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A new rule introduced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to ensure voters have seen all the films in a category before they cast their ballots has provoked disquiet online, with many expressing surprise it wasn’t already a requirement.
A raft of measures were announced by the Oscars governing body on Monday, including the stipulation that “Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars”.
“Absolutely insane this wasn’t already a thing,” wrote one person on X, a sentiment echoed by many others, who questioned the validity of previous Academy decisions and theorised about the reasons key titles had been celebrated – or snubbed.
“You’re telling me all this time people could just watch one movie and be like ‘yeah that should win all the awards,’” said another, with one X commentator asking: “Were they just voting on vibes?”
“THEY WEREN’T DOING THAT BEFORE?”, wrote one user, adding: “This explains why movies like The Color Purple, What’s Love Got to Do With It, and Malcolm X were snubbed. These voters were NOT watching black films?”
Anonymous Oscar voters have previously admitted to not watching all the contenders in a category before voting in the final round.
“I’m bummed because I haven’t seen The Substance or I’m Still Here yet,” one told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the most recent ceremony. “The first Dune, I couldn’t get through; I’m not rushing for another three hours of Dune. There’s still time to re-evaluate, but I really struggled.”
In this event, voters are expected to abstain in that category, however there is no enforcement for this, and category error and ignorance can persist.
Other leaked ballots earlier this year suggested a widespread misapprehension among voters that Conclave’s Ralph Fiennes had already won an Oscar in 1994 for Schindler’s List. In fact he has never won, and this year lost out to Adrien Brody for The Brutalist.
Other changes to the awards included an update to the international feature film category, to include “film-makers with refugee or asylum status”, and the clarification that the use of generative AI in a film would “neither help nor harm” their submission.
Two of this year’s key nominees – The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez – were involved in minor controversies over their use of AI to enhance the voices of their leading actors.
Monday’s statement also provided further details on how the inaugural casting prize will be decided – the equivalent award was first introduced at the Baftas in 2020.
Compulsory viewing was enforced by the British Academy as part of its radical overhaul of rules and regulations that same year, in response to the #BaftasSoWhite controversy.
Stringent regulations are in force to ensure not only that voters view all the films in the categories for which they cast their ballot, but also that they watch 15 randomised movies participating in the first stage of voting. As with the strict gender quotas in force on the director longlist, and the inclusivity criteria necessary for inclusion in a number of key categories such as outstanding British film, this measure is to try to promote a more diverse spread of contenders.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2018, ahead of her Oscar win for The Favourite, Olivia Colman said that she would always abstain from voting should she not have seen all films in consideration.
The alternative, she said, “feels so naughty. I think maybe I’m just really square”. Colman went on to attribute her response to the fate of Paddy Considine’s 2011 film Tyrannosaur, in which she starred, and which was ignored by Bafta in its best film nominations: “Very few people watched it and it broke my heart a bit.”
Preliminary voting for next year’s Oscars begins in December, with the nominations announcement on 22 January ahead of the 15 March ceremony – an unusually long campaigning period. This year’s emcee, Conan O’Brien, will return as host.
