When promoting an upcoming movie,
actors will say a lot of crazy things to get the media talking about their
film.
This serves a three-fold purpose:
it gets the word of mouth out about their movie, it peaks curiosity that in turn
drives people to buy tickets and see what the fuss is all about, and, finally,
it breaks up the monotony of hundreds of press conferences over a span of a few
weeks.
Actors are people too, just like
you and me. They get bored answering the
same questions over and over again.
Sometimes they have to let loose and have some fun with it. But I don’t think that is what Vin Diesel was
doing in his latest interview with Variety
regarding Furious 7 and I’ll explain
why.
First let’s start with what he
actually said:
"Universal is going to have the biggest movie in history with this movie," Diesel
told Variety. "It will probably win best picture at the Oscars, unless
the Oscars don't want to be relevant ever."
He went on and said, "This will win best picture. There is
nothing that will ever come close to the power of this thing."
Did you hear that? Nothing will ever come close to the power of this thing. Sorry Schindler's List, your message just isn't powerful enough. 12 Years a Slave, you just aren't moving enough to usurp Furious 7 from its emotional throne of power. Get out of here Casablanca.
Most that read that will have one of two reactions. The first, and more popular, response is that
Diesel has finally reached the point of stardom where reality is no longer a
feasible plane of existence. His ego has
swelled so much because of the Fast and
Furious franchise that his self-awareness is taking an extended vacation.
The other line of feedback to Diesel’s quotes is that he is clearly
joking. I personally don’t think he is
joking and I will get to that in a moment.
But first let’s review why his line of thought is,
similar to his famous street racing film franchise, daft and delirious.
It is no secret that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
believes the coveted Best Picture Oscar is reserved for artsy, dramatic films
that include perfect performances from its actors, innovative filmmaking from
its directors, thought-provoking screenplays from its writers, and
awe-inspiring work from the remaining crewmembers that receive accolades on
awards night, including cinematographers, production artists, make-up and
costume designers, visual and sound effect artists, and soundtrack
composers. Popcorn thrillers and
franchise fluff such as comic book movies and action blockbusters don’t receive
nominations for Best Picture. In fact,
it has only been in the last six years since the Best Picture field was expanded
to more than five movies that films not falling into the genres of dramas,
biographical, and art-house are getting better chances at being
nominated, let alone winning.
In this new era of the Academy that recognizes more than just five
films as the best possible movie of the year, it is still full of the regular
fare, but it has also seen an uptick in the amount of action-based and science
fiction movies that receive a nomination.
Last year’s American Sniper is
one such example. While it is still a
biographical drama, much of the movie includes war-based action, and the film likely
would not have made the cut if the Academy had kept its number of nominees at
five.
Other recent action/science fiction/thriller films to receive a Best
Picture nod likely due to the expanded number of nominations going
around include Captain Phillips, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, District
9, and Avatar. I left off Gravity, with much of its plot revolving around space survival
action sets, and The Hurt Locker,
another war action thriller, because both films would have survived the round
of five, especially since The Hurt Locker
won in its year. I could maybe see Inglourious Basterds making the cut, but it would have been close.
Prior to the change in rules that allowed for more than just five
movies to receive a Best Picture nominee, it wasn’t unheard of for action,
science fiction, and fantasy films to have a chance. Letters
from Iwo Jima, another war picture from the director of American Sniper, was nominated in 2006
and in 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King won the Best Picture award, the first and only fantasy
film to ever do so.
What I’m trying to say is Vin Diesel might be correct in arguing for
the inclusion of more action movies in the Best Picture nominee pool, but where
his theory hits an oil slick and spins out of control is whether the Fast and Furious
franchise is worthy enough of such an accolade.
My opinions regarding the misery it is to sit through those movies,
which I’ve done on all but the third one titled The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, are too broad to get into
right now, so let’s get back to why I think it is Diesel isn’t joking when he
says the latest entry in the franchise is Oscar worthy.
Anyone with even a mild interest in Hollywood and the film industry
knows of the major incident that happened during the filming of Furious 7, but just in case you aren’t
part of that group I will inform. Diesel’s
co-star and close friend Paul Walker died in a car crash not related to the
movie. It delayed filming and a decision
had to be made as to whether they continued on with changes to the story,
recasting Walker’s character, or scrapping things altogether. It was ultimately decided to proceed with the
movie and make some changes to Walker’s character.
Since the passing of Walker, Diesel has been very outspoken about how
personal this movie is to him and the importance of completing it as a tribute
to Walker’s memory. Because of the
off-screen death of his friend, Diesel has made it quite clear that this is a
very personal film for him. I don’t
believe that he would make light of the movie’s story or acting by claiming it
is Oscar worthy when it is pretty common knowledge that a movie like that
wouldn’t stand a chance with Academy voters.
In my opinion, making a statement that the movie is Oscar bait and not believing it to be true when Diesel
should clearly know better somewhat mocks Walker’s final movie and belittles
his career since the Fast and Furious
franchise is what he will be remembered for.
Diesel cares too much for this movie series and even more for his late
friend to make a frivolous statement about Furious
7 being an Academy Award Best Picture if he didn’t mean it. Now as for whether he’s driving with a full
tank of NOS or not is another story.
