On Oscar's Honorary Statues: Who Gets Them, Who Still Waits?

... mogul OPRAH WINFREY (The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award), actor JAMES EARL JONES (Honorary Oscar) and makeup artist DICK SMITH (Honorary Oscar).

I heard this in the wee hours of the AM this morning but didn't have time to ponder it whilst collapsing from a day spent swooning over Judy Garland (♥♥♥♥) and then Sufjan Stevens at "Celebrate Brooklyn". 

Several hours later after a good night's sleep the news makes much more sense to me because last night I thought they'd given Oprah a regular honorary Oscar -- most of the headlines are saying just that -- and I was pissed. For the record, though a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award looks just like an Oscar, it's actually a statue commemorating your humanitarian endeavors rather than your screen work. And few would argue that Oprah isn't deserving once you make that distinction. I think the Jean Hersholt statue shouldn't look the same as a regular Oscar so it gets confusing.

The Color OprahAnd really a regular Honorary Oscar wouldn't have surprised me. The Academy, much like the rest of the world, tends to think that celebrity = deserve. But really fame should have much less to do with who gets Honorary Oscars than that person's contribution to the cinema. And really what has Oprah ever done to warrant a regular Oscar? If you say The Color Purple I'd have to smack you upside the head with a Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) or an Anjelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor) and then if you're still trying to say "The Color Purple" a mandatory viewing of The Kiss of Spider Woman is in order. Brazil's non-nominated Sonia Braga was AMAZING thrice over (multi-part performance) in that film. Can I get an amen?

The makeup artist Dick Smith already has an Oscar for Amadeus (1984) but maybe they felt he needed an honorary since just maybe he was the one on the makeup team that put cotton balls in Marlon Brando's mouth for The Godfather and he also did fine comic work on Death Becomes Her which we love and which Oscar mostly ignored.

Though really, should a previous winner ever get an honorary? 

Here's why the repeats are problems. In the past 30 years only 4 actresses have won honoraries and one of them, Sophia Loren, already had a competitive statue. The Academy has screwed over a lot of female screen icons over the years so why double reward someone when so many greats are still denied? Oscar's contempt for women -- remember they rarely let them present Best Picture either -- seems to be getting worse. Since the glorious early 90s when Sophia Loren, Deborah Kerr and Myrna Loy won them in quick succession, only Lauren Bacall has been so honored. ONLY ONE ACTRESS SINCE 1994. In that same time span, 1994 to now, 5 actors have been so honored and one of them (Sidney Poitier) already had an Oscar. We complain about this every year but there's a long list of actressy screen icons who never won an Oscar and whose screen contributions and legacies are undeniable. Chief among them I'd argue are Catherine Deneuve and Mia Farrow. They'll both turn 70 soon -tick-tock, tick-tock.

One of the greatest filmographies in the business. Still challenging herself well into her 60s. Deneuve for the Honorary Gold.

But there are also other past nominees with rich Hollywood histories -- names in bold are still alive -- including (Angela Lansbury, Doris Day, Natalie Wood, Ava Gardner, Irene Dunne, Gena Rowlands, Eleanor Parker) and some with rich filmographies who were never so much as nominated (Maureen O'Hara, Marilyn Monroe) and there's the current working aging crop who they're obviously going to pass on competitively (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer ...maybe Glenn Close if it doesn't happen this year) and who are more than deserving of these "thank you for your career" prizes.

Come to think of it, if AMPAS was smart about honoraries they could stop voting for competitive prizes as cumulative honors and just reserve those 'you were never THE best of any particular year' people for the honorary statues. You know Meryl Streep is more likely to get an Honorary than any of these women and she already has two!

Congratulations to this year's recipients! Honestly, I'm not throwing shade on them. Don't misunderstand. It's just the Academy has so many blind spots with their honorary prizes we'd like them to see the eye doctor before they lose their sight entirely.

WHO WOULD YOU GIVE AN HONORARY TO?

Linkwire

Awards Daily boldish concept art for Steven Soderbergh's Haywire.
Gold Derby wonders if Modern Family can set a record at the upcoming Emmy nominations in Supporting Actor.
Boy Culture discovers a horrific snippet from People magazine for Mothers Day. Poor Catherine Deneuve; she doesn't deserve this.
AV Club reviews The Almighty Thor, a old TV film.
Movie|Line checks in with Sam Caflin who is getting the "new star" treatment/ It seems to me like he's taking the Orlando Bloom role for the Pirates franchise (I don't mean that literally). So who knows about that stardom. People can be cruel with the "prettyboy" stars.

I'm Not Obsessed checks out Juliette Lewis in a rockin' trip to... the deli?
France Today looks at five legendary Gallic movie couples.
Hitfix interviews the awesomely multi-tasking Eddie Izzard on The United States of Tara and more.

10 Word Reviews (A.K.A. Nathaniel Catches Up)

As per usual, though I maintain a healthy writing clip to fill The Film Experience with new material for vous, I have some sort of mental block about traditional film reviews. So let's just get everything unreviewed that's in theaters (or in one case, HBO) out of the way right this very instant. I got places to be! We haven't talked about most of these so why not?

