Jackie Chan is among winners of honorary Oscars

By Brooks Barnes, New York Times News Service

Friday, Sept. 2, 2016 | 2 a.m.

A legend of martial arts cinema, a film editor with 60 years of experience, a celebrated documentarian and the casting director for films like “Tootsie” and “Fiddler on the Roof” will receive honorary Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the organization’s Governors Awards on Nov. 12.

The academy announced its selections — Jackie Chan, Anne V. Coates, Frederick Wiseman and Lynn Stalmaster — Thursday morning. The group’s 54-member board, which represents about 7,000 members, picked the recipients in a vote Tuesday night. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the academy’s president, called the four honorees “true pioneers.”

Last year, the academy used its Governors Awards, one of which went to Spike Lee, to emphasize a need for greater diversity in the movie business. The new selections continue that theme, but are also notable for spreading the recognition among an array of cinematic specialties. Casting directors, in particular, have long felt overlooked, largely because no competitive Oscar is awarded for their craft.

Chan, 62, has starred in (and sometimes written, directed and produced) more than 30 martial arts films, most of them made in his native Hong Kong. He received crossover success in the 1990s with “Rumble in the Bronx” and “Rush Hour.” Lately, he has contributed voice-over work to the “Kung Fu Panda” animated series. He has never been nominated for an Oscar.

The academy has been stung this year by criticism about a lack of diversity among nominees and for jokes during the last Oscars ceremony that some Asian members found offensive.

Coates, 90, was nominated for five film editing Oscars and won once, in 1963, for her work on “Lawrence of Arabia.” Over her six-decade career, she has worked on films as varied as “The Elephant Man,” directed by David Lynch in 1980, and the 2015 erotic thriller “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Stalmaster, 88, who began working in casting in the 1950s after trying his hand at acting, has contributed to more than 200 movies, including “Inherit the Wind,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Graduate” and “Deliverance.” He got his start in television, working on such seminal shows as “Gunsmoke.”

Wiseman, 86, has made almost one documentary a year since 1967, with a focus on social, cultural and governmental issues. Although widely seen as a force in nonfiction filmmaking — his first film was “Titicut Follies,” which went behind the scenes at a hospital for the criminally insane — Wiseman, who works from Massachusetts, has never been nominated for an Oscar.

Once a sleepy affair, the Governors Awards, which are not televised, have become a major stop on Hollywood’s awards circuit. Actors, producers and directors hoping for attention from Oscar voters zealously work the ballroom, often leaving their food untouched, while publicists try to steer entertainment reporters toward their clients. The honorary Oscars are handed out toward the end of the evening.

The Governors Awards are billed as noncompetitive, but lobbying by board members does occur. This year, more than 100 people were put forward as potential honorary Oscar recipients. Although there were candidates for two other honorary Oscars — one for philanthropy and another for producing — the academy chose not to bestow those prizes this year. (Each is given intermittently.)

In other academy news, the group said Wednesday that it had renewed a contract with ABC to televise the ceremony. The deal, set to expire in 2020, will now extend through 2028, which will be the 100th anniversary of the Academy Awards.

The two partners gushed about their ties in a news release, but ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney, have been unhappy with ratings for the show. Viewership tumbled to near-record lows last year. Academy officials have been laboring to find producers (who will then work on finding a host) with a resuscitation plan.