The Oscars have never been especially kind to performances that break the basic “We stuck a person in front of the camera and then filmed them” paradigm; Lord Of The Rings star Andy Serkis, for instance, has had a whole career-long sideline in complaining about this stuff, as the Academy perpetually ignores voice performers, puppeteers, and motion capture artists when it comes time to recognize great acting. Now, Amazon MGM has apparently decided to poke these biases with a big stone finger, as Gold Derby reports that the studio just rolled out its full slate of Oscar submissions for this March’s sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary—including carrying through on plans for a submission for Best Supporting Actor for James Ortiz, the puppeteer and voice actor who brought the film’s most lovable character, alien pile of bricks Rocky, to life.
Given that Project Hail Mary was one of the studio’s biggest hits of 2026, it’s not surprising Amazon MGM is going hard with its campaigning in general, submitting the film for 15 categories at next year’s Oscars. (Including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and hopeful acting nods for Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, and Lionel Boyce.) But Ortiz is definitely the most eye-catching submission, especially since he wasn’t originally intended to voice the character at all; directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have talked about how they simply fell in love with the puppeteer’s voice for Rocky while filming the movie with him and Gosling on the film’s set, and abandoned plans to replace Ortiz’s voice lines with those from a more high-profile name.
(Of course, this sort of thing also raises a whole bunch of questions about credit; Ortiz, for example, was one of five puppeteers who performed the complex Rocky puppet during the filming. Huge parts of his character also came directly from the puppet itself, which was designed by Star Wars vet Neal Scanlan and his team. None of which is meant to downplay the fantastic work Ortiz did in imbuing Rocky with life in the film—but it’s also hard to say that he was the only person “creating” the performance, which is the kind of thing that’s likely to give very particular Academy voters heartburn.)
Of course, all of this will probably wind up being moot: These are just submissions, and nobody (even at Amazon) is probably expecting the Academy to take the bait and give Ortiz a nomination. But it’s also not like these conversations are going to go away any time soon, even as they brush up against the adjacent, but far uglier, minefield that already surrounds AI. Ortiz, after all, created Rocky’s shockingly expressive performance with his own hands and mouth (along with those of his various colleagues); Amazon, at least, seems to think that deserves a bit of recognition.
Keep scrolling for more great stories.