Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish Got Robbed of Oscars

This morning the 90th Academy Awards nominees were announced live from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles. The announcement was hosted by War of the Planet Apes star Andy Serkis, and last summer’s breakout star Tiffany Haddish, from Girls Trip.

Serkis, 53, is well known for his impressive transformations as creatures like Caesar in the Apes saga, Gollum in Lord of the Rings, and most recently as Snoke in the latest Star Wars franchise. Despite his accomplishments in countless critically-acclaimed movies, he didn’t get to call out his own name from the list of this year’s Oscars nominees. In fact, he has never been nominated by the Academy Awards (ever). This begs the same question we have each year. How much more does Serkis need to show for him to get nominated?

Perhaps, performance or motion capture (highly enhanced and edited by CGI) doesn’t get the same respect by academy voters. Remember Avatar’s nine nominations circa 2010 Oscars? None were for acting. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the King Kong actor said, “The visual effects awarding bodies will award the great work that the visual effects companies do, and I think the acting branches need to really get behind understanding what performance capture is, which is acting.” (War of the Planet Apes made the list for best visual effects, fyi). 

Serkis’s co-host, Tiffany Haddish was also not on the list for this year’s nominees. Although she’s still a new and rising star, her performance in the comedy movie Girls Trip rivalled Melissa McCarthy's role in Bridesmaid, where McCarthy received an Oscar nomination. Back in December, Jada Pinkett Smith took it to Twitter when her co-star Haddish didn’t get the recognition she hoped for during the Golden Globes.

Way to choose your hosts, Oscars.