Globes Downgrade--Now What Of The Oscars?

To borrow a metaphor that was reworked in Paul Haggis's In the Valley of Elah (given that he's been perhaps the Writers Guild MVP for his untiring early commitment to their cause), the WGA has again taken their slingshot and staggered the AMPTP in its effort to run Hollywood's business as usual. The somewhat mournful announcement went out Monday from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, scaling the Globes back from the standard gala to a press conference whose format was yet to be fully determined:

RECIPIENTS OF "THE 65th ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS" TO BE ANNOUNCED AT BEVERLY HILTON PRESS CONFERENCE ON JAN. 13

HOLLYWOOD, CA, January 7, 2008 - The Hollywood Foreign Press Association today announced that the recipients of Golden Globe Awards in 25 categories will be revealed during an hour-long HFPA press conference at The Beverly Hilton to be covered live by NBC News beginning at 6:00 pm PST on January 13. "The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards" NBC telecast and champagne dinner in The Beverly Hilton's International Ballroom is officially canceled.

"We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television," said Jorge Camara, President of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "We take some comfort, however, in knowing that this year's Golden Globe Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled."

The announcement was pretty bland considering the frantic--and ongoing--behind the scenes negotiations between the HFPA and the guild. At the traditional Globes venue of the Beverly Hilton, As the sprawling tents were taken down and the ballroom spaces stripped of decorations in an admission the studio, network and media-branded parties would not take place, the glumness was evident.
Steven Spielberg, who's always had his pick of tributes and no doubt required some courting to sign on as this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree will have his tribute moved to 2009. Yes, the studios will save money they would have had ot lavish of plane tickets, entourages and parties; but the accompanying loss to local businesses, and to the prestige the annual binge creates despite some snickering on the sidelines, is almost incalculably large.

Today also brought one of the first serious considerations of the unspeakable, as Market Watch headlined a piece, "Oscars May Be Next On Strike Casualty List":

The solidarity displayed in helping to cut the Golden Globes from an awards party to a much briefer news conference is likely to have some effect on the Feb. 24 Oscar ceremony, unless the academy strikes a deal. If the Oscars do not go on as planned, it could have a disastrous effect on Walt Disney Co.'s DIS) ABC Television Network, which broadcasts the awards show and takes in millions of dollars in ad revenue from the telecast. ABC representatives were not immediately available for comment. The Oscars are a commercial bonanza for ABC, with individual spots going for more than $1 million.

As an event sponsored by two non-signatories to WGA rules, the Critics' Choice Awards of the Broadcast Film Critics Association went on as scheduled, televised from a Santa Monica venue with no interference from the guild. It was also, apparently, without much help, as despite a pretty impressive celebrity turnout, it had more cringe-worthy than upbeat moments. Stand-up D.L. Hughley seemed flop-sweaty and chided the crowd for their unresponsiveness ("Y'all got to loosen the hell up...") on several occasions. Brad Pitt and Seam Penn were thanked by Hughley for their aid to New Orleans, which was proper and touching, and Don Cheadle, accepting the Joel Siegel Award with both thoughtfulness and a generous summation of Siegel's activist history (as a Freedom Rider and playwright in his own right), managed to highlight his and (his introducer) George Clooney's work in Darfur with clarity and intensity.

On the negative side were moments like the (presumably scripted) line from Chris O'Donnell about Angelina Jolie as somebody guys like to watch--Pitt ad Jolie's bleak grins, especially after Julie Christie won as best actress in Jolie's category--said a mouthful. O'Donnell's follow-up "No disrespect..." was the evening `Wanna get away?" moment. Whether it was the droll and skilled J.K. Simmons' "I was like, number 17 on the call sheet," (accepting for HBO's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee) or Ricky Gervais' "Hey, indifferent applause--excellent!" he show's honorees had the good grace to mock the night's oddness. Best Actor Daniel day Lewis asked for "a spare speech" (Clooney, a runner-up, winningly pretended to reach in his own pocket for one,) and took his time graciously bowing to his fellow nominees ("It seemed to me there was a lot of wonderful work this year.").

Nobody could appoint the jolly, shiny-suited, stage-romping Javier Bardem, who picked up he Coen Brothers' award for Best Picture with No Country for Old Men, and his own for Best Supporting Actor. He gave specific shout-outs to his competitors, made an impromptu Bush joke (seemingly crediting the President as inspiring his character's cold-blooded death-dealing), and gave Julian Schnabel, who picked up Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Best Foreign Language Picture in sneakers, a drive-by smooch on the kisser.

One presenter pointed out that the last four Best Actress winners had also taken home an Oscar statuette, leaving the question that seems to linger in the air--what of that ceremony? Depending on strike negotiations--which Clooney pleaded on stage should restart--Hollywood seems headed for a sullen moment in its own history.