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Story by: Jack Foley
MIRAMAX boss, Harvey Weinstein, believes that Cold Mountain failed
to win a best picture Oscar nod, due to its December release date.
The co-chairman, who has a reputation for producing Oscar-winning
epics, claims that Miramax ‘ran out of people who had seen
the movie’, as it went about gathering support from Academy
Award voters.
This is the first time in 12 years that Weinstein's studio has
missed out on a best picture nomination, and the studio head firmly
believes that the decision to move the ceremony from March to
February, for the first time this year, is responsible.
This is despite the fact that Miramax, as a whole, has 15 nominations
overall, for the third year in a row.
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Mr Weinstein, however, clearly loves being in the spotlight when
the big awards are announced, and feels disappointed that Cold
Mountain will not be challenging in many of the major categories,
including best actress (in which Nicole Kidman was snubbed), or
best director.
Jude Law and Renee Zellweger will contest the best actor and
best supporting actress categories, however.
Despite this, he maintains that the film’s Christmas release
in the US has cost it dearly.
Apart from The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King, every other best picture nominee
was released before December.
"With the early [Oscar voting] this year, we fell short,"
he explained. "There's a lot to do for Academy members and
I don't know how many members we got to."
Weinstein has already acted to ensure there is not a repeat of
the episode next year, however, and has already brought forward
the release of Neverland, starring Johnny Depp, to October, and
Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, to November, to ensure they are
firmly in the running for the 2005 Oscar nominations.
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