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Posted: |
Feb 28, 2007 - 10:42 PM
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By: |
TheSeeker
(Member)
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...and behave like a pompous ass:
"Could a little rivalry have been revealed in the sound mixing world? Things turned weird when the winners in that category -- Willie Burton, Bob Beemer and Michael Minkler for "Dreamgirls" -- were onstage in the press room. A question was thrown to the trio about what advice they had for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for "Apocalypto" who now has been nominated 19 times without a win. While Burton and Beemer had conciliatory things to say -- "Hang in there, Kevin, you'll get your chance," Burton said -- Minkler's words were the opposite. "I think Kevin should go away with 19 nominations," he said without cracking a smile. "We work really hard, and if we stumble upon an award, we are so grateful. I have to wonder ... Kevin is an OK mixer, but he should take up another line of work." He exited the stage leaving people wondering whether he was serious."
And the reply:
If going back and reviewing the press room video of Dreamgirls' Best Sound Mixing Oscar sore-winner Michael Minkler's shocking backstage sneak attack on record-setting, 19-time also-ran Kevin O'Connell fails to convince you that the whole thing wasn't actually some kind of straight-faced joke between below-the-line frenemies (as we were secretly hoping it was, because that was some cold shit), the angry and frustrated response that O'Connell's Apocalypto partner Greg P. Russell gave to InContention.com should remove all doubts about Minkler's intentions when he said that his colleague was an "OK mixer" who should "take up another line of work." Prepare for things to get even uglier:
"He was absolutely sincere with that BULLSHIT. That man has lost whatever respect he had from a ton of people. Kevin mind you left the ceremonies right after our award and went to the hospital where his mother passed away in his arms at 11:32 pm. As if Kevin didn't have enough to deal with. He wakes up to this bullshit.
It's been a really weird couple of days. I've been fielding all the calls because Kev has been out. The head of our studio came in to say he blasted Minkler for his assault. I even kicked myself for being congratulatory that night. Minkler said to me when I congratulated him that I was always a classy guy and he appreciated that alot. Integrity is something that means everything to me and this man has absolutely NONE. He's a FUCKING ASSHOLE."
So there you have it: Not only did Minkler kick a man while he was down, he did it while he was at his mother's deathbed. It might be time for the crack Dreamgirls PR team to start drafting a statement about how an unfortunate epsiode of post-victory exhaustion made their sound mixer say a bunch of things he didn't really mean.
# # #
Huh!
CK
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From his work on APOCALYPTO, perhaps O'Connell has learned the value of ripping the beating hearts out of the chests of one's enemies...
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If I had my way, Minkler would have his Oscar taken off him for what he did. What a fucking jerk. I guess it's just a horrible coincidence that O'Connell lost the Oscar and his mother on the same night.
A couple of months ago, the leader of the Federal opposition party in Australia, Kim Beazley, lost the leadership in a party-room ballot. Twenty minutes later, he was informed that his younger brother had passed away. However, unlike what happened with the O'Connell issue, everyone made their condolences quite clear to Beazley.
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Posted: |
Mar 1, 2007 - 1:09 PM
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By: |
TheSeeker
(Member)
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"I'm the Guy Who Always Loses" Hossli.com, 20. Februar 2007
Sound mixer Kevin O’Connell, 50, hopes to win an Oscar on February 25. He’s nominated for Best Sound Mixing the Mel Gibson epic Apocalypto. It’s his nineteenth nomination for an Academy Award. He has never won. This has given him the title of biggest loser in Hollywood, despite having mixed the sound on more than 100 movies. His credits include films like Spider-Man 1 through 3, Top Gun, Terminator 3 or Black Rain.
Interview: Peter Hossli
Mr. O’Connell, you’ve been nominated for an Academy Award 19 times for Best Sound Mixing or Best Sound. So far, you lost 18 times. What went wrong?
I lost for nothing other than bad luck. The Academy is a real crapshoot. It’s like buying a lottery ticket. You start over every time. My chances don’t get better just because I was nominated before.
This time, you’re nominated for the sound in Mel Gibson’s «Apocalypto». What’s your campaign strategy to finally win it?
I tell people not to judge me on the merits of what the director said off-camera. Sound mixers normally don’t campaign that hard. And Disney, the distributor, is not putting a lot of horsepower behind it.
This does not sound promising. Still, if you win, whom will you thank?
My mother. 29 years ago she gave me the opportunity to work in film. Back then she said, ‘you work hard and someday you’ll win an Oscar’.
You must feel pretty bad to keep disappointing your mother.
Actually, she’s proud enough to go the Academy Award luncheon with me almost every year. At this point, wining is not as important to her as my achievement of having been nominated 19 times.
What have you done with the 18 speeches that you’ve prepared but didn’t use?
I crumbled them up and put them in a drawer in my house. I can’t really reuse them because the names of the people I work with change with every film. The only thing that is consistent is the name of my mother. It used to be at the bottom of the speech, now it’s at the very top.
You must get a lot of pity in the industry.
