Posted on 03/18/2003 10:41:04 AM PST by Maedhros
Daldry promises anti-war speech if he wins Oscar
By Catherine Milner and Chris Hastings
(Filed: 16/03/2003)
Stephen Daldry, Britain's brightest hope of an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards ceremony, has vowed to denounce the war on Iraq from the podium if he wins.
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Daldry, who is nominated as best director for The Hours, has told The Telegraph that he would use his victory speech to argue that America and Britain are unjustified in invading Iraq.
The Dorset-born film maker, who rose to prominence with the award-winning Billy Elliott, said that he had no qualms about making such a controversial stand at the ceremony, which takes place a week today.
"I certainly will mention the war in my speech: I think it would be impossible not to and I suspect most people will," he said.
"I do not think the case for war has been made and most of the people I know feel the same. It could be that they think differently in Cincinnati but it certainly seems to be that way in New York."
Daldry, whose film is nominated for nine Oscars, said that he did not believe that making an anti-war speech from the podium would offend the ceremony's organisers. "Unlike the Baftas, we have had no warning from the Academy telling us not to mention the war," he said.
Chuck Warn, the head of publicity for the Academy Awards, confirmed that the organisers would prefer winners not make political speeches but insisted that there was no ban. He said that new rules limiting winners' speeches to 45 seconds were designed simply to stop them thanking everyone from their hairdresser to their lawyer.
Anybody who exceeds the time limit will be drowned out with music.
The deadline for the Academy's 5,800 members to cast their votes is Tuesday: however, while many members may find Daldry's stance unpalatable, it is unlikely to damage his chances as the vast majority of members have already voted.
Daldry is not the only British nominee who may use the Oscar podium as an anti-war platform. Sir David Hare, the dramatist who is nominated for the screenplay for The Hours, has already publicly condemned any American invasion of Iraq.
Foreign nominees who are likely to denounce the war from the podium should they win include Bono, the Irish rock star who is nominated for Best Song and is due to perform at the ceremony; Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish film-maker who is in the running for two awards, and Michael Moore, the favourite to take the Best Documentary Oscar. All have previously condemned the proposed military action.
Some members of the British contingent, however, condemned any attempt to use the awards ceremony for political ends. Ronald Harwood, the dramatist nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama The Pianist, said: "The ceremony should be about films and nothing else. I know it's probably unfashionable and politically incorrect, but that is how I feel.
"I really cannot bear it when actors and directors go up on stage and start making statements. I make my statements with my work and that is what I have done for the last 40 years. The important thing is to be nominated and I am going there to enjoy myself. I hope other people do the same."
Others such as Daniel Day-Lewis, the British star tipped to win Best Actor for Gangs of New York, have called for the ceremony to be toned down in the event of war. Day-Lewis told a press conference last week: "If we do choose to celebrate this thing, we've got to think about how we can do that in a way that is respectful of what's going on. It would be kind of obscene if we were there flouncing up the red carpet grinning and waving and people were dying somewhere in the world."
Although the Oscar ceremony has in the past proved an ideal platform for protests, political speeches have not always gone down well with Academy members. In 1977 Vanessa Redgrave, the winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in Julia, was booed after she referred to "Zionist hoodlums" in the Middle East.
In 1973 there was a bemused silence when Marlon Brando, the winner of that year's Best Actor award, was represented on the podium by a woman called Sasheen Littlefeather who read out a speech denouncing the treatment of American Indians.
The BBC is showing live coverage of the ceremony in the early hours of Monday, March 24. Other British nominees for the Oscars include Catherine Zeta-Jones, nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Chicago, and Sir Michael Caine, who has a Best Actor nomination for The Quiet American.
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There's a heartwarming thought. ;-) Maybe some of our friends in Italy could go over as "technical advisors"; show 'em how it's done.
Ditto. Why would I want to waste my time watching the fawning phonies?
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