89 year old James Ivory on his long-awaited first Oscar win: “It feels good. . . It’s mine.
With James Ivory’s win for best adapted screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name,†he became the oldest person to ever take home the golden Oscars statue. And he’s taking the honor in stride.
“90 years for anything you do is extraordinary,†he said, about the age he’s turning in June. “Having won the Oscar at that age seems like a hiccup in nature. It feels good to be holding onto that Oscar. It’s mine.â€
Ivory’s win is something of a marvel, considering the industry veteran has never taken home one before. With a career spanning more than six decades, he has done more than direct, and sometimes write, great films; he helped shape American cinema. From the mid-’80s until the mid-’90s, the films of Merchant Ivory Productions, which he led with his late life partner, Ismail Merchant, and their late longtime writing collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, were such a dominant force at the box office and during awards season that “Merchant Ivory†became a genre unto itself.
Ivory directed almost all of them, and although “A Room With a View,†“Maurice,†“Howards End†and “Remains of the Day,†among others, nabbed countless Oscar nominations (including three for Ivory) and at least six wins, this year’s writing honor for adapting the gay love story “Call Me by Your Name.†is his first.
“I’m glad it was an Oscar for writing,†he said.
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