Deneuve, Viard and Rennier: comic successes in POTICHE

POTICHE
in which a trophy wife exceeds expectations and reforms her husband's business.
10WR: Knowing hilarious riffs on: Deneuve, 70s, sexism; But souffle deflates.  B/B+

RANGO
in which an abandoned pet lizard becomes a hero in a thirsty desert town
10WR: Surreal weirdness grounded by Western tropes. So ugly it's beautiful. B+

MILDRED PIERCE
in which Todd Haynes adapts the famous novel for an HBO miniseries in five parts
10WR: Glacial pacing but slow build payoffs. Beautifully costumed, lensed. B/B-
EPILOGUE: I'll just come right out and say it. This was not the "event" I was hoping for, neither in performance or in direction. But I did like it. Needless to say, I'll stick to the Joan Crawford gladly, despite them being two very different things.

SOURCE CODE
in which Jake Gyllenhaal keeps reexperiencing the same 8 minutes to solve a bombing
10WR: Perfectly servicable but stumbles exiting train; Needs more existential terror.  C+

MEET MONICA VELOUR
in which a washed up porn star (Kim Cattral) is pursued by a nerdy teenage fan
10WR: Cattral: effortful limited success; Movie: suffers badly from hermetic POV. C-

Finally, I do hope some of you will take in POTICHE if it plays in your town. It's quite funny and one should always support good non-English language films while they're still in theaters so that they keep releasing them; their market share is sadly ever dwindling. Potiche has done well abroad ($21 million) but is struggling in US theaters ($280,000). The cast is just delightful. I almost always like Jérémie Rénier (In Bruges) and the running gag about his lovelife has maybe the best punchline in the movie. It also amuses me that his name is so much like Jeremy Renner's and that they almost share a birthday (January 6th and 7th respectively though Rénier is ten years younger). It goes without saying that Deneuve fills my heart with joy as she always has (she's in my top ten actresses of all time list). Any Karen Viard fans out there? I'd love some recommendations as to other films as she's quite funny but I haven't seen her in many things.

The Linkozoic Era

I didn't really intend for this linklist to be so long but the internet kept handing me enjoyable things this morning. Thank you internets.

Stale Popcorn "Olivia Newton-John swinging from a chandelier" This Aussie comedy just went to the top of my wish list.
My New Plaid Pants JA expresses jealousy, warnings and commendations for Amanda Seyfriend's uh, active, Hollywood dating.
IndieWire Deneuve gets a standing ovation at the premiere of Potiche in NYC.

Right here i had an article which talked about the dinosaur-rumor in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011) but it's been taken down. But here is a still of Brad Pitt in the movie anyway!

Brad Pitt in "The Tree of Life"

Boy Culture William Orbit thinks Madonna's W.E. is really good.
Playbill Kathleen Turner to host the Drama League awards
Coming Soon Dreamworks Animation schedule until 2014. Heavy on the sequels, duh. Between this and Pixar's sequel heavy slate, I feel certain that the second golden age of animation will soon end. Only originality can keep a golden age going.

I saw this on Blog Stage and had to share it. Nicole Kidman at 16 (!!!) promoting BMX Bandits. I love how she's so matter-of-fact about the actors not being good enough to do their own stunts.

Nicole Kidman on Young Talent Time from Severin Films on Vimeo.

Film Doctor 8 notes on Rango
i09 on scifi television and the mythical "Summer Glau Curse"
Towleroad Eeek. Blade Runner's replicants are not so far away. Here's a mechanical clone of a guy in Denmark
Alt Film Guide picks up the baton I'm always a-carrying. What the hell does Oscar have against giving actresses Honorary Oscars?
Go Fug Yourself readers votes are in and the single Best and Worst dressed at the Oscars is revealed. Their best is my worst! But their worst wasn't even at the Oscars so I feel like it's cheating.

Finally...

Daily Mail I love this story. The baby of one of The King's Speech producers dropped his Oscar. Hee. A film critic is born?

Links

Rock Paper Scissors God, I'm losing even to the "novice" computer. Don't click over. I warn you of the time you will waste!
Us Magazine reveals the identity of Scarlett Johansson's much-discussed (including right here) Oscar date.
The House Next Door "A Firm Hand" Dan Callahan on the ultimate blonde, Catherine Deneuve.
IndieWire has an overview of "Rendezvous With French Cinema" (the reason I'm meeting Ludivine Sagnier tomorrow)

Just Jared Ewan McGregor has a new haircut. He's also about to make a bank robbery movie. Andrew Garfield is also (possibly) starring in the remake of the Austrian/German movie The Robber. What hath The Town wrought?
Daily Mail I didn't even know Toni Collette was pregnant again and she's quite far along. I miss United States of Tara.
b blog interview with Sissy Spacek's daughter Schuyler Fisk. She's got a new album out and she'll be in Gus Van Sant's Restless later this year. So music or movies, Schuyler?

Music... I just love that it’s my own thing. It’s a special thing I can do. I also love being a part of a film, especially projects like “Restless.” The film actually inspired the last song on the record, “Waterbird.”

And here's a half hour long "making of" of Todd Haynes's Mildred Pierce if you don't have HBO and might need to wait awhile to see it. In the meantime there's always the Joan Crawford classic to get acquainted with in the interim. It's well worth your time.