Rami Malek wins best actor Oscar for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

LOS ANGELES — Rami Malek had difficult moments making “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but he has an Oscar to show for it.

Malek, receiving the best actor trophy Sunday for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, called it a “monumental moment.” He thanked members of the band in attendance.


“I may not have been the obvious choice, but I guess it worked out,” Malek said. “Thank you, Queen, thank you, guys, for allowing me to be the tiniest part of your phenomenal, extraordinary legacy. I am forever in your debt.

Malek speculated about what he would have made of the honor as a child.

“I think his curly haired mind would have been blown,” he said. “That kid was struggling with his identity, trying to figure himself out.”

He lauded “Bohemian Rhapsody” for telling the story of a gay man and an immigrant who lived his life as “unapologetically himself.” Mercury, who was born in Zanzibar to parents from India, moved to England with his family as a teenager.

Malek noted that he himself is the son of immigrants, from Egypt, and a first-generation American. He gave a shout-out to his mother — “I love you, lady” — and regretted that his father was not alive.

“My dad didn’t get to see me do any of this, but I think he’s looking down on me right now,” he said.

Malek, who was best known for his award-winning role as a disturbed hacker in TV’s “Mr. Robot,” was the front-runner coming into the Oscars, having collected an armful of awards including Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild trophies.

He has spoken, briefly but publicly, about the difficulty of working with director Bryan Singer before Singer was fired from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It was “not pleasant, not pleasant at all,” he said earlier this month at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Singer’s firing came amidst sexual abuse allegations against the director, which he has categorically denied and weren’t cited as the reason for his being dropped from the film.


The other nominees in the category were Christian Bale for “Vice”; Bradley Cooper in “A Star Is Born”; Willem Dafoe with “At Eternity’s Gate” and Viggo Mortensen in “Green Book.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

With Kevin Hart’s downfall, hosting the Oscars got harder

LOS ANGELES  — The “most thankless job in town” just got even more difficult.

The Oscars have a longstanding host problem, but Kevin Hart’s swift downfall over old anti-gay tweets has led to bigger questions about the gig and the liability of social media histories.


It’s just the latest controversy for the organization that puts on the Academy Awards, which is trying to combat declining ratings for its marquee event while weathering the pressure of being a focal point for the shortcomings of the entertainment industry as a whole.

“I think it’s embarrassing,” Matthew Belloni, the editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, said about the academy’s decision to pick Hart. “It shows that they either didn’t vet this host properly, or they did vet him and didn’t think this would be an issue. And both are a little troubling.”

Hart seemed to fit the bill for what the academy was looking for.

“He checks all the boxes for a show like the Oscars,” Belloni said. “He’s a legitimate movie star. He’s a funny guy and can handle the stand-up element of the show. And he has a gigantic social following. And to the academy, that’s important. They want someone who can bring a new audience to the show.”

But Oscars hosts have always been subjected to a lot of scrutiny.

Poor or even mediocre performances can haunt people for years (Anne Hathaway and James Franco). Off-color jokes have a way of festering in the cultural consciousness (think of Seth MacFarlane’s “we saw your boobs” song, or Chris Rock’s Asian jokes). And even when things go decently enough, everyone is handed the right envelope and nobody walks away offended, the hosts can still be blamed for poor ratings.

“Oscars host has become a not very desirable job in Hollywood. Very few people see an upside,” Belloni said. “You put a huge target on your back.”

People have stepped down from being the public face of the event amid controversy, as producer Brett Ratner did in 2011 for anti-gay slurs. But Hart’s case is a little different. Ratner’s offensive remarks came after he had secured the gig. Hart’s tweets were from almost a decade ago and were well known.

But in 2018, an unsavory social media past can cost someone their job. Just this past summer, the Walt Disney Co. fired director James Gunn from the third “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie for old tweets in which he joked about subjects including rape and pedophilia. As with Hart, the problematic tweets were amplified by social media outrage.

Immediately after Hart was confirmed as host on Tuesday night, some journalists began tweeting reminders of Hart’s past comments. By Thursday morning, a few publications had written articles about them. The outrage escalated, Hart commented but did not apologize, stoking even more outrage, which culminated with Hart’s announcement on Thursday night that he was stepping down as host of the 91st Academy Awards.

As the dust settles, the situation has proved vexing for some in the entertainment business. Actor D.L. Hughley commended Hart for his decision.

“A Comedian says something that offends people and refuses to apologize?” Hughley tweeted. “(Expletive) ’em if they can’t take a joke! Well done #KevinHart.” Snoop Dogg posted an even more colorful Instagram video in support of Hart.

The advocacy organization GLAAD wishes Hart hadn’t stepped down, however.

“Hart’s apology to LGBTQ people is an important step forward, but he missed a real opportunity to use his platform and the Oscars stage to build unity and awareness,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

The film academy has yet to address Hart’s departure. Hart said the film academy told him he had to apologize or he’d lose the gig. He bowed out on his own, and with an apology.

Now everyone has an opinion about who should be named host. A woman? A comedian? Not a comedian? Someone in the LGBTQ community? All of the above?

Many keep coming back to Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the awards four times. Some have said Ellen DeGeneres, who hosted one of the Oscars’ highest-rated shows, or Tom Hanks, who has a longstanding academy relationship.

Others have said Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele, Will Smith or Lin-Manuel Miranda. Busy Phillips threw her own name out there (“I AM AVAILABLE,” she tweeted). Philips also proposed Issa Rae, Sarah Silverman, Ali Wong, Samantha Bee, Robin Thede and Aisha Tyler, or “any other woman working in Hollywood right now who wants to.”

Stephen King suggested Patton Oswalt (He’s “funny, sharp-tongued, and he knows film,” King tweeted.) Some have even proposed Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty. Or no host at all, which has been done several times before, and as recently as 1989.

But the film academy will need to move quickly. The 91st Oscars are less than three months out. MKH

source: entertainment.inquirer.net