Before Robert Redford kicked off the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday — the Utah movie festival he founded in 1978 — the 77-year-old actor wanted to clear a few things up about his apparent Oscar snub earlier that day.

Redford starred in November's critically acclaimed "All Is Lost," which earned a single Oscar nod for Achievement in Sound Editing but the Academy failed to recognize Redford's demanding performance as a resourceful sailor lost at sea.

“Let me speak frankly about how I feel about it,” Redford told reporters at a Sundance press conference, according to Variety. “I don’t want that to get in the way of why we’re here."

“There’s a lot of campaigning going on and it can be very political,” he added about the Oscars race. “In our case, we suffered from little to no distribution. I don’t know what they were afraid of. They didn’t want to spend money or they were incapable.”

Redford is referring to the film's distributor Roadside Attractions, which is partially owned by Lionsgate. 

"We had no campaign to cross over into the mainstream," Redford said of the film's failed distribution.

Since its November release, "All Is Lost" has gone on to earn a measly $6.1 million at the box office.

But at the end of the day, the veteran actor says there are no hard feelings. 

“Would it have been wonderful to be nominated?” he asked. “Of course. I’m not disturbed by it or upset by it.”

SEE ALSO: The 9 Biggest Snubs And Surprises From The Oscar Nominations

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Sure, this year's Oscar-nominated films were critically acclaimed pieces of art starring Hollywood's top talent. But when it comes down to it, what will these movies really be remembered for?

CollegeHumor created nine mock movie posters, making fun of each film. Check out some of the funny titles below.

"The Wolf of Wall Street":

"American Hustle":

"Her":

To see more funny movie posters from CollegeHumor, click here >

SEE ALSO: The 9 Biggest Snubs And Surprises From The Oscar Nominations

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In an extremely rare and cringe-worthy move, the Academy has revoked a Best Original Song nomination after accusations of improper campaigning.

The song “Alone Yet Not Alone,” music by Bruce Broughton and lyric by Dennis Spiegel, was a surprise nomination for the little-seen film of the same name — beating out more likely nominees such as Taylor Swift or Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" on "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack.

"The decision was prompted by the discovery that Broughton, a former governor and current music branch executive committee member, had emailed members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period," reports Variety.

But Broughton insists he has done nothing wrong. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly after the nominations, Broughton was open with the fact that he urged the members of his branch to simply consider the song.

“What happens is that the music branch of the Academy puts all the songs on a disc and I was concerned that this song would be really easy to overlook. So, yeah, I wrote some people and said, ‘Could you just take a look.’ That was literally the extent of the campaigning,"Broughton admitted before the current controversy. "I received in the mail songs from other films that were pressed and recorded CDs. We didn’t do anything like that at all.”

But that didn't stop the Academy from voting to rescind Broughton's nomination, making it one of the few times in history this has happened.

While campaigning happens all the time in the Oscars race, the Academy argued that it was unethical for Broughton to do so as an officer in the organization.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement, “No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one’s position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one’s own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage.” 

Broughton has responded by saying “I’m devastated. I indulged in the simplest, lamest, grass-roots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention. I got taken down by competition that had months of promotion and advertising behind them.”

Broughton and lyricist Dennis Spiegel are out of the running completely and a new nominee will not be added.

Instead, the category will only have four honorees this year:

1. “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 (Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams)

2. “Let It Go” from Frozen (Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)

3. “The Moon Song” from Her (Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze)

4. “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Music by U2)

But Broughton and Spiegel aren't the only ones hurt by the Oscar exclusion, as it is also a blow to the song's quadriplegic singer, Joni Eareckson Tada.

"With limited lung capacity due to her disability, Tada, who is also an Evangelical minister, had her husband, Ken, pushing on her diaphragm while she recorded the Oscar-nominated song to give her enough breath to hit the high notes," adds Variety.

Watch the group recording the once-Oscar nominated song below:

SEE ALSO: The 9 Biggest Snubs And Surprises From The Oscar Nominations

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The Oscars are supposed to be Hollywood's most prestigious awards ceremony, but that doesn't mean a movie has to be prestigious to be recognized by the Academy.

Sometimes some of the more forgettable or just outright bad films of the year wind up on Academy ballots.

