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Michael Barker, Tom Bernard & Roeg Sutherland Talk Favorite Oscar Moments & Why Theatrical Will Never Disappear — Zurich Summit Studio

Michael Barker, Tom Bernard & Roeg Sutherland On Oscars - Zurich

Sony Pictures Classics co-chiefs Michael Barker and Tom Bernard joined CAA Media Finance co-head Roeg Sutherland in Deadline’s Zurich Summit Studio to talk about their favorite Oscar moments, the strength of theatrical and how the Zurich Film Festival has evolved into a “retreat” for top industry execs from around the globe.

In a rare on-camera interview, Sutherland highlighted The Hurt Locker best picture win as a favorite awards season moment for him.

“That was one of the first movies I put together and I think I was on the 17th balcony of the Oscars and I was definitely the person that screamed the most when they won,” he said. “Kathryn Bigelow was not supposed to win that year – James Cameron was supposed to win that year with Avatar. When she won, it felt exhilarating even though I had absolutely nothing to do with that movie except for putting together the financing and selling it to Patrick Wachsberger.”

He recalled that “no one had wanted to buy” The Hurt Locker at the beginning: “I had to beg [Patrick].”

Barker commented that “this is a business of major surprises”, citing the win as major moment in the history of independent movies.

For Barker, his first time at the Academy Awards was one of his fondest when he and Bernard were working at Orion Classics, and were invited to be Akira Kurosawa’s guests.

“That was pretty amazing,” he recalled. “Akira Kurosawa introduced us to [Steven] Spielberg, [George] Lucas and Sidney Pollack and all of these people we wouldn’t have normally met. We were very young.”

He added that his other favorite Oscar moment was “definitely” when the SPC execs took Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the awards ceremony.

“That was by far our most successful picture, the most labor intensive picture, we learned so many new things on that adventure. It was nominated for 10 awards, including Best Picture and we were there with a Chinese movie and Ang Lee, one of the most quality people we have ever worked with.”

Bernard’s most memorable awards moment, however, was when he first attended with his wife as his wife’s date.

“She had edited Amadeus, she was 30 and we’d just had a son named Eddie and I came to the awards as her guest and to me that was the greatest time I’d ever had at the Oscars,” he said. “Just going through the ceremony and the intensity of it and being in the middle of all of this but just on the side, that was my best moment at the Oscars.”

Sutherland quipped that Amadeus was the reason he stopped playing the piano as a kid. “My mother told me [Amadeus] was able to do all of those things when he was five years old so I said, ‘that was it’ and I never played the piano again – there’s no point in being competitive when you can’t be competitive,” he joked.

Barker and Bernard, who are being feted at the Zurich Film Festival this weekend with the event’s Game Changer Award, attended the Zurich Summit yesterday in a keynote panel about their careers, which was hosted by Sutherland.

Check out the video above.

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