Let the Voting Begin

Elections, voting, ballots, chads, recounts.

As the country deals with one of the most bizarre presidential elections in history, the voting that really matters in Hollywood--this year’s movie awards--is just beginning. Over the next three months, film critics, journalists, members of the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and, of course, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be casting their votes for the best of 2000.

The race for the Oscar unofficially began Dec. 1 with the National Board of Review choosing “Quills” as best picture. Wednesday, the New York Film Critics Circle chose “Traffic” as its best film, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. follows on Saturday.

Though no one has ever demanded a recount in the voting for the Academy Awards, the Oscars have had more than their share of intriguing races and controversy.

Here’s a primer on exactly who casts the votes for the various awards and some fun facts about previous Oscar derbies.

Question: How many members make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild?

Answer: The academy has approximately 5,600 members. That figure is always in flux due to new members joining the ranks, retirements and deaths. There were only 300 members of the academy when the first Oscars were held in 1928.

The 89 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. represent magazines and newspapers in approximately 55 countries. A maximum of five journalists are allowed to join HFPA each year.

The DGA represents more than 10,000 working members, and the Writers Guild includes 8,000 professional writers. For the Screen Actors Guild Awards, two randomly selected panels of 2,100 members select the nominees. The final ballot goes to the entire active membership of approximately 98,000.

Q: With this year’s presidential election, the networks were roundly criticized for declaring a winner of the race too early. Did that ever happen with the Oscars?

A: More than 50 years ago, the Los Angeles Times jumped the gun with an early issue of the paper that featured the headline: “Roz Russell Wins Oscar.” Rosalind Russell was the front-runner for best actress of 1947 for “Mourning Becomes Electra,” but it was dark horse Loretta Young who won best actress for “The Farmer’s Daughter.”

Q: Has the academy ever accepted write-in nominees?

A: Bette Davis was considered a shoo-in for a best actress nomination for her role as a Cockney tart in 1934’s “Of Human Bondage.” When she failed to get a nomination, outrage was so strong in the industry that for the first time the academy allowed write-in candidates. Claudette Colbert ended up winning best actress that year for “It Happened One Night.” The following year, Davis won her first of two best actress Oscars for “Dangerous.”

Hal Mohr, cinematographer for 1935’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is the only write-in candidate to ever win the Oscar. It was the last year the academy allowed write-in candidates.

Q: Was the 1931-32 tie for best actor between Fredric March for “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Wallace Beery for “The Champ” a perfect tie?

A: No. March beat Beery by only one vote. The only true acting tie was when Katharine Hepburn (“The Lion in Winter”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”) both won best actress of 1968. The academy’s then-3,030 voters split evenly between the veteran actress and the newcomer.

Q: Before this year’s well-publicized Oscar theft, had any Oscars been stolen?

A: Yes. Alice Brady, who won best supporting actress for 1937’s “In Old Chicago,” didn’t attend the ceremony. So everyone was surprised when a man got up on stage and accepted the award on her behalf. However, he immediately left the ceremony, and the mysterious man and Brady’s Oscar were never seen again. Brady was given a substitute Oscar a week and a half later.

Q: When are the nomination ballots for the Oscars being sent out?

A: The nomination ballots are mailed by the academy Jan. 9, and members have until Feb. 2, at 5 p.m., to return the secret ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international accounting firm. Final ballots for the Oscars are mailed out Feb. 28, and members have three weeks to return them. After ballots are tabulated, only two partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers will know the results.

Q: Who handles the balloting for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.?

A: Ernst & Young.

Q: Are academy members allowed to nominate in every category?

A: No. Balloting for the nominations is restricted to members of a certain academy branch. Film editors, for example, are the only ones allowed to nominate for best achievement in film editing.

Nominations in the foreign-language and documentary categories are made by large screening groups of members from all branches. The best picture nominations and final winners in most of the 24 categories are determined by the academy’s entire membership.

Q: Who votes for the scientific and technical awards?

A: The board of governors makes the scientific and technical awards based on the recommendations of a committee made up of cinema scientists and technicians.

Q: Who was the first acting nominee to actively try to win the Oscar?

A: Mary Pickford, who won best actress of 1928-29 for “Coquette.” During Oscar’s infancy, the five members of the Oscars’ central board of judges picked the winners. Pickford went so far as to invite the members over to Pickfair for tea.

There were also irregularities that year. The best picture winner, “The Broadway Melody,” had been produced by Louis B. Mayer, the academy’s founder and the man who appointed the five judges to the board. Best director Frank Lloyd (“The Divine Lady”) was one of the academy’s charter founding members; Pickford was married to Douglas Fairbanks, the academy’s first president; and Cedric Gibbons, who designed the Oscar, won for interior decoration for “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.”

Soon after the ceremony, the central board of judges was scrapped and, ever since, academy members have been allowed to vote for the awards.

And the Winner . . . Isn’t