The story behind Oscar’s on-stage fight http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/776594--the-story-behind-oscar-s-on-stage-fight?bn=1
There were precious few original moments to grab on to during last night’s Academy Awards broadcast. Thank God for the white lady Kanye. The show’s cringe-inducing highlight came during the acceptance speech by Roger Ross Williams, director of the best documentary short Music by Prudence. As Williams began his speech, a woman in a purple dress burst onto the stage, bogarted the mic and began talking over him. “Let the woman talk,” she blurts over Williams. “Isn’t that just the classic thing?” Er. As it happened, many viewers might have mistaken the woman for an intruder. Williams looked pained and embarrassed. She looked determined and rambly. The woman is Elinor Burkett, a journalist who is also a producer of Music by Prudence. The backstory is that Williams and Burkett were once filmmaking partners. That didn’t go too well. And it ended even worse. Salon’s Kerry Lauerman got Williams and Burkett on the phone just after the ceremony. According to Burkett, the two fell out during the making of the film over the usual creative differences. Burkett pulled her name from the credits in protest, but, for Oscar purposes, was still considered the film’s producer. They were also involved in a lawsuit that ended “amicably” (Yeah, sure.) All their pre-Oscar junketing was done in stony silence. Burkett said she was blacklisted from many events. When the award was called, the pair apparently raced each other to the stage. Burkett accused Williams’ 87-year-old mother of blocking her way with a cane. If that’s true, someone is holding raw footage of Mama Williams pulling a Lucy-with-a-football on Elinor Burkett and the world needs to see that video. Williams, for his part, denied that his mother tried the old picket fence on his production rival. “What are people saying about it?” he asked Lauerman. “They’re saying it looked like she pulled a Kanye.” “She did! She pulled a Kanye.” So, what’s Music by Prudence about? Who cares? What matters is who’s going to option Elinor v. Roger Ross: Blood on the Academy Floor. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
