Do the Academy Awards need a new category?

[nemalki]

I'd pick three categories myself:

- Best Voice Actor (Male and Female):

The fact that Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Andy Serkis, Mel Blanc, Pinto Covig, Clarence Nash, Jack Mercer, Mae Quesel, Sterling Holloway, and countless other voice performers have never been nominated for an Oscar for their performances (heck, Serkis's performances as both the physical and vocal actor behind Gollum and King Kong are vital reasons why the creators behind those characters won actors) is a wee bit disturbing to me.

- Best Stunt Performer (Male and Female):

I think of the theme song to "The Fall Guy" TV series, which laments about an unknown stuntman who makes other guys look good while he sacrifices his own body in doing so, when I think about the contributions of stunt perfomers in movies. And considering that computers are slowly phasing them out, it's about time to honor them with Oscars while we can.

- Best Animator:

Instead of just lumping in animation with the visual and special effects categories, how about honoring that one particular animator who really brought out the personalities in characters in animated movies.

 

[minor muppetz]

- Best Voice Actor (Male and Female):

The fact that Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Andy Serkis, Mel Blanc, Pinto Covig, Clarence Nash, Jack Mercer, Mae Quesel, Sterling Holloway, and countless other voice performers have never been nominated for an Oscar for their performances (heck, Serkis's performances as both the physical and vocal actor behind Gollum and King Kong are vital reasons why the creators behind those characters won actors) is a wee bit disturbing to me.

We should add to that list Jerry Nelson, Charles Fleschier (for his role as Roger Rabbit), Chill Wills (the voice of Frances the talking Mule), Caroll Spinney (for Follow That Bird), and June Foray (though I can't think of any movie roles that she'd be good enough to be nominated for, with the exception of Rocky in the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie).

 

[BEAR]

If there was a Best Comedy category, then it could be nominated for best comedy. Otherwise, it could have had nominatiosn for best picture, Best Actor, Best Writer, Best Makeup, Best Director, and so on.

Right, but I don't think it would. That's just me, of course. The Academy awards for quality.

 

[BEAR]

Back when The Empire Strikes Back was released, George Lucas wanted Frank Oz to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Yoda, but the academy didn't consider puppeteering to be acting. If there was a Best Voiceover category, then he could have been nominated. I would have suggested a Best Puppeteer category, but I don't think it's common enough for there to be enough movies featuring puppetry every year to have this category, so Best Voiceover would be more suiting. If there was a Best Voiceover (or best Puppeteer), then the muppet movies could have had more nominations.

This is interesting though, because wasn't Robin Williams nominated for a best actor Golden Globe for Aladdin?

Also, I believe there is an Emmy category for voice over artists.

 

[MGov]

This is interesting though, because wasn't Robin Williams nominated for a best actor Golden Globe for Aladdin?

No, he was given a special Golden Globe award for "Aladdin".

There should not be a special category for comedy and there never will be. What makes a film a comedy? A great film wil have elements of drama and comedy. How will it be decided what category a film falls in? And there have been plenty of films that are comedic that have been nominated for Best Picture over the last ten years: Sideways, Lost in Translation, Chicago (winner), Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, Chocolat, Shakespeare in Love(winner), Life is Beautiful, As Good As It Gets, The Full Monty, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Babe, Il Postino.

A Best Animator category becomes problematic since there are so many individuals working on any one film. Who get's the award?

There can be as many as five nominees for Best Animated Film. there have only been three nominees the last two years because there were only three that qualified.

Best Voice Actor? Who would qualify? What would it be about doing a voice in a film that would elevate the performance to Oscar caliber? There are already four acting categories and I think voice acting in films is such a low percentage of the number of roles in a given year that it would end up being given to whoever performed in a voice role that didn't suck.

I do think there should be an Oscar for Stunts.

And Rachel Blanchard would be my nominee for blonde Canadian actresses.

 

[MGov]

Oh, and...


"Dickie Roberts"????????????????

Best Picture???????

No I didn't see it. It was David Spade and he hasn't done an original bit since... well... ever.

 

[minor muppetz]

There should not be a special category for comedy and there never will be. What makes a film a comedy? A great film wil have elements of drama and comedy. How will it be decided what category a film falls in? And there have been plenty of films that are comedic that have been nominated for Best Picture over the last ten years: Sideways, Lost in Translation, Chicago (winner), Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, Chocolat, Shakespeare in Love(winner), Life is Beautiful, As Good As It Gets, The Full Monty, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Babe, Il Postino.

Whoa... I feel a bit hurt by this comment. Looking at that list, the only comedy I've seen in babe, and the others don't sound very interesting to me. Though I haven't seen them, I have a feeling that those comedies are too serious, even for comedies.

 

[MGov]

Yes, "The Full Monty" is really a very serious film.

 

[minor muppetz]

Even if there was a Best Comedy category, I wouldn't mind if a movie was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Comedy. Heck, I'd be alright if the same movie was nominated for both Best Picture and best Anamated Picture.

 

[BEAR]

There does not need to be a separate Best Comedy category. That would mean they would have to get rid of the Best Picture altogether and also add a Best Drama. However, then you get into the whole thing where you might as well also add separate cetegories for all other genres: Action/Adventure, Horror/Thriller, Western, etc. And so many films have a mixture of all those styles. That is what the Best Picture award what it is. It is supposed to be the "Best Picture of the Year" of all the different kinds of films. I understand why they just recently added a category dedicated to animated films. That is okay because it is such a specialized form of filmmaking and should have its own award.