Oscars under fire for moving four categories to commercial breaks

Indiewire

Guillermo del Toro led other high-profile filmmakers in denouncing moving of four categories -- editing, cinematography, makeup and hairstyling and live-action shorts -- off of the live broadcast. "If I may: I would not presume to suggest what categories to cut during the Oscars show but - Cinematography and Editing are at the very heart of our craft," the director, who won two Academy Awards last year, tweeted last night. "They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself." Roma director Alfonso Cuarón, who won an Oscar for co-editing Gravity, also denounced the decision, tweeting: "In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing." Oscar Winner Russell Crowe tweeted: "This is just such a fundamentally stupid decision, I’m not even going to be bothered trying to be a smart arse about it. It’s just too f*cking dumb for words."

ALSO:

• Running time and ratings don't correlate: The 2002 ceremony, watched by 40.54 million, lasted 4 hours and 23 minutes
• There have to be ways to cut down the Oscars without cutting down on categories
• One movie critic questions why none of the commercial break categories feature nominees from ABC's parent Disney