Voice of Woody for 30 years, Tom Hanks rejects voice actor category at the Oscars
Actor Tom Hanks, 69, gave his opinion on the creation of a specific category to reward voice actors at the Oscars. The discussion about recognizing artists who bring characters to life without physically appearing on stage has gained momentum in recent years.
However, the star, who returns to lend his voice to the character Woody in "Toy Story 5", said he believes that the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress already include any type of interpretation, including those performed by voice actors.
"I think they already have enough categories," declared the Hollywood veteran in an interview with the Gold Derby portal.
"The fact is that a voice actor can win Best Actor. The [voting] criteria is: 'any performance that moved you'."
In explaining why the Academy should consider these interpretations more carefully, Tom used as an example the work of British actor Andy Serkis on characters created with the help of motion capture.
Andy played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Caesar in the "Planet of the Apes" franchise. Although the performances were praised by critics, they never resulted in an Oscar nomination in the acting categories.
"Even if he doesn't appear as Andy Serkis, he is the one who provides all the raw material for it. There have been people who have come close to being nominated without appearing on camera. This can also happen with an actor whose performance is exclusively vocal."
Although Tom's argument is correct from a regulatory perspective, no performer has been nominated for an Oscar for a voice performance in any of the four acting categories.
Scarlett Johansson came close to breaking this barrier when she gave voice to the artificial intelligence Samantha in "Her" (2013), by director Spike Jonze. Despite not being nominated by the Academy, the performance earned her the best actress award at the Rome Film Festival.
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Source: CNN