As more and more actors voice their anger at the Oscars’ lack of diverse nominees in the acting categories for the second consecutive year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is expected to announce changes as soon as next week.
Sources for The New York Times said that the quickest change might be setting the Best Picture field to 10 nominees, rather than the current 5-to-10 field that is decided through a preferential voting system.
Another adjustment that could happen is an increase of the acting categories, which has never happened before in the history of the Academy. They have had years of 10 Best Picture nominees, but they have never nominated more than five actors among the four acting categories.
Variety also reported that these changes might come during the Academy board meeting on Jan. 26.
Probably the most likely change would be changes to the membership rules. The Academy has 6,261 voting members and that group is dominated by older white men. The Academy could require these members to vote more regularly or lose the right to vote. Some have been pushing the Academy to also bar members who haven’t been active in the movie industry from voting.
While the Academy didn’t comment today, President Cheryl Boone-Isaacs said on Jan. 18 that she was “heartbroken and frustrated” by the lack of diversity among the nominees.
This is the second consecutive year that no black or minority actors were nominated for their performances, despite Creed, Straight Outta Compton and Beasts of No Nation widely expected to be recognized. Creed’s only nomination came for Sylvester Stallone’s supporting role and Compton’s nomination for Best Original Screenplay went to an all white group of writers.