Spare a thought for Glenn Close, one of Hollywood’s best actresses, who has yet to win Best Actress. Nominated eight times, though mostly for the wrong films—Albert Nobbs, The Wife, and Hillbilly Elegy account for her last three—Close has done “Da Butt” dance at the Academy Awards before actually getting a chance to thank the Academy. However, thanks to some new regulations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she’ll likely get her little gold man before that digital interloper, Tilly Norwood, does.
Earlier today, AMPAS announced new rules for the upcoming 99th Oscars, including in the acting and writing categories. The Academy made a point to highlight human participation in both. In acting categories, the Academy will only acknowledge “roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible.” Even better for the demonstrably human: Actors can now receive multiple nominations in the same category. The same can’t be said for Tilly’s AI screenwriting buddies. The new regulations codify rules that “screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible.” Sadly, this means not even Grok can score a nomination.
The Academy announced new opportunities for international films, too. In addition to being submitted as a country’s official selection, movies can transform into nominees simply by winning a qualifying award at one of the film festivals on the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Qualifying Festival List. Those fest awards include Berlin’s Golden Bear, Busan International Film Festival’s Busan Award-Best Film Award, Cannes’ Palme d’Or, Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, TIFF’s Platform Award, and Venice’s Golden Lion.
For Oscar watchers looking for more changes, all 28 rules for the 99th Oscars are available online.
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