Oscars Producer Laurence Mark Jim Spellman, WireImage.com As viewership of the televised broadcast of the Academy Awards has gradually diminished year after year -- pretty much every year since "Gladiator" won for Best Picture in '00 -- ABC's TV execs have brought in a pair of seasoned movie producers to infuse the show with some new flair and add some surprises.
Long-time creative collaborators Bill Condon and Laurence Mark -- who most recently teamed up to co-produce "Dreamgirls," a former Academy favorite in its own right -- were hired this year as first-time Oscar show producers. Yahoo! Movies was offered the opportunity to sit down to interview them (unfortunately at the last moment Bill Condon became indisposed), so I sat down to pry for secrets and see what they have in store for this year's TV audience.
Given a relatively tight window of opportunity to chat, we immediately touched on some of the burning questions.
Sean Phillips: So, how are you going to rectify the diminishing viewership of the show?
Laurence Mark: Oh wow, well I hope that we can avoid further erosion. It isn't our -- it isn't the producer's gig. All we hope to do is put on a terrific show, and hope people watch. As far as the selling of it and the marketing of it, we're in ABC's hands, although I must say I would think Hugh Jackman would be a big plus. Certainly feels to me that he's helpful in a big way in this area.
SP: Let's talk a little more about the selection of Hugh. Of course he's hosted the Tony's before very successfully. How'd you go about choosing him?
LM: You know we wanted a movie star, 'cause we thought this was an evening about movies, and let's get a movie star. And in the old days we would have called on Clark Gable or Cary Grant and, in this case, Hugh Jackman seems like our version of one of those guys these days. Also, he sings, he dances, he acts, and he looks terrific in a tuxedo. So my hope's we get to use all four of those talents wisely.
SP: I'm wondering if he's got any of his own "Billy Crystal"-style moments up his sleeve?
LM: Well, Billy Crystal was Billy Crystal and we shouldn't do that, because that's what Billy did so brilliantly, you know? But certainly Hugh can do, you know, his reinvention of himself. Baz Lurhman is doing the production numbers smack in the middle of the show, and Hugh's having a terrific time rehearsing for that.
SP: I think that speaks to maybe some of the tidbits and surprises in store, is there anything else you might be willing to reveal to us?
LM: Well for instance, we're not just celebrating the nominated movies of 2008, we're celebrating the movies of 2008, which, you know, people had a good time at. And that means, for instance, that we have Judd Apatow do the highlights of the year in comedy which will be fun. We have Albert Maisely, who is one of the premiere documentarians in America, doing that same thing for documentaries. Um, we have the gang at Pixar giving us a hand on the animated section, on celebrating animated movies. So in that sense we're hopefully going a little bit out of the box, celebrating "movies."
SP: Can I ask you about the Peter Gabriel circumstance? I know that length of show has always been big on the network's mind. Can we talk a little bit about the Peter Gabriel "retraction" we'll call it?
LM: Sure. You know, whenever you sort of vow to change things you sort of better deliver on that. And one of the things we were always going to do was some sort of medley. And some sort of medley does not mean that any of the songs are performed in its entirety. And while we love Peter Gabriel and would love to have him and certainly invited him to be part of the medley, there was no room in that medley for the song to be performed in its entirety. Which is what he seemed to think was important to him.
SP: Now, has that spoiled [the performance number] and/or forced you to rethink how you want to go about that?
LM: No, no, it's done. I mean it's... we respect his wishes but it has had no residual effect.
SP: How about this year's list of nominees? Are you happy with them? Would you love to have more control as a producer of the show?
LM: Oh gosh, the answer to the question can only be: you must respect the Academy's wishes here. That, you know, how they vote is how they vote. And they have a mind of their own. And that's exactly what they should have... a mind of their own. And it's not up to us to be saying "I wish they had done this, I wish they had done that," you know? You have the cards you're dealt and you have fun with them.
SP: You mentioned many of the changes you hope to implement in the show to give it some new life, some new zest, are there any signature features from the past shows that you have reinstated or continued?
LM: Oh, for sure! We always joke about that things are new and different and yet they stay the same, don't they? So there's many things that will stay the same. That's why we're always concerned about talking too much about "new and different" 'cause you'll think we're performing this on the 50 yard line. [We spoke shortly after this year's Superbowl, so football must have been on Laurence's mind.]
SP: What are some of the things you thought were very important to hang onto, that were so much a part of the pedigree of the Academy Awards?
LM: The most obvious is "In Memorium," because that is one of the most popular segments in the show, and we're thrilled to honor that tradition. We hope we're doing it in a slightly different way, but we're certainly honoring that tradition.
SP: Frankly speaking, do you think it would help the show to have "The Dark Knight" --
LM: Well, the good news is "Dark Knight" did get 8 nominations.
SP: It did.
LM: So no matter what, it's on the show in a big way. Its presence is felt on the show in a big way. I guess it would have been sad had it not gotten any nominations, um... but there again the Academy chose to nominate it for what it chose to nominate it for. And it's nice that we get to include it on the show in all its glory because it does have 8 nominations.
SP: Both you and Bill worked on "Dreamgirls" together, have collaborated creatively, producing. So that leads me to ask if you think there will be a Jennifer Hudson type-winner this year. Someone we don't necessarily know, someone who explodes into the public's conscience who might win?
LM: You know, there are often surprises, aren't there Oscar night? I mean Adrian Brody comes to mind as a recent one as well, to go along with Jennifer. Not the surprise of the evening, but a new face in the evening. But we always hope there are some upsets, because upsets are always fun. You hope that you don't know every outcome in advance.
Oscar statuettes on display in Chicago Barry Brecheisen, WireImage.com SP: I'm a big upset picker when it comes to my Oscar pool, so I --
LM: Are you banking on an upset this year? Best Actress?
SP: I tell you what, I think an upset is anyone but Kate Winslet in that category.
LM: [chuckles] I think you might be right... I think you might be right.
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