Denis Villeneuve Calls Oscar Telecast Changes “A Mistake”; Jane Campion Also Expresses Dismay

deadline.com:

The hot pre-ceremony topic among attendees of the 26th annual Art Directors Guild Awards tonight was the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ controversial decision to pre-tape several artisan awards – including production design – and edit them into the live network broadcast.“Honestly, I think that the Academy’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, on hand to receive the guild’s William Cameron Menzies Award, told Deadline. “I think it’s a mistake.

And I understand that they’re under tremendous pressure, but I think it isn’t the right decision.”“The thing is that filmmaking is about a teamwork.

It’s like a football team,” he continued. “It’s like you have like all different kinds of jobs that everybody needs to get the top of its game; otherwise the movie collapses, you know?

It’s a team effort. In the media we are a lot about the directors. We are, of course, a lot about the actors. All the people that are working in the shadows there, unfortunately, they need to be seen and to be recognized, and these award shows are made for them.”Villeneuve said he thinks that after this year’s outcry, the Academy will rethink its decision for next year’s telecast. “I think that the Oscars are going through an identity crisis,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Academy Awards.