Coppola, Wallach & Goddard Honored at 2nd Annual Governors Awards

Honorary Award recipient Eli Wallach, Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola (center) and Honorary Award recipient Kevin Brownlow at the 2010 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood®, CA, Saturday, November 13.

The  OSCARS® now both end and kick of the award season.  Beginning last year the Academy moved the honorary awards from the televised ceremony to a special private event  in November that essentially start the season going.  While the people who found the honorary award presentations slowed down the big night's broadcast are happy with this ocurring in a separate ceremony, others, like us, are sorry to be robbed of watch some of the people get "their big moment" often for the only time in their career.  The only bright spot for us is that most of speeches are captured in video clips on the Academy's website.  Although we still miss out on the video package showing a montage of clips form the honorees' careers.



This year's recipients included OSCAR® winning director/producer Francis Ford Coppola, film historian Kevin Brownlow, filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach.

Francis Ford Coppola was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg award.  The Thalberg is named after legendary producer Irving G. Thalberg  who at the age of 20 became Head of Production at Universal and then 3 years later became Head of Production for MGM.  Thalberg passed away suddenly at the age of 37 and the following year the Academy created this award in his honor.  The award is present to “creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production”.  Because the award is not presented every year, winning it is a great honor that few receive.

While certainly noted for his work as director, most notably The Godfather films, Coppola was given the Thalberg for his work as a producer.  Coppola has produced more than 50 films through his company American Zoetrope that have been honored with a combined 63 OSCAR® nominations and 15 wins.  In addition to producing his own directorial efforts he has also produced films for his daughter Sofia (Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides) and his good friend George Lucas (American Graffiti) who cites Coppola as his inspiration for the character Han Solo (Star Wars).

It's very rare for the Academy to honor a film historian but in the case of Kevin Brownlow there was little debate.  Brownlow began his career as a film editor before finding his calling as a historian and preservationist.  In the mid 70's he began work on restoring more than 25 silent films, including classics such as “Intolerance,” “The Thief of Bagdad,” “Ben-Hur” and “The Crowd”.   In addition to writing several books, he has also produced and directed a series of documentaries about the greats of the silent era.  His work has helped to keep alive and introduce new generations to the films that are the foundation Hollywood is built on.   

Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most renowned filmmakers of the 20th century.  With his debut "Breathless" in 1960, Godard challenged standard film conventions and was part of starting the French New Wave.  His career continues through today as his latest film debuted earlier this year at Cannes.  Godard did not attend the ceremony on Saturday as he has stated the honor means nothing to him.  He says the Academy can do what it wants but he had no intention of attending the ceremony nor accepting the award.  His belief is the Academy members have never even seen his films and that this award for him is baseless.  Undeterred, the Academy present the award on Saturday and will be shipping the OSCAR® to him regardless.

Eli Wallach is an actor who in his 94 years has never been nominated for an OSCAR®.  As an actor Wallach is considered a chameleon as he has been able to effortlessly portray a variety of character move from role to role often of different ethnicities.  Wallach's career continue strong to this day including 11 roles in movies on TV in the last five years.  After starting out playing villains in films like "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", he was soon able to expand his range and become known as one of Hollywood's most versatile character actors. 

I would have loved to see these gentlemen honored at the Kodak Theater on the big just a previous winners.   Hopefully someday the Academy will return these honors to main ceremony, but it seems unlikely.  

Remember to come back to The Roundhay Garden Scene often for all your awards season coverage.