Tuesday, Nov. 26 marked an interesting day for this year’s award season, and perhaps, the future of award nominations for film and television. The Hollywood Foreign Press made a ruling that Scarlett Johansson would not be eligible for a Golden Globe for her performance in ‘Her,’ because she was never seen, only heard.
The romantic drama from Spike Jonze focuses on Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man who just got out of a long relationship. Johansson plays his advanced operating system, Samantha, with whom he strikes up a friendship, and eventually, an unconventional feeling of love.
Johansson has received widespread praise for her role, even winning the Best Actress award at the Rome Film Festival. It has certainly contributed to the talk of bigger nominations for her performance.
According to Deadline, this isn’t the first time a solid voice performance has been snubbed for nominations. For example, there was a strong campaign for Andy Serkis to be nominated for his role as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings,” and while he never got a nomination, Robin Williams received a “special award” for his performance as the Genie in “Aladdin.” While special awards and acknowledgements are nice, are they enough to honor those voice-driven performances?
Think of the numerous roles that have moved us that didn’t come from a human actor standing in front of us on the screen. I think of the titular character from “WALL-E,” Carl Fredrickson from “Up,” and Woody from “Toy Story.” There has also been James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, Pat Welsh as E.T, and Toby Jones as Dobby of the Harry Potter franchises. Dozens of voiceover performances have left me laughing, crying or speechless – should we really discredit them because the actors were hidden.
So, in this day and age of film and television, is it fair to exclude actors like Scarlett Johansson from nominations for their performances? Do they prepare less? Do they not delve into their character as much? Do they not give the amount of thought an on-camera actor would? I’m not an actor, but I can’t imagine someone who performs voice-only would work less on his or her performance. On the contrary, they probably have to work harder, because their voice is the only thing there to sway the audience.
The Hollywood Foreign Press has already made their decision about voiceover performances and award season. It will be interesting to see what the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where Johansson is still eligible, will decide.