Why Not Me?

March 5, 2018 7:32 PM

The Lonely Island shares their demo of their "overly ambitious" Oscar song 'Unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen because it was “financially and logistically impossible”, so for fun we thought we’d share the rough storyboards of what would have been a fully shot, star-studded music video of exorbitant cost.' Just like the blockbusters this song is an ode to. (Could have been) featuring the Four Chrises.

The full winners list of the 90th Academy Awards

Slightly more sober:
What's An Inclusion Rider? Here's The Story Behind Frances McDormand's Closing Words

This 14-Year-Old Standing Rock Activist Got a Spotlight at the Oscars

posted by cendawanita (7 comments total)

The last box office hit to win the best picture Oscar was 14 years ago

Box Office Hit or Best Picture at the Oscars? You Can Rarely Have Both
posted by cendawanita at 7:37 PM on March 5, 2018

I'm sort of glad it never made it past "draft" form. It seems to focus overwhelmingly on white/male actors. For an Oscar event that was supposed to celebrate women/diversity, this would have been a bit sad.

(Apologies if this seems snarky, I am generally a Lonely Island fan)
posted by greenhornet at 12:25 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

SNL already did the 4 Chris's joke. Having superheros singing about not being in the Oscars isn't funny or mind opening on the Oscars - maybe it would play well at the mtv awards or people's choice or something. Without any of the actors/actresses in this up for awards it doesn't fit with the Oscars theme. It could be a funny lonely island sketch, but not on the Oscars, not to mention the logistics of getting all those stars together.

Tldr, I agree it didn't belong on the Oscars.
posted by TheAdamist at 5:34 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I liked it.

The whole point of the Oscars is that all the stars are there (Gal Gadot got more screen time than most of the nominated performers). Tiffany Haddish is a goddamn national treasure and probably the best part of the show. May have been better balanced with maybe Emma Watson talking about having sex with monsters or something.
posted by graventy at 6:58 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

i also like the inadvertent joke that the year they want to make the issue into a song, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture went to two genre movies. Not big moneymakers but definitely not within the usual kinds that gets the 'non-technical' awards.
posted by cendawanita at 7:36 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I mean, both The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 got best visual effects nominations, so they shouldn't be included in that song.

Also, I was wondering about this, how do you get invited to the Oscars if your movie weren't nominated for anything? I saw Gal Gadot there, but neither Matt Damon nor Brad Pitt were there. The former I can kinda understand because of controversies, but Brad Pitt had a Netflix movie and I guess it wasn't big enough for him to get invited?

And were there invitees that were famous enough but didn't have movies released last year? I didn't actually watch the awards but have been watching clips here and there.
posted by numaner at 1:10 PM on March 6, 2018

VFX is a very typical category for such movies though, they're usually ghettoized there. Acting, directing, screenplay, the big five ie last awards for the night aren't for them, and it's usually because of the prejudice that if they're any good it's because of the effects (hence the stereotype that if they get anything it'll be for the technical awards and for scoring). The last exception to my mind is the LOTR trilogy and even then I knew it would only be the last movie that had any chance even if the first two got noms as well iirc. I mean, Mark Hamill finally got an invitation to be a presenter this year, and even then it's with Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran (the 'Star Wars group') and to present for best animated movie.

As for the attendees, it is usually a mix of politics and how newsworthy they are for the year and if they are members of the academy but who shows up is some kind of arcane knowledge I never bother to figure out lol
posted by cendawanita at 3:13 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]