At this point, the whole sound community would like to see me win – except the four other nominees, of course.
Martin Scorsese has a record of losing 5 times in the Best Director category. How will you console him if he loses again this time?
I’ll tell him to never give up. Then again, he’s already a winner. Scorsese is one of the five best filmmakers of all time. Listen, guys like Scorsese and I, we don’t need Oscars to validate our careers. His career is not getting better with an Oscar. Neither is mine. It’d just be nice to get the monkey off my back.
What would a win mean to you?
It would prove to the world that you should never give up on your dreams, regardless how difficult it might be.
Where will you put the statue?
You mean, if I survive hearing my name? One thing is for sure; there is no room for it on my walls. They’re clustered with nominations certificates.
If you'd win, wouldn’t it be a bit bittersweet? You’d lose the title of being the biggest loser in Hollywood.
That’s the one title I’m willing to give up. But it’s true I’m getting a lot of attention out of this. As soon as I win it will be over.
Who will you blame if you lose this time?
There is only faith to blame. My greater calling is not to be the guy to win a bunch of Oscars but to be the guy who always loses.
With what film would you really have liked to win?
With "Top Gun". That year it truly had the best sound of all the nominated films.
What’s your oldest Oscar memory?
Back in the 80s, I fell down drunk at the Governors ball at the table of the Studio that produced my film. Not a good, but a fun, memory.
What was your funniest Oscar moment?
I once went to the bathroom and banged at a door. It wasn’t locked, so it opened and Jack Nicholson was sitting there with his pants down. “I ain’t got nothing”, he screamed and put his hands up like a criminal, “I ain’t got nothing”. Until this day, I wonder what he meant.
What’s your biggest Oscar fear?
Having to get up in front of 300 million people and actually give a speech.
What was the best thing you got in a gift bag?
Nominees don’t get gift bags, only winners do. But I once got a face cream that I liked so much I still buy it.
What was the best party?
I don’t go to a lot of Oscar parties. If you don’t win, you don’t feel like partying. Besides, I always had to work the next day.
# # #
CK
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the Oscar Nominations of Kevin O'Connell:
1983 (56th) SOUND -- Terms of Endearment [Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, Jim Alexander]
1984 (57th) SOUND -- Dune [Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Kevin O'Connell, Nelson Stoll]
1985 (58th) SOUND -- Silverado [Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, David Ronne]
1986 (59th) SOUND -- Top Gun [Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline, William B. Kaplan]
1989 (62nd) SOUND -- Black Rain [Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Keith A. Wester]
1990 (63rd) SOUND -- Days of Thunder [Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, Charles Wilborn]
1992 (65th) SOUND -- A Few Good Men [Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline, Bob Eber]
1995 (68th) SOUND -- Crimson Tide [Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline, Gregory H. Watkins, William B. Kaplan]
1996 (69th) SOUND -- The Rock [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Keith A. Wester]
SOUND -- Twister [Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, Kevin O'Connell, Geoffrey Patterson]
1997 (70th) SOUND -- Con Air [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Arthur Rochester]
1998 (71st) SOUND -- Armageddon [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Keith A. Wester]
SOUND -- The Mask of Zorro [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Pud Cusack]
2000 (73rd) SOUND -- The Patriot [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Lee Orloff]
2001 (74th) SOUND -- Pearl Harbor [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Peter J. Devlin]
2002 (75th) SOUND -- Spider-Man [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Ed Novick]
2004 (77th) SOUND MIXING -- Spider-Man 2 [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger]
2005 (78th) SOUND MIXING -- Memoirs of a Geisha [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett]
2006 (79th) SOUND MIXING -- Apocalypto [Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Cámara]
From his nominations, you can see he's worked on "respected' films. Even Oscar-worthy.
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The Bruckheimer films he worked on should have been a given as far as O'Connell winning the Oscar.
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If I had my way, Minkler would have his Oscar taken off him for what he did. What a fucking jerk. I guess it's just a horrible coincidence that O'Connell lost the Oscar and his mother on the same night.
A couple of months ago, the leader of the Federal opposition party in Australia, Kim Beazley, lost the leadership in a party-room ballot. Twenty minutes later, he was informed that his younger brother had passed away. However, unlike what happened with the O'Connell issue, everyone made their condolences quite clear to Beazley.
Yeah, too bad it wasn't John Howard (and we know what a dreadful performance he gave as Ronald Colman's kid brother in LOST HORIZON.
You must feel pretty bad to keep disappointing your mother.
Actually, she’s proud enough to go the Academy Award luncheon with me almost every year. At this point, wining is not as important to her as my achievement of having been nominated 19 times.
And getting a free meal once a year.
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Yeah, too bad it wasn't John Howard (and we know what a dreadful performance he gave as Ronald Colman's kid brother in LOST HORIZON.
The funny thing is, we actually have an actor (and a highly respected one at that) in Australia who is also called John Howard. However, the actor absolutely loathes the Prime Minister, and gets rather annoyed whenever anyone makes the connection between the two.
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The other John Howard's right; there's a lot to loathe.
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