This year’s Oscars were a tipping point, it felt like. They were also incredibly boring and incredibly white. As soon as the 2015 Oscar nominations came out, #OscarsSoWhite began trending, mostly because there were notably snubs for Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo. For a month, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs (an African-American woman) had to defend the mostly white, mostly old, mostly male Academy members’ conservative tastes, to little avail.
Well, now Isaacs has released the list of new Academy members, and she seems to be trying to bring in some new demographics. Inch by inch, Ms. Isaacs. This year’s Academy invitees (as in, they are invited to join the Academy voter rolls) include a historic 322 new names. They’ve never invited so many new people all at once! And there are more people of color, more younger people and more women. Some highlighted names:
Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Kevin Hart, David Oyelowo, Common, Morten Tyldum, Emma Stone, Sergio Mendes, Elizabeth Banks, John Legend, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rick Famuyiwa, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, J.K. Simmons, Martin Freeman, Heather Graham, Trent Reznor, Dev Patel, Chris Pine, Damien Chazelle, Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Segel.
The Wrap says that the Academy used to try to keep their membership around 6,000, but in 2013 they changed the rules to bring in some new blood and ever since, the Academy has been adding more and more people and now the membership is around 7,000. The percentage of women in the Academy hovers around 25-30%, with last year’s membership being on the low end (25%).
Also… TOM HARDY. God, I need him to become a member of the Academy of My Pants. I also love that the Academy invited Martin Freeman and Benedict at the same time. The Academy is all, “Alan Turing what? You’ll always be Holmes & Watson to us.”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
“The Academy of My Pants.”
Applause, for days. Possibly weeks.
I abducted The Bloke yesterday, in anticipation of this transatlantic act of Hot Man terrorism. He’s in my garden shed – a bit like the end of Shaun of the Dead only more sexy. I keep VARIOUS THINGS in there.
In your shed, Sixer? I expected him to be up your skirt.
On another note, I’m Richard McCabe’s newest fan after seeing “The Audience”. His hilarity in that play was the highlight of my week.
The low point was discovering that they’d rescheduled “A View From the Bridge” for Sept, after I came back from camping early just to see it. No Mark Strong this week… boo.
Tom and I are requesting that you fetch us some water and a table fan. It’s getting hot in here.
It’s nice in my shed.
Fans are in the bottom drawer of the tool cabinet, Kitten. In with the ball gags.
I love that they invited Trent Reznor!!!
I’m surprised he wasn’t already a member. He was nominated before and nominees usually score membership invites
+10000000
I definitely don’t object to any of these names. Honestly though it will take years to see any “change” in the Academy. The old guard isn’t getting any younger but they are still a majority.
Oh and where do I put my name on the Tom Hardy list?
Heather Graham?! Where did that come from?
Also, Academy member Chris Pine. Do these membership invitations come out of a cereal box nowadays?
Can’t help you on Graham but for Chris Pine I believe being the best thing about a Meryl Streep movie (Into the Woods) is automatic membership under Academy bylaws. 😉
Ha! In that case, I need to put forth a case that one of her hats in The Iron Lady probably deserves an Academy membership ahead of Chris Pine. 😉
I’m glad somebody else feels that way. CP was definitely the best thing about ITW, IMO. That was a loooong two hours of my life.
I’m already pretty skeptic about award shows and some of these new addictions/strategy aren’t helping.
The Oscars are kinda a “middle of the road” awards. They are very coveted of course cos it’s the most well-known, has the biggest press coverage, etc but AMPAS (the Academy) often favours mediocre, formulaic and safe movies. There are TONNES of fantastic films out there that would never get recognised by AMPAS for various reasons – too controversial, too indie, too much male nudity, too experimental, etc. It’s fun to follow the Oscar race but I agree it’s best not to take them too seriously as an arbiter of quality.
Chris Pine? WTF???
Crying at the Oscars gives you kudos
Now THAT is an Oscar-winning performance. Step aside, Eddie!
Not sure this really helps anything. There are a few really good choices but they loaded it down with some crappy ones at the same time.
This whole thing, while i’m glad they were open to diversity, still begs have they opened up to long standing brilliant actors/resses who’ve paid their dues. Much longer than Chris Pine. Chris who?
Such as? Actors need to apply for membership and get support from at least two other members before they are considered to be invited. Anyone that has been in the business a long time and not a member may be purposefully not applying.
Scoring an Oscar nomination means a membership invite will follow so that explains Emma Stone, Redmayne, and Cumberbatch. The trio of Pine, Graham, and Martin Freeman are a mystery. Nice to see Gugu get an invite, despite Jupiter Ascending
@Corrie they have always been open to long-standing actors who paid their dues. That’s what caused an issue! The Academy’s average age is 63!! If there are long-standing people you think are missing it may well be by choice. Some big names have turned down membership.
Also if it’s a longevity/experience issue Chris Pine makes much more sense than Gugu Mbatha-Raw. And Heather Graham makes more sense than both of them! The Academy is trying to diversify on age, sex, and ethnicity. From that view these choices make sense.
Actually what I would like to see is more scrutiny about how members vote. I would like transparency and guarantees that they only vote on categories where they have seen all the films nominated.
I agree with you but unfortunately there is no way to monitor this I think. Variety or The Hollywood Reporter does a yearly feature where a few Oscar voters anonymously disclose which films/actors/etc they voted for in their ballot and you’d be surprised how many of them readily admit they voted in categories where they have not watched all the nominated entries, or they voted for their friends in the industry, etc.
I read that and that’s exactly why I think it ends up being a joke. If they don’t see the film but get the PR machine around a film or an actor they might totally vote for it. This special group has nothing special about them. In the Independent Spirit Awards anyone who applies for membership can vote. They have screenings in New York and LA and there’s DVD system too.
I just wish people who are in the business did something to contribute to it positively, take it seriously. But it ends up being just a vanity show of sorts:/
Heather Graham? The bimbo factor needed more representation? Feh.
I don’t get the bimbo label. She’s been an actress for over 20 years.
No kidding, why no love for Heather Graham? I would have voted her in for her performance in Boogie Nights alone. That movie advanced a LOT of careers and she was able to demonstrate more range. And according to IMDB, her first acting credit was in 1984 (she’s been around for quite awhile); she’s currently directing her first film from a screenplay she wrote; and she was a producer on a TV series she starred in. Why NOT Heather Graham?!
ETA: this reply is more towards Green Is Good rather than FingerBinger so sorry about that.
No Sophie Hunter?! How very DARE they!!
Patience, my dear. With her impeccable connections… whoops… talent, I see great things in her future. Doesn’t she also act, sing and dabble in theatre? So an Oscar, Grammy and Tony are guaranteed. Add a coattail role for her in a future episode of Sherlock – boom! Emmy award. Girl’s going for that EGOT!
hahahahahahahaaaaaa, Lindy FTW!!
Oh, she gets a vote. We all know who wear the pants there.
ZOMG I made the mistake of going to yee ole Sogo just to see what they were up to recently. Nannies are doxxing people now. Good Lord it’s not going away is it?
Double post.