Major Oscars Rule Changes Impact Acting Awards, International Movies, & AI

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have introduced some new changes to the Oscars rules.

What are the new Oscars rule changes?

One of the big changes to the Oscars rule is that, from now on, an actor can be nominated for more than one performance in the individual lead and supporting categories.

Deadline’s article explains, “In other words, if Leonardo DiCaprio has two great lead performances in the same year, he can now be nominated for both for Best Actor. The same would apply if he also had multiple supporting performances. Previously, unlike every other category, if an actor had movies that gained two or even three of the top five votes, only the performance that got the most votes would be eligible. The Academy’s Board of Governors now has thrown that stipulation out the window to match the way other categories always have operated. In 2000, for example, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director forErin BrockovichandTraffic, winning for the latter. The same thing now can happen in acting categories. If an actor has an extremely prolific year, might we even see someone swallow up three of the five nominations? Probably won’t happen, but it’s now possible.”

Another change has to do with the Best International Film category. Previously, a film could only be nominated if it was the official selection chosen by a country or region; now, however, non-English-language movies can be nominated by winning a “qualifying award” at an international film festival.

“Those festivals and specific awards qualifying this year will be Berlin (Golden Bear), Busan (Best Film Award), Cannes (Palme d’Or), Sundance (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize), Toronto (Platform Award), and Venice (Golden Lion),” Deadline’s article states.

Additionally, the International Feature Film category will now be credited to the nominee rather than the country; meaning, the director’s name will now be on the statuette plaque, which wasn’t the case before.

Lastly, the Academy has made it impossible for AI to win any acting or writing awards, as only performances “demonstrably performed by humans” and “human-authored screenplays” are eligible to be nominated.