Movies that were shockingly nominated >

1. "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" (2013)

Yes, thanks to the Hair and Makeup category, a movie presented by Jackass and staring Johnny Knoxville as an old man who plays hidden camera pranks on unsuspecting passerbys is up for as many Oscars this year as All is Lost and Before Midnight.

2. "Mirror, Mirror" (2012)

In a year (2013) that saw two live action adaptations of the Snow White fairy tale, both got nominated for Best Costume Design.

Only one deserved it, and it definitely wasn't Mirror Mirror (unless you consider putting a swan on an actress' head is something especially innovative).

3. "Transformers" (2007)

Did you know the Transformers franchise has more Oscar nominations than Marlon Brando and Al Pacino have for acting and more than Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have for directing? Those guys should get into stunt work and special effects.

It may be Award season for all of Hollywood, but there is one man in America that won’t be up for an Oscar this year.

RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that the Academy Awards filed a lawsuit on Feb. 6 against Texas man Jaime De La Rosa for manufacturing, importing, and selling fake Oscar statuettes on eBay and Etsy.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences “seeks injunctive relief and damages for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false representation,” court papers obtained by Radar stated.

PHOTOS: Plastic Fantastic Or Au Naturel? Top Cosmetic Surgeon Gives Rundown On Oscar Stars

“De La Rosa operates (1) a store on the eBay Web site (ww.ebay.com) in the form of an online auction and shopping site under the username ‘jjleo0205 and (2) an online store on the Etsy Web site (www.etsy.com) under store name ‘QuietOnTheSet’ and user name ‘Jaime De La Rosa,’” the suit said.

The academy also sued 10 other individuals, but listed them in the paperwork against De La Rosa as “Does 1 through 10.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL LAWSUIT

According to the court papers, Does 1 through 5 “manufactured, imported, or procured counterfeit replica ‘Oscar’ statuettes for De La Rosa to sell in derogation of the Academy’s rights.”

Does 6 through 10 helped De La Rosa with the sale of the counterfeit statuettes.

The issue was first brought to the attention of the Academy in November 2013 when they found out about a listing on eBay called “Academy Award Hollywood Metal Movie Acting Trophy Prop Replica” with one of the fake statutes being sold for $850.

PHOTOS: The Best, Worst & Wackiest Dressed Stars At The 2013 Academy Awards

The Academy claimed that the contacted De La Rosa, but he continued to sell the replicas — one replica was even being sold for the price of $5,000 on his Etsy store.

The Academy sued De La Rosa for copyright infringement and is asking for an injunction against him to get him to stop selling the fake statues.

They are also demanding $150,000 in damages from the defendant.

“The Academy is entitled to recover three times the defendants’ profits and the Academy’s damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and the cost of this action,” the papers said.

SEE ALSO: Oscar Nominations Revealed: Here's The Full List

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She may be the queen of the Oscars, with a staggering 18 nominations and three wins over a 35-year period, but Meryl Streep might be surprised to hear that she is also unsurpassed when it comes to being mentioned in acceptance speeches at the ceremony.

A new survey by Slate magazine suggests that winners over the past dozen years have namechecked the star more times than they have thanked God.

Streep topped the list of individual luminaries named during acceptance speeches, ahead of God, Sidney Poitier and Oprah Winfrey.

She was thanked by four out of the 47 individual Oscar-winners since 2002, compared with three for the Almighty and two each for Poitier and Winfrey.

Not surprisingly, the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is high up on the list of those thanked, with 32 mentions. Directors are even more popular, with 42 mentions, while agents, producers and co-stars are also highly likely to get thank yous, with family members falling in just behind.

Spouses (25 mentions), children (21) and writers (19) are the next most likely to be thanked. Surprisingly, fellow nominees have only been thanked 17 times by the past 47 winners.

Slate notes that early influences – whether grandparents, former directors or producers – are increasingly popular.

Female stars tend to have a longer list of people to thank, and one best supporting actor winner failed to thanked anyone at all: George Clooney, picking up the 2006 prize for Syriana, joked that he would now not be winning best director for that year's Good Night and Good Luck. He went on to praise the Academy for its progressiveness, and promptly walked off stage without namechecking anyone.

This year's Academy Awards ceremony, the 86th, will be held on 2 March at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles.

SEE ALSO: Meryl Streep Slams Walt Disney As 'Anti-Semitic Gender Bigot' In Awards Speech

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While watching a movie at home or in theaters, sometimes we forget the special effects that go into bringing a film to life.

