According to The Wrap, out of this year’s roughly 200 Oscar nominees, the Academy is hoping that all but one of them show up at the Kodak Theatre on February 27. The problematic nominee of course being Banksy, the “director” and maybe “star” of the nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. The Academy’s executive director Bruce Davis tells The Wrap:
“The fun but disquieting scenario is if that film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy!’ Who the hell do we give it to? [The Academy] needs to have a procedure in place. That’s the fun part of this job. There’s always some crazy-ass wrinkle you never thought of before”.
Fun is an interesting term used by Davis, considering this plan seems designed to suck any potential fun out of an already dreary awards ceremony. Academy president Tom Sherak agrees that “it would not be dignified for the Academy to have somebody come up wearing a monkey’s head.” Sherak has since come to an agreement with Exit Through the Gift Shop producer Jaimie D’Cruz — the plan is that if Exit wins the Oscar, the producers will accept Banksy’s award in his place.
I guess it would be of everyone’s best interest to preserve the Oscars’ “dignity.” Which is great, because every time someone says “Oscars” and “dignity” in the same sentence, we don’t laugh.
Banksy, whose real identity is an extremely well-kept secret, may or may not have attended the World Premiere of his film at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, but he was present in the city, leaving behind several mysterious pieces of street art and a letter to the film fest programmer, saying: “Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So we haven’t bothered. Instead, this is simply an everyday tale of life, longing, and mindless vandalism. Everything you are about to see is true, especially the bit where we all lie”.
The filmmaker did not show up for the annual Oscar luncheon, but if he doesn’t appears on stage, you can guarantee he will be somewhere in the building, and like he did at Sundance, he will definitely leave behind some of his signature art work for the entire world to see.