The executive behind the Academy Awards telecast has defended the widely discussed ‘In Memoriam’ segment of the show, following the criticism over the omission of several stars from the televised montage.Rob Mills, the executive in charge of the Oscars broadcast, spoke about the fan backlash following the live broadcast. The tribute segment at this year’s Oscars was extended and had a runtime, nearly 15 minutes longer than in previous years. However, the segment still featured only a handful of late actors and directors and other film talents, while giving a highly personalised tribute to Hollywood legends like Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Robert Redford.
‘In Memorian’ segment slammed for excluding names
Despite the extended runtime, names of Hollywood stars like Eric Dane, Brigitte Bardot, James Van Der Beek, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Indian star Dharmendra’s names were left out of the broadcast, only to feature among 300 names on the Oscar website’s tribute section.
Oscars defend ‘In Memoriam’ segment
Speaking to Variety on Monday, Mills addressed the backlash and clarified that decisions about who appears in the segment ultimately rest with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “It is hard. I think it’s the hardest thing they possibly do. It always is hard when they are sort of villainised for this.”While acknowledging the difficulty of omissions and inclusions of names when the film industry continues to lose prominent figures each year, he said, “Yes, there’s always people who are left out. Unfortunately, we’re losing more and more people, and especially, we’re losing legendary people every year, so it is probably the hardest needle to thread.”Despite the criticism, Mills praised the tribute segment this year saying, “I do think what they did last night might have been the best In Memoriam in the history of the Oscars.”
Hema Malini reacts to Dharmendra being left out of Oscars telivised clip
Indian star Hema Malini slammed the Academy for excluding Dharmendra in the televised segment. She told Bollywood Hungama, “It is a shame, of course. A shame for them to have overlooked an actor who means so many things to so many people in many parts of the world. Dharamji was known and recognised everywhere. He never got too many awards during his lifetime. Why should he care about the Oscars? Both of us, we were happy to be loved in our country. But awards always eluded him.”The ‘In Memoriam’ segment of the Oscars is one of the most closely watched moments and has frequently stirred debate over which industry figures are included. Over the past years, the Academy has featured an In Memorium page on their official website, honouring actors, directors, musicians, scriptwriters and many others from the industry for their contribution to films.
