Always nice to see another update!
As copies of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and other books of a similar nature flew off the shelves throughout 1992, Hollywood began to take notice.
I can't help but be reminded of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", and the scene in which Aunt Viv (the
good one) starts talking about how only having read
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (without having studied the
real history behind it) would, in her words, "trivialize the entire struggle". That's a very clumsy segue into wondering how "Fresh Prince", which was actually surprisingly socially and politically charged in its first season, would cope with the events of TTL - and indeed, how the career of Will Smith in general will be affected.
vultan said:
One big example of this added attention to black-oriented stories in the film industry was the success of the Spike Lee’s Malcolm X at the 65th Academy Awards. Denzel Washington would take home the gold for his portrayal of the titular character [1], while Spike Lee and Arnold Pearl would win the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay [2]. The movie was further nominated for Best Director for Spike Lee and Best Picture [3]. Many contended that the film was only this successful because of political reasons and for the widely-held belief that Lee was snubbed for the paucity of nominations his masterpiece Do The Right Thing had a few years before.
Agreed that, given this climate,
Malcolm X won clean up at the Oscars, especially given their acknowledged tendency to hand out "apology" or "consolation" awards for past snubs. That said, I suspect that
Scent of a Woman would go without the Best Picture nomination. There's nothing really memorable or lasting about the film except for Pacino's performance; Meanwhile,
A Few Good Men has a star-studded ensemble cast, and was a huge crowd-pleaser. In 1993, those kinds of movies are still nominated for Best Picture (witness
Ghost just two years before), even if they don't actually
win it anymore. I definitely agree with the Brest snub for Best Director.
vultan said:
Actor Richard Dreyfuss was able to sell Universal a screenplay he and author Harry Turtledove were working on under the working title "The Two Georges"
You just couldn't resist, could you?
Very interested to see how this one develops and is received.
vultan said:
Lo and behold, it was during this time that, after acquiring unfinished portions of Obama’s memoir from Times Books, which was set to publish the final product, that Universal Studios sent a galley proof to legendary director Norman Jewison (who had actually been set to direct Malcolm X before Spike Lee came aboard) to gauge his interest in directing a theatrical adaptation of the young man’s interesting life, under the working title “Dreams from My Father”…
So Barack Obama is thrust into the national spotlight over a decade ahead of schedule. This one might be interesting, because he could very well crash and burn (anyone remember
Antwone Fisher?), and then return to academia, never to be heard from again.
vultan said:
Beating out Al Pacino’s Yosemite Sam impression in Scent of a Woman.
Hoo-ah!
vultan said:
Martin Brest goes without his nomination for Scent of a Woman (because in our timeline he went on to direct Gigli).
I have to ask, out of a sense of morbid curiosity. Have you ever actually
seen that famous turkey? ("Gobble, gobble.")
Some very interesting developments we have here. There are going to be a few interesting butterflies from the Oscars alone. Are we to assume that
Unforgiven still took Picture and Director? If so, I can't expect Lee to take that very well, despite his own Oscar win. We already know from OTL that he's more than willing to attack Eastwood; perhaps this feud will be ignited much earlier than IOTL. However, Washington's victory as Malcolm X means that he
won't be given his own consolation Oscar for *
Training Day. On the other hand, Pacino still doesn't have one - which means that
he'll be due a consolation Oscar. It's a vicious cycle, Oscar entitlement...