Why did Focus ask that Dustin Lance Black's "Vogue" photos be removed?

And that's pretty shocking to me, considering their gay-friendly positions and movies in the past. I guess their fear is that pics of a half-naked nominee will ruin his chances for winning the Oscar, even though last year's Original Screenplay winner, Diablo Cody for Juno, was quite up front about her career as a stripper. Hell, Marisa Tomei and Kate Winslet are naked for much of their films this year. But, see, they're women, and it's ok to gaze upon naked women. But naked men? That's too much.

I'm actually insulted and deeply disappointed by this behavior by Focus (though the conspiracy theorist in me wonders if this was planned all along, in order to get more exposure to the film and the category). In full disclosure, I have to admit that I'm rooting for In Bruges to win the Original Screenplay Oscar, but I'd hate for it to win/Black to lose under a cloud of controversy and speculation.

_{I don't even understand it. Maybe it's a copyright issue?}

_{I don't know how homophobia would mix into this. The photos are in a magazine after all....and if focus feature said to have that whole photoshoot takenout of the mag, then that would be a problem.}

_{I don't think it's homophobia....it's probably one of those "oh, we only want the photos to be seen in the magazine and that's it" things.}

 

 

 

This is one I just don't understand - those pictures are tame - yes the one suggests no pants, but he could be wearing jeans below the cut for all we can tell - when I was younger I wore them that low.  Does it make DLB less serious?  After Diablo, and some of her public clothing (and lack thereof) choices?  Because he's male?  Sexism?  Really??  The fact that a gay guy took pictures of a gay guy?  He's a director, for God's sake, you may as well be creeped out by him filming shots of shirtless guys for the movie itself.

It can't be copyright, because it's Focus that's upset, and the copyright would have been held by Vogue.

There's something fishy going on here.  Being young and pretty would be my best guess, that the Academy won't honor this kid with a writing prize.  It's not like it's a secret - Defamer has the twink-filled video with him at one of Roland's parties.  It's got to be the age thing. 

Really. I thought they got printed because it was a French Magazine that few if any American's would notice.

I was surprised because we don't often see sexy photos of a writer, and I can't ever recall a sexy photo shoot for a writer who is up for an Oscar. If these were photos of Sean Penn taken by Van Sant there wouldn't be a problem because movie stars are suppose to be sexy. Writers are suppose to be brilliant. Yes, someone can be brilliant and sexy, but you vote for a star because he's sexy. I would imagine that most in the Academy aren't going to vote for a writer just because he's sexy. That might actually make them question his talent.

The question is how many in the Academy are going to see those photos on the internet? Well if you have no idea who Dustin Lance Black is, Defamer.com's "Shirtless" article is the number 5 google hit. And Defamers very first line suggests that Black was using the photo shoot to gain Oscar Votes.Pretty asinine thing to say, considering that the photos appeared in Vogue Hommes International, not a way to gain the attention of Academy voters. Defamer gives a snide and unnecessary commentary, which ends by suggesting other writers undress if they want to win awards.

 

 

I seriously doubt that the Academy will not vote for Black because he appeared shirtless in a French magazine.

But Focus may be a little worried because Milk has a good chance to win the original screenplay award. It looks like Milk is going to win the WGA award.

I was surprised by the picture though since I wouldn't have guessed how he looked without his shirt on. He seems mild mannered in interviews.