We’re at a point in the history of the entertainment industry where both Hollywood and indie studies have the art of creating a prestige picture down to an absolute tee – they know precisely how to make an Oscar-winning think-bit as well as they know how to make a blockbuster that’ll get asses on seats.
The politics of what happens during this time of year is very interesting in Hollywood. The movies they choose to say are amazing and great, you know — ‘Manchester by the Sea,’ oh my god, you must see it, it’s an amazing film!’ But, ehh, I guess it is — to somebody.It’s not an inclusive film, you know what I mean. And I’m sure that ‘Moonlight’ will be thought of the same way. They’ll say, ‘Well, that’s a black movie. Where are the white people?’ We’ll say the same thing about ‘Manchester by the Sea.’
He also mentioned Hollywood movies – like the upcoming Will Smith vehicle Collateral Beauty, which he reckons are engineered to pull exactly the right heartstrings to score an Oscar nom.
There are all these ‘Oscar bait’ movies. I was looking at the trailer for this Will Smith movie the other day and I’m like, really? It’s another one of those, ‘Oh my God, life is so wonderful, take time to sniff the roses.’
Jackson has always been a bit of a cinema populist – willing to defend friend Quentin Tarantino from accusations of racism for his liberal sprinkling of slurs throughout his films, and quite happy to throw his weight behind schlocky fare like Snakes on a Plane over the Hollywood prestige flicks.