This year, "Gravity,""The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,""Iron Man 3," and "Star Trek Into Darkness" are all nominated for visual effects Oscars.

Would you recognize any of those films without their added special effects?

We've gathered together images from visual effects studios Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Rhythm & Hues along with visual effects software company Imagineer Systems to show what popular movies would look like without added effects.

From Oscar-nominated films to box-office successes see what popular movies would look like without effects.

Visual Effects crew Rhythm & Hues helped make Oscar winner "Life of Pi" go from this ...

... to a boat lost out in the Pacific Ocean with a giant Bengal tiger.

Visual effects helped take Sandra Bullock from earth ...

Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, and Leonardo DiCaprio are just a few of the A-list names up for awards during this Sunday's Oscar telecast.

While Ellen DeGeneres will be hosting the show, producers just announced the full lineup of presenters. And it's a lot of star power:

This year’s 46 Oscar presenters, in alphabetical order:

1. Amy Adams
2. Kristen Bell
3. Jessica Biel
4. Jim Carrey
5. Glenn Close
6. Bradley Cooper
7. Penélope Cruz
8. Benedict Cumberbatch
9. Viola Davis
10. Daniel Day-Lewis
11. Robert De Niro
12. Zac Efron
13. Sally Field
14. Harrison Ford
15. Jamie Foxx
16. Andrew Garfield
17. Jennifer Garner
18. Whoopi Goldberg
19. Joseph Gordon-Levitt
20. Anne Hathaway
21. Goldie Hawn
22. Chris Hemsworth
23. Kate Hudson
24. Samuel L. Jackson
25. Angelina Jolie
26. Michael B. Jordan
27. Anna Kendrick
28. Jennifer Lawrence
29. Matthew McConaughey
30. Ewan McGregor
31. Bill Murray
32. Kim Novak
33. Tyler Perry
34. Brad Pitt
35. Sidney Poitier
36. Gabourey Sidibe
37. Will Smith
38. Kevin Spacey
39. Jason Sudeikis
40. Channing Tatum
41. Charlize Theron
42. John Travolta
43. Christoph Waltz
44. Kerry Washington
45. Emma Watson
46. Naomi Watts

SEE ALSO: The 9 Biggest Snubs And Surprises From The Oscar Nominations

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The Oscars are this Sunday and while we can’t wait for them in New York, the entire country isn't as psyched for the upcoming ceremony.

Outbrain, a content recommendation engine, compiled which states care the most and least about the Academy Awards.  

To do this, Outbrain tracked 36,636 different stories with the word “Oscar” or “Academy Award” in its headline between January 16 and February 16. They then calculated the percentage of each state’s total page views on those stories. 

According to their findings, people in large metropolitan areas — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. — have the most interest in Oscars. It should come as little surprise that both California and New York are at the top of the list. According to Outbrain’s data, West Virginia and North Dakota care the least about the awards’ ceremony. 

Check it out the map along with a full ranking below:

SEE ALSO: The most powerful people in Hollywood

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When the 86th Academy Awards air this Sunday, you’ll tune in to watch presenters tear open 24 little envelopes to deliver the night’s Oscar trophies.  

While we only get to see the outside of a golden envelope, presenters get to see much more than just a winner's name.

The envelope and inside nominee card were simply cream up until four years ago when the Academy hired Marc Friedland, CEO of Couture Communications, to liven up the stationery.

Since then, the winner's names are housed inside a golden envelope. We spoke with Friedland to find out more about the creation of the envelopes.

3 sets of 24 envelopes and 121 nominee cards will be made for this year’s Academy Awards.

Here's how we'll see the envelope Oscar night.

And here are what this year's award envelopes will look like from presenters' points-of-view:

As Hollywood approaches the home stretch of the awards season, with the Emmys, VMAs, Golden Globes, SAGs, Grammys, WGAs, and DGAs in the can, and the Oscars still to come, it is useful for entertainment marketers (and all marketers) to understand the contribution awards can make to your brand and bottom line.

