Every year, the Academy and the telecast producers try their damndest to make the Oscars fresh and exciting. Often, this includes floating ideas about new changes to the ceremony that don’t always rub people the right way. And for the 2022 telecast, it appears most filmmakers are absolutely against one of the major changes to this year’s Oscars, including nominees such as Denis Villeneuve and Jane Campion.
We’ve already seen how the decision to relegate eight categories to a pre-taped, pre-ceremony segment has upset folks like Guillermo del Toro and Steven Spielberg. But now, we have Villeneuve and Campion adding to the chorus of filmmakers who believe the Oscars telecast is forgetting how much filmmaking is a team endeavor.
“Honestly, I think that the Academy’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Villeneuve while speaking to 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.”
He added, “The thing is that filmmaking is about teamwork. It’s like a football team. It’s like you have different kinds of jobs that everyone needs to be at the top of their game; otherwise the movie collapses, you know? It’s a team effort. In the media it’s all about the directors, and of course, all about the actors. All the people that are working in the shadows, they need to be seen and to be recognized, and these award shows are made for them.”
Villeneuve believes that these changes to the 2022 telecast are all part of an idea that the Oscars need to change. He feels like the Academy is altering the format of the ceremony to appeal to this idea that the Oscars are failing in some way, which Villeneuve doesn’t believe is happening.
“I think that the Oscars are going through an identity crisis,” the “Dune” filmmaker said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Academy Awards. I think everybody is expecting that it will be a long show. Myself, I love it…There’s always bursts of genius. And beautiful moments. Sometimes it’s boring…Every single edition is always its own. It’s part of the show. And listen, we’ll see what happened this year but I think there will be a lot of thought before and after.”
READ MORE: Guillermo Del Toro Says “This Is Not The Year” For Changes To The Oscars Format
Joining Villeneuve in his displeasure of the category changes to the ceremony is “The Power of the Dog” director, Jane Campion. The front-runner for a number of categories on Oscar night echoes the sentiment by the other filmmakers by saying how the ceremony seems to be leaving behind some of the most important creators in the filmmaking process.
“With the recent changes in the format the Oscars I want to take a moment to express particularly how important production design is to creating a good film,” said Campion, “I would have definitely included design in the main body of the awards because design is so vital. It’s one of the most important relationships.”
It would appear that any sort of reversal isn’t going to happen for 2022. We’ll have to see how the reaction is during the telecast to see if these changes are a one-off decision or if this will be the new norm. The 2022 Oscars airs on March 27.