Sound and Fury of Oscars

Two weeks after Mike Myers cracked a few jokes at the expense of movie sound technicians as a presenter at this year’s Academy Awards, tempers are still flaring within Hollywood’s close-knit sound community over the comedian’s barbs.

Robert Rehme, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, issued a written apology to the academy’s sound branch, stressing, “we will certainly endeavor to see that it doesn’t happen again.” He also invited all three sound branch governors to appear Tuesday before the academy’s annual “post-Oscar” awards review committee meeting to air their complaints. The committee consists of all 13 branches.

What incensed the 430-member sound branch were Myers’ scripted comments made during the March 25 Oscar telecast, when the comedian took the stage to announce the winners in the best sound and sound editing categories. Before opening the envelopes, the star of the popular “Austin Powers” films and former regular on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” quipped:

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, the award we’ve all been waiting for . . . Julia! OK. Sound and sound editing. Now, I know what you’re asking yourself. Will the winner this year be Chet Flippy or Tommy Blub-Blub or, perhaps, even Chad [unintelligible]. We don’t know, but what I do know is that what’s in this envelope is gonna send shock waves through the industry. Oh, yeah.”

The day after the show, which aired live on ABC, a sound branch governor wrote to Rehme praising producer Gil Cates and the show overall, but specifically complaining that Myers’ comments were an “insult.”

“The comments made by Mike Myers during the presentation . . . were at the very least offensive, but greater than that, an insult to what we all know the film industry to be, a combination of wonderful sights and sounds,” wrote Donald C. Rogers, chairman of the sound branch’s executive committee.

“There is no excuse for demeaning the hard work of any individual on a project, ever,” Rogers continued. “What makes this even more insulting is that the insult was delivered as an introduction to the award.”

He recalled that after the show, each of the nominated sound mixers and editors came to him and expressed their “hurt and anger at the way their award was presented to the public.”

“One of the primary goals of the academy is to promote the movies, and our awards for excellence are considered the culmination of many individual’s careers,” Rogers added. “Their families are watching, and it’s a moment of great pride for all associated with the project. Being publicly humiliated for being an unrecognizable . . . name removed all of the joy of the event, and was embarrassing to say the least. I spoke to one individual who asked, ‘How could our academy do this to us?”’

Repeated attempts to reach Myers for this story were unsuccessful.

Rogers then asked Rehme to supply him with an answer as to whether Myers’ remarks were written into the script and, if so, why they were allowed.

After conducting an internal inquiry, Rehme confirmed that the quotes were, indeed, scripted.

“I’m told that Mr. Myers was largely responsible for the content of his introduction,” Rehme wrote back in a letter dated March 29, “but that this wasn’t a case of an onstage ad-lib; his remarks were on the TelePrompTer.

“We will certainly endeavor to see that it doesn’t happen again, although as we’ve seen, it’s difficult to control every word of the script.”

Both Rehme and Bruce Davis, the academy’s executive director, said in interviews that the academy has guidelines in place dating back to the era when Johnny Carson hosted the show that specifically state it is important that the Oscar ceremonies “not present any of the categories dismissively, or make them the object of jokes that imply that no one really cares about them.”

Reached in Hawaii, where he was vacationing, producer Cates said that he was well aware of the guidelines and that he approved the introductory remarks made by Myers, who penned the introduction himself.

“I thought it was was amusing,” Cates said in a phone interview. “I didn’t mean it to cause any harm. I’m sorry if it did. I apologize if it caused any harm and wouldn’t have used it if I knew it would come across the way it did. He thought it would be funny and I thought it would, too, and I was wrong.”

Cates said he apologized to anyone offended by the remarks and took “full responsibility” for allowing them to air.

“Certainly, Mike Myers intended no discourtesy,” Cates said. “He is a wonderful guy who has been a presenter on the show several times. . . . He’s a very decent fellow and just a joy in terms of trying to be lighthearted. He meant no discourtesy, nor did I.”

Davis and Rehme kicked themselves for not spotting the trouble ahead of time.

“I sit through all those rehearsals,” Rehme said. “I must have gone to the restroom or something.”

“These things change up until hours before the show,” Davis observed. “I do not know when this one changed, but I was told this was on the TelePrompTer.”

Neither official blamed Myers.

“I think Mike Myers is not the villain here,” Davis said. “I have no idea how this came about, but every presenter is special. Those who are comedians are looking for ways to punch up their introductory remarks. Not all of them think it through as carefully as they might.”

“It’s our fault,” Rehme said. “Mike Myers is a charming guy. He would do anything we asked him to do. This just slipped through.”

At this year’s show, the Academy Award for best sound went to Scott Millan, Bob Beemer and Ken Weston for “Gladiator,” while Jon Johnson picked up the Oscar for best sound editing for “U-571.”

Johnson said in an interview this week that he wasn’t “personally stung” by Myers’ remarks, although he was “surprised” by them.

“I don’t take it personally,” he said. “I would take it personally if those words were written for him by the same people who produce the show. If this was a routine by Mike to get a laugh, I think it fell on its face.”

He added that the Oscar winners for sound have just as much reason to rejoice in their achievement as Julia Roberts did by winning best actress. “There’s no reason anybody should hang their heads,” Johnson said. “My statue’s as high as Julia’s.”

The sound branch is one of 13 branches of the academy, which also include such professions as directors, actors and makeup artists. While there are 2,000 to 3,000 people who work with movie sound in some capacity in Hollywood, not all are members of the academy. To qualify, for instance, they must have 10 years’ experience in their profession. They include production mixers, rerecording mixers, sound engineers, sound editors and recordists.

Rehme said that in addition to the governors of the sound branch, he had received correspondence from 20 to 25 individuals who complained about Myers’ remarks.

In his March 29 letter to the sound branch leadership, Rehme noted that producers of the Oscar show are given academy guidelines that clearly state the academy’s position on not referring dismissively to the categories. But the academy goes even one step further, he added. Executive director Davis is given the job of combing through early drafts of the show’s script every year.

“I look for inaccuracies about academy history, inaccuracies about the films or anything members of the academy or audiences might be sensitive to,” Davis explained.

As it happened, Rehme recounted, Davis read the first draft of this year’s show and thought there was a “small problem” in the sound presentation.

Although Myers had not yet been named as presenter in the sound categories, Davis did not like what the show’s writers had scripted. The draft read: “If you give me 30 seconds, you’ll see what sound editors do. And I’m going to watch with you . . . because I can’t wait to find out myself.”

“Mild enough,” Rehme wrote, “but Bruce sent a note over to the production staff, objecting to the line and noting that it’s not in our interest to suggest to our audience that our members are mystified by what it is that other members do.”

But Rehme also pointed out that just because the academy discourages remarks that dismissively refer to Oscar categories, they will not stop the practice of hosts or presenters having fun with individual academy members.

“Digs at individual members, so long as they are in good fun, have always been fair game,” Rehme wrote.

Some members of the sound branch are convinced that the academy has allowed their profession to become the butt of jokes at Oscar shows, like having crass cartoon characters like Beavis and Butt-head introduce the sound categories one year. Rehme said there is some merit to these complaints.

“Without really going into old history, I think it’s unfortunate if the presenter for the sound award has, by coincidence, treated it lightly,” Rehme said. “Perhaps it’s because it’s not the preeminent movie star that they would like. . . . But I think there is something there. I think that has probably happened and we are going to try to address that.”