As is tradition on Oscars Eve, the (un)lucky recipients of this year's Razzies (the id to the Oscar's superego, if you like) have been announced. And there's perhaps no surprise which fairly universally derided superhero movie limps off with the top prize.
Here are this year's "winners"
Worst Picture: Madame Web
Worst Director: Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis)
Worst Actor: Jerry Seinfeld (Unfrosted)
Worst Actress: Dakota Johnson (Madame Web)
Worst Supporting Actor: Jon Voight (Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land, and Strangers)
Worst Supporting Actress: Amy Schumer (Unfrosted)
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel: Joker: Folie à Deux
Worst Screen Combo: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga (Joker: Folie à Deux)
Worst Screenplay: Madame Web
Razzie Redeemer: Pamela Anderson (for her performance in The Last Showgirl)
Madame Web is the big winner of the night, with three awards; it's then a three-way tie for second with Unfrosted, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Megalopolis walking away with two apiece.
Despite multiple nominations, Borderlands, Reagan, The Crow, Argylle, and Kraven The Hunter walk away unscathed.
No sooner did Madame Web make it onto the screens then it was being derided as one of the worst superhero films that's been made, but was even being touted as a potential Razzie winner even before it left the cinemas. Ouch.
A little trivia for you now: Francis Ford Coppola becomes the fourth director to win both the Best Director Oscar and a Worst Director Razzie, following on from Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter/Heaven's Gate), Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves/The Postman), and Tom Hooper (The King's Speech/Cats) [Coppola won the Best Director Oscar for The Godfather Part II]. There have been plenty of directors that have either been nominated for one and won the other (or nominated for both but won neither), but these four stand above.
Coppola has rather gamely accepted the win, posting the following message on Instagram: "I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award... and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking! In this wreck of a world today, where ART is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now. [...] Let us remind ourselves us that box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future."
Megalopolis has long been a passion project for Coppola; he'd been trying to get it made since the 1970s and even sold one of his wineries to fund the project. I have to admire his chutzpah; he didn't compromise, he made the film he wanted to make. No doubt he was hoping it might win awards... Maybe just not these ones.
Congratulations (commiserations?) to the "winners".
So, that just leaves the big one: the 97th Academy Awards. I'll be posting my predictions for who will win in six major categories tomorrow afternoon.
