BBC NEWS Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific Arabic Spanish Russian Chinese Welsh
BBCi CATEGORIES   TV   RADIO   COMMUNICATE   WHERE I LIVE   INDEX    SEARCH 

BBC NEWS
 You are in:  In Depth: Oscars 2002
Front Page 
World 
UK 
UK Politics 
Business 
Sci/Tech 
Health 
Education 
Entertainment 
Talking Point 
In Depth 
AudioVideo 


Commonwealth Games 2002

BBC Sport

BBC Weather

SERVICES 
banner Saturday, 23 March, 2002, 23:38 GMT
Green gets fingered for Razzies
Tom Green with some of his Razzie awards
Green said winning Razzies was a 'dream come true'
test hello test
By BBC News Online's Darren Waters in Los Angeles
line

Comedian and actor Tom Green has made Hollywood awards history by becoming the first performer to receive a worst actor Razzie in person.

The star turned up at the Raspberry awards, which annually "dishonour" the worst films of the year, to collect five awards for his film Freddy Got Fingered.

The movie resisted the challenge of Sylvester Stallone's Driven and the Mariah Carey film Glitter to win the overall worst picture of the year.

Green arrived in a white Cadillac, wearing a tuxedo and rolled out his own red carpet, outside the Magicopolis theatre in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.


It is a totally, very proud moment for me

Tom Green
"When we set out to make this film we wanted to win a Razzie, so this is a dream come true for me," he said.

Green follows the lead of director Paul Verhoeven who received in person his award as the film-maker behind Showgirls.

'Anti-Oscars'

Freddy Got Fingered was mauled by the critics last year, with one critic describing it as "the worst film ever released by a major studio".

In all, Green picked up awards for worst director, worst actor, worst screenplay, worst on-screen couple and worst film.

"It is a totally, very proud moment for me," said Green, collecting the award for worst screenplay.

Tom Green arriving at the Razzies
Green brought his own red carpet to the event
"I wore this tuxedo at my wedding so that gives you an indication of how much this means to me," said the star, who recently separated from actress Drew Barrymore.

Green began his career in Canada on public access television, before finding fame as a comedian on music channel MTV.

The Razzies are widely accepted as the leading "anti-Oscars" ceremony and were established 22 years ago.

'Three-hour bore'

The awards ceremony began with a "Hooray for what's no good" song as a tribute to the worst of Hollywood.

Pearl Harbor was dubbed a "three-hour bore" while the organisers pleaded for donations to the "Sylvester Stallone retirement fund".

Pearl Harbor actress Kate Beckinsale
Pearl Harbor - A "three-hour bore"
Mariah Carey who made her big screen debut in the box office flop Glitter won the award for worst actress. She and all the other winners, with the exception of Tom Green, were not present to collect their awards.

Worst re-make or sequel was won by Planet of the Apes, while one of its stars Estella Warren won the worst supporting actress award.

Worst supporting actor went to veteran Charlton Heston for his roles in Planet of the Apes, Cats and Dogs and Town and Country.

The winners were chosen by a ballot of members of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.

Fan club

Outside the ceremony Green told members of the press: "I have not won a lot of awards so this is a big deal for me.

"When we made this movie we did not think it would get this press or adulation."


I would just like to say to all the other nominees - 'I do not think I deserve this more than anyone else'

Tom Green
Some of his fans made a trip to the awards to meet their hero.

A group of students from San Jose drove for six hours to get a chance to meet the comedian.

All of the students wore T-shirts with the slogans "I love Tom Green" and "Razzies or bust".

Receiving the award for overall worst picture, Green said: "I would just like to say to all the other nominees in the audience 'I do not think I deserve this more than anyone else'.

"It is a very proud day for me."

Green concluded his speech with a specially-composed piece of music he played on the harmonica.

The organisers had to drag the star off the stage when it became clear his composition was never-ending.

"Apparently I have to make way for a birthday party," shouted Green.

He was not mistaken - as he left the awards ceremony clutching his five Razzies, birthday hats, streamers and cake were being delivered.

It seemed an appropriately bizarre handover.

Stinkers

Green's Razzie triumph follows his five awards at Friday night's Stinker awards, which also glory in highlighting Hollywood's biggest mistakes of the year.

Mariah Carey also found herself in the firing line at the Stinkers, where she was named as worst actress.

Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey: Not a screen hit

Her song Loverboy from the film was also singled out as the worst film song of 2001.

The Stinkers did not have a formal awards ceremony but Green was made a special trophy of a miniature flushing toilet - which he is still due to collect.

The Stinkers were set up by The Los Angeles Hastings Bad Cinema Society, a group of movie fans.

The Oscars ceremony is broadcast live on BBC Two on Monday 25 March from 0045-0500 GMT and reported live on BBC News Online.

See also:

05 Feb 02 | Film
Carey set for Stinker
25 Mar 01 | Film
Hollywood honours its worst
23 Mar 02 | Oscars 2002
Clash of the movie flops
Internet links:


The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Links to more Oscars 2002 stories are at the foot of the page.


Links to more Oscars 2002 stories