Taking to her Twitter account, the 'Cheers' actress publicly disagrees with the Academy's decision to add representation and inclusion to one of the standards for a movie to be eligible for Best Picture category.
- Sep 10, 2020
AceShowbiz - Kirstie Alley has weighed in on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' decision to add representation and inclusion to one of the standards for a movie to be eligible for Best Picture category. Taking to her Twitter account on Monday, September 8, the actress publicly disagreed with it.
"This is a disgrace to artists everywhere...," the 69-year-old actress wrote on the blue bird app. "can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f**king paintings."
She went on saying, "You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought .. OSCAR ORWELL." Echoing the sentiment was James Woods who simply said, "Madness." Dean Cain appeared to be on the same page as he retweeted the tweet.
Their responses come after the Academy announced earlier in the day that it updated standards for Best Picture. It was said that as part of its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative, films have to meet two of the following four standards to be eligible to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
The four standards include on-screen representation, themes, and narratives, creative leadership and project team and industry access and opportunities. The last one is audience development.
Calling it a "catalyst for lasting change", the Academy revealed in an Instagram post the new regulation is "to encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience." It continued, "Our new representation and inclusion standards will help ensure that Best Picture nominees reflect the diverse world around us."
The requirement, which is a response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016, is scheduled to take full effect at the 96th Oscars in 2024. Meanwhile, the 2021 Oscars will take place on April 25, 2021 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
