TheOscarsare the biggest night of the year for Hollywood, with the who’s who of Tinseltown showing up in droves to vie for the chance to walk across the stage of the Dolby Theater, gold statuette in hand. Every working actor, actress, screenwriter, and director dreams of being able toaccept an Oscarone day, and many dream of even the pleasure of being recognized with a nomination. For what it’s worth in terms of recognition and status, an Oscar changes someone’s career overnight — making stars out of artists. It’s a rare occurrence, but one that cinephiles follow with fervent interest.
An even rarer occurrence in relation to the Oscars, however, is those moments where the recognition — that thing that every film creative craves — is rescinded. There are a few rare occasions where the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to change their minds: those moments where not only did the stars align, but they aligned in a manner not befitting to the recipient of honor. We can see this happening currently withAndrea Riseborough’s campaignto be nominated for her performance in the filmTo Leslie, which has now been put underreview by the Academy.While there are only a handful of these occasions, they each require some explanation to truly understand why the Academy did what they did. So, this is every time the Oscars revoked a nomination, explained.
The Circus
During the very first Academy Awards ever held in 1929, Charlie Chaplin was nominated for four of the biggest categories for his filmThe Circus: Best Actor, Best Writer, Best Director for Comedy, and Best Picture (at the time called Outstanding Picture). There was a common fear amongst the Academy members and film press at the time that Chaplin was going to sweep all nominated categories, so the voting body made an odd decision. They rescinded all standing nominations for Chaplin and his film and, instead, gave him an “honorary award” that recognized all the accomplishments of his film while not taking away the spotlight from other potential winners. This is the only time something of this nature has ever happened in relation to the Academy Awards. Some speculate, asFilm Sitedoes, that this was also done because of Chaplin’s unpopularity in Hollywood at the time, but that is unverifiable.
No stranger to Oscar’s-related controversies, John Wayne starred in the 1954 westernHondo, which saw its own bit of controversy at the Oscars that year. While originally nominated for “Best Story” (the early Oscar’s version of Best Screenplay), the nomination was eventually rescinded for one simple reason: it wasn’t an inherently original work. Apparently, the script was based on a short story calledThe Gift of Cochise, and therefore could not be considered in the category of Best Story. The guidelines at the time prohibited derivative works and adaptations, soHondocould not be recognized in that category.
High Society
The 1956 musical comedyHigh Society, starring Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, was recognized at the 29th Academy Awards in three different categories: Best Song, Best Score, and Best Story. Unfortunately, the Academy had made a mistake on that last nomination. The film was originally based on the 1940 filmThe Philadelphia Story, thus rendering it ineligible to be nominated in that particular category (just likeHondobefore it). There was, however, another mix up with its nomination and that was that the wrong writers were credited on the film. The Academy originally nominated the writers of not 1956’sHigh Society, but the writers of a film by the same name that had been released in 1955. An all around mess, the writing nomination forHigh Societywas rescinded, and it would go on to not win either of the other awards it was nominated for.
Young Americans
All the situations described here are rare occurrences, happening only a handful of times over the course of a nearly-100-year run as a voting body. What is even rarer, however, is what happened to the 1967 documentary filmYoung Americans. Nominated and winning in the Best Documentary category at 1969’s Oscars ceremony, controversy would soon strike as a realization was made about the film’s claim to the trophy. As it turns out, the film had a well-documented premiere in 1967, rendering it ineligible to be considered a 1968 film, which means it could not have been nominated or even under consideration in that year’s awards ceremony. This marks the only time that an award was given out and then taken back in the history of the Oscars.
The Godfather
This might seem like an odd inclusion considering the fact thatThe Godfatheris one of the most celebrated and enduring films of all time, but it does fall under the criteria of inclusion for this list. Amidst all the controversy sparked by Marlon Brando, who refused to accept his award for Best Actor and instead sentIndigenous American activist Sacheen Littlefeatherin his place, there was another controversy brewing underneath the surface. Composer for the film, Nino Rota, was originally nominated for Best Score, but his nomination would later be revoked after a discovery was made. It turns out that Rota used some of the music from an earlier work of his (the score for an Italian comedy calledFortunella) in the score forThe Godfather, which rendered him ineligible to receive a nomination for Best Narrative Score. A few years later, however, Rota would receive an Oscar for his work onThe Godfather Part II.
A Place in the World
Originally submitted by Uruguay as their submission for Best Foreign Language Feature,A Place in the Worldwas nominated alongside four other international films. Eventually, it came to light that the film was most produced in Argentina, with the Uruguay production company having very little sway over what happened with the film. For those reasons, its nomination was revoked. The director of the film ended up suing the Academy, saying that he asked Uruguay to submit the film on his behalf because he believed the country helped finance the movie to a great enough degree to get this type of credit. Regardless, the film now stands as one of the few films to have a nomination revoked.
Tuba Atlantic
Originally nominated in the category of best Live-Action Short,Tuba Atlanticwas Norwegian production about an old man who only has six days left to live. It was notable enough to receive recognition at the 2011 Oscars, but there was an issue that later arose. It turns out the film had premiered on Norwegian television before it had ever screened in theaters, which goes against the Academy’s distribution rules. For those reasons, the film’s nomination was revoked.
ALONE YET NOT ALONE
Nominated in the 2014 Oscars for Best Original Song, the Christian filmALONE YET NOT ALONEeerily evokes a similarity to the aforementioned campaign ofTo Leslie. Two weeks afterALONE YET NOT ALONEreceived its nomination, the Academy decided to rescind its consideration for the film, and its song. When later asked about it, the Academy said that the reason for its change of heart was because the composer of the film sent out some of the 239 members of the voting body, reminding them that his film was up for consideration. While not seemingly wrong so far, one must consider the fact that this composer — Bruce Broughton — was an executive member of the Academy’s music branch and a former governor of the organization. The Academy saw this is a gross use of power and influence, and removed the nomination fromALONE YET NOT ALONE.
The most recent (at the time of writing) inclusion to this list is the Michael Bay-directed Benghazi drama13 Hours, which was originally nominated in the Best Sound Mixing Category. One day before the ceremony, however, the Academy decided to rescind their consideration for the film for one very simple reason: one of the sound designers committed acts of “telephone lobbying” in order to garner a nomination. This goes against Academy rules about influencing voting members, so his nomination was removed from consideration. The interesting thing is that three other sound engineers were kept on as nominees, as it was just one of the four nominated who had done any wrongdoing.13 Hoursended up losing the award to the Mel Gibson filmHacksaw Ridge.
