By Lindsey Bahr
Diane Warren will finally be able to thank the Academy this November.
The oft-nominated songwriter has been selected to receive an honorary Oscar at the annual Governors Awards alongside directors Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy. Actor Michael J. Fox will also be bestowed with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday. None have won an Oscar before.
"The Academy's Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large," David Rubin, the president of the film academy, said in a statement.
The honorary Oscar statuette is given for "extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the academy."
Warren, 65, is the most recent Oscar nominee in the class, having just been up for the original song award earlier this year. The prolific songwriter who has contributed original songs to more than 100 films has been nominated in the category 13 times since 1987 for songs including "Because You Loved Me," "How Do I Live" and "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." She's worked with artists like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Cher, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.
Rubin said, "Warren's music and lyrics have magnified the emotional impact of countless motion pictures and inspired generations of musical artists.".
At age 77, the Australian auteur Weir, has also received many nominations over the year for both directing "Witness," "Dead Poets Society," "The Truman Show" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," which also got a best picture nomination, and writing "Green Card." A leading voice in the Australian New Wave, Weir first made his name with "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Last Wave" and "Gallipoli."
"Weir is a director of consummate skill and artistry whose work reminds us of the power of film to reveal the full range of human experience," Rubin said.
And though perhaps less widely known than the others in this Governors Awards class, Palcy, 64, has been a trailblazer for decades as a Black woman director. Born in Martinique in the French West Indies, Palcy made broke new ground with her debut feature "Sugar Cane Alley," which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1983 and a César Award. She also became the first Black woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood studio with MGM's "A Dry White Season" in 1989, for which Marlon Brando got an Oscar nomination.
Rubin said her, "groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history."
Fox, meanwhile, will be feted with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his advocacy work in Parkinson's research. The 61-year-old "Back to the Future" and "Family Ties" star was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease at age 29. His organization, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which was founded in 2000, is a leader in the field. Though he's never been Oscar-nominated before, Fox has won five Emmys, a Grammy and two Screen Actors Guild award.
"Michael J. Fox's tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson's disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions," Rubin said.
The 13th Governors Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 19 in an untelevised ceremony.
Lindsey Bahr is an AP film writer
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More