Project Hail Mary's Rocky is already on the Oscar campaign trail

While a win for Ortiz would be “amaze, amaze, amaze,” based on history, it doesn’t seem likely. New Line failed to secure a nod for Andy Serkis, who gave the most memorable performance of 2002 as The Two Towers‘ Gollum. More than 20 years later, Zoe Saldaña had to sing “penis to vagina” in Emilia Pérez to win her first statuette, despite years of mo-capping Neytiri for Avatar. Even worse, the Oscars have yet to nominate a voice actor, let alone a faceless rock monster. 

In the past, Ortiz may have had a better chance of nabbing a Special Achievement Award. However, it’s been more than 30 years since the Academy has deemed a movie worthy of the award. The last to win the Special Achievement Award was Toy Story. 15 years later, Toy Story 3 was nominated for Best Picture. Ironically, that was also the last time an animated film was nominated for the big prize.