14 seconds to glory (and some Snakes on a Plane talk)

The Emmy Awards have always ran a distant second to the Academy Awards in terms of importance and an even more distant third in entertainment value to the Tony Awards.

However, this year's Emmy Award nominations has created a huge scandal with regards to Ellen Burstyn's nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Mini-series for the HBO movie Mrs. Harris. The scandal is the fact that Burstyn is in one scene, for a total of 14 seconds speaking two lines totalling 38 seconds. Her character does not even have a name. In the films credits, her character is named "Ex-Lover #3".

It is obvious that people who nominated her clearly did not see that movie. They clearly voted for her as she is one of the most respected actresses in the history of the cinema. She has been nominated for 6 Academy Awards. Her in the 70s reads like a top 10 list.

Top 5 Ellen Burstyn films
1. The Last Picture Show
2. The Exorcist
3. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
4. Same Time, Next Year
5. Requiem For A Dream

You may be asking yourself, why did she allow herself to be nominated? Keep in mind, nominations can be suggested by the studio, the actor's agent or even the film's producer. However, as Ray Richmond mentions in his blog Past Deadline, considering Burstyn is an ex-President of The Actor's Equity. She should do the right thing and publicly step out of the running for this award.

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Rest assured, Samuel L. Jackson will be in the upcoming movie Snakes On A Plane for more than 14 seconds. However, more important than that, the marketing machine behind Snakes On A Plane is already in overdrive.

Blogs much more interesting than mine have been abuzz about this film for months. The roar has been so loud that film producers did re-shoots this past March to help the film become closer to fan's expectations and a line was added to the script that fits in with Samuel L. Jackson's normal movie persona. The rumour is that the line is something like "Get these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane."

Jackson, no stranger to helping promote a film, even talked about it at the MTV Movie Awards in June of 2006 when he was presenting the award for Best Movie.

"I'm here tonight to present the award everyone's been waiting for: best movie. Now, this award holds a special place in my heart because next year I'll be winning it for Snakes on a Plane. Now I know, I know that sounds cocky, but I don't give a damn. I am guaranteeing that Snakes on a Plane will win best movie next year. Does not matter what else is coming out. The New James Bond... no snakes in that! Ocean's 13... where my snakes at? Shrek the Third... green, but not a snake. No movie shall triumph over Snakes on a Plane. Unless I happen to feel like making a movie called Mo' Motha-fuckin' Snakes on Mo' Motha-fuckin' Planes."

By the way, youtube has a very funny Snakes on A Plane clip called All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us


which is a very funny spoof of the early internet sensation called All Your Base Are Belong To Us



And for those of you who need more than just Snakes On A Plane, a B-movie called Snakes On A Train will be released straight to DVD a couple of days prior to the plane movie. Other than the title, there is no other connection between the two films.