Even in war, Oscar 'show will go on'
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The Oscars were delayed in 1981 because the event was scheduled the day President Reagan was shot.
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Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Frank Pierson and Oscar winner Marisa Tomei announce the nominations for the 75th Academy Awards. (February 11)
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BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) -- Oscar organizers are hoping the movie awards ceremony doesn't get lost in a U.S.-led war with Iraq.
The United States, Britain and Spain proposed a March 17 deadline for Iraq to prove it has disarmed -- which means a military strike could be dominating the news by the time Hollywood kicks off its annual awards extravaganza on March 23.
Gil Cates, executive producer of ABC's live Academy Awards telecast, told a gathering of nominees Monday that "the show will go on," even if it means interrupting the ceremony with periodic announcements or running a news crawl at the bottom of the screen.
"If they run things under the screen indicating what's going on in the world, that's fine," said Cates, who has produced the event 10 previous times. "If something happens and they have to go away, they'll go away and come back."
The Oscars were delayed for one day in 1981 because the event was scheduled the day President Reagan was shot. The assassination of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 pushed the ceremony back two days.
Massive flooding in Los Angeles delayed the Oscars by a week in 1938, but the annual celebration continued throughout World War II, although planners made the celebration less ostentatious.
Cates said he would be angry with celebrity presenters who change their script to include a political statement. Winners, however, are free to express themselves however they choose, he added.
"If someone as presenter were to change what they and we agreed to, I think it would be a violation both ethically and morally," Cates said. "With regards to the winner -- it's their 45 seconds."
Many nominees for this year's ceremony acknowledged their mood at the show would likely be more somber.
"If we do choose to celebrate this thing, ... we've got to think about how we can do that in a way that is respective of what's going on," said Irish actor Daniel Day-Lewis, a lead-actor nominee for "Gangs of New York." "It would seem kind of obscene if we were there trouncing up the red carpet grinning and waving and people were dying somewhere in the world."
Copyright 2003 The
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