Jim Henson must be smiling down upon us.
The late puppeteer gave us so many indelible characters via "The Muppet Show" and several big-screen adaptations. But no matter how good his puppetry might have been, he never had a shot at an Oscar.
The modern puppeteer? That's different.
The Oscars just announced that the man behind Rocky, the alien life form at the heart of "Project Hail Mary," is eligible for a Best Supporting Actor award next year.
Puppeteer James Ortiz is the driving force behind the lovable alien, a character who shares the screen with the film's protagonist, played by Ryan Gosling.
The film is one of the year's biggest surprises, a deeply human story that's neither a sequel nor based on an existing IP. Credit author Andy Weir, who wrote the book upon which the film is based. "Project Hail Mary" is exactly the kind of story Hollywood should be telling - smart, funny and free of culture war madness.
It's suitable for the whole family, for good measure. And it's made $286 million stateside, and more than double that amount via international ticket sales.
The film's success is something Hollywood must study like a lab rat, but for now the Oscars realize it can capitalize on the movie's enormous good will.
How? Bend the existing academy rules to let Ortiz get a shot at Oscar glory. Variety notes that Ortiz could also be eligible for the Actor Awards but not the Golden Globes.
Ortiz supplies Rocky's voice and directed the team that manipulated Rocky's limbs. The Hollywood Reporter says he spent countless hours riffing with Gosling to get the scenes just right.
One irony? The initial plan called for hiring a famous actor to dub in Rocky's lines later. The more star power, the better. That plan got discarded after the creative team realized Ortiz's vocals were more than good enough as is.
It's another heartwarming story tied to "Project Hail Mary," but it does leave some unanswered questions. Namely, is Pandora's Box about to spring open?
We've already seen plenty of motion-capture performances in recent years, most notably in the "Avatar" franchise. Actor/director Andy Serkis' work on that front is legendary, particularly how he brought the mischievous Gollum to life in the "Lord of the Rings" saga.
"Avatar" maestro James Cameron has been pushing motion-capture performances as Oscar worthy ever since the first film in the saga hit theaters in 2009 without luck.
Now, maybe, that brand of performance will be taken more seriously.
And then there's Val Kilmer. Or, at the very least, an A.I. version of the late actor. The upcoming film "As Deep as the Grave" features a digital version of Kilmer in a major role. The actor's family is working hand and glove with the team behind the film.
What if that performance is as mesmerizing as the real Kilmer was across decades of film work? Would the team that fed detailed prompts into a computer get the credit?
Hollywood already exists in mortal fear of A.I. actors, and this would be the worst-case scenario. At least the A.I. Kilmer wouldn't be wearing an ICE out pin or bore audiences with a finger-wagging lecture.
Does an A.I. actor winning Hollywood's biggest prize sound crazy? Yes, but did actors ever think a puppeteer would ever be eligible for an Oscar?