What Awards Do For Your Business

There are so many things that winning awards do for you. The following are just some of them:

1. Validation. Awards validate your brand and product.
2. Credibility. The validation is credible because it comes from an independent, third party that has evaluated your product relative to your competitors.
3. Brand. The brand equity of the award-giver is transferred to you. That is the award has its own brand identity (Oscars, Emmys, Grammys) and you benefit from its brand strength.
4. Uniqueness. Since there is usually only one winner, the award gives you a unique distinction you can promote in your marketing.
5. Trust. As a result of the above, your target audience will believe and trust that your product is better because it won the award.
6. Promotion advantage. Once you are nominated or win, you have a tangible reason to promote your unique achievement to distinguish you from competitors.
7. Promotion leverage. Award sources and the news media will also promote your winning to further their own agendas, which can give you substantial promotion leverage and more credibility.

Academy Awards

Since the Academy Awards, or Oscars, have perhaps the greatest brand footprint of all the entertainment awards, it is useful to look at how being nominated and winning contributes to success of all those involved in making and distributing the movies being awarded.

How Much Does It Cost?

The cost to make an Oscar statue is estimated between $500 and $900 — depending on the cost of gold which, as of this writing, is $1254.70 an ounce.

What’s The Payoff?

Being nominated for an Oscar can translate to a huge payday for all those involved in making the film. Winning it can bring in much more. The Oscar is an iconic symbol of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brand that serves to validate both the movie and talent involved in making the film.

Marketing The Films

When used in marketing campaigns, this validation stamp increases the desire of moviegoers to see the films and the talent being honored. It also keeps the movies in theaters longer — boosting box office receipts. And it substantially increases downstream revenues from DVD sales, streaming, downloads, and cable TV revenues.

Advertising During The Broadcast

Advertising on the Oscars broadcast brings in a big payday for the network that carries the show. This year, commercial time was sold out before Christmas and hit an all-time high— commanding between $1.8 million to $1.9 million per 30-second spot for the March 2 telecast. That was good news for ABC, the network that will be airing this year’s the 86th Academy Awards.

Payoff For Winning

According to IBISWorld, the best picture winners over the previous five years had an average production budget of $17 million and earned an average of $82.5 million at the box-office — generating a 485.6 percent margin. They earned $35.2 million in box office revenue, or 42.8%, before being nominated; $29.4 million, or 35.6%, after they were nominated; and $17.9 million, or 21.7% after winning the Oscar. In 2010, The King’s Speech, garnered $138 million in domestic box office — over $100 million more than was expected before it won. In Hollywood, talent agents and managers estimate that their clients will get a 20% boost in pay for their next film if they win the award for Best Actor or Actress. This is why experts estimate that last year (2013) studios spent roughly $10 million to promote the top contenders for best picture.

Nominations Pay Off, Too

Even though winning the Oscar does wonders for movie careers and box office receipts, there is often a considerable pay-off for just being nominated. Per IBISWorld, movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar from the 2007 to 2011 awards seasons had an average production budget of $42.1 million and earned $104.2 million in box-office revenue for a 247.2 percent margin. They earned $81.2 million in box office revenue, or 77.8%, before being nominated; $19 million, or 18.2%, after they were nominated; and $4.2 million, or 21.7% after the awards show. The King’s Speech was initially projected to gross $30 million worldwide. After receiving 12 Academy Award nominations, the revised estimate was over $200 million. After winning the Oscar for best picture, its worldwide box office surpassed $427 million with domestic DVD sales adding nearly another $32 million.

According to Reuters, an Academy Award nomination can boost ticket sales by one-third and cause a jump in the DVD sales of movies no longer in theaters. When you add downloads, streaming and cable TV revenues, the monetary rewards from receiving a nomination can be substantial.

Looking at it from another perspective, in 2014, the 9 Best Picture nominees have already grossed north of $642 million since being released. Last year’s 9 top nominees have grossed $1 trillion since release! Taking the difference (even though this year’s nominee’s are expected to do even better), the value of being nominated is nothing short of Wow!

Many believe the top contenders that are still in theaters, American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street, could see their gross sales double between the time they were nominated and the time the awards presentation airs on March 2^nd.

Turning Nominations Into Profits

Award nominations can also mean the difference between profits and bankruptcy for some movie productions. This is why marketers go to great lengths to promote their movies for the Oscars long before the nominations are announced in January. They spend from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars promoting their films for an Oscar nomination.

