LOS ANGELES — With the Academy Awards less than three weeks away, more than 70 prominent film professionals — including Oscar winners James Cameron, Kathleen Kennedy, John Williams and Guillermo del Toro — issued a letter Wednesday urging the academy to reverse a controversial plan they argue would relegate some nominees to “the status of second-class citizens.”
Addressed to academy President David Rubin, the letter argues that the decision announced last month to hand out five below-the-line awards and the three short film awards in the hour before the Oscars telecast begins would do “irreparable damage” to the Oscars’ reputation by “demeaning the very crafts that, in their most outstanding expressions, make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration.”
The letter is the latest in a string of criticisms of the move from various guilds, industry groups and academy members as well as a number of this year’s nominees, including Jane Campion and Steven Spielberg.
