This Had Oscar Buzz - CATEGORY IS… – Voice Acting

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

Our 2026 May Miniseries CATEGORY IS… continues this week with a discussion about a dreamed-for category that stirred a lot of conversation, particularly in the 2000s. We’re talking about Voice Acting! This episode, we dive into a Disney-centric history of celebrated Disney performances and which of them might have been Oscar frontrunners, from Robin Williams … Continue reading "CATEGORY IS… – Voice Acting"

I'm from the right house. No, the right house. We want to talk to me. I'm from Canada water. Dick Poop. Bring it to the runway. Category is stars, statements, and legends. What I want from you is your voice.

Use the voice. That voice just now. What was it? I do voices. What do you mean you do voices? Give me a water. Commission. Speak. Jesus!

Hello and welcome. to the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast, the only podcast that insists that your casting couch be a sectional. Every week on This Had Oscar Buzz, we'll be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had Lofty Academy Award aspirations, or rather we normally talk about a different movie that once upon a time had Academy Award aspirations. In this case, we're talking about many, many, many voice actors who never had Lofty Academy Award aspirations because they had no category to aspire to. But for the purposes of our May Miniseries, we are going to give them the proper respect and airing of their Oscar buzz that they have always deserved. So welcome back to the 2026 May Miniseries. I am your host, Joe Reed. I'm here, as always, with my Wicked Stepmother, who generations of gay men will subsequently adore Chris Fialolo, Chris.

Nah. I don't think I would make a good Wicked Stepmother. I make a decent fairy godmother. Well, we do like those too, although not as much, if you've noticed. Two different types of character actresses. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they're different. Kate Blanchett can do both. I'm not Kate Blanchett.

Oh, is that the new actress dichotomy? You're a wicked stepmother, you are a fairy godmother, or both, or neither? Maybe, maybe. I aspire to be wicked stepmother. And Hathaway. Could do both? Could do both? Could do both?

Has done both. I just feel like everybody we like best, we would end up saying you could do both. I don't know. Sally Field, fairy godmother. Jody Foster? Wicked stepmother. Yeah. Has been wicked stepmother.

Yeah. Helen Mirren. I'm of course referring to her wicked stepmother role in Elysium. It's the closest she's been to a wicked stepmother. Helen Mirren, fairy godmother? Has been both, but really is only right for Wicked Stepmother. Okay. What if neither?

Like, Julianne Moore is kind of neither, right? Yes, that is probably true. Julianne Moore is, um, Julianne Moore is more of a... What's an archetype? Julianne Moore is the dead mother. Honestly? She's played dead mothers on this had Oscar Buzz's previous episode. This is true.

This is true. Yeah. Yeah. That is not, that is, these are neutral terms. That is not shady. No. Shading my second favorite actress. No.

In fact, what tends to irk me is when people turn these little taxonomy exercises into a way to shade, you know, to be shady or not. There is no inherently good or bad in a taxonomy, right? Yeah. Neutral terms. Yes. Neutral Terminators, always. Oh, Jesus Christ. Shout out to our friends at Chasing Amy Adams.

Well, friends were going to put in scare quotes because they did make me watch Hillbilly Elegy for a second time. I was grateful to be, I will always show up when they want me to show up. I was grateful to be very busy in life to not be able to submit myself to rewatching that. It's just me ranting about J.D. Vance for like two hours. It's something else. Really? I couldn't imagine that. So, okay, this category episode, welcome to the main miniseries, everyone. You have interesting thoughts on how we could do new acting categories.

I do. But I kind of feel like this is, if the Academy wanted to get, like more ABC I should say it though they're not on ABC are they when are they done with ABC what's that contract over one more year yeah one more year yeah one more year one more year um so they in 2027 about the president ABC was like famously trying to cut stuff etc etc if they wanted to get more star power this would be like a great way to do it and also why does the Academy not do this and it feels like

Like, this is gone, this is a category that's gone through several waves of different conversation over, I would say, the past, like, 30 years. And again, it's another one of those conversations where it's like, well, we used to do honorary Oscars. And, like, sometimes something just hits really hard for a voice performance, like, not to jump ahead, Robin Williams and Aladdin. Good example. Very good example. The Golden Globes were like, yes, we're going to give you a special Golden Globe for that. I don't want to jump ahead to it. But, like, why wouldn't the Academy do something like that for this?

