Education of Oscar Nominees 2009

Marcus Varner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:19:10 +0000

With this year’s batch of Oscar nominees, it’s time to scrutinize their early education roots. After all, these are the folks we look to as our on-screen heroes. When they get up and speak, our news media pays attention, endowing then with some kind of credibility, deserved or undeserved. For some inexplicable reason, we think they are more entitled to speak and be heard than the rest.

So, let’s see what their educations reveal: head of the class or class clown? This is our Education of Oscar Nominees 2009:

Heath Ledger
Nominated posthumously for his chilling performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, Ledger attended Mary’s Mount Primary School in Perth, Australia and then Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting gig at age 10 as Peter Pan. He was very successful at dance choreography and chess, winning the Western Australia junior chess championship.

Kate Winslet
At age 11, this perennial Oscar nominee and winner began studying drama at the Redroofs Theatre School. She was head girl at the co-ed school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she received a lot of negative attention as a teenager for being overweight and having overly large feet. As she appears stark naked in most of her films nowadays, it appears Winslet has overcome any insecurities brought on by said bullying.

Robert Downey, Jr.
Brought back to life in 2008 from the celebrity drug addiction graveyard, this Iron Man grew up in a filmmaking household. His father was an actor, producer, writer, and director of underground films. Growing up in Greenwich Village, NY, Downey attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate NY. When his parents divorced, he went to CA with his father where he dropped out of Santa Monica High School to, of course, pursue acting full-time. So, he’s obviously not the prodigy inventor he portrays, but he sure loves acting.

Danny Boyle
Before he directed edgy films like Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Sunlight, and 28 Days Later, this film director actually considered becoming a priest. He was discouraged from pursuing that career path by a priest. He went on to study at Thornleigh Salesian College and University of Wales, Bangor. With a best director Oscar in his grasp, it looks like the film thing worked out pretty well, and he doesn’t have to worry about wearing those uncomfortable-looking robes.

David Fincher
This Benjamin Button director grew up in Marin County, CA, before moving to Ashland, OR, in his teens. From the age of 8, he began shooting films on an 8mm camera. Cool trivial tidbit: before directing Seven, Fight Club, and Zodiac, Fincher worked for the granddaddy of special effects studios, Industrial Light and Magic, working on films like Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Caaalllliii maaahhhh!). His first directing gig was Aliens 3. Betcha didn’t know that.

4 Trivial Oscar Secrets

Marcus Varner — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:48:06 +0000

Come this Sunday, the eyes of millions of Americans will be glued to their TVs. Hours before the ceremony even starts, media parasites will swarm around the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood blabbing endlessly about who will win this award or that award, what they will wear. The excitement will get turned up a notch when the stars arrive. They will look like they just want to get inside, get their gift bags, and partake of the free champagne as the ugly media leeches sidle up to them and ask them questions. The look on the stars’ faces will say, “Standing next to you makes me nauseous, but I’ll be cordial so you don’t defame me all over the tabloids tomorrow morning.” Once the bloodsuckers have had their fill, the stars will make their way inside, the music will swell, and the massive self-congratulatory and self-promoting pat on the back that is the Academy Awards will ensue.

Ah, yes. The Oscars have certainly become an American tradition. You and I both know how things will go, with the exception of a few surprises- you know, Cuba may do a backflip or Adrian may lay a big wet one on Halle, stuff like that. However, despite our familiarity with the whole ritual, there are still some things that the public at large is still unaware of when it comes to the Oscars. So, in the spirit of education, I’ve provided some of these little known trivia:

1. The statuette stands on a film reel.

You wouldn’t know it looking at the statuette on TV, but the famous golden guy is actually standing on a reel of film. The film reel has five spokes, with each representing one of the five branches of the original Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians. Bet you didn’t know that.

2. No one knows where the name ‘Oscar’ really came from.

While theories abound, no one knows for sure who first coined the name Oscar. Bette Davis called the award Oscar in 1936; Walt Disney in 1932. It may have been dubbed such by an executive secretary to the Academy who commented that the statuette reminded her of her Uncle Oscar.

3. Oscar is Latino.

I’m sure you’ve wondered where the golden statuette got its chiseled physique. Well, wonder no more! Oscar was modeled after Mexican actor, screenwriter, and director Emilio “El Indio” Fernandez, who posed nude for Academy sculptors.

4. Oscar winners don’t really own their statuettes.

Academy rules stipulate that Oscar winners cannot sell their statuettes, which have been known to sell at auction for six figures, unless they first offer to sell them back to the Academy for $1. Big difference. This has led to the legal implication that the statuettes do not belong to the winners.

As you watch the Academy Awards this Sunday, your enjoyment will be amplified as you think about those choice, only-for-the-elite details I just shared with you. You may share them with your companions to sound smart and in-the-know. On the other hand, you may forget them entirely, entranced instead by Gwyneth’s Gucci dress.

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Education of Oscar Nominees 2009

4 Trivial Oscar Secrets