It is reported that Harvey and Bob Weinstein spent millions promoting The King’s Speech and timed the release of the film to accelerate the Oscar buzz and boost the number of nominations. While actual figures are a highly-guarded secret in Hollywood, some peg the promotional investment in the King’s Speech to rival the $15 million the Weinsteins spent on promoting Shakespeare in Love in 1999.

This year, American Hustle and Gravity are tied for the lead with 10 nominations each, followed closely by 12 Years a Slave with 9.

Marketing Investment Pay Off

The Oscar marketing strategy paid off again last year with Argo winning best picture after Warner Brothers invested an estimated $10 million to promote the film. The previous two years, the Weinstein marketing magic is credited with securing a Best Picture win for the Artist in 2012 — a silent, black & white, subtitled film and the King’s Speech in 2011. Over the past 20 years, the film with the most nominations has won 15 times. This bodes well for this year’s two top nominees — American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street (10 nominations each).

The Winner Is…

Whoever wins the awards on March 2nd, one thing is certain — the Oscar brand is alive and well. Veteran movie marketers that know how to capitalize on the brand image of this famous statue can enhance their own brands as well as their bottom lines.

SEE ALSO: Here's Which Best Picture Nominees Made Back The Most Money, Ranked

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International wealth management firm Wealth-X just revealed the top wealthiest Oscar-winning actors ahead of the 86th Academy Awards this Sunday. 

Among those on the list is current Oscar nominee Sandra Bullock for this year’s “Gravity.” 

Topping the wealthiest Oscar winners is Jack Nicholson who won three Oscars for his roles in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (1976), “Terms of Endearment” (1984), and “As Good As It Gets” (1998).  

Nicholson is also the most honored living male actor with 12 nominations and 3 wins. Only Meryl Streep edges him out with 18 total nominations.

Check out the full list below from Wealth-X:

SEE ALSO: The embarassing roles of Oscar nominees before they were famous

AND: Follow us on Instagram

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When "Gravity" hit theaters last fall, Neil deGrasse Tyson paid special attention to the Oscar-nominated film. The blockbuster, afterall, is set in space.

Upon viewing "Gravity," though, Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted up a storm critiquing the movie's mysteries and inaccuracies. Tyson elaborates more on the inaccuracies of "Gravity" and explains how, despite his Twitter barrage, he actually "enjoyed the movie immensely."

Produced by Kamelia Angelova, William Wei, & Alana Kakoyiannis

StarTalk Radio is a podcast and radio program hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, where comic co-hosts, guest celebrities and scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Follow StarTalk Radio on Twitter, and watch StarTalk Radio "Behind the Scenes" on YouTube.

NOW WATCH: This Video Proves Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Is The Coolest Scientist Alive

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Oscar nominations are based on the performances of the actors and actresses, but Hollywood is a bottom-line business, so we checked up on how this year’s stars have done at the box office as the races wind down to the March 2nd Academy Awards.

There are some numbers that will probably surprise you, because most of these actors and actresses cut their biggest box-office swaths with films other than the ones that earned them their nominations.

Also read: Ranking Oscar Best Picture Nominees as Investments: Which Film Made Back the Most Money?

This list is very unscientific, because it has to be. How, for example, can you really compare the career of Bruce Dern, who has been in at least 85 movies, with that of fellow Best Supporting Actor nominee Barkhad Abdi, who made his film debut in “Captain Phillips”?

The cumulative totals are based on numbers from Box Office Mojo. There’s no accounting for inflation unless mentioned, however. That means that some of the films listed as a performer’s “lowest grossing wide release” — we didn’t count limited release films — may well have been hits in their day.

Oscar nom's grosses, ranked >

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine")

Her turns as Lady Galadriel in the hugely successful “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies make Blanchett by far the queen of the box office among this year’s Best Actress Oscar nominees. Outside of Middle Earth, her biggest payday was 2008’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The 1998 drama “Elizabeth” is her top grossing film as a leading lady.

No. of movies: 33

Top grossing: “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” ($1.1 billion) 2003

Lowest grossing wide release: “Elizabeth the Golden Age” ($74 million) 2007

Cumulative: $5.8 billion

Power Grid score: 88

Best Actress: Judi Dench ("Philomena")

Like Blanchett, it’s her recurring roles in a blockbuster franchise – Dench has played “M” in seven James Bond movies – that make the venerable British actress a very heavy box-office hitter. Her biggest hit when not in Her Majesty’s Secret Service was 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” for which she won the Supporting Actress Oscar. This year’s “Philomena” – which is at $78 million globally and counting – is her biggest score in a leading role.

