Show ' V What does it take to eam an Academy member’s vote? PARADE’S veteran entertainment correspondent explains the intense campaigns to win Hollywood’s most coveted trophy By Sandy Kenyon THE OSCAR nominations were announced last month die airwaves in Lbs Angeles and New York have been filled with hyperbole and unA typical radio ad shouts EVER SINCE abashed “Critics are calling Mystic River die best movie they’ve seen in the' last 30 years!” An- other llw Lord of tfwRfngK Tho Rrtum of tfto King BEST PiCTUREt IpcowtobethechatmbccauseQsdu: voters have waked until die otfogrwas v j() - BEST ACTOR: Sian Pimv Mystic Ftm The biggest bloc of voted is soon and fi they wiffcarry the called "die best ini a century” proclaims:-“Ever- year at the Academy Awards Oscar chooses a sur prise This year it’s City of God And a spot for Lost in Translation proudly de- BEST ACTRESS: CharEzoThovxNV Monitor Anamaziiiff tcmsfonmooi! mpd smikscmthebeautywhogetsdown Vdiity clares: “Biil Murray gives a Hm Robbins Mystic River A meat performance in die American tradition of nailistic acting LiheTheron Robbins earns our v sympadiy far a character vwn otherwise find npusuc talked about for years” This media blitz is all part ' of the annual lobbying done the by majormovie studios to sway the hearts and minds of the Academy's 5803 mem-- : bets whose votes will determine tonight’s big winners ' For the studios an Oscar can add up to tens of millions of BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Rondo Zollwogor Cold Mountain Ifcrpcrfannanccms been called "dhe one sure thing and loo? ever since Cold Mountain came out in Deoembec Above: Tho Return afthe tOng (with Bjjah Wood tho computed GoHirn and Sean Aatfcvk) could win the tophonors generated I ! a BuXa OalLusau UNO IVVOlIVVIMVrS RSflffV kWC tlvOilio fcfflHWrGjGi ff gauulaA aiu ue That’s why combined iey spend an esd- mated $50 million— or about $8600 per voter— to win them So (kies this mean that Oscar is for sale? “No" saysScott Greenstein who was an exccu-live producer o£lbe En$d Patient which won Best Picture honors for 1996 “First you have to haw the goods You realty haw to have a great picture” And he adds “Academy voters are smart people Vbii can’t treat them like children” r Yet in recem years the compedtion between studios has grown fierce even mean-spirite-d It reached a n low in 2002 whm a whispering campaign of was launched against John Nash the real-lif- e subject of ABeaudfd Mmd hoping to derail the movie's chances of winning It faded: The film wait on to win the Oscwfiir Best Picture: The most recent campaign connpwtsy invohfed Miramax’s bid to win an Oscar for Martin Scorsese anti-Semitis-m Mystic Kvm' SMn Pwin mayfinaNy win Ms first Best Actor Oscar Studios spend an estimated $50 million to win Oscars who was nominated last year for die studio’s Gong of New York director Robert Wise was enlisted by Miramax— generally considered the most Oscar-winnin- g : " rev-en- v BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: performance that will be dollars in additional WlHff aggressive campaigner— to write an op-e- d column lobbying for Scorsese It later war discovered that Wise's words actually were written by a Miramax piiUiocdarions consultant Some industry insiders fee! this may be one of the reasons why despite earning seven nominations for Gold Mountam Miramar was shut out of die Best’ Picture category for the first rime irill years Spending by the ocher major motion picture studios also had gotten out of control Oscarwin- nerRussefl Crowe says“One person’s ambition sets a mark and die next studio head goesi Well Fm IASI IS February 29 2004 a |