Oscar-winning Oscar producer Bruce Cohen insisted the reason television viewers didn’t see the smooch between Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin on stage is because the stunt was unscripted, and cameras pulled away from them dancing on stage to show Penelope Cruz reacting in the audience. That is, they didn’t know there was about to be a YouTube-worthy lip lock between the actors. The Internet called bullshit on him.
On Wikipedia, where all claims are sacrosanct, Cohen’s page has been updated with another version of events: “Bruce Cohen is a liar who claims he does not partake in the homophobia of the ABC network when clearly he does.”
Who to believe: The never-lying users of Wikipedia, or a Hollywood supergay who wants to keep getting paid to produce the Academy Awards telecast?
Rusty Redfield
Apparently it’s a slow news day. You’re essentially reporting on one person’s stupid opinion, without any justification or sources, that lasted for a few minutes on a webpage that anyone with a computer and an Internet account can edit. Here’s a news flash: the editors of Queerty are actually aliens from Uranus. If you read it in the comments section of a reputable publication like Queerty, it must be true…
GoodboyPA
Sheesh, sometimes you just got to let the simple answer be the one you accept. Cohen has a history as a good guy, what he says is simple and plausible.
Drop it.
B
What QUEERTY quoted was removed. It lasted for 5 hours and 1 minute before someone noticed and backed the changes out. The person responsible used an IP address owned by “Cellco Partnership DBA Verizon Wireless” (located in New Jersey) and that was the only “contribution” to Wikipedia from that IP address.
alan brickman
the camera turns are all rehearsed..the kiss was spontaneous and not part of the program…the penelope crus shot was rehearsed…
McMike
I’m sorry but ABC and Cohen are full of shite. It was 100% obvious what happened by anyone who was watching it. The cameras were on the two actors and as soon as they made contact, and were obviously about to embrace, the camera went on a very long and uneasy close-up of Cruz for a VERY long time. I was watching that moment and was pissed and even uttered aloud to myself about the homophobic bullshite ABC was pulling.
Doesn’t it seem a little odd to ANYONE that the cameras would pull away from the two presenters who had just walked on stage and only pull back once they were up at the mics? I don’t remember ABC doing that to any other couple that night and the only thing anyone would have to do to figure out if ABC was full of shite is to compare the pull-out and see if ABC “pulled-out” when any other two presenters walked on stage.
scott ny'er
@McMike: It seemed weird to me. It looked like a glitch in the Matrix, before I learned what happened.
greenmanTN
It’s really easy to prove which of these claims is true and do it with mathematics. Multiple cameras are used at the Oscars and there are constant camera changes. Most often the camera being shown is focused on the stage and the presenters or award recipients, but there are frequent cuts to reaction shots from the audience. Often it’s a person being spoken about at the time.
Time EVERY other cut to the audience during the entire Oscar broadcast and compare that to the amount of camera time spent on Penelope Cruz while Brolin and Bardem were dancing together and then kissing. Do you *really* think it was coincidence that the longest audience reaction shot BY FAR just happened to be at that moment? If so, would you be interested in buying a bridge? I’ll make you a good deal!
McMike
@greenmanTN: It was obvious what happened. The camera was on the two actors and as soon as they embraced it cut to Cruz. I mean it was BEYOND OBVIOUS.
B
Re: No. 5 · McMike , “I’m sorry but ABC and Cohen are full of shite. It was 100% obvious what happened by anyone who was watching it.” AND No. 7 · greenmanTN “It’s really easy to prove which of these claims is true and do it with mathematics.”
If it was scripted as Cohen says, then there should be a script that can be produced that various individuals saw in advance. Whether you can use a statistical analysis to see if the time spent on Penalope Cruz is plausible depends unfortunately on the script – if the script says, “focus on her as long as she is clapping”, and she is clapping the whole time, all the duration might tell you is that she approved of the kiss/dancing/whatever.
Riker
I applied semiprotection to this particular article, which disables editing for new accounts and unregistered users. If anyone was considering copycat vandalism, don’t bother.
B
No. 10 · Riker wrote, “I applied semiprotection to this particular article, which disables editing for new accounts and unregistered users. If anyone was considering copycat vandalism, don’t bother.”
Good – the only excuse for that sort of vandalism is to be too young to be reading this article.
Cam
The Hollywood establishment are the most homophobic group out there. They threaten stars to keep them in the closet, they tell publicists to prevent their stars from saying or doing anything that could out them. And the Hollywood gays are unfortunatly at the front of the group as it’s self hating front line.
jason
Cam,
Well said.
Liberals talk a lot about the importance of gay rights. However, when it comes to actually showing two men kissing or showing affection, they’ll do everything in their power to stop it.
The Hollywood agents are amongst the most vile of the species. I’m planning a name and shame campaign.
mike
I know Bruce, and he’s a cool guy … out, proud, and always doing what he can for LGBT community. A lot of gay indie film makers get their big break because of Bruce’s support of them.
Be nice to him, boys, he’s one of the good guys.
Things move fast in the production booth during a live broadcast, decisions are made in the split second.
If the scripted edit was to cut to Penelope, it’s hard to react, in the booth, quickly enough to catch an unscripted moment where the presenters were only supposed to be (boringly) walking up to the mic.
B
No. 14 · mike wrote, “If the scripted edit was to cut to Penelope, it’s hard to react, in the booth, quickly enough to catch an unscripted moment where the presenters were only supposed to be (boringly) walking up to the mic.”
Something else to consider: there are multiple people running these booths. The person handling the transition probably had to be tracking the camera that was going to show Penalope Cruz in order to make sure it was in fact showing her and was in focus. He’d also have to be checking instructions for the transition, and whatever cues the transition (it could be audio (something the guy at the microphone says) or visual, but not necessarily what the TV audience is looking at. If there is a glitch, you want to make it as unobvious to the audience as possible so it is not like he doesn’t have a lot to deal with, even if it looks simple.