The family of at least one movie veteran whose death was not recognized on this year’s Oscars telecast want the Academy to know where they can put their QR code.
Sunday night’s “In Memoriam” segment featured Lenny Kravitz performing “Calling All Angels,” while a big-screen slideshow behind him singled out nearly 60 industry vets who died in 2022.
At the end of the three-minute roll call, a voiceover asked viewers to scan an on-screen QR code to be linked to a site of the Academy listing many other “dead but certainly not forgotten” “artists and filmmakers” – surely an attempt to stave off the annual criticism of In Memoriam’s “omissions”.
Among them not Paul Sorvino, Anne Heche, Fred Ward, Leslie Jordan, Tom Sizemore and Charlbi Dean (from the 2023 Best Picture nominee triangle of sadness). And many others.
But being a thumbnail photo in the middle of a grid of 250 wasn’t commensurate recognition for Sorvino’s family.
Paul Sorvino, who died in July from health problems, “was one of the greatest actors in Hollywood movie history. It is unconscionable that he should be excluded from the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars,” said his wife Dee Dee in a statement quoted by People. “It’s a three hour show, can’t they give a few more minutes to get it right? Paul Sorvino gave decades to this industry and was loved by all.
“Paul wasn’t the only deserving soul left behind, and a QR code isn’t acceptable,” Dee Dee continued. “The Academy needs to apologize, admit the mistake and do better.”
Sorvino’s Oscar-winning daughter Mira also commented on the Freedmen great omission, Tweeter“It is disconcerting beyond belief that my beloved father and many other brilliant and incredible actors who have passed away have been left behind. The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!