Academy head changes the game

An Oscar statue stands on the red carpet outside the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California. AP FILE PHOTO

BEVERLY HILLS, California – When Bette Davis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) in 1941, it’s believed she was met with such opposition by the predominantly male organization that she resigned after two months.

The motion picture academy has seen only two other women in the top post since then: writer-producer Fay Kanin in 1979 and now, film exec Cheryl Boone Isaacs, also the organization’s first black president.

Seven months into the job, Isaacs is still adjusting to the excitement of her appointment and the weight it wields within the film community. “It’s different being a minority in a majority space,” said Isaacs in her office at the Beverly Hills headquarters of the academy, long known as being predominantly white, male and over 50.

As the face now representing the 6,100-member academy, Isaacs knows there’s a lot riding on her decisions and responses. “I try to get to the reality of a situation and [then ask] myself, ‘Are you being reactive? Are you being defensive?’” said the 64-year-old, who became a member of the academy in 1988, 11 years after launching her career as a publicist at Columbia Pictures. “There are things you can’t do. You can’t get angry because then you are just an angry black woman.”

As a teenager growing up in western Massachusetts in the 1960s, Isaacs looked up to her older brother Ashley, an advertising and publicity executive at United Artists in New York. “He would come home with 16mm films and screen them in the dining room,” she recalled, citing her brother, who died of cancer in 1994, as fostering her love of film. When Ashley moved to Los Angeles, Isaacs followed.

Pan Am stewardess

“I was living in San Francisco working as a stewardess for Pan American and I needed to get serious,” recalled the Whittier College graduate. “I started at Columbia.”

In 1984, she became director of publicity at Paramount Pictures and in 1997 she transitioned to New Line Cinema, as the studio’s first black president of theatrical marketing. She ran the publicity campaigns for “Forrest Gump,” “Braveheart” and “Rush Hour.”

Diversity is at the heart of how she’s making her mark at the academy. “I am active in member engagement,” said Isaacs, who was recently inducted into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Hall of Fame.

Of late, the film world has seen growing diversity within its ranks, from the 2013 appointment of the first black and openly gay president of the Directors Guild, to the many artists of color up for Oscars this season. “When we get to participate, we do really well,” said Isaacs. “This year is going to show that.”

In January, the academy’s hard-nosed decision to rescind the nomination of “Alone Yet Not Alone” because the composer lobbied fellow voting members via e-mail, set the tone for Isaac’s tenure. “It was a difficult situation,” she said, “[but] we must stay vigilant and stand firm with our principles. That matters in voting and in life.”

Other key decisions by Isaacs include steering plans for the $300-million movie museum the academy is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2017.

Stepping on stage on Hollywood’s most celebrated evening will be “a little scary,” Isaacs admitted. She had practice when announcing the Oscar nominations alongside actor Chris Hemsworth last month. “I had Thor there, so I felt at home,” she joked. “But the Oscars, that’s going to be big!” AP