I wouldn't call Annie Proulx's tantrum in the Guardian sour grapes, as she suggests. Sour grapes is when you get nothing, and the movie based on Proulx's novel snagged three Oscars (best director, best adapted screenplay, and achievement in musical score.) They weren't for best film, though, so out came the claws.
Having your book made into a movie, isn't that every writer's wet dream? Being nominated for multiple Oscars is beyond the realm of imagination. Winning three of them, God Almighty, there aren't even words. Who in their right mind would think that's not good enough?
Anyway, into the ABB file you go, Ms. Proulx. You might want to consider asking yourself some hard questions, too. Like "Is Jupiter still larger than my ego?" (thanks to Bill Peschel for the heads-up.)
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Yeah, but did she even get mentioned? I don't remember hearing her name, just about a story in the New Yorker (was it?). That would tick me off mightily. Admitting I haven't followed that link, yet, though. ;+)
ReplyDeleteShe is mentioned in the credits for the movie, as the author of the short story on which it is based: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/fullcredits#writers
ReplyDeleteShe probably doesn't have a physical Oscar to put on her mantle, since she is not one of the authors of the screenplay.
My guess is there was a fat "Best Picture" bonus in her contract, and she went out and spent the money already. She can't possibly imagine that throwing a public tantrum would help her career.
I don't blame her for being disappointed. I'm just not sure writing an article so scathingly bitter toward the Hollywood set and L.A. in general was the wisest way to go about expressing it. She called them "dim" at best, a lot more when you read between the lines.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see Crash, so I have no way of saying whether or not it deserved the Oscar nod. I did enjoy Brokeback, and I was disappointed that it lost Best Picture. And I do heartily agree with Prouxl's take on actors who win by mimicking real humans who've left behind a lot of material to help the actor's portrayal versus ones who take a fictional character and make him or her into someone real. Heath Ledger was robbed, IMO.
But if anything I've ever written even comes within a hundred miles of what she's achieved with her short story, I'd be the happies human out there! Yeah, it's kind of hard to take the bitter grapes while the rest of us would be happy with a couple of dried up old raisens.
Wow. Makes me not want to actually read the short story now... I didn't see either of these movies but talk about ungrateful!
ReplyDeleteRead the story - it's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteProulx's piece was an expression of an opinion, and she's entitled to it. She admits it's sour grapes and I don't see a problem with that. At least she is honest in her opinions and the questions she raises are certainly ones it would do no-one harm to consider.
She certainly doesn't need an Oscar for her own mantelpiece being recognised already as one of the finest contemporary american writers. And it isn't jsut the book on which the film was BASED. I don't think I've ever seen a film truer to the original source.
I haven't seen crash yet, and will make my mind up about the relative merits of both films when I have. But I was very disappointed that Brokeback didn't get Best Picture.