# The Passion Of The Christ: Oscars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151 "2004-01-18T22:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/1 "2004-01-18T22:13:58Z")
Assuming it doesn’t suck, what are the Oscar prospects for the film? It is opening on an unprecedented number of screens, given its extraction. If it is good, will the Academy recognize it? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/2 "2004-01-18T23:54:42Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Assuming it doesn’t suck, what are the Oscar prospects for the film? > > It is opening on an unprecedented number of screens, given its extraction. If it is good, will the Academy recognize it? I don’t think they’re be any particular bias against it, if that’s what you’re asking. As to its chances, well, it’s an early year film, which has historically been a stumbling block for nominations, though it’s not impossible (SEE: Fargo, Silence of the Lambs). Judging from the trailer, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in the running for Art Direction and Costumes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/3 "2004-01-19T06:45:19Z")
Kinda hard to handicap a movie nobody’s seen, isn’t it? I can see the Academy shying away a little if there’s a huge uproar, but they did just give Polanski an Oscar last year. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/4 "2004-01-19T08:06:22Z")
Just wanted to clarify, you’re not talking about the Oscars whose nominations will be announced in a couple of weeks, right? Because its release doesn’t qualify. It’ll be next year, if it is. Since only a few people have seen it, and reaction has been varying wildly (though tending fairly positive), it’s impossible to handicap at this point for next year’s contest. I suspect it’ll get a push, because Gibson is an Oscar-winning director and all that (gag), but I dunno. Let me see it first. Then I’ll know more. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/5 "2004-01-19T11:46:18Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Just wanted to clarify, you’re not talking about the Oscars whose nominations will be announced in a couple of weeks, right? Because its release doesn’t qualify. It’ll be next year, if it is. > > Since only a few people have seen it, and reaction has been varying wildly (though tending fairly positive), it’s impossible to handicap at this point for next year’s contest. I suspect it’ll get a push, because Gibson is an Oscar-winning director and all that (gag), but I dunno. > > Let me see it first. Then I’ll know more. No. 2005 Oscars. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/6 "2004-01-19T11:47:23Z")
Errr, 2004 Oscars. ---
**Author:** ![kris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@kris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kris)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/7 "2004-01-19T15:56:03Z")
Won’t it go into the “best film not in the English language”? That is if it is nominated. If i read correctly the whole thing has been done in Aramaic and “street Latin”. (Trailer looks v.good!) ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/8 "2004-01-19T17:04:20Z")
> [@kris](#): > > Won’t it go into the “best film not in the English language”? That is if it is nominated. > > If i read correctly the whole thing has been done in Aramaic and “street Latin”. > > (Trailer looks v.good!) Because of the strange process of nomination for this category, probably not (look up the real titles of the categories for the Oscars sometime, you’d be surprised). There has to be a country that will nominate it, and there’s no process to nominate a film not made in English that’s produced in the United States (or more accurately, with American money). John Sayles’ Men With Guns was widely thought at having been robbed of a nomination a few years ago because of this reason. It’s also a problem when you don’t have a country… Divine Intervention was denied an entry last year because the Academy didn’t consider “Palestine” a country, though they’ve relented this year. And even then you’ve got to win your country’s nomination, which lead to the unusual situation last year of Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her winning Best Original Screenplay while the film itself was ineligble for Foreign Language Film because Spain chose Los Lunes Al Sol, which wasn’t even nominated in the final run (and Talk to Her would likely have won). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-passion-of-the-christ-oscars/225151/9 "2004-01-20T18:40:31Z")
Even though there is a separate category for Best Foreign Language Film, foreign-language features are **also** eligible for Best Picture if they played commercially in Los Angeles County for seven days. There are several examples of foreign-language features being nominated for Best Picture, including _Grand Illusion_ (1938), _Z_ (1969), _The Emigrants_ (1972), _Cries and Whispers_ (1973), _Il Postino_ (1994), _Life Is Beautiful_ (1997), and _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ (2000).