Film director Steven Spielberg is not pleased with the Motion Picture Academy.
Last month, The Academy announced its decision not to include live presentations for eight Oscar categories during the 94th Academy Awards telecast on March 27.
Electing instead to pre-tape the award presentations for best documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short and sound, the decision to cut the categories came as an attempt to increase ratings and keep the show under three hours.
In an interview following a screening of Spielberg's West Side Story, which received nominations in eight Oscar categories, the famed director expressed his displeasure with the Academy's decision, and told Deadline that many of his films would have flopped without behind-the-scenes production teams.
"I disagree with the decision made by the executive committee," Spielberg, who serves on the Academy's Board of Governors, said.
"I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next," he continued. "I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line. All of us are on the same line bringing the best of us to tell the best stories we possibly can."
"That means for me we should all have a seat at the supper table together," he added.
Acknowledging West Side Story Production Designer Adam Stockhausen and composer John Williams, responsible for the iconic Jaws score, Spielberg further explained that sound and visual effects personnel are just as integral to high-quality film production as actors and directors.
"Without John Williams, Jaws would wear dentures. With West Side Story, when Tony is singing "Tonight" with Maria, without Adam Stockhausen he would be singing it on a step-ladder and she would be on the scaffolding, all this on an empty soundstage," the 75-year-old director lamented.
"Without film editing, all my movies would still be in dailies," Spielberg added.
Earlier today, Variety revealed that Williams, whose 52 Oscar nominations are the most of any living person, endorsed a letter advocating for the reversal of the decision to cut eight, pre-taped presentations and winners' speeches into the Oscars live telecast.
Sent to Motion Picture Academy President David Rubin, the letter was also signed by directors James Cameron and Guillermo del Toro, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, former Oscars producer Joe Roth and dozens more award-winning directors, writers, producers, costume designers, production designers, cinematographers and composers.
"We the undersigned urge you in the strongest possible terms...to reverse your decision to remove the presentation of eight awards categories from the live telecast of this year's Academy Awards ceremony," the letter reads. "For nearly a century, the Academy Awards has represented the gold standard in recognizing and honoring all of the essential crafts in filmmaking...we are deeply troubled that this gold standard is being tarnished by valuing some filmmaking disciplines over others and relegating those others to the status of second class citizens.
"To diminish any of these individual categories in the pursuit of ratings and short-term profit does irreparable damage to the Academy's standing as impartial arbiters and responsible stewards of our industry's most important awards," the letter continues. "Seeking new audiences by making the telecast more entertaining is a laudable and important goal, but this cannot be achieved by demeaning the very crafts that...make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration."
Over the last half-decade, viewership numbers for the Oscars have plummeted.
Last year, less than 10 million people tuned in to the 93rd Academy Awards, marking the smallest audience in the awards show's history.
Despite reports that ABC threatened to drop the Oscars unless categories were cut from the telecast, Rubin assured that the shortened telecast will not tarnish the legacy the Academy has built over the last century.
"I can't imagine that we're not going to deliver the Oscar experience that both the nominees and the audience have been wanting and are dreaming about," Rubin told Deadline. "We feel really good about this plan. It feels inclusive and respectful and celebratory."
Spielberg, who said he has "tremendous respect" for Rubin, remained adamant about wanting the decision to be overturned, but made it clear he does not expect his wishes to come to fruition.
"I hope it's reversed, but I'm not anticipating a reversal and I am not optimistic about it," he said.
Newsweek reached out to the Motion Picture Academy for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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