Maxim Behar About the Oscars: "The film industry is experiencing an exceptional rise like never before.”

A special edition of the Bulgarian channel BTV, "The Night of the Oscars," hosted by Petya Dikova and Petar Bakardzhiev.

Petya Dikova: Mr. Behar, we are glad you are our next guest. Let's start, perhaps, with the general question. Are you excited about the Oscars? Do you have a favorite? Have you watched any of the nominated films for Best Picture?

Maxim: Now... first, I'm excited about Peter's birthday.

Peter Bakardzhiev: It's almost over. Just a little more... like this, so...

Maxim: Yeah, well, but this is a big PR event. To arrange the Oscars on your birthday.

Peter: See that?

Maxim: It's symbolic... No, I'm not excited about the Oscars because I'll wake up tomorrow morning and read who won. Ultimately, it's a show that you can watch recorded or live. I would even say that the World Cup is more emotional since it's on Peter's field, and it would excite me more because...

Peter: Night after night, it builds up. While here, it all happens in one breath.

Maxim: Not only that. Once you know the result, the match isn't interesting anymore.

Peter: That's right, plus the actors in shorts are better than those in dresses.

Maxim: It depends... it depends. Those in dresses are more beautiful; it's a lovely show. It's a money-making machine. A fame machine. A machine where many people see what they want to see. Maybe half of them. The other half are super disappointed because they see what they didn't expect. You met the guests before me. They have their preferences. They may come true, but also may not. The truth is, I was amazed that during the conversation, while waiting, those young people, like me, young people, regret the past. And they say to themselves: "Oh God, what we used to do in the past… What movies, what music, how we used to compose… Now, we have TikTok and Instagram. What are these stupidities? Threads." Quite the opposite, now life is much better. Now life is much more creative because it takes a lot of skill to make a product for 15 seconds or for 30 seconds, and it's very easy to make a movie that is two and a half hours long, like "The Assassins of the Flower Moon" or "Oppenheimer," but ultimately all these people deserve great respect, because...

Peter: Mr. Behar, sorry to interrupt you... It's very easy to create 15 strong seconds right here and now. But isn't it valuable to remember those 15 seconds after five years? However, I feel like it comes and goes. Just a moment. An intense moment, though...

Maxim: Well, it depends on how you make them. The 15 seconds you remember can be 15 seconds out of 2 hours. That often happens in movies.

Petya: Like Titanic.

Peter: Yes, it will forever remain in history...

Maxim: You know, a few years ago, I was at one of the forums in Davos, and during the breaks, I was interviewed by an American television company, CNBC. And they asked me a very casino-like question...

Peter: A small TV station...

Maxim: Yes, a business television. And they asked me a very casino-like question: "What do you expect from the Davos forum?" And I said: “A sentence”, and the reporter, your colleague, asked me: "What?" And I said: "I don't know, but I want to leave with one memorable sentence. If it's two or three or five, it means that I haven't been to Davos in vain. I haven't spent 500 euros on a hotel night or anything else in vain, and I haven't wasted my time. The same goes for the cinema. Sometimes, especially those films that are crème de la crème, the best ones we'll see tonight... directors, actors, screenwriters, authors... in these films, sometimes you can remember one sentence that can change your life. It can give you a completely different perspective, and that's why cinema is a very powerful art. I'm looking forward with greater anticipation to the "Gershwin" awards, which I gave at the Library of Congress since 2007 when the first recipient was Paul Simon. This year, it's Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Before the Trump era, they were held at the White House, but then he decided he had other priorities. And now they're in a hall in Washington. Since music is another art form. Music has no language barriers. There are no borders. It’s a much shorter form of art. It's much more impactful. And it creates completely different motivations and inspirations."

Peter: It's no coincidence that I asked Papi Hans (Bulgarian pop singer), about the music in films before you, and I feel like he wasn't that enthusiastic about what's happening right now.

