Academy invites 127 to join their ranks

Jun 28, 2004 by Ian Evans

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended invitations to join the organization to 127 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves in the field of theatrical motion pictures. The Academy has decided to extend this invitation only once a year rather than the previous twice.

“This remarkably accomplished group is a slightly smaller one than we’ve extended invitations to in recent years,” said Academy President Frank Pierson. “It reflects a decision we’ve made to slow the growth of the Academy somewhat, and to become even more selective in our membership process.”

“The new approach is the result of a reevaluation by the branch executive committees and the Academy’s Board of Governors of the fundamental way in which members have been accepted into the Academy,” Pierson said.

“In the most recent dozen years, entrance standards in all branches have tightened considerably, but the process still has allowed the branch commit-tees to accept occasional candidates who have met just the minimum criteria for consideration.

“Now we are asking the committees each year to ‘give us your most impressive candidates.’ And that changes the nature of the selection process dramatically,” Pierson said.

“The idea is that over the next twenty years or so we’ll bring about an Academy that is as distinguished as we can possibly make it.”

Pierson said that although the membership procedures instituted this year allow the organization to grow — after filling vacancies resulting from deaths and members opting for retired (non-voting) status — by a maximum of thirty new members annually, the Academy’s voting membership will actually remain at about the same size as last year at this time — about 5,880 members — depending on whether all of the year’s invitees accept their invitations.

Candidates for Academy membership are normally proposed by members and then considered by committees made up of prominent representatives of the organization’s fourteen branches — directors, screenwriters, documen-tary filmmakers, etc. In addition, individuals nominated for Academy Awards, if not already members of the organization, are automatically considered by the appropriate committees though not necessarily invited to membership.

Though the great majority of AMPAS members are based in the U.S., membership is open to qualified filmmakers around the world. The Academy roster currently includes theatrical filmmakers from 36 countries.

The 2004 invitees, listed by membership subcategories where appropriate rather than by branch, are:

Actors

  • Shohreh Aghdashloo
  • Paul Bettany
  • Keisha Castle-Hughes
  • Patricia Clarkson
  • Keith David
  • Hope Davis
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal
  • Scarlett Johansson
  • Viggo Mortensen
  • Bill Nighy
  • Sean Penn
  • Audrey Tautou
  • Ken Watanabe

Animators

  • Bill Berg
  • Brad Bird
  • Aaron Blaise
  • Sylvain Chomet
  • Adam Elliot
  • Tony Fucile
  • Roger Gould
  • Bud Luckey
  • Dominique Monfery
  • Steve Oedekerk
  • Carlos Saldanha
  • Shane Zalvin

Casting

  • Suzanne Smith
  • Ilene Starger

Cinematographers

  • James Carter
  • Jeff Cronenweth
  • Ron Garcia
  • Anastas Michos
  • Kees Van Oostrum
  • Amelia Vincent
  • Dariusz Wolski

Costume Designers

  • Aude Bronson Howard
  • John David Ridge
  • David Carl Robinson
  • Penny Rose
  • Jacqueline West

Directors

  • Miguel Arteta
  • Gurinder Chadha
  • Peter Chelsom
  • Sofia Coppola
  • Michael Corrente
  • Ashutosh Gowariker
  • Shawn Adam Levy
  • Gillies MacKinnon
  • Fernando Meirelles
  • Bruce Robinson

Documentary

  • Joe Berlinger
  • Lourdes Portillo
  • Bruce Sinofsky

Executives

  • Chris Albrecht
  • Peter Block
  • Rory Bruer
  • Jeffrey M. Freedman
  • Stephen A. Gilula
  • Jere R. Hausfater
  • James Horowitz
  • Graham King
  • Jay Rakow
  • Jeff Robinov
  • Sara Rose
  • Michael Rudnitsky
  • Courtenay L. Valenti
  • Charles T. Viane
  • Clark Woods

Film Editors

  • Nick Moore
  • Daniel Rezende
  • Jamie Selkirk
  • Lee Smith
  • Craig Wood

Makeup/Hairstylists

  • Jean A. Black
  • Sue Cabral-Ebert
  • Bill Corso
  • Peter King
  • Mary Hart Mastro
  • Peter Montagna

Music

  • Bill Abbott
  • Nick Glennie-Smith
  • Charles Martin Inouye
  • Annette Kudrak
  • John Ottman

Producers

  • Duncan S. Henderson
  • William Horberg
  • Loretha Jones
  • Nancy Juvonen
  • Stephen McEveety
  • Don Murphy
  • Gil Netter
  • Deborah Schindler
  • Jane Startz

Production Designers

  • Ian Gracie
  • Owen Paterson
  • Anne Pritchard
  • Barry Robison
  • William Sandell

Public Relations

  • Hilary Judge Clark
  • Adam Fogelson
  • Juli Goodwin
  • Laura C. Kim
  • Timothy Nett
  • Paula Silver

Scientific and Technical

  • Loren C. Carpenter

Set Decorators

  • Robert Gould
  • Denise Pizzini
  • Leslie Pope

Live Action Short Films

  • Florian Baxmeyer

Sound

  • James F. Austin
  • Michael Grant Hedges
  • Avi Laniado
  • David Lee
  • Tony Pilkington
  • Daniel Sperry
  • Ethan Van der Ryn

Visual Effects

  • John “DJ” DesJardin
  • Scott Frankel
  • Mark Freund
  • Geoff Heron
  • Robert Stromberg

Writers

  • Shari Springer Berman
  • L.M. Kit Carson
  • Sofia Coppola
  • D.V. DeVincentis
  • Steven Knight
  • Braulio Mantovani
  • Robert Pulcini
Sofia Coppola was invited to join by both the Writers and Directors branches, but by Academy rules will be able to accept just one of those invitations.