Oscar Winner Tom Fleischman Resigns From Motion Picture Academy Over Controversial Telecast Plans (Exclusive)

Tom Fleischman, an Oscar-winning rerecording mixer best known for his decades-long collaboration with Martin Scorsese, has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over its controversial plan not to present eight categories live during the broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

A move that has been met with a storm of criticism, the Academy plans to present Oscars in documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short, and Fleischman’s own discipline, sound, inside the Dolby Theatre in the hour before the March 27 broadcast commences, recording and editing these into the subsequent live telecast.

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An elder statesman of the sound community, Fleischman won an Oscar for Scorsese’s Hugo and was also nominated for Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, Warren Beatty’s Reds and Scorsese’s The Aviator and Gangs of New York. His lengthy list of credits with Scorsese also includes Goodfellas, The Irishman and best picture winner The Departed. He first worked for Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker doing temp dubs on 1980’s Raging Bull.

Fleischman also has a longtime working relationship with Spike Lee, having mixed films including Do The Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X and BlacKkKlansman.

The son of legendary film editor Dede Allen and documentary maker Stephen Fleischman, he’s also worked with directors such as Ron Howard (Cinderella Man) and Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers) and on documentaries including Oscar winner Free Solo. A spokesperson for Fleischman confirmed to THR that he has resigned.

The Academy has been under pressure from ABC to produce a more entertaining show, but many individuals, guilds and societies have urged the Academy to reconsider its current plan. Among them, Motion Pictures Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) president Alan Heim said, “We understand the Academy’s desire to make a more arresting show … [but] the Oscars should be a night to celebrate all of the labor and artistry that combine to bring stories to life on the screen, and we think deserving craftspeople have more than earned their time in the spotlight.”

Motion Picture Sound Editors president Mark A. Lanza said, “The Academy’s mission is to honor the craft of filmmaking in all its parts. Eliminating certain categories from the live broadcast degrades that mission.”

While accepting a Hollywood Critics Association Filmmaking Achievement Award on Feb. 28, Guillermo del Toro urged others in the industry to speak out against the move. Earlier this week, the Academy further explained its decision, emphasizing all Oscars would be presented inside the Dolby Theatre.