If you are a fan of cars and movies this year's five Oscar "Best Pictures" nominations offer slim pickings.
But out of the five movies that are nominated for Best Picture one stands head and shoulders above the rest for car gear guys and gear gals.
So without further commercial interruption: The Oscar for the Best Car Picture goes to Slumdog Millionaire because the movie cast several Mercedes Benz in the much overlooked, but never-the-less best supporting car roles.
There were several Mercedes featured in the movie including a white and silver one that belonged to a Mumbai slum gangster, and one blue one that is stripped as a crucial part of the plot.
Plus, as an added benefit to those of us who like celebrity gossip, the Mercs are embroidered in a juicy Hollywood scandal and controversy.
And I'm here to expose it all before the movie walks the red carpet.
Here is the crux of the controversy—take a very close look at the white Mercedes in the photo above.
Do you see it? It looks…dare I say it…naked!
Hint: What's missing from the truck (or perhaps bare behind would be a better term) of white gangster's Mercedes Benz?
"The thing (you do not see) was the Mercedes logo on that car," Danny Boyle, the director of the movie, said after the screening.
"We had to take that off because Mercedes don't want to be associated
with being in a slum. We wanted to use a Mercedes because…this guy,
this gangster would drive a Mercedes…. But if you use Mercedes then
clearly you have to get permission, and we asked for their permission
and they refused it," the director added.
Mercedes-Benz apparently gave permission for its logo to appear on the gangster's new (second silver) Mercedes when it was parked outside his mansion and on a car hired by wealthy American tourists (the one that was stripped). They however did not want Mercedes star seen on the first white gangster's Merc because they did not want to be associated with a Mumbai slum.
So there you have it. The Best Car Picture of the year has to go to Slumdog because neither Frost nor Nixon, Milk, or Button drove anything as beautiful and scandalous as a naked Merc.
