Does anyone know why Brad Renfro was left out of the Oscars tribute montage?

February 27, 2008 8:32 PM

Does anyone know why Brad Renfro was left out of the Oscars tribute montage?

I've read the statements and officially the Academy says that they can't include everyone due to time constraints, but Renfro died shortly before Heath Ledger and he was mentioned.

Does anyone know the politics behind who gets included? I doubt it's because of drug politics because I think Chris Farley was included when he died of an illegal-drug overdose. Renfro was never in an Oscar-nominated film, but neither was Farley. (I don't think.)

I'm curious why someone might be overlooked for the montage.

posted by easy_being_green to Society & Culture (18 answers total)

There was a cut off date for this year's ceremony - I forget what the date was, but Renfro didn't make it. Ledger got in just under the wire.
posted by moxiedoll at 8:36 PM on February 27, 2008

The montage said February 1, if I remember correctly. Renfro died January 15.
posted by nitsuj at 8:37 PM on February 27, 2008

(oh no. I just did some research to confirm the thing I thought I was right about and was sure I'd read somewhere - and I was wrong. Seriously, if you knew how much I hate being wrong, you'd feel worse for me then you do for all the dead people in the oscar montage put together).
posted by moxiedoll at 8:40 PM on February 27, 2008

Heath Ledger died after Renfro, moxiedoll. If I had to make an honest guess, it's because Brad Renfro was the kind of actor you'd choose to cut for time constraints. He wasn't terribly popular or highly-acclaimed.
posted by Roman Graves at 8:42 PM on February 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

i believe it's because he wasn't considered as big a star. i mean, heath ledger was a pretty gig star and brad renfro's last starring move was over a decade ago.

roy scheider didn't make the tribute this year because he missed the cut off date. i imagine he'll be in it next year.
posted by violetk at 8:43 PM on February 27, 2008

TMZ detailed this.
posted by JPowers at 8:50 PM on February 27, 2008

i believe it's because he wasn't considered as big a star.

and agents and makeup artists are?

I'm thinking there's no conceivable way they could omit Ledger. But the last thing they want is two drug deaths in a row tarnishing their image, and Renfro was minor enough they could get away with it.

This is the same kind of distasteful image management for middle America that we saw elsewhere, in the show, when "the troops" just happened to present an Oscar just before the doc about Iraq won.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:11 PM on February 27, 2008

More from TMZ:

"A flack tells us a small group of people make extremely difficult choices but refused to say what criteria are used to make those decisions. She added we shouldn't waste our time cause no one would discuss it further."
posted by nitsuj at 9:17 PM on February 27, 2008

i believe it's because he wasn't considered as big a star.

and agents and makeup artists are?

No, makeup artists and and agents are members and friends of the Academy.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:02 PM on February 27, 2008

My understanding was that due to time constraints they felt they had to edit the list and he didn't make the cut. Since so many people have made note of the omission, I've also heard that they are now considering that it might've been a bad call. But again, that's just word of mouth I've heard, not any kind of official statement or anything.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:14 PM on February 27, 2008

I believe that you have to have been in an Academy recognized film in order to be in the tribute.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 10:41 PM on February 27, 2008

Renfro was in an Academy recognized film: The Client, for which Susan Sarandon was nominated for an Oscar. He was also in Ghost World, which was nominated for best screenplay. I don't get why that doesn't count for something, at least.
posted by Locative at 4:09 AM on February 28, 2008

phil: because it's a question that does have an actual answer. it's just that in this case, the academy isn't providing the actual answer, so none of us can give more than speculation.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:45 AM on February 28, 2008

Best answer: I gather the academy is deliberately trying to remind people that not everyone who is important in Hollywood is an actor when they put that reel together. So they deliberately list costume designers, makeup artists, producers, etc, who might are not well known names or faces outside of people who are actually in the business of making movies. It's not meant to be a list of famous people who died, but a list of influential or respected movie people who died, and Brad Renfro barely qualifies on 'famous' and apparently not at all on 'influential or respected'.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:19 AM on February 28, 2008

Brad Renfro wasn't the only one who got left out of a montage that night.
posted by gnomeloaf at 8:29 AM on February 28, 2008

That guy from Apt Pupil is dead? Holy shit!
posted by thebellafonte at 8:37 AM on February 28, 2008

Well, I have heard of Heath Ledger and Chris Farley, and I have never heard of Brad Renfro. I suspect there are many people like me out there
posted by jpdoane at 2:11 PM on February 28, 2008

Brad Renfro was the guy who starred in The Client (based on a John Grisham novel). And then later in Apt Pupil with Sir Ian Mckellen (directed by the guy who made The Usual Suspects).

He also starred opposite Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson in a movie who's name is escaping me now... Ghost World I think.

He was a good actor, they should've included him in the montage.

(Oh yeah--just took a look at his IMDb page, and he also starred in Sleepers, where he played a young Brad Pitt. Very evocative movie; would highly recommend it.)
posted by hadjiboy at 6:35 AM on February 29, 2008