What a beautiful gift! You may want to also consider adding the accompanying book:
It's available through Amazon.com for only 16.49 and well worth every penny!
Posted on 11/21/2004 6:16:48 AM PST by NYer
LOS ANGELES, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has sworn off using paid advertisements to seek Oscars for his blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ," and instead is putting his faith in the merits of the work as it vies for the film industry's top honors.
Breaking with a growing Hollywood practice of heavy-handed pre-Oscar marketing, Gibson and his Icon Productions partner Bruce Davey have vowed not to spend a cent on television, radio or print ads hawking "Passion" for Academy Award consideration, a spokesman said on Friday.
However, Icon is presenting promotional screenings of "The Passion" and plans to send out thousands of DVD copies to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (news - web sites) and other industry groups that present year-end film awards.
"This film should be judged on its artistic merit, not on who spends more money for advertising. That's really what the academy was meant to be and to celebrate," Davey said in a statement issued through Icon's publicist, Alan Nierob.
Gibson, who wrote, directed and produced the blood-drenched film about the last hours in the life of Jesus, likewise spent relatively little on commercial advertising to promote "The Passion" before its theatrical release.
Instead, Icon relied on a marketing campaign centered on special screenings for Christian churches. The R-rated film also benefited from media scrutiny after some Jewish leaders expressed concern that the movie could incite anti-Semitism.
"The Passion" went on to gross well over $600 million in worldwide ticket sales.
NO CLEAR FAVORITES
Nominations for the 2004 Academy Awards (news - web sites) are two months away, and with no clear favorites having yet emerged the Oscar contest is expected to be especially heated this year.
"The studios that have films in the race are going to be out there doing everything they can to get attention for their films," said Gregg Kilday, film editor for The Hollywood Reporter.
Oscar marketing has grown into a multimillion-dollar exercise for major studios and production companies, which spend lavishly on advertising, parties and publicity campaigns to raise the profile of their movies during the run-up to the Academy Awards and other year-end film prizes.
In recent years, promotional blitzes have taken on a nasty edge, with rival movie executives accusing each other of trying to buy academy votes or fomenting whisper campaigns.
Academy officials thought the situation had gotten so out of hand that last year they formed a committee to tighten guidelines governing the promotion of Oscar-eligible films.
Academy President Frank Pierson praised Gibson for working to restore the Oscars as a "celebration and appreciation of excellence" and resisting the "crass commercialism that was threatening the integrity of the award."
The stakes are high. An Oscar nomination or award carries tremendous prestige for a film's producers and talent while often translating into a commercial windfall for those movies that are still in theaters or in DVD release.
"The Passion" has little to gain commercially from Oscar recognition at this point, having already completed its global theatrical run and DVD release.
F-9-11 cannot be nominated for best picture. It is supposedly a documentary. Can't win.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Best Pictures winners tend to be conservative. Look at a list of them. 'American Beauty' was an exception.
Seeing the actual "Pieta" in Italy was equally an astounding experience.
Mel Gibson accurately captured the soul-searing sadness and transcendent beauty of Mary and the Christ as he was taken down from the Cross.
The Passion of The Christ DVD is available in some stores for $15.00.
I'm getting it for everybody I know, for Christmas.
Somehow I missed reports of all those pogroms and the violence that this movie was supposed to engender. Actually, the only anti-religious hatred and intolerance I've been hearing lately are shrill anti-Christian screeds from liberals after the recent election.
I really need to compile a reading list from your FR posts over the years. Great stuff.
I think it might be good as a classic Holy Week devotional act to look at the movie -- a visual recreation of the Via Dolorosa to remind us of what Our Lord went through.
It's been salted pretty heavily by those I encounter here, ELS.
Which reminds me ... I lost my Notepad doc in which I was listing books. Cornelis, do you remember what your last recommendation to me was?
It's in my self-search somewhere but probably a month or so ago.
If you remember ... I'd like to have it again.
Sorry ... it was Cornelis whose book rec I lost.
Whether Gibson gets the Oscar or not, he won!
What a beautiful gift! You may want to also consider adding the accompanying book:
It's available through Amazon.com for only 16.49 and well worth every penny!
Gibson and his Icon Productions partner Bruce Davey have vowed not to spend a cent on television, radio or print ads hawking "Passion" for Academy Award consideration
$16.49 for the book on Amazon?
I paid full price at B&N for my copy of the book.
That's exactly right, and by taking this approach, Mel is putting the academy in a tough place. Since he isn't spending money on advertising to promote his film, he's compelling them to judge the Passion on its artistic merit as he pointed out. If the Passion doesn't win, it will only reaffirm that winning awards are politically motivated or are those whose investors spend lots of money on pre-Oscar publicity.
<< Read as, "no clear favorites as yet having emerged "
.... which pile of Hollyweird swill should win [But] the best film made (The Passion) will be completely ignored. >>
And the worst in decades, Mountain-Mikey 'Humungous' Moore's Farenhate 911, will win.
Indeed. The powers of redemption at work.
Actually, you can purchase a used copy (oftentimes still in its shrinkwrap), for as little as $3.30 on Amazon.com. And .... if you spend $25, shipping is free :-).
.
The PASSION's collapsing White Shroud...
JOHN DEBNEY's triumphant drums banging away...
The Christ's punctured hands...
as He rises up and up...
...really did it for me.
.
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