Modified On January 23, 2005
The pre-Oscar announcements interview with this year’s Oscarcast host Chris Rock is being carried in newspapers around the globe. (We caught in the Montreal Gazette.) It matters not that he’s kidding when he says the following:
“I am rooting for Jamie (Foxx), and if he doesn’t win, I’m going to talk about it on the show,” Mr. Rock promised, a sly grin tiptoeing across his face.
If Mr. Foxx comes up empty?
“I’ll take an Oscar from one of the sound or light people that win and give it to him,” Mr. Rock said. “Jamie Foxx is not going to walk out of that place without an Oscar.”
It’s still an embarassment. And the Academy can’t be too happy about talk like this. Neither can anyone who wins a technical Oscar. (One of those poor “sound and light people” whose statue Rock would so cavalierly commandeer for his pal.) Of course the folks at MPAAS don’t care if Rock cheapens the proceedings with his own version of jury nullification– they are all a-tingle that Rock might say a naughty word or two. How desperate are they for ratings?
Of course, we can’t be sure that Foxx will win an Oscar based on his showing at the Golden Globes. The Globes’ results as an indicator of Oscar success has diminshed in recent years. But we are certain that, if Foxx loses and Rock stays true to his word and says something stupid, the actual winner of the Oscar will be one of the more unfortunate figures in Academy history. Second only, perhaps, to Marisa Tomei. (You’ll recall that Ms. Tomei was the victim of a whispering campaign, perpetuated by pimply-faced conspiracy geeks, that her Oscar win was a “mistake.”)