PRECIOUS: Matt Zoller Seitz argues convincingly for the creation of an Academy Award for Best Collaborative Performance (link fixed) to honor folks like Andy Serkis and Frank Oz.
Of course, I'd also like to see them recognize Best Stunt Coordination, Best First Film (director), and Best Debut Performance (actor), but doing so would require their doing something sensible like moving the two Short Film and some technical awards to prior-to-broadcast.
You lost me at debuts, an award that screams Participation to me, but Stunts has been necessary for years. As for Andy Serkis, much as he should have been nominated for Apes, we could have avoided this issue if he had been eligible for Best Special Effects; my feeling is if it's a motion capture performance, the performer should be nominated along with the effects people (but only if it is a lead or supporting performance). Only problem is, that means Ahmed Best would now have an Academy Award nomination.
ReplyDeleteI see two problems with this:
ReplyDelete1. It combines the effects work with the performances. It's possible to have really great effects work in the service of a messy performance, with Jar Jar being a great example of that. Those effects (even by today's standards) are pretty darn good, That said, the Academy seems to vote that way already--witness Golden Compass (fine effects, if unspectacular) beating Transformers and Pirates 3 a few years back, and Gladiator beating Hollow Man.
2. How do you measure who's a lead/supporting performance? Sometimes, it's clear (Serkis for LOTR, King Kong, and Apes), but should Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving be nominees this year for Transformers (voice only)? What about the folks from Avatar? And how do you deal with an entirely mo-cap movie (Tintin, Beowulf)? Is that an animated film or to be recognized here?
Personally, my suggestion (both here and Emmys) would be an ensemble performance award of some sort, which would allow the honoring of the entire cast of a film where the performances are all very good, but the movie itself is kind of a mess as well as honoring performances too small to get into the major categories. (This year, The Help is an excellent example.)
Glad you brought up Tintin. I'm still annoyed it didn't get nominated for animation. Yes, the performances were mo-cap, but there were absolutely beautiful, non mo-cap scenes in that movie (the ship in the desert, several ship battles, the clue retrieval chase toward the end) that were just magnificent. As we see mo-cap more often, should it become its own category, with a certain number of movies released per year to justify three nominations, like the animation category is set up? It seems a shame to me to not recognize this shift in the industry and in technology.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the article (I am too lazy to google it, and the link points the wrong way), but if the argument is "Serkis and Oz are so good that there should be an Oscar for what they do," I'd say that one shouldn't invent an award for specific people. Are there enough people, year after year, to need this award? Will there be in 20 years? Dunno. You don't want the Oscar to be "Best Performance by Andy Serkis."
ReplyDeleteThat no one else mentioned my error for 10 hours is, um, humbling.
ReplyDeleteI do tend to think that there should be some sort of an award for best non-traditional performance, which might include an animated performance, to recognize that there are numerous times when multiple people (special effects or animator + actor or voice artist) create something excellent. If the Academy simply won't consider nominating in the "regular" categories the performances that led to Gollum, Caesar, Yoda, Wall-E, Remy, or Dory, then maybe a separate category would be good.
ReplyDeleteI would also love to see a category that is best ensemble performance, for the reasons that Matt mentioned. My suspicion, though, is that it would often end up as a "me-too" kind of award for the Best Picture nominees.
Sorry about not noting the linking error, Adam. I meant to do so, but got distracted. Oooh, something shiny....
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