Patton Oswalt didn’t let his hosting gig for the 71st Annual Golden Reels Award ceremony go to waste. During his opening monologue, the comedian took several swings at Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav following the controversial decisions to shelve Batgirl, and more recently, Coyote vs. Acme so the studio could score a tax write-off.
However, Oswalt first dropped a self-deprecating joke as he addressed the crowd full of sound editors.
“What better choice to entertain a room full of postproduction workers than a guy who is in both SAG and the WGA,” Oswald sarcastically quipped. “That’s right. I’m the asshole that forced you to take out a second mortgage on your home.”
From there, Oswalt pivoted to landing blows on Zaslav. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“But despite the nightmare of last year’s basically living hell that we all went through, you guys, as always, did some amazing work. And I’m just talking about the movies that were locked in a vault for a tax break. Get it?”
The comedian went on to specifically call out Zaslav, whose company has scrapped multiple finished films amid cost-cutting measures, including Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt in 2022 and Coyote vs. Acme last year. “I joke, but it’s exciting to see our industry once again flourishing,” Oswalt said. “I hear that David Zaslav just gave a three-picture deal to H&R Block. Vive la cinéma!”
Oswalt’s remarks arrive directly on the heels of Will Forte’s open letter to the cast of crew of Coyote vs. Acme. Forte, who starred in the now-deleted film, assured everyone that they created an “incredible” movie as he voiced his frustration with it never seeing the light of day.
“This was the movie they’re not going to release?” Forte wrote. “Look, when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don’t know shit about shit. Even when a movie tests very well (like ours), there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be a hit. And at the end of the day, the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it. It doesn’t mean I have to like it (I f**king hate it). Or agree with it. And it doesn’t mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent.”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)