| Golden Raspberry Awards |
Razzie Award Logo |
| Awarded for |
Worst in film |
| Presented by |
Golden Raspberry Award Foundation |
| Country |
United States |
| First awarded |
1981 |
| Official website |
The Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies, first awarded in 1981, were created by John Wilson in 1980, intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer. It usually takes the form of a plastic raspberry spray-painted gold and mounted on a plastic base - nominally valued at approximately $4.89 (£2.48).[1] Current awards are voted upon by the membership of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation (GRAF), and membership is openly available to the public, as opposed to the Academy Awards. Traditionally, nominations are announced one day before the Motion Picture Academy announces its Oscar nominations, and the awards are presented one day before the Oscar ceremony, as a complement to the Oscars.
The term raspberry is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry."
Categories
The Official Categories of the Razzies are:
- Worst Picture
- Worst Director
- Worst Actor
- Worst Actress
- Worst Supporting Actor
- Worst Supporting Actress
- Worst Screen Couple
- Worst Screenplay
- Worst Prequel or Sequel
- Worst Remake or Rip-off
- Worst New Star (This category is now rarely awarded.)
- Worst Original Song (This category is now rarely awarded.)
Special categories
Over the years, Special categories have also been introduced and are handed out only once for the year it was introduced. Such special awards include Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property (1997), Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie (2002), Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie (All Concept/No Content!) (2003), Most Tiresome Tabloid Targets (2005), Worst Excuse For Family Entertainment (2006), Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie (2007) and others.
Other types of awards
Over the years, the Golden Raspberry Awards have awarded special awards next to the actual Razzie Awards as well.
Worst Career Achievement Award
This award was given only four times, in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1987, to Ronald Reagan, Linda Blair, Irwin Allen, and "Bruce the Rubber Shark" from Jaws.[2]
Governor's Award
This is a special award given by Razzie Award Governor John Wilson to an individual whose achievements are not covered by the Razzie's other categories. It was awarded in 2003 to Travis Payne for "Distinguished Under-Achievement in Choreography" in the film From Justin to Kelly.
Stars who have accepted the award
Many actors, directors, and producers have been awarded a Golden Raspberry. In a few cases, some of the winners have accepted their award in person, although only three have done so at the award ceremony itself:
- 1987: Bill Cosby won three Razzie Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Screenplay for Leonard Part 6, a botched spoof of spy flicks that Cosby himself had condemned on several talk shows. With the condition that his trophies be made of 24 carat gold and Italian marble,[3] Cosby became the first person to personally accept his Razzies, which he did a few weeks after the actual ceremony on Fox's The Late Show.
- 1995: Director Paul Verhoeven became the first actual winner to show up at the Razzie ceremony, when he personally accepted his award for Worst Director for the film Showgirls. He also accepted the Worst Picture Award for Showgirls.
- 2000: Although he didn't officially accept the award, Barry Pepper stated (after the fact) that had he known he was going to win the 2000 Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor (which he did win, for Battlefield Earth), he would have gladly shown up at the Razzie ceremony and accepted the honor in person. [4]
- 2001: Tom Green accepted all five of his Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, for Freddy Got Fingered. He declared, "I want to say I didn't deserve this any more than anyone else here... dear God, I want to say that. I don't think it would be true, though." He turned up in a white Cadillac and brought his own length of red carpet. Green's speech included a never-ending piece of music played on the harmonica, and he was eventually dragged off stage.[5]
- 2003: Ben Affleck, after winning Worst Actor for his work in Gigli, Daredevil, and Paycheck, asked why he did not get his trophy. He was presented the Razzie live on Larry King Live a week later, which he promptly broke. The broken Razzie was sold on eBay for enough money to cover the hall rental for the next year's ceremonies.
- 2004: Halle Berry gave an acceptance speech at the Razzie ceremony, clutching her Oscar (2002 Best Actress for Monster's Ball) in one hand and her Razzie in the other.[6] Berry had won the award for worst actress for her performance in Catwoman. Shortly afterwards, John Wilson released a statement to the press praising Halle Berry's other performances and stating that he looks forward to Berry giving other Oscar-worthy performances.
Razzie/Oscar connection
- The actors to have won both a Razzie and an Oscar for acting are Faye Dunaway, Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Roberto Benigni, Halle Berry, and Liza Minnelli, as well as Nicole Kidman (worst screen couple with Will Ferrell for Bewitched in 2005) who won Best Actress for The Hours in 2002. In addition Sofia Coppola, Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Prince are also Oscar and Razzie winners, but only one of the two awards was in acting.
- Rambo: First Blood Part II, Pearl Harbor and Norbit were all nominated for an Academy Award and a Razzie. Rambo lost at the Oscars in the category of Best Sound Effects Editing but won the Razzie for Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Screenplay. Pearl Harbor won an Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing while getting shut out at the Razzies, and Norbit saw Eddie Murphy winning three of the four Acting Razzies (see Razzie Records below) while getting shut out at the Oscars.
- The 2003 film Gigli became the first, and only film so far, to win all the top five categories at the Razzies, (Worst Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay) basically making it the Razzie equivalent of 1934's It Happened One Night, which was the first film to win the Oscar grand slam (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay).
Razzie records
- Actor Sylvester Stallone has received 30 nominations and ten wins and is the actor with the largest number of nominations and wins. He was nominated for the Worst Actor award for nine consecutive years from 1984 to 1992, winning four times.
- Actor Eddie Murphy received a single-year record five nominations in 2007 for Norbit: three acting nominations (one for each character he played), one for Worst Couple (again, relating to his playing multiple characters) and one for Worst Screenplay. He went on to win all three acting nominations, becoming the first person ever to win a Razzie for both male and female performances in a single film.
See also
References
External links
