Is Oscar-less Harrison Ford the ‘favorite’ to win an honorary Oscar this year?

I’m sure this story will get like three comments, but I found it fascinating. We all know that awards-seasons are a big business, and that studios can spend tens of millions of dollars on a certain film’s Oscar campaign. But did you know that there’s a growing “campaign” behind-the-scenes for honorary Oscars? In 2009, AMPAS decided that recipients of honorary Oscars – the lifetime achievement Oscars, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving B. Thalberg Academy Award for producers – deserved their own stand-alone awards show, so now the Governors Awards are one of the biggest (non-televised) events of the season, and everyone comes out to celebrate the handful of honorary Oscar recipients. In recent years, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Cruise, Dolly Parton, Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and many more have received honorary Oscars. Well, there’s been a quiet campaign for certain celebrities and artists this year, and Variety had a story about all of the jostling behind-the-scenes.

It’s probably Harrison Ford’s year: “Please, God, give it to Harrison!” That’s what one decades-long Academy member exclaimed to Variety, regarding industry speculation that Hollywood legend Harrison Ford is a top candidate to receive an Honorary Award at this year’s Governors Awards. This member’s passion reflects the groundswell of support for the 83-year-old movie icon…Ford arrives as overdue as any potential honoree….Ford already has collected the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, holds an honorary Palme d’Or from Cannes and is the front-runner for his first Emmy for Apple TV’s “Shrinking.” His backers see “no reason the statue should wait” another year.

The campaigning: By mid-June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will settle on its honorary Oscar awardees. For weeks, studios, agents, publicists and any other Hollywood stakeholder have been lobbying Academy leaders and board members. Often a case is made over lunch or drinks at Chateau Marmont or through pointed phone calls. The presumptive honorees are mostly in the dark about what may be transpiring on their behalf.

How the honorary Oscar recipients are chosen: Hundreds of names, across all cinematic contributions, are submitted by the Academy’s 11,000 members. Aside from the Oscar winners themselves, the process remains one of the Academy’s most guarded (and successful) kept secrets. Now, the mandate has the Board doing what it does best: considering.

Other names are also seeing growing support. Powerhouse producer Jerry Bruckheimer, 82, among the most commercially successful figures in the medium’s history, has been floated, with one person suggesting he would be a strong pick for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the producing kudo. Although bestowing it one year after Tom Cruise’s honorary Oscar would mean back-to-back salutes to the “Top Gun” axis. Not exactly a good look.

Other potential Thalberg recipients: Also floated for a Thalberg trophy are London-based producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, the co-chairmen of Working Title, which has backed hits like “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” The pair could be worth celebrating, following previously anointed duos like Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, producers of the James Bond films in 2024, and husband-and-wife power couple Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 2018.

Glenn Close, snubbed for honorary Oscars too: Many sources tell Variety that Glenn Close has been proposed at least four times in the past decade and was nearly selected one specific year, one source claims. She’s been submitted as either an honorary Oscar recipient for her body of work, which includes unforgettable films like “Fatal Attraction,” across her eight Oscar bids, or for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The case for the latter is sharpened by years of mental health advocacy with Bring Change to Mind, the nonprofit she founded in 2010. Close and the late Robin Williams were close friends after co-starring in “The World According to Garp” (1982), and to honor his memory, her foundation presents the Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter Award at its annual galas. The sting of Close’s loss for “The Wife” (2018) still lingers, and many would love to see it corrected.

Other names being thrown around: Another name mentioned in some circles is legendary performer Bette Midler, who has a long philanthropic resumé in addition to turns in classic films like “Beaches” and “The Rose.” An industry source points to “growing” support for Martin Short, the veteran comedian whose close friends include Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and “Only Murders in the Building” co-star and former Honorary Award recipient Steve Martin. That tribute reel would be as starry (and funny) as any in recent memory.

AMPAS wants to give awards to people before they die: Beneath the passion runs an uncomfortable calculation: How much time does a prospective honoree have left? Coming off a year marred by the passing of beloved talents like Rob Reiner and Catherine O’Hara, people giving extra attention and love to our most cherished living figures…Ridley Scott, the Oscar-less director of “Gladiator,” is 88, and his name has been circulated more than once. However, the Academy is averse to honoring anyone with a movie likely to be submitted as an Oscar hopeful. The English filmmaker has “The Dog Stars,” with Jacob Elordi, due out this year. That’s also why we’re not likely to see Mike Leigh on the list this time around, since he has a new film, “Tender Loving Care,” expected later in the season.

Other names in the mix: There wouldn’t be too many objections if the Board landed on any of the signature auteurs like the gothic horror and fantasy master Tim Burton, the “Queen of Romcoms,” Nancy Meyers, the hyper-stylized Michael Mann, or the poetic and ethereal Terrence Malick (though the famously reclusive Malick would be a likely no-show, and attendance is typically expected of honorees). And what about the cultural figures who have been a constant presence in our cinematic lives? As Variety was polling industry professionals, several beloved performers came as suggestions and potential choices, including Black, Latino and Asian multihyphenates such as Don Cheadle (“Hotel Rwanda”) and Alfre Woodard (“Cross Creek”), John Leguizamo (“Carlito’s Way”) and Rosie Perez (“Fearless”), and James Hong (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Joan Chen (“The Last Emperor”).

[From Variety]

Oh, John Leguizamo would be an inspired choice for an honorary Oscar. And it’s a huge bummer that Glenn Close hasn’t received an honorary one – she’s been nominated EIGHT times with no wins. But I knew as soon as Harrison Ford won the SAG Lifetime Achievement and made that wonderful speech that he was going to be making the rounds of all of the biggest honorary awards. It is shameful that he’s never won an Oscar for a stand-alone performance. It’s also sort of crazy that Ridley Scott has never won?? Ridley has some misses in his CV, but he’s a legend for a reason and he’s an icon. I wouldn’t hate it if Martin Short won an honorary Oscar, but I feel like he has a better shot at a Lifetime Achievement Emmy.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.