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24 Frames

Oscar liveblog: Huge upset as Geoffrey Fletcher knocks off Jason Reitman/Sheldon Turner

By Steven Zeitchikwriter 
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6:51 pm: We’re temporarily distracted as the ‘Logorama’ director comes backstage -- big upset in that category; more on that shortly -- but we heard the gasps from everyone around us as ‘Precious’ screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, who wasn’t even nominated for a Golden Globe, wins best screenplay over Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for ‘Up in the Air’ (who did win the Golden Globe).

What a strange season it’s been. It now could well turn out that ‘Up in the Air’ gets no Oscars -- after being the prohibitive favorite back in September/October.

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Fletcher takes the earnest road he’s been on for a while in giving his acceptance speech: ‘This is for everybody who works on a dream everyday -- precious boys and girls everywhere.’ The Fletcher win has us thinking that there could be more big (read: non-acting) prizes in ‘Precious’s’ future, maybe even a director or picture prize?

This could be a doozy of an Oscars after all. One thing we won’t see is a disappointed Reitman -- Oscar producers took mercy on him and showed no cutaway when he lost.

--Steven Zeitchik

24 Frames
Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.

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