“KPop Demon Hunters” continues to rack up the accolades.
The film’s song “Golden” was honored by the American Cinematheque Tribute to the Arts for best original song. Songwriters EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick accepted the award. EJAE got emotional as she told the audience what songwriting meant to her. She called the song “a beautiful accident.”
“I thought I was gonna be a KPop Idol, but that didn’t happen. But in my mid-20s, when I had to give up my dream to be a singer, I met a couple of KPop producers.” She explained how they asked her if she wanted to write a track, and she did – about going through a breakup with her ex. “What’s so weird was, after I was done, it weirdly helped me deal with the breakup better than talking to my girlfriends. Every melody, every word, had intent and expressed my emotion to its purest form.”
EJAE, who, along with Sonnenblick, won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for best original song. EJAE talked about writing “Golden” and how she had her character, Rumi, in mind. “The character was a fictional character, but the emotion was raw and very real. I think we all know how it feels to really crave for hope when it feels very hopeless, and it truly did help bring light in a very dark time in my life, actually to the point where I cried while singing the demo.”
Since the movie’s release and success, she has been flooded with messages from fans sharing what the songs mean to them. “The most received message I got was verbatim the sentence, ‘Your song ‘Golden’ saved me,’ and that is exactly the reason why you’re write.”
Production designer Jack Fisk, who has never won an Oscar, was honored with the Career Achievement Award. His wife, Sissy Spacek, presented him with the award.
Fisk, whose credits include “Badlands,” “Mulholland Drive,” “The Revenant” and “Marty Supreme,” recalled being best friends with David Lynch. He said, “In 1970, just out of art school, my best friend David Lynch and I drove to Los Angeles from Philadelphia in a rented U-Haul truck. He was going to the new American Film Institute, and I was looking for a job. I found one – on a non-union film for $100 a week. – It was holding traffic while the film company was shooting in a house about a quarter mile away. I was curious to be closer to the set, so I could see what’s going on. Then I found out that there was an art department on most films, and that became my goal – to get into the Art Department.” He also worked with Lynch on “The Straight Story.”
Fisk thanked Spacek and also shared how the two first met. “I met Terrence Malick, who was directing his first feature film, and he introduced me to a girl from Texas, Sissy Spacek, who would star in it. In 1972, Terry, Sissy, Martin Sheen, and a crew of 35 began filming ‘Badlands,’ and my life was changed forever.”
He said he had no career regrets after five decades in the industry. “As my friend David often said: “The Art Life – it’s a great Life!”
“Sinners” casting director Francine Maisler took time to thank the organization for “recognizing the pivotal role that casting plays.” The Academy Awards will recognize casting for the first time at next month’s ceremony.
”One Battle after Another” editor Andy Jurgensen called director Paul Thomas Anderson “an extraordinary mentor and collaborator.” Jurgensen added, “He’s taught me to go against convention, to be inventive, to let an audience know it’s okay to laugh, to embrace mistakes and imperfections, and maybe most of all, when to know not to cut.”
The following are the Tribute to the Crafts honorees:
Casting: “Sinners” (Francine Maisler) – Warner Bros. Pictures
Cinematography: “Train Dreams” (Adolpho Veloso) – Netflix
Choreography: “Wicked: For Good” (Christopher Scott) – Universal Pictures
Costume Design: “Hedda” (Lindsay Pugh) – Amazon MGM Studios
Editing: “One Battle After Another” (Andy Jurgensen) – Warner Bros. Pictures
Hair and Makeup: “Frankenstein” (Mike Hill, Cliona Furey & Jordan Samuel) – Netflix
Production Design/Set Decoration/Prop Master: “Frankenstein” (Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau & Christopher Geggie) – Netflix
Score: “Sinners” (Ludwig Göransson) – Warner Bros. Pictures
Song: “Golden” – “KPop Demon Hunters” (EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, IDO, 24, & TEDDY) – Netflix
Sound: F1 (Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary Rizzo, Juan Peralta & Gareth John) – Apple Original Films
Stunts: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (Wade Eastwood) – Paramount Pictures
Trailer: “Weapons” (John Stanford & Susie Shen on behalf of Warner Bros.; Jared Sapolin, Joel Walden, James Edgington, Greg Brotherton, John Salazar & Nate Rowe on behalf of Mark Woollen and Associates) – Warner Bros. Pictures
Visual Effects: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon & Daniel Barrett) – 20th Century Studios