Get Ready for a New Oscar Category: Best Casting
Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 7:30PM ;)
Until today, Animated Feature was the youngest category. SHREK was its first winner .
Though some people say the Oscars already have too many categories, the Academy disagrees. Today, AMPAS announced a new awards category meant to honor casting directors. It won't be an Honorary or Special Achievement Oscar like it happened in the early days of such races as International Film and Visual Effects, but a regular competitive category. We'll see the first nominees for this new prize in two years' time, during the season of the 98th Academy Awards, honoring 2025 releases. One assumes the Board of Governors will use that time to establish specific rules and eligibility requirements…
In their official statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said: "Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate." Such a statement could reveal an opening to even more categories in the future, rewarding facets of filmmaking still unrecognized in the annals of Oscar history. But of course, one should remember that the first step tends to be creating an Academy branch, bringing voters and advocates for hypothetical prizes in the future. Casting directors have had a branch since July 2013, with 160 current members.
Sadly, that's bad news to those clamoring for a stunt Oscar. At the moment, the Academy has eighteen branches, most of which vote on categories specific to them in the nomination phase. Until today, Casting Directors were one of the rare exceptions. The Production and Technology branch, which has the Scientific and Technical Awards, separate from the Oscars but still under the AMPAS umbrella. Considering that Executives may be covered in Best Picture, that leaves the Marketing and Public Relations branch as the one better placed to advocate for their own prize. Perhaps we'll see Stunts as a nineteenth branch in the near future, however. Fingers crossed.
The last time the Academy added a category to the Oscars was in 2001 when Best Animated Feature made its debut after years of resistance from the Academy Governors. Before that, Makeup in 1981, International Film in 1956, though it existed in Special Award form since 1947, and Costume Design in 1948. I could go on, but the staggering gaps show how rare it is for this organization to change its systems. Now, one can only wait and see if the Best Casting Oscar will manage to shape an identity for itself or if it'll become an automatic extension of the Best Picture race.
Keeping the nominations contained within the branch will hopefully prevent the latter fate. Maybe it'll be like with Costume Design in the 40s and 50s, when well-established industry legends dominated the first years of the race, as if making up for lost time. For Oscar obsessives, it'll be interesting to look back and consider how the awards history might have been affected if the category had existed sooner. Would there be a lot of lone Casting nods? Which unrewarded favorites could have secured a win despite it all? Since casting is distinct from ensemble acting and casting directors don't vote for SAG, would that guild's biggest prize be considered an indicator for the Oscar or entirely unrelated? So many questions and conjectures.
For this year, one presumes Oppenheimer's John Papsidera, Barbie's Lucy Bevan and Allison Jones, and Killers of the Flower Moon's Ellen Lewis would be locked for nominations, frontrunners for the victory. The rest of the category could be a treasure trove of surprises. Nina Gold is fairly respected and well-known, so she might have been able to nab Wonka one solitary nod. She was nominated for the Artio Awards from the Casting Society of America. Or Susan Shopmaker for The Holdovers, Lindsay Graham and Mary Vernieu from Air, Avy Kaufman for Rustin, Ellen Chenoweth for Past Lives, Jennifer Euston for American Fiction, Douglas Aibel for Asteroid City, etc. The possibilities are endless.
What do you think of this news, dear reader? And what do you think this year's Best Casting Oscar lineup would have looked like?
Academy Awards, Best Casting, Oscar Trivia, Oscars, Oscars (23), Oscars (25), casting
Reader Comments (20)
Hey... Of course the first winner in the Best Animated Feature category was not the one shown in the picture. Monsters, Inc. was nominated, but the first winner was Shrek.
marco70ve -- Thank you for pointing out the mistake. I've fixed it. It seems that in the rush to post, I forgot that MONSTERS INC. won Original Song, not Animated Feature. In any case, thank you again - corrections are always appreciated.
This is a tough one. While I acknowledge the hard work and brilliance of great casting directors, how do you know who suggested/chose the actors? I would imagine that the focus would be on the big-name movies with big-name stars, which are often suggested by executives, producers, the director, etc. And they’re the ones who make the ultimate choice (yes, this is true for most categories, but it’s easy to suggest someone, as opposed to build a set or edit a scene). This just seems so…nebulous. The best thing to do would be to focus on smaller, indie movies (or smaller roles, played by hitherto unknown actors, in bigger movies), but you know that’s not how it’s gonna work out.
David, well put. I’ve always hated this idea.
The Power of the Dog is a perfectly cast film. But Campion had been dying to work with Kiki for 10+ years, Kiki happened to be married to Jesse Plemmons and recommended him, Benedict Cumberbatch was on the medium-sized list of big name actors who fit the role—and was it not Campion who ultimately chose him? Where is the hand of a casting director in those choices?
You could say, “oh, well maybe a casting director put Kodi Smit McPhee on Campion’s radar,” but prove it? You can’t. And even if you could, it wasn’t up to that casting director in the end.
As for extras, small speaking roles—sure, the casting process is essential. But how could we ever possibly know what to include or exclude in evaluating this? Silly.
