No one tends to think too much about movie producers until Oscar night comes and there’s a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of up on stage accepting Best Picture. But like all the other guilds in Hollywood, the producers take a night to honor the work of their peers, during the Producers Guild of America awards. Scott Rudin went into the night with two nominations, for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, and walked away with the award for his collaboration with the Coen brothers.
Rudin was the first person to show Cormac McCarthy’s novel to the Coen Brothers, and convinced them to adapt it for the screen. In contrast to the usual stereotype of the egotistical producer, Rudin gave the brothers full credit for the award; as reported in Variety, he said in his acceptance speech “The only reason I am standing here is because of these two men. They are completely remarkable artists.”
No Country has also won the equivalent of the Best Picture award from the Director’s Guild and the Screen Actor’s Guild; after the Writer’s Guild awards next weekend we’ll see if the movie can pull off a full guild sweep. Regardless it is the heavy favorite for the Best Picture award on Oscar night, given that so many guild members are also Academy Award voters.
In other categories, Ratatouille won for Best Animated Feature and Sicko won for Best Documentary; both are up for the same awards at the Oscars.
