Disney’s version of Hamilton you will not be invited to the room where it happens.
Photo: Disney +
Could a filmed play, years away from Broadway, begin airing the Independence Day weekend, take advantage of a messy movie schedule, and still become a surprise Oscar player?
With the Academy changing its rules to allow broadcast-only projects to compete at next year’s Oscars, a fascinating question has arisen: Hamilton movie, the filmed version of a 2016 Broadway performance currently airing on Disney +, now have a shot at Oscar glory? At first glance, the wording seems broad enough for the musical to sneak in: the Academy rule change was intended to protect movies that had previously scheduled theatrical releases interrupted by the coronavirus, and you wouldn’t know it, this version of Hamilton It was originally supposed to hit theaters in October 2021, before Disney and Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to debut it on July 4 as a gift to viewers caught in quarantine. (And because, with the world’s live theater closed, there was no longer any risk of cannibalizing Broadway’s revenue.) Could that be enough?
However, it appears that the Academy has said no to this. Despite the various historical precedents that seem to point towards Hamiltoninclusion of – above all, the filmed version of Give it hell, Harry, a one-man show about Harry Truman that garnered a Best Actor nomination for James Whitmore at the 1976 Oscars: A source from AMPAS clearly says that, as a recorded production on stage, Hamilton not eligible for award consideration. (As for the Golden Globes, the HFPA has not yet responded to a request for comment.) Satisfied? Looks like team Hamilton all you have to do is settle for the 11 Tonys, the Grammy, and the Pulitzer Prize.
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