Fox Campaigning Andy Serkis for Supporting Oscar for 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'
Could Andy Serkis finally break the Academy's prejudice against motion-capture acting by scoring an Oscar nomination? Twentieth Century Fox is hoping so.
A source revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fox has decided to campaign for Serkis in the Best Supporting Actor category for his critically-lauded performance as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
You could probably argue that this is category fraud, since Caesar is the ostensible lead of the film. But this is far from the first time where the central star has been campaigned in the supporting category. Casey Affleck landed in the supporting actor category for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, presumably because Brad Pitt was the bigger star. But make no mistake, Affleck was the lead of that film. On the subject of westerns, a similar situation occurred when Hailee Steinfeld was submitted as a supporting actress in True Grit, despite much of the film's emotional journey centering on her character. And don't even get me started on George Clooney in Syriana or Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects.
But back to Serkis. Fox's decision comes after much consideration, as rumors swirled that Serkis would be campaigned in the lead category. However, Fox backed off of that decision, considering how loaded the Best Actor category is likely to be this year (with potential nominees ranging from Steve Carrell in Foxcatcher to Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game. Even younger stars are getting buzz, with Miles Teller getting some of the best raves of his career for Whiplash, while Eddie Redmayne is generating support for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything).
Regardless of his category placement, Serkis seems more than willing to make the publicity rounds in Academy circles. He's in Los Angeles this weekend for the Academy's Governors Awards, a Screen Actor's Guild career retrospective, and a number of Q&A sessions that will help build momentum. As an added bonus, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is having a well-timed home video release. It is scheduled to hit shelves on December 2, right in the heart of awards season. This could very well give Serkis a leg up over competitors whose films require a trek to the theaters (assuming the studios aren't sending out screeners directly, which they'd be crazy not to be doing). After years of classic motion-capture roles overlooked by the Academy -- from Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sagas to King Kong in Peter Jackson's 2005 epic -- this could be his best shot at a nomination yet.
What do you think? Is this the year Serkis finally breaks through? Do you think he should? Sound off in the comments!
Credit: 20th Century Fox