Oscar Q & A: Sid Ganis

Sid

Ganis was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last August and will preside over his first Oscar ceremony in March. He discussed the significance of this year's nominees with TIME Senior Correspondent Sonja Steptoe and revealed details about this year's telecast and his plans for enhancing the Academy's image.

TIME: Hollywood had a tough time at the box office last year, will these oscar nominations lure people back to theaters?

Sid Ganis: It's true that an Oscar nomination right away brings with it a certain celebrity that's always helpful at the box office, and even more so if a movie wins one. But a number of this year's contenders were doing pretty good business even before they were Oscar nominees . So what we're seeing once again is that regardless of awards, good stories — even when they are politically and socially offbeat— will attract an audience.

TIME: What innovations are you and producer Gil Cates planning for this year's show?

SG: Having Jon Stewart as host is one innovation that I'm excited about. When I got the job as head of the Academy in August and called my wife to tell her, the first words out of her mouth were: "Get Jon Stewart." Much of our viewership doesn't know him because his show is on Comedy Central. But he's very funny, extremely intelligent and friendly. He'll bring a new approach to ringleading the show. This year the awards show will start earlier — 5pm on the West Coast and 8 pm in the East, which is a better time slot. And we're putting an additional half hour into the pre-show on ABC, so it will now be an hour long and start at 4pm Pacific and 7 pm Eastern. Along with a host doing red carpet interviews and showing off the beautiful fashions, we'll have film experts talking about the movies themselves and doing a bit of handicapping, offering their opinions on who will win.

TIME: Do the multiple nominations for movies with offbeat themes — Crash; Munich; Good Night, And Good Luck; Capote, and Brokeback Mountain — also signal that current academy voters have edgier tastes than in past years?

SG: There has been a conventional wisdom for a long time that Academy members are old, conservative types. But that's not true. The membership is composed of accomplished artists, some of them quite young — in both the technical and performance arts — who have minds of their own. Just try to tell one of them what to think or try to influence their artistry (away) from what they feel. They are staunch individualists and they vote for what they think is really good.

TIME: What"s uppermost in the minds of Academy members right now?

SG: There's a lot of talk about how the new technology is going to effect the art of filmmaking. We've just experienced a new way of releasing a film — in theaters, on DVD and on TV around the same time, with (Steven Soderbergh's ) Bubble. Everyone is watching to see what happens with it. But I absolutely believe that in the foreseeable future, going to the movies will continue to be the main way of enjoying new motion pictures because the experience of being in a theater with other moviegoers is such a contagious form of entertainment. I remember going to see The 40 Year Old Virgin this summer and when the people around me started to laugh at the scenes, it became infectious and I found myself laughing along, too.

TIME: How do you want to improve the Academy?

SG: The Academy plans to be the driving force behind the creation of a motion picture museum in Hollywood. If I can get that going, I will have made my mark. I also want to make the image of the Academy more reflective of the membership — one of good, smart professionals and not a bunch of old conservative guys. I think this year's nominees help to do that. It's fascinating to me that the members and the public have been receptive to so many movies with social significance this year. Take Brokeback Mountain, a movie about two cowboys who discover their own emotional makeup. I mean, you can imagine that there were studios that said "Oh no, we can't make a movie about two gay men. It will never sell in the Midwest." Well, guess what? It's doing great business. It's gratifying that moviegoers want to see films that are entertaining and have something important to say.

TIME: With Oscar campaigning becoming increasingly intense and elaborate , is the Academy close to adopting McCain-Feingold-type laws for them?

SG (Laughs): Well, we publish a set of standards the studios must follow and there are real consequences if they are violated. They often take the form of a reduction in the number of allotted tickets to awards show. But if you campaign in a way that is really offensive, and you are an Academy member, you can get booted out.

TIME: What sort of tactics would warrant that?

SG: I don't know, and I hope we never see it.