Golden Raspberry Awards
The Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies were created by John Wilson in 1980, intended to complement the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer. Current awards are voted upon by the membership of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Traditionally, nominations are announced one day before the Motion Picture Academy announces its Oscar nominations, and the awards are presented one day before the Oscar ceremony.
The term "raspberry" is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry."
Notable inductees
Many quite distinguished actors, directors and producers have received the recognition of a Golden Raspberry. However, due to the nature of the award, it is typically not picked up by its recipients. In fact, this has only happened a handful times in the history of the awards:
• 1988: Bill Cosby "won" three Razzie Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Screenplay for Leonard Part 6, a botched spoof of spy flicks that Cosby himself had condemned on several talk shows. Cosby became the first person to personally accept his Razzies, which he did a few weeks after the actual ceremony on Fox's The Late Show. He did request, though, that his trophies be a "deluxe" version of the usual Razzies. They were made out of 24-carat gold and Italian marble, at a cost of $27,000 - paid by the network. (The regular award consists of a fake raspberry atop a Super 8 film reel that's been spray-painted gold. The Golden Raspberry Awards Foundation estimates its value to be $4.97.)
• 1996: Paul Verhoeven was the first person to accept a Razzie in person at the awards ceremony when he accepted Worst Director for Showgirls.
• 1998: Screenwriter Brian Helgeland became the first person to win a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year - in fact, on the same weekend. His Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award was for L.A. Confidential, and it came the day after he "won" the Razzie for Worst Screenplay for Kevin Costner's The Postman. While Helgeland did not attend the Razzie ceremony, he did express a wish to get his dishonor and display it next to his Oscar to remind him of "the Quixotic nature" of Hollywood. Soon after, he was indeed officially presented his Razzie at his offices on the Warner Bros. lot.
• 2002: Tom Green accepted all five of his Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, for Freddy Got Fingered. He declared "I want to say I didn't deserve this... dear god, I want to say that."
• 2004: Ben Affleck, after winning Worst Actor for his work in Gigli, Daredevil and Paycheck, asked why he did not get his trophy. He was presented the Razzie live on Larry King Live a week later, which he promptly broke. The broken Razzie sold on eBay for enough money to cover the hall rental for the next year's ceremonies.
• 2005: Maybe the more notorious in-person acceptance was when Halle Berry surprised Hollywood, clutching her Oscar in one hand and her Razzie in the other, she gave a mock breathless acceptance speech at the Razzie ceremony. Berry had won the award for worst actress for her performance in Catwoman, which also won in three other categories. Shortly after this incident, John Wilson released a statement to the press praising Halle Berry's other performances and stating that he looks forward to Berry giving other Oscar-worthy performances.
The only two actors to be nominated for an Oscar and Razzie for the same performance are James Coco for Only When I Laugh in 1982 and Amy Irving for Yentl in 1984. Neither won either award.
Types of Awards
Over the years the Golden Raspberry Awards have had three different awards.
Razzie Award
The most famous award. It usually takes the form of a raspberry on a plastic base and is spray painted gold. It was first awarded in 1981.
Worst Career Achievement Award
This award was only awarded from 1982 to 1987.
Governor's Award
This is a special award given by Razzie Award governor John Wilson to an individual whose achievements are not covered by the Razzie's other categories. It was awarded in 2003 to Travis Payne for "Distinguished Under-Achievement in Choreography" in the film From Justin to Kelly.
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