Perhaps proving that Hollywood is a near God-less place, Vocativ recently watched all 1,396 Oscar acceptance speeches ever given, tallied up the name drops, and God came in sixth place. Who is bigger than God at the Oscars? Peter Jackson, George Lucas, James Cameron, Harvey Weinstein, and Steven Spielberg. But in a way, that makes sense because Jackson, Cameron, Lucas, and Spielberg are all cinematic world-builders. And many of those who've helped build those worlds for those directors have won Oscars. Weinstein? He's an empire builder, and he's so known in the industry (especially during awards season where he's willing to kiss every voter's forehead) that when people thank "Harvey" everyone knows that it's Weinstein.
Unsurprisingly, in a place that loves a pat on the back, Hollywood reaches most to the people that they can touch. These aren't athletes who feel blessed with physical talents. These are people who know better gigs come from Oscar wins (unless you're Mo'Nique), and they gotta work the room.
God came in sixth. But don't feel too bad for the big guy upstairs, Matthew McConaughey gave him both a huge shout-out and a number one finger last year, and in 2014, Hollywood released more religious films than usual. To the tune of $378 million at the US box office from just five films (Noah, Heaven is Real, God's Not Dead, Son of God, and Exodus: Gods and Kings). So you can expect more God movies to come.
God is doing well in the above-the-line box office categories. Meanwhile Spielberg's army of cinematographers, production designers, visual effects teams, sound effects crew, film editors, and his composer of choice John Williams, are winning the below-the-line battles.
Here's the top 10 most-thanked individuals at the Oscars (Unless an actor gushes over some of their favorite directors, God is the only one below who could realistically add to his tally tomorrow when the Oscars are handed out; so prick your ears for the Almighty):
1. Steven Spielberg (42)
2. Harvey Weinstein (34)
3. James Cameron (28)
4. George Lucas (23)
5. Peter Jackson (22)
6. God (19)
7. Fran Walsh (co-writer/producer of Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films) (18)
8. Sheila Nevins (president of HBO's documentary programming) (17)
9. Francis Ford Coppola (director of The Godfather series), Barrie Osborne (producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) (16)
10. Martin Scorsese, Saul Zaentz (a professional gambler who became a record and movie producer; winner of three Oscars for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, and The English Patient) (15)
[via Vocative]
