The Hollywood Reporter – 28.02.2018

“This has been

an incredible

year in terms

of the variety

of movies,”

says Bailey,

photographed

Feb. 16 in

his office at the

Academy’s

Beverly Hills

headquarters.

“There’s

such a breadth

of genres.”

When you were elected, there

were predictions that you and

Academy CEO Dawn Hudson would

have difficulty working together.

Dawn and I come from different

places, but we both have a tremen-

dous love for film. She and I have

a very open line of communica-

tion, and I’ve worked hard to heal

the rifts that were among the

board. We are in a very positive

place now as we move forward.

The board was able to not only

adopt a code of conduct but then

the following month find a pro-

cess for implementing it.

Has the board received complaints

about violations of the code?

The process has not started yet,

no. We’re in the process of setting

up a secure website [to report

claims]. But it will be a very thor-

ough process.

How will you handle controversial

figures like Roman Polanski from the

past? Can any Academy member

lodge a complaint even if they don’t

have first-hand knowledge?

Well, in the case of Polanski, I

believe there was a conviction

involved, so it’s not just an accu-

sation. There are several names

that, when it’s all in place, will

probably be presented for consid-

eration. I can’t speak to what will

happen, but everybody wants to

be responsible in addressing any

of these accusations.

As you look at the Academy

Museum, have you made any

specific suggestions about the

direction it should take?

Nothing specific, but given my

own interest in history and

preservation and the love I have

for the silent era, we just want

to be sure that there is a really

strong representation of the teens

and the ’20s, not just as a kind

of prologue but essentially as the

foundation for what happened

with cinema after sound was

introduced. I’m personally very

committed to the early history

of film, not just in terms of the

content but also in terms of the

equipment. I think young people

are absolutely mesmerized by

mechanical devices, the sort of

steampunk aspect of the early

film era. So it won’t just be things

like Dorothy’s slippers, but we’ll

also have cameras and lenses and

real strong physical artifacts.

In fact, at this year’s Governors

Ball, we’re going to have a lot

of physical artifacts in the Dolby

ballroom. We’re going to have

cameras, including [cinema-

tographer] Gregg Toland’s BNC 2

that he used for Citizen Kane.

It’s going to be very different than

the balls of the past.

Does the Academy have to start

thinking about redefining what

exactly a film is?

We have a future-of-film com-

mittee that [producer] Albert

Berger is chairing. He’s had three

open meetings with large groups

of people from all the branches.

What used to be separate dis-

ciplines in the analog era are

now kind of overlapping, which

is not yet defined in terms of

our rules. For instance, Whoopi

Goldberg, who is a new gover-

nor, brought up the importance

of what Andy Serkis has done

in a number of roles. What used

to be called motion capture

we’re now calling performance

capture. And animators now

have techniques and programs

for live-action rendering of faces

and expressions.

Could you end up creating new

awards categories?

No idea. Certainly, it’s going to

be on the table. The documen-

tary committee is looking at

its qualifications rules because

most documentary films are

now being distributed online or

electronically.

So will you be making the

president’s traditional appearance

on the Oscar telecast?

Absolutely not. I told [show pro-

ducers] Jen [Todd] and Mike

[De Luca] that I didn’t want to

do it. I said, “This 90th show

should really be a tribute to the

history of the Academy,” and

the president’s address often

stops the show.

Jimmy Kimmel has been joking

about the envelope mix-up. Will we

see more of that on the show?

I don’t want to reveal anything

about the show, but how could he

not? That’s become a defining

moment. Nobody’s hiding the fact

that it happened, though we are

taking measures so that it doesn’t

happen again.

Board member

Gregory Nava gave

him this Day of

the Dead memento at

Mexico’s Morelia

Film Festival, where

Coco premiered.

The American

Society of

Cinematographers

presented him

with its Lifetime

Achievement

Award in 2015.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 71 FEBRUARY 28, 2018

GROOMING BY SU HAN FOR DEW BEAUTY

A Polish poster

for Ordinary

People, which he

likes more

than his film’s

U.S. one-sheet.