But I also think there's a lot of nuances for us to discuss and how this category would work, what would qualify, what we think should qualify, etc. Yes. And, you know, we'll get a chance to talk about academy tendencies, the, you know, how we might. might imagine a category like this would sort of end up swaying in the breeze. Does the fact that you are instituting this category as a way of bringing more actors into the fray, more, you know, big name actors into the fray, then make the category unbalanced against more sort of work-a-day voice talents who are not maybe stalking. but who are maybe very good and sort of like make it their business to be voice acting specialists.

Do you know what I mean? Which is a thing in animation now where, you know, these, you know, vocal talents who have made it their, you know, craft to be a nimble, versatile, you know, put yourself, disappear into the character, kind of a voice actor, are unable to get lead roles because. the lead roles are going to... Chris Pratt as the very Italian Mario Luigi. Right, right. I know I've asked you this before, but I've sent you the clip from John Mullaney and the Sacklaunch bunch about the focus group with the kids, right?

About the animated movie and talking about like, now the, you know, the wise old wombat. Could you tell who that voice was? And they're like, I knew I knew it was somebody, but I couldn't think of it. And he finally is just like, Jeremy Renner, and they're like, oh, of course. And it's such a, it's such a

laceratingly on-point sketch about the current state of feature animation. The first time I ever remember that as a person who loves movies and was like, you know, coming through adolescence and teen years and young adulthood, gaining more awareness of things like that, do you remember that?

the animated Sinbad movie. Oh, with Brad Pitt, sure. Exactly. Where it's like, yes, all of these eight-year-olds who are going to see Sinbad, which there weren't that many, that movie flopped, it's like, yes, they're showing up because Brad Pitt is a voice in this movie, and how ridiculous the idea of that is. I remember being incredibly aware of it, and this was, you know, I was already in my 20s by at this point. But Sharktail, I felt like, was a sort of turning point or tipping point or something

there, where it's just like, you know, it's the same premise, right. Don't she slander Marty. No, I'm not going to slander Marty. No. Great boys' performance in Sharktail. But as you, but as you just said about Sinbad, it's just like, you're making this movie for children. And what do they care, whether it's just like, these above the title talents of like, Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Jack, well, whatever, Jack Black is the piepiper of children. was a gay eight-year-old who was like, I want to see Renee Zellwicker play a bumper fish. Sure, whatever. Sure.

And, oh, I was talking to my nephew literally two days ago. And we were talking, oh, right, we were talking about the Super Mario Brothers movie. And I said, well, who was your favorite character? And he said, Bowser. And I said, what do you like about Bowser? And he's just like, I don't know. I think he's funny. I like his voice

And I go, you know, that the voice The same guy who does the voice for Bowser And I'm like literally like, I'm gonna blow this kid's mind And he goes, it's Jack Black, I know it And it's just like See, kids do know who Jack Black is Much like we knew who Robin Williams was And probably Anteola Lansbury for certain

Well, and he was very, very much For about two months there, very into the the Minecraft movie scene with Jack Black singing the song about the lava chicken. A child under the age of 10 was super into the Minecraft movie. I know. Breaking news. Imagine. But I was so excited to be able to impart this wisdom and, oh, he beat me to it.

Well, what can I say? These kids, they're on top of it. They're on top of it. But anyway, yes. There was like a sliding scale to some of it, right? because of like the idea of stars going into voice acting roles. Like Robin Williams had to have been the big one, right? Because you think of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast has Angela Lansbury in a supporting role.

