The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have unveiled 774 new members invited to join the Oscars organization, bringing the total membership closer to 8,500 -ish. This is a record number, up from last year's 683, among them the Egyptian writer and director Mohamed Diab. The invitees come from 57 countries, the organization says in unveiling its list, with the list comprising 39% female and 30% people of color, both numbers increasing overall totals in those categories which has been a focus of AMPAS over the past couple of years. AMPAS now boasts overall female membership to 28% and poc to 13%, both marking incremental increases year to year on the Academy's stated journey to doubling those areas by 2020. Elle Fanning is the youngest invitee at 19, while Betty White at 95 is the oldest. The list of actors also includes Wonder Woman‘s Gal Gadot along with other superhero types like Chris Evans , Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson,Chris Pratt and more. SNL is heavily represented with current and former cast members invited including Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Maya Rudolph , and Molly Shannon . There are quite a few veteran TV names not known for movie work in the class including Sharon Gless, Lou Ferrigno, Debbie Allen (who choreographed the Oscar show for several years though) and White. It seems some of the branches dug deep to come up with names for this year's list which also includes 24 Oscar winners and 91 nominees already. Among directors, Get Out contender Jordan Peele, Moonlight's Barry Jenkins, the Russo brothers, and Tom Ford are on the list which is heavily dominated by international names. The latter development is for me the most impressive in terms of this continuing membership drive. It appears the Academy is really trying to become the United Nations of cinema and if they keep going at this rate they just may succeed. How this extremely diverse new membership list affects the Oscars is anyone's guess, but I would say the old ways of trying to predict how Oscar voters would behave are quickly fading as a heavily globalized organization just could continue to shake things up. When I spoke to outgoing AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs about this shortly after the list was revealed she wasn't thinking so much about its ultimate effect on Oscar outcomes. "All of our members are professionals at the top of their forms, every last one of them. And I believe that they vote based on their knowledge of particular skill sets , and that's what they look for . What's most important is that each year more people are actually looking at more films and really taking a dive into the film , both from their branches and areas of expertise as well as the film itself , and that is certainly what the voting for Oscars is , but it also involves more people getting involved in our Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting awards, or the Student Academy Awards , or the Sci Tech area, all of what we do. It's not just the Oscars," she said. As for the record number of invitees this year , and the ongoing membership drive, she said she is not necessarily counting on it being this big each year. "We are not looking at numbers in that way. What we are looking for is inclusion. Whether the numbers will continue to be at these levels we will know each year, but probably not. We are not looking to grow the organization. We are looking to have our organization more representative of men and women, here and around the world who are participating in the art form," she said adding there are a lot of factors involved and that includes a larger global footprint. "We are not looking to increase membership. The goal is instead to increase a diverse membership that represents us around the world." Source: Deadline
