Famed director Jean-Luc Godard never intended to collect his honorary Oscar at the Governors Ball in person.
“I don’t have a visa for the U.S. and I don’t want to apply for one. And I don’t want to fly for that long,” the French filmmaker told NZZ.com (as translated by New York magazine). PHOTOS: Who attended the Governors Awards?
What does the award meant to him?
“Nothing. If the Academy likes to do it, let them do it. But I think it’s strange,” says Godard. “I asked myself: Which of my films have they seen? Do they actually know my films? The award is called The Governor’s Award. Does this mean that Schwarzenegger gives me the award?”
At the Saturday show, Academy president Tom Sherak said of Godard, “I want you to know that this award is meaningful to him.”
At the show, documentary filmmaker Lynn Littman addressed Godard’s prior controversial statements.
“There is no question,” Littman said. “Godard has been an irreverent provocateur for his entire career, but he never used his art to promote bigotry, and that’s the key distinction that I had to understand so I could honor him tonight.”
The Academy is arranging for the Oscar statuette to be delivered to Godard in Switzerland.