Maxim: In those films you mentioned, there isn't any music that's "wow." There isn't such music that would later be released on a soundtrack—for example, John Travolta's films. You might not remember them, of course, because you're still young, but Grease or Saturday Night Fever, the music made a much bigger impact than the films themselves, because those songs are still sung and shared to this day. Maybe nobody has even watched the movies.

Petya: The most important and valuable aspect of the Oscars that we want to discuss with you is precisely the marketing and PR side of the awards. As an introduction, we'll use a short interview with a remarkable Bulgarian. Her name is Paulina Doicheva, and she has spent about ten years in the USA as a PR professional. Her latest engagement in the USA is to do the makeup for Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States. Paulina, hello! Thank you for joining our studio. I know you have two young children, and it's late but welcome to our studio!

Paulina: Good evening, everyone!

Petya: Good evening! We want to ask what you told the First Lady - Jill Biden, about Bulgaria.

Paulina: I told Jill Biden about Bulgaria’s incredible nature, and we talked about how, despite being small, Bulgaria has great resources, such as magnificent forests and the Black Sea, which we can enjoy constantly. She was pretty interested in the story.

Petya: I'm sure she was. Thank you for joining our studio at this late hour, Paulina. All the best and see you soon! Mr. Behar...

Maxim: I don't tell foreigners these things, by the way. About nature, mountains, seas... Because in Europe and not only in Europe, in the world, there are countries with much more beautiful nature. You know about my many meetings with Prince Charles, who is now the King, and in one of our conversations, he asks me: "What is most important for Bulgaria?" I think I've told you this in your studio. And I told him: "Can I ask you, what is most important for you, what do you know?" And he says: "Mountains, the sea, the beaches, nature..." I told him: "No, there are countries in Europe and worldwide that have more beautiful mountains than ours." And then he says to me: "Then?" ... "The people! Come and see the people because the people in Bulgaria are unique." We cannot compete with Spain, for example, or Austria regarding the mountains. Or with many others, even with Germany. Beaches... sorry, but my favorite Seychelles and Maldives... Wherever people travel.

Petya: And what about Arapia?

Maxim: No, no, they're lovely. There's no debate. However, it's not something unique. The unique thing in Bulgaria is the people. Let's move on to the Oscars now.

Petya: What would you do if your company had to run a campaign to increase the interest in the Oscars?

Maxim: It might sound slightly cynical, but I would emphasize the scandals. I would focus on... Do you remember how Will Smith slapped that guy, the poor thing? The unusual incidents that are remembered. They start from the 73rd year when Marlon Brando didn't show up to receive his Oscar and instead sent an advocate for Native American rights to draw attention...

Peter: Let me interrupt you for a moment. Look how many years later we're talking about how an actress of Native American descent that might be among the favorites to win Best Actress Award.

Maxim: However, none of us remembers who won the Oscar in '73, but we remember that incident. What Marlon Brando did. How he drew attention to the fact that Native Americans were being treated unfairly. I would emphasize exciting things and wouldn't talk so much about political correctness or whether there should be a gender balance, sexual preferences, and everything else. Instead, I would focus on the new technologies in cinema because we watch certain films, admire them, and criticize them, but we don't realize to what extent artificial intelligence is behind them. And we don't know the ratio with natural intelligence and we don't know what modern, incredible technologies are entering cinema, which might completely change our perception of it. That's why I like the present life - the year 2024. That's why I love social media because it allow us extraordinary development, not only of technologies, but also of our imagination and art. Of creativity in general. So, I would emphasize the new ways of making cinema, which might interest viewers who would say, "Let's go see these Oscars because maybe they'll say something more interesting." And, of course, there are incidents, whether they are scandals or something that will be remembered.

Peter: In this sense, the strike of the Hollywood screenwriters and all the people who just a few months ago conducted a weeks-long battle for their right to coexist with artificial intelligence. Do you think it was more of a human concern or a real threat to the human side of film production?

