Will Oscar voters welcome back Mel Gibson?

[Daniel Montgomery Joined: May 14th, 2011 Topics: 337 Posts: 2492 View Predictions]

#1201975610

“Hacksaw Ridge” is looking like a stronger and stronger contender for a Best Picture nomination, and the Best Director category still seems fairly open to me — beyond Chazelle, Jenkins, and Lonergan there still seems to be room to maneuver for those last two slots. Since “Hacksaw” is such a director’s movie (big complex action sequences, with Gibson’s favorite thematic flourishes) and we know the academy has liked Gibson before, will he be nominated again for Best Director, or is he still going to be hurt by his past misdeeds?

Reply

[GusCruz Joined: Feb 26th, 2012 Topics: 54 Posts: 13347 View Predictions]

#1201975680

I feel like this has been discussed exhaustively for half a year now. A non-story.

ReplyCopy URL

[JackO Joined: Jun 2nd, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 5504 View Predictions]

#1201975685

You never know with the Directors branch, they go their own way. I think Hacksaw ends up as a top 5 film but Gibson gets snubbed by said branch.

ReplyCopy URL

[Moviebuff22 Joined: Jan 17th, 2016 Topics: 8 Posts: 1022 View Predictions]

#1201975705

I feel like he’s getting in

ReplyCopy URL

[pacinofan Joined: Nov 28th, 2011 Topics: 8 Posts: 4211 View Predictions]

#1201975720

I feel he’ll get in due to the scattered nature of the Oscar race this year, but he has not been forgiven and will not have a chance of winning despite his film having the kind of technical acumen Oscar voters want out of their directing nominees. He has an Oscar and voters will not feel he is owed another when there are other respectable nominees.

ReplyCopy URL

[Eddy Q Joined: Oct 13th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4524 View Predictions]

#1201975796

Gibson’s in contention, no question, and I fully expect him to get a DGA nomination, but there are many who dislike his sensibilities as a filmmaker, not just as a person. I wonder how many in the choosy Academy directors branch feel this way; Braveheart was a long time ago.

Outside of the Chazelle-Jenkins-Lonergan trio, Scorsese cannot be dismissed unless Silence starts drastically underperforming at the guilds (and even then he can’t be entirely discounted), and I suspect there might be some Lenny Abrahamson/Benh Zeitlin type nomination that most people won’t expect; David Mackenzie for Hell or High Water comes to mind. So yes, Gibson can be snubbed, and it would be sort of typical of the directors branch to do so.

ReplyCopy URL

[AwardsConnect Joined: Jan 16th, 2016 Topics: 17 Posts: 3626 View Predictions]

#1201975870

I’m skeptical, even if Hacksaw Ridge garners nods in Picture, Lead Actor and several tech categories. I’d keep an eye on Gibson at the Globes, though, for the win…

For the finest in film reviews and awards analysis, please visit me at The Awards Connection!

ReplyCopy URL

[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 27 Posts: 3064 View Predictions]

#1201975890

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.

[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 102 Posts: 12646 View Predictions]

#1201975920

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.

[leothescorpio Joined: Jul 7th, 2015 Topics: 35 Posts: 2038 View Predictions]

#1201975953

wrote:

Last time I checked he was still a man so of course AMPAS will welcome him back. If he was a woman then we wouldn’t even have this conversation…

Came here to post this.

ReplyCopy URL

[Maxwell Joined: Jan 27th, 2015 Topics: 3 Posts: 184 View Predictions]

#1201975973

I don’t think it’s a matter of ethics here. Chazelle, Jenkins, and Lonergan are locks.

The consensus choice greatest living American filmmaker has just made his passion project – an arty, ambitious period epic. Scorsese’s in, guys.

I agree that Lorrain is likeliest to show up in that fifth slot here. While Fences is stronger than Hacksaw in the picture race, Gibson probably has a better shot than Washington for a nom, but as others say there’s also Mackenzie to consider. At this point it’s really more a matter of level of support for Jackie among artier contingents and who shows up at DGA, not personal feelings toward Gibson.

ReplyCopy URL

[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 237 Posts: 8893 View Predictions]

#1201975985

Gibson will be shut out in favor of Scorsese.

ReplyCopy URL

[Anthony 🐜 Joined: Jul 26th, 2013 Topics: 47 Posts: 2617 View Predictions]

#1201976006

GusCruz wrote:

I feel like this has been discussed exhaustively for half a year now. A non-story.

Yeah. It’s December, the film is a hit (the public court of opinion), good reviews (critics) and it has hit everywhere that other “safe” films have hit.

It is an academy film, made by an Academy award winner, about their favourite topic: Biopics on heroism.

So yes. Hacksaw Ridge is happening. Has been happening when it came out way back in October

ReplyCopy URL

[Roney Moore Joined: Jun 7th, 2016 Topics: 3 Posts: 780 View Predictions]

#1201976012

They let in way too many indie directors in the club last year that I have a hard time seeing them going for a movie like this(even if it wasn’t directed by Crazy Mel)

Though unlike most war movies , the main character is kind of a sensitive outcast that might make it easier for them to identify themselves with.

He is my 8th prediction for that category atm.

ReplyCopy URL