No. of movies: 30

Top grossing: “Skyfall” ($1.1 billion) 2012

Lowest grossing: “J. Edgar” ($84 million) 2011

Cumulative: $5 billion

Power Grid score: 88

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”)

Her career got a big boost with “The Blind Slide,” the 2009 football movie for which she won the Best Actress Oscar that went on to make $309 million worldwide. Since then she’s starred in “The Heat” with Melissa McCarthy ($229 million worldwide) and “Gravity” ($700 million). She’s been a box office force since “Speed” took in $350 million in 1994 and her breakout role as a top banana came in 2000’s “Miss Congeniality.”

No. of movies: 33

Top grossing: “Gravity” ($700 million worldwide), 2013

Lowest grossing wide release: “All About Steve” ($40 million), 2009

Cumulative: $3.8 billion

Power Grid score: 86

The man who made offers others couldn't refuse once refused the movie industry's heftiest honor.

On March 5, 1973, Marlon Brando declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for his gut-wrenching performance as Vito Corleone in "The Godfather"— for a very unexpected reason.

Here's how it went down.

The Movie That Brought Brando Back

In the 1960s, Brando's career had slid into decline. His previous two movies  — the famously over-budget "One-Eyed Jacks" and "Mutiny on the Bounty"— tanked at the box office. Critics said "Mutiny" marked the end of Hollywood's golden age, and worse still, rumors of Brando's unruly behavior on set turned him into one of the least desirable actors to work with.

Brando's career needed saving. "The Godfather" was his defibrillator.

In the epic portrayal of a 1940s New York Mafia family, Brando played the patriarch, the original Don. Though the film follows his son Michael (played by Al Pacino), Vito Corleone is its spine. A ruthless, violent criminal, he loves and protects the family by any means necessary. It's the warmth of his humanity that makes him indestructible — a paradox shaped by Brando's remarkable performance.

"The Godfather" grossed nearly $135 million nationwide, and is heralded as one of the greatest films of all time. Pinned against pinnacles of the silver screen — Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole — Brando was favorited to win Best Actor. 

Drama At The Awards Show

On the eve of the 45th Academy Awards, Brando announced that he would boycott the ceremony and send Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. A little-known actress, she was then-president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.

On the evening of March 5, when Liv Ullman and Roger Moore read out the name of the Best Actor award recipient, neither presenter parted their lips in a smile. Their gaze fell on a woman in Apache dress, whose long, dark hair bobbed against her shoulders as she climbed the stairs.

Moore extended the award to Littlefeather, who waved it away with an open palm. She set a letter down on the podium, introduced herself, and said:

"I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you ... that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry —"

The crowd booed. Littlefeather looked down and said "excuse me." Others in the audience began to clap, cheering her on. She continued only briefly, to "beg" that her appearance was not an intrusion and that they will "meet with love and generosity" in the future.

Watch the scene unfold:

Why He Did It

In 1973, Native Americans had "virtually no representation in the film industry and were primarily used as extras," Native American studies scholar Dina Gilio-Whitaker writes. "Leading roles depicting Indians in several generations of Westerns were almost always given to white actors."

But they weren't just neglected or replaced in film; they were disrespected — a realization that crippled Brando's image of the industry.

The following day, The New York Times printed the entirety of his statement— which Littlefeather was unable to read in full because of "time restraints." Brando expressed support for the American Indian Movement and referenced the ongoing situation at Wounded Knee, where a team of 200 Oglala Lakota activists had occupied a tiny South Dakota town the previous month and was currently under siege by U.S. military forces. He wrote:

"The motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing him as savage, hostile and evil. It's hard enough for children to grow up in this world. When Indian children ... see their race depicted as they are in films, their minds become injured in ways we can never know."

A tsunami of criticism toppled over Brando and Littlefeather following the Oscars, from peers in the industry and the media.

Still, Brando lent the Native American community a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise awareness of their fight in front of 85 million viewers, leveraging an entertainment platform for political justice in unprecedented fashion. His controversial rejection of the award (which no winner has repeated since) remains one of the most powerful moments in Oscar history.