And like her presence is partly because she does the singing. And I guess you could say that's the sliding scope into getting Robin Williams on board. But then you get full tilt into the Sinbad's. Well, you can sort of, there are different kind of signposts and goalposts, because we're going to end up talking about the different sort of eras of Disney animation during this episode. And while Disney did have their stable of, you know, vocal specialists and voiceover specialists, you would get stuff like Mickey Rooney and Pearl Bailey being in, you know, the Fox and the Hound or George Saunders in. the jungle book movie, you know what I mean? It was just like, I guess these weren't, you know, Marlon Brando and, you know, whatever, Vivian Lee of the day. But certainly noticeable, notable, you know, screen actors of their time.

Yeah, yeah. But it's also like it gets to be a spotlight role, but it's largely populated with, you know, people whose name you might not recognize, at least, you know, At the time. Whereas now you have Annie Taylor Joy being Princess Peach saying nothing but phrases like, let's go or I'm Peach. Yeah. To head off the comments, by the way, I also know that Kurt Russell was a voice in the fox and the hound, but he wasn't famous Kurt Russell when he, you know. Correct.

Correct. Anyway. I know these things. But that's how you get a Pat Carroll giving. maybe the most or one of the top three most legendary voice performances in a Disney movie. But that is a performance that, you know, is, you know, from a long lineage of the women voicing iconic Disney, you know, villains or, you know, and we'll talk about that, you know, as well. One thing that you mentioned in this outline that I wanted to sort of linger on a little bit at the beginning is a proposed voice acting category would not just be for vocal performances from animated films. You could include voiceover narration.

You could include character voiceover from live action movies. You made a notation here that I thought was a good one, which is, what would the determination be if there was a narrator who, you know, perhaps appears on screen briefly or whatever. Or extended, but you don't necessarily know that that character is narrating. I thought of this because I wanted to include in my, like, five historical winners, like, are, like, who we would give an Oscar to. The role that made me think of it is Rachel Weiss in The Lobster. Oh, interesting. So it's like, would it be fair to, like, give Rachel Weiss a voice acting Oscar for The Lobster, which I don't remember if her character is explicitly said to be the narrator? Interesting. Or if she just is narrating the movie.

But it's like, I'm not just saying the performance, but specifically the voice acting. but I don't know if there were like Oscar eligibility rules and regulations, if that would be fair? I'm comfortable being a stickler on this one. I'm comfortable saying if you appear, if your, you know, if your face appears on screen, if you appear, you know, bodily on screen, then you are not eligible for this award. then you would then have to, you know, enter into an acting category. Because then Rachel Vise is free to enter into Best Supporting Actress, and her work as a narrator can then, you know, contribute. Because you get into things like Kate Blanchett in the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, right?

There's that whole sort of prologue that Kate narrates, and it's, you know, really wonderful. But then she, you know, shows up as her actual character later on. you know, let that voiceover be part of her case for, excuse me, be part of her case for a nomination for supporting actress, but not necessarily for a separate award. There's also the issue of, well, a couple of other things. You mentioned what of singers who dub the actor's performance in a movie. The Marney Nixons of the world. The Marnie Nixons of the world.

I think that counts. I think I would include that in, you know, if Marty Nixon is doing all of her work, you know, from a sound booth in the movie. Yeah, give her her flowers. She's not going to be able to get nominated for Best Actress, although Andrew Hepburn didn't either. This doesn't really happen anymore, but what about animated movies where someone is playing the four, the, the, the, the, uh, Anastation. Meg Ryan does the dialogue for Anastasia. But then the singing is done by, I don't think that's also Judy Coon. I forget who sings Anastasia.

It happened this year in K-pop Demon Hunters. Oh, true. You know what I mean? Arden Cho voiced the speaking voice. And is it pronounced E.J.? Did the singing voice. Yes. So it definitely does still happen.

The other thing, obviously, is a mocap performance, right? Andy Circus is not, well, in the third lines. I'm going to take a guess that we're going to be on the same page about this. Well, what page are you on, sir? Well, that a mocap performance shouldn't be eligible for a voice acting. It's a different thing. I agree with it. Because you...

