Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president John Bailey and Carol Littleton, a member of the Board of Governors, appeared at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland. While the discussion varied greatly, you better believe that the members of the Academy were asked about the recently shelved idea for a “Popular Film” category. And despite what seems to be unanimous outrage from film fans and Hollywood-types alike, Bailey says that the idea is still on the table.
The Academy president again said (via Variety) that the idea of having awards for both Best Picture and Popular Film “seemed like a good idea, the board approved it, announced it, but we got a lot of pushback. So the board reconsidered and tabled it – which is not to say that the idea is dead. Even after a stake was driven through its heart, there’s still interest.”
Board of Governors member Littleton echoed the interest in the category, saying that it’ll bring additional interest to the Academy Awards ceremony, which recently honored smaller films “Moonlight” and “The Shape of Water” with its top prize, saying that arthouse films “are not widely distributed so TV audiences have not seen many of the nominated pictures.”
And while the idea of a Popular Film category seems to be a moot point for the 2019 Oscars, the idea could come back depending on how the Academy nominates this year. You see, 2018 is shaping up to be a similar year as the previous several, with arthouse films like “Roma” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” getting a lot of recognition, while films that dominated the box office, and garnered critical acclaim, like “Black Panther,” could be snubbed.
Bailey says the 2019 Oscars could feature “Black Panther” alongside “two very uncompromising black and white art films” in the Best Picture race. Those films are the aforementioned Spanish-language “Roma” and Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War,” the Polish film that has received rave reviews since its premiere at Cannes.
“It will be interesting to see how that plays out,” he added. “It might give us a strong perspective on how to move forward.”
Another award that could be affected by this year’s Oscars is Best Foreign Language Film. Again, with films like “Roma” and “Cold War” getting Oscar buzz, compounded by Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters” from Japan and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Korean thriller “Burning” both getting incredible reviews, this year’s Foreign Language field seems as stacked as ever before.
“One of the things I am most committed to is expanding awareness and visibility for the foreign language award,” Bailey said. “To me, that award is every bit as important as the best picture award – it’s the best picture award for the rest of the world.”
READ MORE: 87 Countries Officially Vying For Foreign Language Film Oscar
That comment seems to point at the Academy’s hope that films like “Roma” will be just as happy with a Foreign Language nom than with a Best Picture nom. That would mean that the Best Picture category could be free to include outliers like “Black Panther” to compete with more traditional Oscar films.
And finally, when asked about the Academy beginning to honor more craft-centered work like stunts and casting, Bailey commented that “a number of different crafts would like to be represented and there are ongoing discussions about creating new branches, but right now we’re trying to reduce the size of the board. However, nothing is written in stone.”
