like you can't. And if you are, then you shouldn't be in charge of the Academy or TV stations anymore. That's what I have to say. So best picture nominees next year. Let's do the list.

Okay. Black Widow. Okay. Top Gun Maverick. No Time to Die. No Time to Die. If we're doing this, let's do it. Tenet and Dune.

Okay. Who says no? Many people, including most of the Academy. Do you have any guesses right now on what you think is going to be at the Academy Awards one year from now? You and I were trying to do this earlier. Seems like Tenet could be in the running and it seems if Tenet's not in the running, then that is a whole clusterfuck of a situation. Online and not. So maybe you won't have to give this whole speech about ratings and popular Oscars

and all this stuff next year. Or maybe you will. Don't tut-tut my speech. I've been leaning on that speech for years. I've been hearing it so many times. I want solutions. I don't want your speech. I'm sorry.

Then we were talking about The French Dispatch, the Wes Anderson film. Yep. Just because that was the only other movie I could think of that I knew was coming out in 2020 off the top of my head. Yeah. You're forgetting something very important.

Dune? Manc. Oh, Manc. Yeah, I am forgetting that. Coming soon. I don't really know what's going to be there next year. I think it will be very, very hard for them to replicate the absolute joy that was watching Parasite win. I thought for sure that this was a film Twitter pipe dream.

And it was not. It was real. It really happened. This movie caught fire in the Academy. And it was not. It was real. It really happened. This movie caught fire in the Academy and it was genuinely extraordinary. And I'm thankful to have shared the moment with you, Amanda. Likewise, Sean. Stay tuned to this podcast in the future

when we come back and talk more about how Parasite won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. We'll see you later this week. Thank you. in the month of February and receive a free small popcorn automatically loaded to your account in 48 hours. So just visit regmovies.com slash podcast to learn how to join.