Oscar winner Richard Baneham has said some of Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes “should’ve been vetted” at the Oscars – as he hit out at the host’s treatment of James Cameron at the Academy Awards.
The Dubliner won his second Oscar for his visual effects work on Avatar: The Way of Water on Sunday night but was left miffed after his speech was cut short.
But the Tallaght native said he didn’t like Kimmel’s slagging of Avatar director Cameron, who couldn't attend the Oscars for personal reasons.He said: “Honestly there were a couple of jokes that should’ve been vetted… much more clearly on their side. The fact that they gave Jim (James Cameron) a hard time for not being there was ridiculous. First of all, not being recognised but also, he’s dealing with family.
“He had other things going on and they should’ve done their research.”Kimmel poked fun at Cameron and Tom Cruise's absence at the awards show, saying "the two guys who insisted we go to the theater didn’t come to the theater."
He also said Kimmel’s Irish fighting remarks on stage were taken “fairly light-hearted” by Irish Oscar nominees sitting in the audience. Kimmel had joked that five Irish stars up for an Oscar “upped the chances” of a fight breaking out on stage.
“I think it was taken fairly light-heartedly but there was enough Irish there to feel the atmosphere in the room with a little push back, which was nice,” he said.
Baneham, who has lived in LA for 30 years, said Colin Farrell, Kerry Condon and Brendan Gleeson gave him the “heartiest of hugs” before he went up on stage.
But he was taken aback at how little time he was given for his own speech.
“The lads in the front row gave me the heartiest hug going by and we hung out for a minute. They are so sweet.
“The speech part of it is always a little daunting. Unfortunately, the Academy had made an announcement saying they would cut anybody off (who were over the time allowance)… we were under time and I’m not sure why they gave an abundance of time to some and very little for others but all that was really left was to thank our families.
“The piece that got cut off was thanking our families, our kids for keeping us grounded, our parents for inspiring us and always supporting us and our significant others who are the bedrock of what we do, and we couldn’t possibly do it without their support and the love without them.”
But he said he was “disappointed” for the cast of The Banshees of Inisherin, who lost out to Everything Everywhere All At Once.
“I was disappointed for Colin and Kerry. I thought both of them had a really really good shot.
“With Brendan and Barry nominated in the same category, that’s tough but also, they were up against a comeback story and that in itself is a hard thing to beat. You got to love a comeback story but honestly it was a great night all around.
“I don’t think anybody was too disappointed, there were plenty of celebrations, tears and smiles.
“It was a very fun night but there were plenty of people who were drinking for me. The Irish flag was flown well last night.
“To be honest, we were favourites going into it but the momentum was with All Quiet on the Western Front. Once they started to pick up the technical, you could see a momentum shift and that’s where it could’ve possibly gone against us.
“The truth is the nomination is a win in itself but it’s nice to catch the win.
“Obviously we got beat in some of the other categories but for the likes of An Cailin Ciuin, the nomination is a massive, massive win so they were in flying form.
“We ended up at a couple of parties with that gang.”
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