Yes, there are computers involved, but it is. is still your physicality, your body that goes into it. So Zoe Saladanya in the Avatar movies would be nominated for acting prizes, not voice acting prizes. Or Sigourney Weaver, as she was this year for... Multiple roles, baby. You know, as everybody's favorite teenage, non-binary witch in space. Tree progeny Sigourney Weaver

Yeah Yeah exactly I love those movies I love her in those movies Okay but let's let's not breeze too far past this Because this became a conversation When Andy Circus played Ghalem Specifically for the two towers

The conversation kind of lingered for Return of the King But like the bigger Return of the King is in is Would have been an easier case for him to make because he does show up just as his old self. Right. In the prologue? Yes.

Yes. There's a little flashback to how Gallum became column, of course. But it's like both of those conversations kind of cannibalized each other because then you have people being like, we should be including these motion capture performances in acting conversations. But then you have other people that are like, well, just give it a voice acting recognition. But then you have other people being like, but it's not voice. acting, which it isn't, but it makes it harder for the performance to get nominated for anything.

This is also why the Oscars have the discretion to do an honorary Oscar, and maybe they should have that year instead of, you know, making us have this argument every year. But also, Critics Choice invented a digital acting category for him that year. Do you remember the other two nominated a performance? Was that the same year as one of those final fans? fantasy movies or whatever? No, Final Fantasy, I believe, was the year, I believe it was the year of Fellowship of the Ring. It might have been

2000. Then, no, I don't know. Oh, please. I'm pulling it up because it's a little... I know one of them is Toby Jones as Dobby. Oh, sure, yeah, because the Harry Potter movies were that year as well, yeah. And then it's one more, what was it? It was something

that I just thought, you know, sure. It's Frank Oz as Yoda in Attack of the Clones, which I'm pretty sure is just a voice performance. All three of those franchises had new movies in 2002. 2002 shit was breaking loose. Now, in the environment that we're in currently, I imagine a proposed digital acting category would not be accepted very,

with very welcomingly. into award shows. I don't know. I don't imagine the acting community would embrace awards bodies being like, why don't we start giving out digital acting categories as, you know, Palantir or whoever is just like, aha, do I have a fake AI actor for you? So, um, but this is not, we're not talking about anything to do with AI. We're talking about voice performances by real live human beings with blood in their veins.

with blood in their veins and talent in their vocal cords. Exactly. Thank you for finishing. That's where talent lives in the vocal cords. Are we ever? So, right. So the other thing is,

has this ever been an Oscar category even in like the olden days? No, I didn't think. There might have been other honorary Oscars, but. Mm-hmm. I don't... So we're inventing this whole cloth, and as we're inventing this whole cloth, we are also free to sort of presume when in the timeline it might have been instilled.

Is this a thing that has always been around? Is this a thing that we want to, you know, propose doing now? Because as we sort of move into this hypothetical realm of what movies and what actors we might have nominated, I do think one of the more fun thoughts, experiments that I've been having researching for this episode is imagining how the awards conversation would shape up around like for example the issue of stars versus you know voice actors or around the issue of it's just this category every year all it is is the top-built star from every major animated movie this year or you know what I mean it's just like you know justice for the voiceover character actors, why can't we get, you know, such and such?

Or how does this, and we'll get into this later, because I made notes about this, how does this play into possible egotts? Does, if your egot includes an Oscar for voiceover acting, is there an asterisk next to that egot? You know what I mean? Is it the same as a daytime Emmy? You know what I mean? Like that. So, lots to discuss. And if you are the type of person who pays attention.

to extremely early Oscar conversations. This is something that's a little bit... I, you know, don't want to give it too much mileage because I don't think that ultimately it will be a thing. Full respect to the performer. But this is already in conversation for Project Hail Mary for James Ortiz. For Rocky. Who voices Rock.