NOW WATCH – Neil deGrasse Tyson: I Loved 'Gravity' But Here's What The Movie Got Wrong

SEE ALSO: See the full list of 2014 Oscar nominations

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Don't feel sorry for the Oscar nominees who go home without a gold statuette Sunday night.

All the nominees head home with more than $85,000 worth of goodies after the ceremony. 

For the past 12 years, Distinctive Assets has been putting together the "Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag." 

This year's basket costs nearly double the price of last year's with more than 50 gifts ranging in price from $6.50 to $16,000. 

A spokesperson for Distinctive Assets tells Business Insider they saw a spike in companies interested in participating after gaining popularity among celebrities and in the press.

"This year we had so many vendors approach the team at Distinctive Assets wanting to be a part of the gift bag. There are also several luxury items included which really boost up the value."

Two of those items include a $15,000 walking tour of Japan and a $16,000 laser hair removal offer. 

We've organzied everything the nominees will take home from designer lollipops to luxurious trips to Las Vegas and Hawaii.

A $6.49 DrainWig that prevents hair clogs in your shower drain.

Learn more about it here.

$23 in reuseable 3-in-1 dry-cleaning bags from Green Garmento.

The bag goes from hamper, to duffle bag, to garment bag. And, yes, this was on "Shark Tank." 

A $35 six-pack of herbal tea-based lollipops from Dosha Pops.

Flavors include Chai Me Up (chai tea), Head Over Hibiscus (hibiscus), Inner Glow (lemon & turmeric), Mytea Pomegranate (pomegranate & rooibos), Velvet Rope (chicory), and Wishful Pinking (pink rose).

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The Academy Awards, similar to the Super Bowl, used to be one of those annual events that would attract large crowds around television sets so that audiences could marvel over celebrity fashions, argue over underserved Oscar winners, and – in general – celebrate the year in film.

But times change, and technology changes with it. The way we view television now is completely different from, say, 10 years ago… and the Academy is altering its approach to the Oscars to meet the needs of its audience. 

According to a story in USA Today, the 86th annual Academy Awards will be the first telecast in history that will stream live online and on mobile devices, meaning that you can watch the ceremony – hosted by Ellen DeGeneres – through the WATCH ABC appWATCH ABC is "available for subscribers to participating pay-TV providers online and through the WATCH ABC app on your iPhone or Android device," according to the paper, and this is the first time they will carry the Oscars.

However, in order to access the service, you must have "a cable subscription through Comcast, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Midcontinent Communicaitons, Verizion FiOS, Google Fiber or AT&T U-Verse in either New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham or Fresno." 

That seems limiting. It’s progress beyond years past, when NO element of the live show was available to streaming patrons. So I guess it’s a start.

The Academy also says that viewers outside of those admittedly large target areas will have access to a "second screen experience" dubbed The Oscars Backstage, which will offer three channels of content focusing on behind-the-scenes content happening during the awards telecast.

Tune in to the Backstage area and you’ll be able to choose from a Thank You Cam, the Winners Walk and the Audience and Press Room, as well as the live telecast (in some areas). The Oscars Backstage Experience will be hosted by entertainment reporter and film critic Ben Lyons, ABC World News contributor Hitha Prabhakar, PEOPLE Magazine's Peter Castro and Good Morning America's Chris Connelly. Video highlights from the Oscars Backstage and live telecast will be available on demand almost immediately after they air at oscar.com/blogs.

Where you might see something as awesome as this!



You, of course, will want to watch the Oscars with us here at CinemaBlend! We plan to host our annual Oscar chat, running from the Red Carpet ceremonies all the way through the end of the show… which should conclude by Tuesday morning, guaranteed.

We have been prepping you for the Oscars all year, breaking down the major categories, and making impassioned speeches on behalf of (or possibly against) this year’s nine Best Picture candidates. We’ll find out who triumphantly takes the stage on Sunday, March 2, beginning at 7 p.m. EST. How will you watch the Oscars this year? 

SEE ALSO: The Unbelievable Story Of Why Marlon Brando Rejected His 1973 Oscar For 'The Godfather'

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Ahead of the Oscars this Sunday, here's some fun Academy Award trivia for you that's being shared across Reddit.

Can you name the shortest Oscar nominee? While "Gravity" may be one of the shortest nominations for Best Picture, that title goes to 2013 Academy Award nominee "Fresh Guacamole" at just 100 seconds long.

