A retelling of all the anecdotes and curiosities of the Oscar ceremony, awarded by the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, would be enough for an entire book. And not just in terms of pure data on the number of awards and nominations a single film has received, awards ceremony exits, or times when absurd successes have been achieved.
Therefore, it is preferable to dwell on an anecdote that is interesting enough to deserve such a text about it. Like when the domestic canine mammal known to everyone as the dog received an Oscar nomination in 1985. And it’s not a joke, although it’s not what you might think. from the collie Lassie, the St. Bernard Beethoven or the terrier Uggi.
The fact is that Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the ApesThe film, directed by Hugh Hudson in 1984, was another adaptation of the novel by American Edgar Rice Burroughs about such a famous jungle character. The film came closer to it than its predecessors, and moved away from them, presenting us with a Tarzan that is not simple, but quite intelligent, accepting variations of the original plot for greater verisimilitude and radically deviating from the plot in the second part. Burroughs novel course. Robert Thone’s disagreements with Warner Bros. forced him to relinquish authorship of his script in favor of Greystoke to his Hungarian shepherd P.H. Wazaku
He voiced it all screenwriter Robert Tonnformer author of the original libretto, as revered as the libretto Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974), Oscar winner or later energetic The task is impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996), as well as several scenes from the major film The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) as a screenwriter, which he was.
But several events occurred that ultimately brought the spotlight to the man’s best friend: Warner Bros. producer Greystokefired Tonn after the failure of his debut as a total film auteur with Personal Best (1982), starring the ill-fated Mariel Hemingway, which was distributed by the company; and since he worked on the film script for several years Greystokediscovered the rewriting of several scenes and did not agree with the important changes made, In response, he demanded to mention P.H. Vazaka, his own Hungarian Shepherd.like the one who wrote this. This is how the screenwriter of the film came up with the name of the woolly animal. both in the credits and in the credits.
In 1985, Robert Towne’s film The Hound was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Specialized critics were divided in their opinions about the film. received three Oscar nominations for those released in their year, two of which had a feature: the first was that Briton Ralph Richardson died before being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the 6th Earl of Greystoke; and second, the likelihood that it will win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. That is, since Towne gave up his screenwriting credit in favor of his good Vazak, this became the only dog in history to be absurdly nominated for an Oscar.
But, In the end, Peter Shaffer won for his script. Amadeus, the great conqueror of Milos Forman, that night in March 1985. So you could say that Vazak was deprived of the opportunity to take the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, on all fours and with his best bow tie around his neck, to collect the golden bald Academy statuette.
If this dream could come true, perhaps he would have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, like Uggs before him.. But no one can take away his candidacy**.
Source: Hiper Textual
