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I didnt look, she says.
During rehearsal, I never turned around and looked.
But how did that happen?
How did an indie artist who specialized in yearning restraint wind up singing in front of a flaming sedan?
I wouldnt see any footage.
As she says, The characters are all at a breaking point in their belief systems, right?
Everybodys kind of coming at their lives in a certain way, and its not serving them.
And the song was about
Here, she takes a pause.
I guess Im just going to be straightforward and honest about it.
My brother got diagnosed with AIDS and died in six weeks.
My theory about writing songs for films is that you are a midwife.
Your job is, at a certain pivotal moment, to help ease the baby out.
you could help people experience emotion that theyve been sitting on the entire time theyve been watching the film.
I was part of his camp, York recalls.
He had [composer] Mark Isham.
He had Bobby Moresco as co-writer and co-producer.
We were all part of him, saying, Look, I have everything.
I just need this star or this funding.
Because it was so gritty, I thought something more driving might have been a better answer.
But Paul knew better than I did.
People felt so fucking beat up that they needed to take a breath.
For all the debate it inspired, however,Crashdidnt excite the producers of that years Oscars ceremony.
We dont want nobodies.
No one has seen these films.
It wasCapote, Brokeback Mountain,andCrash.It wasnt a year thatTitanicwas being nominated.
And so York found herself auditioning to perform on the show.
And I had starred in a miniseries as Naomi Judd.
And I put someWest Wingfootage on there to be like, Hey, people actually know my face!
Productionis the correct word.
Video of the number still feels startling.
We see a troupe of dancers move in slow motion, enacting scenes from the film.
And they are not re-creating moments of tender love and laughter.
There is a dance interpretation of Newtons character being groped by a cop.
Theres an arty pantomime of a carjacking.
Theres a choreographic vision of the moment when a father believes his young daughter has been shot.
And, of course, theres the onstage re-creation of the car that Phillippes character sets on fire.
The flames are only doused once the audience starts clapping.
Seasoned Oscars watchers will recognize this as part of the ceremonys long and complicated relationship to dance.
We must never forget the year that Rob Lowe hoofed it with Snow White.
As theinternational Elsascan tell you, the Oscars still have a taste for outremusical moments.
And while Ebertpraisedthe In the Deep number, most critics have beenmuchlessenthusiastic.
If York had had a say, the dancers and the flames wouldve been axed.
I was hoping I could just sing my song with Michael Becker, she says.
She did push back on the suggestion that there would be burning garbage cans around her while she sang.
I asked why, she recalls.
Where in the story are the burning garbage cans?
My request wasnt, Can we get rid of the burning car?
My request was, Can you tell me the purpose of the garbage cans?
The flaming trash was eventually cut, but York doesnt recall anything like a collaborative spirit.
They let me know that my feedback was not appreciated.
Veiled, but absolutely understood.
As she says, I kinda saw,Oh, this is how it goes.
I am literally a cast member.
I cannot see it any other way.And within that, I tried to do the best I could.
At the end of the day, they need eyeballs, right?
Yet despite being shrouded in a literal smoke screen, In the Deep still reached people.
Plus, 15 years after the car stopped burning, York has found something to celebrate about the evening.
