No one at the Academy is able to contact the French new wave legend, who was also absent at Cannes this year
If anyone has a direct number for Jean-Luc Godard, can they please pass it on to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, California? The Academy would dearly like to present him with an honorary Oscar, but they don't know where he is.
Godard, 79, is one of three recipients of this year's lifetime achievement Oscar, alongside veteran actor Eli Wallach and the British film historian Kevin Brownlow. The statues are due to be presented at a special dinner in Hollywood on 13 November. Francis Ford Coppola will also be in attendance to collect the Irving G Thalberg memorial award. It promises to be a night to remember. Yet will Godard actually show?
So far, it seems, the Academy has drawn a blank. "We've been attempting to reach him since 7pm Tuesday evening and we have as yet had no confirmation," admits Bruce Davis, the Academy's executive director. "We have tried by telephone, by fax, by emails to various friends and associates. We have sent a formal letter by FedEx. But we have certainly not been told he will show up at this point."
Godard, the leading light of the French new wave, electrified world cinema with his mercurial 1960 picture Breathless, before going on to shoot the likes of Le Mépris and Weekend. Announcing his Oscar win, the Academy hailed him for a body of work that can be teasing, provocative and impenetrable by turns. "For 50 years Godard has continued to write and direct challenging and sometimes controversial films that have established his reputation as one of the seminal modernists in the history of cinema," it said.
But the omens on Godard making an appearance are not encouraging. The film-maker was scheduled to give a press conference at last May's Cannes film festival in support of his latest picture, Film Socialisme, only to bail out at the 11th hour. Journalists who gathered outside the interview room were left to ponder the title card that ended the film. "No comment," it said.
As if the Godard issue were not enough to be dealing with, the Academy also has a looming scheduling problem on its hands. Next year's Oscar ceremony may be forced to move from its traditional Sunday-night slot on 27 February to avoid a possible clash with the Super Bowl. Variety reports that organisers are now considering shifting the event to a Monday for the first time since 1999.
