The Academy is to formalise its recent trend awarding acting Oscars to people doing convincing impressions of famous people by replacing the Best Actor and Actress categories with a new ‘Best Impersonation of Someone I recognise.’
“Well, we do value impersonating really famous people over acting and have done for some years,” explained Academy representation Stewart James.
“That’s obviously why Gary Oldman and Rami Malek were awarded in recent years.
“I mean, if you think about it, it does make sense. I mean, you look at Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out. Is that really a good performance? I mean, he’s conveying a wide range of emotions through his eyes and movement, yes, and you understand the internal motivations of the character at all times, yes. But, is that really as impressive as putting on a fat suit and doing a funny voice? I don’t think so. Who does?”
“This year we’ve got people doing impersonations of Princess Di, Lucille Ball, Tammy Faye. It seemed a bit silly to keep calling the award an acting award, and also, if anything, calling it a Best Actor and Actress devalues the excellent impersonation work these guys are doing.
“It also sets us up nicely for next year with Oppenheimer, Babylon, and She Said all providing excellent opportunities for people to do impressive impersonations of famous people we recognise.”
Whilst the change to ‘Best Impersonation of Someone I recognise’ more accurately reflects the nature of the award, in practise, it is unlikely to make any real difference as no one has really treated the whole affair seriously since they gave Gwyneth Paltrow an Oscar.
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