The short film, by director PES, didn’t win the Oscar — that honor went to Disney’s “Paperman"— but if you've never seen it, it's fantastic.

The film uses stop motion to show how a bowl of guacamole is made. The kicker is that different objects are used in place of ingredients which transform into other items when they are sliced and diced.

Here are some of the transformations that take place.

This baseball gets diced into actual dice.

... before becoming even smaller dice.

This fake tomato also gets diced:

And these chess pieces are used in place of salt and pepper shakers:

According to the BBC, the short took four months to put together.

In case you’re wondering, the longest movie to ever be nominated for — and win — an Academy Award is "Gone with the Wind" at 238 minutes.

The shortest film to ever win the Oscar Best Picture is 1955 film "Marty" at 90 minutes.

So even if "Gravity" does pull out a win Sunday night, at 91 mins., it will not take that record.

Watch the amazing "Guacamole" below:

MORE OSCARS: Why Marlon Brando rejected his 1973 Oscar for "The Godfather"

SEE ALSO: Everything the nominees will take home in the $85,000 Oscar gift bag

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Oscar voters are a very mysterious bunch. Who are these people who choose the most film awards around?

One Oscar voter revealed the thoughts behind his votes to The Hollywood Reporter in the first part of an ongoing series which will include five Oscar voters.

This Oscar voter is not easily impressed at all — he found flaws in just about everything and is not a fan of animated movies. It’s pretty entertaining to read.

Voter, as he shall be known going forward, is part of the director’s branch of the Academy which includes 377 members.

The entire Academy consists of over 6,000 members, so even though Voter admits to voting for friends and against enemies, at least we can hope that those votes are leveled out with those from the other members. It’s probably just wishful thinking. 

Here are some of Voter’s snarkiest quotes:

On Gravity Director Alfonso Cuarón: “Cuaron was part of a committee of technicians who made that movie, and I have seen things at the planetarium that were at least as impressive.”

On Her: “Her interested me because of my complete ignorance of everything in it — it was like sitting through a class that I wasn’t necessarily enjoying but that I knew was good for me. (And just because I fall asleep in a movie doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t admire and like it; I’ve actually occasionally fallen asleep in my own movies.)”

On Meryl Streep In August: Osage County: “This is a bottom-drawer performance.”

On Julia Roberts In August: Osage County: “Horrendous.” (Guess he didn’t like August: Osage County…)

On Before Midnight’s Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay: ”Before Midnight is a travesty of ineptitude and dreadful writing, like the other two in that horrible trilogy — if I was sitting next to those people, I would run in the opposite direction.”

On Best Animated Feature: “I have seen none of them. I have no interest whatsoever. That ended when I was 6.” (Voter abstained from voting in this category.)

On Best Original Song:  ”To dignify any of them with a vote is to suggest that they’re worthy of a nomination, and they’re not; they’re just bad songs.” (Voter also abstained from voting in in this category.)

On Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street: “DiCaprio has been better; this is a popcorn performance.”

For Best Picture and the acting categories, Voter chose:
Best Picture: American Hustle (with 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street, coming in second and third.) 
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett 
Best Actor: Christian Bale 
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence 
Best Supporting Actor: Bradley Cooper (Although, he admits that “Jared Leto was good and will win.”

It’s interesting to get a feel for how Oscar voters make their decisions, but I have a feeling they aren’t all quite as harsh. A Best Original Song does get chosen after all. Someone must be willing to vote for it. 

SEE ALSO: Here's Everything Inside The $85,000 Oscar Nominee Swag Bag

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On Sunday, millions of people will be watching as celebrities descend upon Hollywood Boulevard to walk the red carpet before heading into the Dolby Theater for the 86th annual Academy Awards.

Last year, we stopped by the Dolby Theater to get a better look at what exactly it takes to prepare for the most-watched red carpet event of the year.

While workmen are quickly trying to transform Los Angeles' Hollywood Boulevard into a red carpet area, the street is anything but glamorous before the Oscar's take it over.

This is what the red carpet looks like during arrivals for the Academy Awards.

But before Sunday's big show, the glamorous red carpet area is just a blocked off, busy street in the middle of a touristy area in Hollywood.

To the right of the carpet, there is a Forever 21 clothing store and Johnny Depp look-a-like from "Pirates of the Caribbean."