Oscar nominations: ‘Black Swan’s’ Brian Oliver says academy ‘hipper than some people give them credit for’
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
‘Black Swan’ might not be what some people think of as a typical Oscar movie. Even Brian Oliver, one of the producers of the film, which was nominated for best picture Tuesday morning, says he was worried that the dark ballet thriller might not be the sort of thing that motion picture academy voters would enjoy. ‘That changed once I met a lot of the academy members,’ he said. ‘They’re a lot more in tune and hipper than some people give them credit for.’
Looking back, Oliver said it was a struggle to get the film made, let alone worry about its awards-season prospects. ‘The financing closed the day before production,’ Oliver said. ‘My partners took a huge risk, and it obviously paid off. Even after we financed it, a lot of people said, ‘How are you going to market it?’ And we said, ‘We’ll market is as a smart, stylish thriller.’ ‘
Oliver (along with Mike Medavoy and Scott Franklin) is now one of three credited producers on ‘Black Swan,’ a film that has been spared some of the confusion and controversy that has surrounded the producing team on best picture nominee ‘The Fighter’ -- Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh was denied a producer credit on David O. Russell’s boxing drama by both the academy and the Producers Guild. When asked how the job should be defined, Oliver said, ‘I don’t think there is one definition. I think that’s why it’s so hard.’
‘We were working on one movie where some of the other financiers had six other productions,’ Oliver continued. ‘It’s hard to say you’re a producer on six different movies at the same time. It’s a slippery slope how to define it. There are a lot of things that make a movie happen and trying to define it is hard. It’s different with every movie.’
So, just what is Oliver expecting from his first Oscar ceremony?
‘I’ve never been before, but it’s going to be a little bit of a whirlwind. We’re shooting ‘The Ides of March’ with George Clooney in Detroit right now. It will be like the PGAs, where we flew in Friday and then flew right back out. I’m getting to know Delta very well.’
-- Steven Zeitchik
RELATED:
‘The King’s Speech,’ ‘True Grit’ top Academy Award nominations