Why?
IMHO, totally nonsense.
Complete agree with David Feldman: "This just seems so…nebulous."
What took them so long? There was a documentary on Marion Dougherty who was considered one of the great casting directors ever and if they are going to have an Oscar for casting. It should be named after her.
Ugh.
People happy about this are the people who are also pushing for Best Stunts.
This year's winner would be Oppenheimer because they all look good in suits or whatever. Silly!
"Benedict Cumberbatch was on the medium-sized list of big name actors who fit the role—and was it not Campion who ultimately chose him?"
To quote you, "prove it? You can’t."
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I understand the issues people have w this, but I feel like casting and stunt people are no more or less deserving of being recognized than any of the other categories... Just bc there could be questions about who's involved in certain casting decisions or assuming the Academy will just vote for best picture nominees (that's trickled down through all the categories).
I'm excited for a new category, but I admit I do not have faith that their choices will actually have much to do w actually impressive casting.
However, now that Peggy Sue mentioned it, I would like to see a stunt award. That's a huge skill involved in filmmaking, especially nowadays, and it's no easy feat. And at least that's more quantifiable than casting.
P.S. I was only 8 in 2001, but Shrek must've really had a chokehold on audiences or something, right? It's fun, but Monster's Inc. is clearly superior.
When I first heard this, I was skeptical. How does one judge casting? But the casting branch should have a nomination exclusive to them. I do approve of a period of "make up" when veteran casting directors like Bevan, Chenoweth and Walken get rewarded (especially Walken who is now retired).
I'm happy about this. Casting is an essential part of a film, and one of the categories that viewers at home will get.
One question that I'm excited to see clarified is how voting for this will work. On some big studio films, the director and producers cast the lead roles and the casting director is only responsible for smaller roles. For example, I remember listening to an interview with Ellen Lewis, casting director for the Irishman, and she noted that she only cast the smaller roles - not De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci. I wonder if we'll get list of who casting directors actually cast vs the whole ensemble.
@Philip H—
lol, you've just proved my point. If we can't know whether Jane Campion or a casting director "cast" Benedict Cumberbatch in that leading role, how do you attribute credit for it?
But—I actually looked it up, from the LA Times:
"And though the actor’s cerebral roles in The Imitation Game and TV’s Sherlock do not bring the savagely masculine Phil to mind, Campion says flatly, 'I had my eye on him.'"
So here we have one of the year's best-cast ensembles, primary roles completely cast through the director's network and personal preferences. Who deserves the trophy, the casting director who picked non-speaking farm workers for background shots?
What's next?...
"Outstanding Achievement in Craft Services" ?
They're already so hell-bent on removing awards from the televised ceremony now they want to add more?
This is an award that is going to piss off a lot of actors who are well aware that the casting process usually (as others have already commented) involves directors' preferences, producers' preferences, studios' preferences, attached stars and their agents' preferences and the infamous lists of A-listers who are considered for everything. Most working actors don't stand a chance. That said, there's no denying that casting directors are essential and hard-working. I just don't know if that work is Oscar-worthy.
I actually feel like location scouting would be a cleaner award to give, since I doubt Martin Scorcese put on Hunter boots and crisscrossed Oklahoma searching for the right creek. That's probably a much more heavily delegated job than assembling a cast.
Instead of Casting, I would like to see an award for Best Ensemble, for those movies where all of the acting is fine, even if no performance(s) stand out. At least this way the award is for what's up there on the screen, and not trying to guess how it came together.
Finally, a long overdue category!
Casting is such an underappreciated and misunderstood craft (as evidenced by many of the comments here), but I'm glad casting directors are finally going to be able to shine a light on their work which is very much a make-or-break in many instances.
Sure, there could be a point when this is just going to be a Best Picture/SAG Cast-adjacent list, but until proven otherwise, I will give the Casting Branch the benefit of the doubt in actually knowing their sh*t and just pick their choices, especially since trends won't appear in this category until a few years in.
Also, isn't that just like a lot of tech categories? Look how Film Editing has basically been a Best Picture list, save very few exceptions.
Film is a collaborative effort and it is pointless belittling the contributions of casting directors just because one thinks of casting as a mere extension of a director's job. A director's working relationship differs per auteur and per project. There are directors that are incredibly hands-on with their cinematographers and film editors. Are the contributions of those artists less worthy now just because of that dynamic?
I have worked as a casting director on a film once so I know how hard it is serving the director's vision, regardless of how their process ultimately works. My deepest respect to all the casting directors (mostly women, if I may add) throughout the years who have made their mark in film history through their craft.
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Juan Carlos Ojano,
Can you enlighten us all about casting craft?
As evidenced by many of the comments here, we know nothing about this.
I’m intrigued by the idea, but very much don’t want it to be an extension of best picture, or as a “who got the most and biggest celebrities” award. I think this is true of every single category, but i want them to look beyond the obvious 5-8 contenders every year and throw us some curveballs. Juan Carlos Ojano, i also would love to know more about the craft of casting, which is something i know almost nothing about.
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