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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for presenting the Oscars, recently announced that in two years, there will be a new category added to the awards show. This will be the first time in 25 years that a new category has been introduced, with the last addition being the award for best animated feature in 2001. This new category will recognize outstanding achievement in casting and joins the other categories that were previously combined, such as sound editing and sound mixing. While some may question the decision to add another category, the Academy has previously experimented with presenting certain awards off-air.
However, let’s take into account that the Oscars have significantly fewer categories compared to the Grammys or the Emmys, which have approximately 100 categories each. Additionally, films are exceptional! This means there is ample opportunity to include more Oscars. In fact, if the Academy is feeling generous and does not wish to wait another 20 years to add their 25th competitive category, here are five recommendations for additional areas they could explore:
Best Stunt Coordination
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The Academy and various Oscar-watchers have frequently discussed the idea of creating an award to recognize popular films that may not appeal to Academy voters. This concept has been criticized as a meaningless participation award, especially since big box office hits like Barbie, Avatar, Inception, and Star Wars have already received best picture nominations. However, there is a potential category that could acknowledge these blockbuster spectacles – the best stunt coordination award. The lack of recognition for the skill and hard work of stunt performers, often seen in action and adventure movies, has been a longstanding complaint in the industry. In fact, the entertainment site Vulture already presents their own stunt awards, highlighting the most impressive and complex action films of the year. If the Oscars were to include this category, it would likely only recognize the most flashy and showy entries. However, even in those cases, films like John Wick: Chapter 4 or Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning still showcase a tremendous amount of craftsmanship. Additionally, having a separate category to honor movies like John Wick would add excitement to the show without diminishing their value as top-tier films.
Best Choreography
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Choreography is similar to, but not limited to, stunt coordination. It can involve choreographing fights, dances, comedic slapstick, and any other movements that need to be coordinated on set with actors, props, and cameras. Unlike stunt coordination, which typically requires experience with major action sequences, choreography can be found in a variety of films, such as the musical adaptation of Mean Girls or action scenes featuring Jason Statham in The Beekeeper. It’s only six weeks into the year and we already have potential contenders!
Best Ensemble
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The most outstanding casting will recognize the casting director who successfully assembles the perfect group of performers for a remarkable ensemble. It is not entirely clear what will be considered as “casting”, as many prominent actors in a movie may have been chosen based on their reputation, prior working relationship with the director, or other factors outside of the traditional casting process. However, an award for best ensemble would acknowledge the collective performance of the cast itself, following the example of the Screen Actors Guild, which oddly considers this category to be its equivalent to best picture. This year, films with exceptionally talented casts such as Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, Asteroid City, and May December would all be excellent choices for this award, providing a unique opportunity to recognize large casts where only a few actors would typically be nominated in the current four categories.
Best Featured Performance
When it comes to the Oscar categories for acting, the awards for best supporting actor and best supporting actress can be seen as odd due to the rules of campaigning. In order for a movie to qualify, it must have two or fewer main actors, usually of different genders, with everyone else being considered “supporting”. This means that a performer labeled as “supporting” could actually have a major role, like Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl, or just a small but impactful appearance, like Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. Currently, the award tends to favor the former type of performance, as lead characters have more time to develop complex characters. But is it fair to have these different types of performances competing against each other? One solution could be to create a category specifically for featured performances that make up less than 10% of the total screentime. This would give recognition to one-scene wonders like Viola Davis in Doubt (who received an Oscar nomination) or Tilda Swinton in The Killer (who did not), while still allowing room for flexibility in the existing categories. This category could also be gender-neutral, easing the Academy into more inclusive awards without making a sudden and drastic change.
Best Practical Effects
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In an ideal situation, practical effects would be on an equal playing field with state-of-the-art digital work, giving the visual effects category the breadth and depth it deserves. However, it seems unlikely that this coexistence will happen naturally. This year, even Oppenheimer, a film known for its practical effects by Christopher Nolan, did not make the long list for the category, let alone the final five. Perhaps it is time to split the category into two groups, similar to original screenplay and adapted screenplay, to balance out the various techniques used. While this may create more competition in the digital effects category and potentially cause conflicts over which category a film should be entered in, it could be a necessary corrective measure. In recent years, there has been a shift towards larger-scale productions winning in this category, but it would be exciting to see smaller-budget horror films with a focus on practical effects be recognized. Alas, this is just a dream for movie enthusiasts.
Source: theguardian.com
