Oscar night: a movie for everyone.(The Talk of the Town)(short film shown during Academy Awards ceremony)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 01-APR-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Anifty feature of the Oscars ceremony this year was a short film showing about a hundred people, some famous and some not, talking about movies. The segment was directed by the filmmaker Errol Morris, whose grim comic take on the world, in documentaries such as "Mr. Death" and "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," might seem incompatible with the earnest, happy pomp of the Academy Awards.

One thing about Errol Morris, though, is that he likes to make television commercials. Not long after September 11th, he shot an ad for United Airlines, in which United employees, in uniform, share unscripted inspirational thoughts about the airline. According to Morris, Laura Ziskin, the producer of this year's Oscars, saw the United spot and said, "I want that guy." She called him in late December and asked...

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