Columbine aims to break out of doc slot

 Posted on August 7, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  966 words  |  Kelle Repass

Pic eyes dark horse status in other categories

HOLLYWOOD — Is it possible for a documentary feature to cross categories for Academy consideration? Execs at United Artists think there’s a chance for Michael Moore’s Cannes award-winning, nonfiction feature “Bowling for Columbine” to make the leap into consideration for best picture.

If not, there’s still hope in the documentary category as well, despite the Acad’s snubbing of his “Roger and Me.”

“It’s a dark horse,” admits UA’s marketing veep Dennis O’Connor. “But the film has broken every rule of docs and has been a dark horse all the way.”

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O’Connor points to the film’s critical response: Most critics who add it to their year end lists don’t compartmentalize it as best doc but rather as one the best films of the year. The London Critics Circle even gave it one of the org’s five best film noms. And Oprah Winfrey championed the doc on her talkshow, devoting two days to it.

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UA appears solidly committed to promoting the film: Numerous Academy and guild screenings are skedded, including winter outings in Maui (at Maui’s First Light) and Aspen.

Moore is a seasoned filmmaker and a member of both the directors and writers guilds, though traditionally the orgs have not done much to recognize nonfiction.

However, without actors (except for a telling interview with Charlton Heston), “Bowling for Columbine” might not appeal to the largest block of Acad voters. The only instance in recent memory where the Acad considered a doc outside its own category was in 1994, when feature “Hoop Dreams” received a nom for film editing.

Moore, in a speech at the IDA’s recent gala, said docs don’t have the theatrical audiences they should despite the popularity of nonfiction books and television. He volunteered to chair a committee that would work to convince exhibitors to showcase more docs.

Many exhibs certainly would agree if docs typically matched “Bowling for Columbine’s” grosses ($14.4 million domestic to date), but docs almost always require the most specialized of theatrical releases; a $1 million gross is considered a home run.

In December, the IDA voted “Bowling for Columbine,” the best doc of all time, and the movie has already made it to the Acad’s second round of consideration in the doc feature category. While the Academy doesn’t release the full 12 picture shortlist from which noms are made, among the titles selected are “Bowling for Columbine,” “Lost in La Mancha,” “Spellbound,” “Winged Migration,” “OT: Our Town,” “The Kid Stays in the Picture” and “Stevie.”

Academy rules for consideration for feature docs will change considerably in 2003. Doc features will have to play a minimum weeklong theatrical run in four cities (in addition to New York or Los Angeles) or face a nine-month holdback from broadcast.

Sheila Nevins, exec VP of HBO and the cabler’s doc maven, theorizes the Acad wants to consider only those docs with a true theatrical play. However, she notes that without TV money, most docs would not get made.

Nevins adds, “Television has kept the form alive; (the Acad) should realize that TV and theatrical must go hand in hand.”

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