Academy invitees: ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Gravity’ beat ‘Hustle’ again

Nearly four months after the historical drama “12 Years a Slave” won the top prize at the Oscars and the outer space survival adventure “Gravity” collected an evening-best seven statuettes, the two films once again find themselves at the top of the heap with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

When the group announced its annual invitations to new members on Thursday, “12 Years” and “Gravity” boasted the greatest number of new invitees—and across the largest number of branches.

Nine people who worked on “12 Years” were asked to join the academy across seven branches, including cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, editor Joe Walker, and Oscar winners Lupita Nyong’o (supporting actress) and John Ridley (adapted screenplay).

“Gravity,” which dominated the technical categories on Oscar night, correspondingly earned invites for 10 individuals in six categories, often in below-the-line realms, with invites for such figures as a production designer, editor and composer as well as three sound-design artists and three visual-effects artists.

“12 Years” and “Gravity” weren’t the only films to echo their Oscar-night triumphs. “Dallas Buyers Club,” the scrappy independent AIDS drama that was nominated for six awards and won three, was an underdog success once again: Seven people who worked on the movie nabbed Academy invites, in four categories (casting, directing, makeup and writing).

To be fair, some of last year’s top films already had a number of primary cast and crew members in the Academy, which therefore limited how many new invitees they could boast. In the case of “American Hustle,” for example, director and co-writer David O. Russell was already a member, as were stars Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper.

Still, it’s interesting to note that “Hustle” — which was shut out across its 10 nominations on Oscar night — once again trailed its rivals “12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity” in terms of academy invitees: Five people who worked on the film were offered membership, in four categories.

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