Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Berry, Bush, Britney, Rummy, Rice, Pet Goat win Razzies



Far more interesting than the Academy Awards (ridiculed by Superblog!! yesterday) are the Razzies for Worst Achievements in film. They have been handed out annually by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation since 1980, which means this weekend's ceremony (it traditionally takes place the day before the Oscars) was the 25th anniversary. Fittingly, it was probably their most successful year ever:

George W. Bush won the "Razzie" worst actor of the year award on Saturday for his performance as president in "Fahrenheit 9/11" but his moment in Hollywood's dubious spotlight was eclipsed by Halle Berry, who actually turned up to receive her embarrassing accolade.


Winning the Worst Actress Razzie for Catwoman, she showed up holding her 2002 Best Actress Oscar (for Monster's Ball). Currently, a video clip with part of her speech is available at the NBC4.TV FeedRoom.

"They can't take this away from me, it's got my name on it!" she quipped. A raucous crowd cheered her on as she gave a stirring recreation of her Academy Award acceptance speech, including tears.
She thanked everyone involved in "Catwoman," a film she said took her from the top of her profession to the bottom.
"I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit," she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him "next time read the script first."


It's pretty rare for actors to accept their award personally (the last one was Tom Green, who won for Freddy Got Fingered in 2001). It was probably a smart move on Berry's part, though, as the media coverage has largely focused on her apparent lack of self-consciousness, instead of her apparent suckiness.

John Rogers, one of the movie's four screenwriters, was also on hand to accept the award for Worst Screenplay. Dubya and his chums weren't quite as cool, in spite of being big winners:

The president not only was named worst male actor in a leading role, he also won for being half of the year's worst screen couple when paired with either Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or "My Pet Goat," the book he was reading to schoolchildren on the morning of Sept. 11.
[...]
Two other "Fahrenheit" stars were "honored." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was named worst supporting actor and pop star [Britney] Spears won for worst supporting actress for a clip in which she declared blind faith in Bush's policies while popping chewing gum.


Not that there's anything wrong with chewing gum, mind you. I'm chewing gum as I type this. Really.

Footnote #1: Britney also tied (with Madonna) for Worst Actress in 2002, for Crossroads.

Footnote #2: Halle Berry didn't just win a Razzie, but also a restraining order! Congratulations, Halle Berry!

Footnote #3: Yes, this is a pretty lame Superblog!! entry.

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