The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3 themes to look for this Oscar season
An influx of younger, diverse voters could affect Academy Awards.
Sure as the day after Thanksgiving marks the start of Christmas shopping for major retailers, the holiday season contains an alternate marketing blitz in the film world.
Hollywood has a two-pronged goal during the next seven weeks. As usual, it wants to put bodies in theater seats. But on a more ambitious level, it’s preparing to unveil some of the year’s finest, most prestige-oriented features.
While this system is not without flaws, it’s better than making customers line up in the snow for Black Friday shoving matches over discounted TVs.
With the Academy Awards approaching March 4, movie moguls are working full speed to win voters’ attention, hearts and minds. More than ticket sales, idiosyncratic Oscar winners such as “The Hurt Locker,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “No Country for Old Men” offer a long-after-release lifespan while upholding the lofty ambitions of the art form.
The question now facing the academy and film fans alike is: Who should define which films, or performances, or concepts, will be included in awards season?
Last year, following two consecutive years of #OscarsSoWhite protests, the 6,000-member Motion Picture Academy invited an influx of 683 new participants — significantly younger and more diverse — to better represent filmmakers of color and other emerging talents.
These new voters could yield
some thought-provoking contenders. Here are three watchwords that may govern how the season unfolds.
1. Diversity can boost success
When “Get Out” premiered in February, its filmmakers had only modest expectations for what seemed to be a small horror film from a first-time writer/director.
But its unconventional plot, twisting the interracial romance theme of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” with dashes of hypnosis, body hor- ror and upper-class racism, plugged into a national debate about multicultural America. It became a cultural phenom- enon and surprise hit, catapulting writer/director Jordan Peele to film industry stardom, and raising the film’s status as a genuine Oscar contender.
There should be special amounts of awards attention paid to several excellent, inclusive holiday releases as well.
■ In “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” (now showing), Denzel Washington plays an idealistic Los Angeles civil rights attorney drawn into a crime that threatens his life; Carmen Ejogo costars as his morally centered romantic interest.
■ Pixar’s animated “Coco” (now showing) honors LatinAmerican culture and folklore in its look, sound and abun- dant spoken Spanish without subtitles. The vocal cast stars newcomer Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal and Benjamin Bratt.
■ Mexican director Guill- ermo del Toro combines music, science fiction, romance and prejudice in “The Shape of Water” (Dec. 8), which features a standout role for Oscar win- ner Octavia Spencer.
2. Personal behavior affects publicity
With a growing list of powerful men in the film indus- try accused of sexual harass- ment (and worse), screen talent has been badly tainted by off-screen scandal. Last year the slave-revolt drama “The Birth of a Nation,” a much hyped prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival, was considered a challenger for a best picture Oscar until director, co-writer and star Nate Parker was revealed to have faced a rape charge 17 years earlier as an undergrad- uate. Although he was acquit- ted, his film suffered serious consequences. It received no Oscar attention and performed far beneath expectations at the box office, and Parker has had no film work since.
That narrative appears to be even more relevant this year, with accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein, screenwriter/director James Toback, Amazon Studios head Roy Price, actors Dustin Hoff- man, Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Piven, comedian and actor Louis C.K., director Brett Ratner and more.
The impact on Spacey’s career has been significant. Netflix has suspended production on the sixth season of “House of Cards.” Ridley Scott’s drama “All the Money in the World,” opening Dec. 8, featured a transformative performance by S pacey as financier J. Paul Getty that once seemed to be a lock for a best actor nomination. Now Spacey’s pursuit of a third act- ing Oscar has been essentially suspended, too, since he was replaced in the role by Christopher Plummer.
3. Disability carries no stigma
Playing a disabled charac- ter has long generated Acad- emy Awards, with examples too numerous to mention, from Colin Firth’s stammering King George VI in “The King’s Speech” to Hoffman’s autistic genius in “Rain Man.” It’s hard to believe that this year will be any different.
Still, it’s rare for an Oscar to go to actresses playing a mute character, with Patty Duke’s performance as Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker,” Marlee Matlin (to date the only deaf performer to have won the award) in “Children of a Lesser God” and Holly Hunter in “The Piano” being the only winners to date.
That will probabl y change this year. After earning a supporting nomination for “Blue Jasmine” in 2013, British actress Sally Hawkins has earned major awards buzz for her leading role as a mute cleaning lady who falls in love with an extraordinary beau in “The Shape of Water.” It’s the kind of technically polished and socially sensitive work that filmmakers appreciate and want to share with holiday audiences — a sensitive slice of feel-good entertainment in a season that is about nurturing the goodness of your heart.