Maxim: I'm not sure that artificial intelligence was the cause of the strike. The reason was rather the big streaming platforms. Because artificial intelligence is still in its early stage and you can't... of course, they did win some rights. The unions there are powerful. However, no one can strike and fight against modern life. Against modern technologies. We've long passed the days of the Chartist movements; I think it was the 17th century when workers in England were breaking machines because machines would take their bread, and they wouldn't be able to produce with their hands. Life is completely different now. Yes, the strike was a big and very strong signal, mainly for the producers in Hollywood, because they are the ones who find the money and provide it. At the same time, it drew attention, and they succeeded because they were a significant force.

Peter: We're already talking about billion-dollar budgets. In the beginning, you made an analogy with the World Cup in football. A decade ago, the count was in millions, two, three, five, ten. Now, they've become hundreds of millions, and in the movie industry, they've become billions.

Host: And as we talk about billions... the revenues from Barbie, for example, exceeded a billion and 400 million.

Maxim: "Openhaimer" 1 billion.

Peter: Star Wars was making box office figures of 300 million, 400 million, and we were like, "Wow, unreachable." And suddenly, a Barbie with the pink dress...

Petya: Well, it's a bit more than just a pink dress there...

Peter: ... and long legs.

Host: It's truly diverse... From a PR standpoint, was it a stroke of genius for the company to make a full-length film advertisement instead of traditional advertising?

Maxim: I can't judge whether it was genius, but it was a powerful marketing approach. In my opinion, without any risks. Because if this film hadn't happened, what would have happened? Nothing. Kids wouldn't have stopped buying Barbie dolls or parents buying them for their children. Or accessories. At the same time, the film is very well done; I admit, I held on until the 25th, 26th, and 27th minute. It's for a completely different audience, of course.

Petya: Ah, you say you held on until the twenty-something minute. I endured "The Zone of Interest" that way. That's a film dedicated to the Holocaust. A film dedicated to Auschwitz, where only a fence separates the guards from the camp...

Maxim: It separates two worlds. Two planets.

Petya: ...And the house where the family of the director of Auschwitz lives, who are watering their lettuce, their garden... horrifying screams, cries in the background of some completely normal everyday activities, with which the family and the small children are engaged, completely ignoring those unbearable sounds...

Maxim: Do you know why I think this film could be leading tonight? Because the world is currently in at least two wars. And both wars are literally on our borders. And both wars are extremely global. I mean, they have an impact on global politics, economics, and business relations. This is a warning, as horrifying as it may be, as strong as it may be, it's a warning because perhaps all of this is happening in Ukraine today. Maybe, somewhere, on one side is the border of Russia, and on the other side is the border of Ukraine. Maybe they are not separated by a fence, but in today's technologies and modern life, that's less than just a fence.

Petya: Let's continue the conversation with a more cheerful topic. Let's talk about the money of the Oscars.

Peter: Just to mention, I'm not as optimistic as you are. You say that war and misfortunes are near us but not near them. I think the Oscars pass under the American. They're a little distant, and I don't know if they'll have that sensitivity to what's really happening near them, but thousands of kilometers away from them.

Maxim: Allow me to discuss those figures we mentioned. This means that cinema is experiencing an exceptional rise. And we, who say, "Oh, the movies are weak now. But there are no good movies like before." Quite the opposite. Ultimately, what is the criterion for a movie? There are 7 billion people in the world. There are probably 15 billion opinions about the films. One likes one thing, another likes another, third, fourth thing. However, when we draw the line, we see that cinema is on an exceptional, unprecedented rise, which is great news.

Petya: Mr. Behar, how should we end the conversation? In what shape is the "Oscar" brand now?

Maxim: It depends on who and how they look at it. I think the ceremony and the awards that will be given are much more valuable than in previous years, because the competition is much greater. And not just financially. Competition in creativity itself. Competition among actors, among techniques used. I think that in the coming years, this brand will hardly go down. It's unlikely to decline. I want Oscars every day. Every day there should be such a ceremony. Every day in Bulgaria, there should be "Askeer" awards, every day there should be different awards, so that, ultimately, everyone can celebrate and enjoy this art rather than waiting for one year. We cross our fingers to see who will be the best tonight.

Petya: We cross our fingers. Thank you for being with us.

You can watch the full interview here.