It’s one of the biggest oversights in the history of the Academy Awards, up there with Martin Scorsese losing Best Director for Taxi Driver, or Martin Scorsese losing Best Director for Raging Bull, or Martin Scorsese losing Best Director for Goodfellas. It’s up there with Peter O’Toole going zero-for-eight for Best Actor, or Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick never winning Best Director.
Yes, it’s long overdue, but finally, the creative works of Jackie Chan will be recognized by the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Along with Chan, film editor Anne Coates (Lawrence of Arabia), casting director Lynn Stalmaster (who first picked Christopher Reeve for Superman), and documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman are to be given the Honorary Award, an award given out by the Academy for “a life’s work in filmmaking.”
Joking aside, Jackie Chan’s combination of everyman, affable charm with his incredibly precise and dedicated stuntwork created unique fight scenes and characters that are too often a rarity in action cinema. Check out the video below by Every Frame a Painting to see just how good Jackie Chan is at what he does.
Though the Academy has yet to give an individual statement for each honoree, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said of the announcement:
The Honorary Award was created for artists like Jackie Chan, Anne Coates, Lynn Stalmaster and Frederick Wiseman – true pioneers and legends in their crafts. The Board is proud to honor their extraordinary achievements, and we look forward to celebrating with them at the Governors Awards in November.
The awards will be presented at the Governors Awards on Nov. 12 and will likely be shown during the 89th Academy Awards on Feb. 26, 2017.