There is a great deal of talk about whether or not Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will receive any Academy Award nominations in 2012. Surely the Academy cannot ignore the Harry Potter movies any longer and will take this final opportunity to honor this amazing series with a Best Picture nomination for Deathly Hallows Part 2.
In spite of being the most successful movie franchise of all time with box office now at some $7.6 billion worldwide The Academy has largely ignored Harry Potter. All of the previous seven movies have only been nominated for 9 awards in total. And they have never won. Perhaps that is understandable for the earlier movies but Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 cannot be seen as just successes in popularity. The technical and artistic contribution to the world of movies deserves recognition. Deathly Hallows Part 1 received just 2 nominations – for Visual Effect and Art Direction.
It would seem strange to a huge audience of Potter fans if the movies are once again overlooked by The Academy. Whilst the decision making process should not be based on the popularity of a movie it is difficult to argue that the production, acting and technical team involved in making these movies for the last decade should be ignored once more.
It was announced yesterday that Deathly Hallows Part 2 has reached the semi finalist stage for visual effects. It faces tough competition but if The Academy would look at the evolution of the whole field of visual effects and the part that the Harry Potter movies have played in it’s amazing advancement then this must be a front runner.
Will Alan Rickman be nominated for Best Supporting Actor? Daniel Radcliffe certainly thinks that he should win. He says in an interview given to Entertainment Weekly
“I don’t think there is going to be another performance from an actor in a supporting role that is so powerful where the actor had the challenge of realizing a scene that’s been realized millions of times the world over in the imaginations of readers.
That scene – those revelations about Snape’s past – represented maybe the most anticipated part of (one of) the most anticipated movies of the past 10 years, and I think Alan does amazing, amazing work,” he added.
Daniel Radcliffe is so right. When audiences went to see the movie those who knew the books looked forward so much to seeing how Alan Rickman would portray those scenes. And he did it brilliantly. But as things stand today he is not a front runner for the nomination. Amazing that one of the most brilliant actors of our time may be overlooked. But of course that is hardly without precedence in the acting world.
Deathly Hallows Part 2 will most likely not even be nominated for Best Picture. My prediction is that it will win Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. For any other category I think it is going to continue to be overlooked. As Harry Potter fans we will have to simply stand by our devotion to the movies – and not let it matter that The Academy does not regard them as we do.
What do you think? Leave me a comment below
