We’ve said it a million times before, but filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie is not a man known to mince words. When you ask the writer-director a question, he’s most definitely going to give you an answer. So, don’t be surprised when the filmmaker throws an F-bomb out there and threatens to leave the Academy when he’s asked about the Oscars and the potential Best Popular Film category.
In a new, very informative, interview with Collider, McQuarrie is asked a lot about his most recent film, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” as well as what he thinks about potential new categories at the Oscars. As a filmmaker known for creating some of the best “popcorn” action films of the decade with his last two ‘Mission: Impossible’ films, it would stand to reason that McQuarrie has some thoughts on the issue. And yes, he sure does.
“I can be diplomatic, but fuck it,” said McQuarrie. “There was talk of a popular film category. I’m really glad they’re not doing that, because I think the notion of that is to shy away from the fact that a—I don’t care, revoke my academy membership.”
He continued, “What would be more effective, is I think if you’re going to introduce a new category the category should be stunts. I can’t think of a film recently that might qualify, but, that’s an art, that’s a skill, that’s a craft. Those are people risking their lives and doing things that are absolutely and utterly truly amazing and are so much a part of an experience like that. Not just in films like this. You go look at ‘Hell or High Water.’ ‘Lone Survivor.’ The stunts in that movie were absolutely incredible. In terms of a new category, I think you need to do that.”
Recently, the president of the AMPAS, John Bailey, talked about the idea of extending the amount of creative categories to perhaps include stunt work, as well as casting (the other potential category that constantly is mentioned). But ultimately, McQuarrie believes that the fight over what constitutes a “Best Picture” from a “Popular Film” is losing sight of the big issue.
READ MORE: Christopher McQuarrie Says He’d “Rather Have Leprosy” Than Direct ‘Mission: Impossible 7’
He explains, “I think that there’s a point at which we’ve lost sight of the fact that what we’re here to do first and foremost—sorry if this sounds offensive to anybody—is to entertain people and to move people. A part of me looks at that and says, ‘Well, there are big movies that do that too.’”
Audiences would agree, as would Disney, with “Black Panther” not only setting box office records but also scoring incredible critical acclaim. That’s why all eyes are on this year’s Oscar noms to see if the Academy recognizes a film like “Black Panther” or sticks to its more recent trend of smaller, indie fare.
“I was reading online the back and forth, the arguments of how certain films didn’t qualify because they’re just not Academy Award movies. This one guy had this unbelievably articulate seven-paragraph argument for all of the things that qualified a movie, none of which were ‘Titanic,’” the filmmaker said. “It wasn’t that long ago that a film like that was both commercially successful and won all of those Academy Awards. I think some of what we see now is a little bit of a backlash from that. There’s a morning after and people say, ‘We did what? We gave the two billion dollar earning movie an Academy Award and not these other movies?’”
McQuarrie believes that the inclusion of new, diverse members in the Academy will help with this change. However, ultimately, to see real change, the AMPAS would have to take a look at what their “mission” is.
“It might be nice if they had a bunch of screenings where they talked about what a Best Picture is. How do we define it?” McQuarrie said. “Really, if they look at what their mission is. I think ultimately you’ll just see the pendulum swing. Some film will do it. Some change in the audience will do it. .There are other films, smaller films, important films, films that are addressing things that people don’t necessarily want to confront that don’t make money. The awards that they make get that movie attention and might put that movie in front of some other people. I think that’s great too. I think I’ve covered about every single possible perspective you could have on all this. I answered your question. But in the end, stunts.”
In a way, McQuarrie’s long, thoughtful answers highlight many people’s issues with the idea of a new Popular Film category — the definition. The filmmaker took hundreds of words to try to explain the difference, but still came back to the idea that there is no right answer. To him, and many other film fans right now, the only answer is “stunts.”