New academy president David Rubin on diversity, the Academy Museum and dealing with controversy
LOS ANGELES - Once upon a time in Hollywood, being president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was a pretty stress-free, largely ceremonial gig. But times have changed, and casting director David Rubin, who was elected Tuesday evening to lead an organization in the midst of an ongoing transformation, may not get much of a honeymoon period.
Taking over from outgoing president John Bailey, whose two-year tenure was punctuated by a string of controversies, Rubin has inherited a range of thorny issues facing the 92-year-old institution, from an ambitious museum project that has faced cost overruns and delays to flagging ratings for the Oscars telecast, which hit an all-time low in 2018, to seismic shifts in the way people watch and define movies.
The Times spoke by phone with
