FYC: 20 People Who'd Make Great Honorary Oscar Recipients!

by Nathaniel R

Over the years The Film Experience has provided the Academy with brilliant ideas for Honorary Oscars that they've ignored until it was too late and the worthy recipient died. We're talking luminaries like movie stars Max Von Sydow, Albert Finney, and Doris Day, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and voice artist Marni Nixon. (At least they heard us on Maureen O'Hara, Harry Belafonte, Liv Ullman, David Lynch, and Angela Lansbury in time!). So here we are again trying to sway them. They make such strange decisions. Why did Sophia Loren who was already a (deserving) Oscar winner, need an Honorary when she was only in her fifties? Why did they refuse to honor Doris Day because (the rumor is) they knew she wouldn't show but then went ahead and honored Jean Luc Godard who they also knew would never show? 

For our suggestions we're limiting ourselves to people over 70... though you could make valid cases for several late 50something or 60somethings if you wanted to like Michelle Pfeiffer, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Grant, directors Sam Raimi and Todd Haynes, producer Christine Vachon, or craftspeople like costume designer Sharen Davis or composer Marc Shaiman.

20 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE HONORARY OSCAR...

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The next Oscar Night will be March 12th, 2023

We finally have the dates for next Oscar season. Things aren't quite back to normal since we're still not back in early February (which the Academy had been working towards for years, finally getting there the year of Parasite) but at least it's a bit earlier than last season.

Governors Awards (Honorary Oscars) - Saturday, November 19th, 2022
Voting on Categories with Shortlists - December 12th through the 15th, 2022
Shortlists Announcements - Wednesday, December 21st, 2022
Nomination Voting - January 12th through the 17th, 2023
Nominations Announced - Tuesday January 24th, 2023
Nominee Luncheon - Monday, Febriuary 13th, 2023
Final Oscar Voting - March 2nd through the 7th, 2023
95th Annual Academy Awards - Sunday, March 12th, 2023

TRIVIA NOTE: This is the first time ever that Oscar night will be held on March 12th so those of you with March 12th birthdays finally have the ceremony on your birthday. (The dates when the most Oscars throughout history have been held is a tie between March 25th and March 29th each having had five ceremonies.)

We can finally set those countdown clocks. It's just 256 days until Nomination Morning and 303 days until Oscar night.

Linker by the Dozen

• NYT Governors Awards. Kyle Buchanan reports on the Honorary Oscars Friday night. Such a pity these aren't televised
• /Film Paramount+ has its highest watched premiere for the new series Halo
• AV Club Lin-Manuel Miranda has to skip the Oscars this year. His wife has tested positive for COVID
• Vulture Joe Reid ranks every Oscar nominee. This is lots of fun and a quick read given the 53 films

More after the jump including Parker Posey, snarky Oscar commentary, animated short, Everything Everywhere All At Once and recent reviews...

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The Honoraries: Samuel L. Jackson in "Eve's Bayou"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their careers.

by Cláudio Alves 

Previously in the "Honoraries" miniseries, Ben Miller and Lynn Lee looked at Samuel L. Jackson's work in two provocative indies, exploring the actor's innate intensity. Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan reveals Jackson as a bluesman inflamed by spiritual purpose, while Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction saw him play a hitman and resulted in the actor's only Oscar nomination. It should have also resulted in a victory, but that's a matter for another day, another article. This time, I shall investigate the complexities of his turn in Kasi Lemmons's Eve's Bayou. The director's debut feature was a passion project for many people involved, including Jackson, who also produced.

Such investment, such devotion, may be at the heart of his achievement. Not only is Eve's Bayou a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema, it also features one of Jackson's best performances…

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The Honoraries: Samuel L. Jackson in "Pulp Fiction"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their career.

“And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”

by Lynn Lee

If Jungle Fever (1991) put Samuel L. Jackson on Hollywood’s map, Pulp Fiction (1994) made him a star.  With his jheri curl helmet, glowering eyes, and stentorian voice, Jackson’s gun-toting, Bible-quoting Jules Winnfield became an instant icon.  At least, it wasn’t long before high school and college boys of the mid to late ’90s were sporting “BAD MOTHERFUCKER” wallets and reciting his “path of the righteous” speech – without, of course, anything resembling SLJ’s diction or élan.

It wasn’t just him, of course...

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