Yep. Who voices Bill Irwin as rock in Project Hail Mary. How long did it take you to realize that that was not Bill Irwin? I knew it wasn't Bill Irwin because my very first thought was, is this Bill Irwin? And I listened to it for a little bit, and I was like, no, it's not Bill Irwin. But I was like that. And I was like, am I only thinking this? Because physically this thing does resemble what if tars were made of rock instead of like, you know, whatever metallics.

there is a sort of vertical panel quality to Rocky that... What if Rocky was a soft boy? Right, exactly. Yes. Made of rock. Yes. James Ortiz, great vocal performance. I definitely think that that is something just kind of meant to generate clicks, but...

And it will. And you know what? More power to people seeking those clicks. Click away, everybody. And if it keeps the conversation going, because, like, I think we're both on the same page that this would be a worthy acting category at the Oscars? Definitely, particularly if it's... And long delayed?

What I like about it is there's a way to do this category well, and there's a way to do this category sort of shallowly, and I like the fact that I would be able to sort of, you know, I can already see myself in a world where this category exists annually, you know, stomping my feet on the ground and making my case for, you know, picking the right people for this category rather than just sort of, you know, taking the easy way out. I think it's also a category that would end up, if you looked back at the history of it, would end up sort of reflecting trends in particularly, I think, feature animation.

I think this is a category. We'll talk about how it would have, you know, in the past might have responded. to the, you know, your classic golden age of Disney, your Disney Renaissance, your Pixar era, your, here's a question. How would this category handle the idea of English dubs for Studio Ghibli movies? I mean, they would probably be eligible. I mean, most of those stars don't do press for those movies, though, there's the odd occasion that the

English-American dubbed versions have great vocal performances. I'm specifically thinking of Robert Pattinson for the boy in the heron. Sure, yes. But what I'm saying is, if, for example, the dubbed version and subtitled versions are both released in the United States, do you then put both sets of actors,

into the hopper for what is eligible to be voted for, and then do the American Oscar voters just sort of like continually show their own provincialism? I do think it would be hard to get the non-English language performance nominated. But I also think because people tend to look down their nose at the American dubs of G. It would also make those harder to get nominated as well. Exactly. Exactly. But there are some exceptions that I would, that I'll mention as we go along.

I would also love if this was a real, like in talking of these nuances of it, I would love when people like you or I would come out of the woodwork honestly and be like, honestly, you know what was a pretty good voice performance? Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji in the emoji movie. Things like that, where it's just like where we would be. stumping for things that ultimately would seem incredibly random, but, you know, would be creating justification for, like, having more interesting conversation around potential nominees. Garies, I'm going to ask that you clip and isolate Chris saying, what about Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji? And just sort of make it for your consideration soundbite out of that.

and let's really make that live forever. I have no knowledge of how good Patrick Stewart is as the poop emoji. I've not seen that film. Now the denials come out, I see. I merely know that he played the poop emoji. Unfortunately, we all have to read that. But you know what I'm saying? Oh, I do.

Yes, I know what you mean. I think this would create a lot of fun potential for people like us who like to keep a lot of things in the conversation. As I was trying to make my list of what, you know, what five past voice acting performances I might have nominated, which we'll get into later on, I kept replacing things with better idea. You know what I mean? Just like there was a multitude of other things. And I didn't include things that we would be discussing in light of other considerations. Yeah, I removed Disney stuff. out of my considerations because I was like, we're going to get into it. Exactly. So to start

with, in terms of, you know, when and how have there been perhaps calls to have a category like voice acting in the past. A few examples that I wrote down, Eddie Murphy for Shrek in 2001, 2001 being the first year for the animated feature. And I do imagine that were there voice acting category in 2001, Shrek would have probably dominated, or at the very least, Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers would have kind of run away with the field, perhaps, with Gow and Karen Deas as well. Well, yes, because that was also the year of Monsters Incorporated.

But I remember Eddie Murphy got a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor that year, and in general was one of those animated performance or voice acting performances in an animated movie that, that was, you know, highly touted as like, wouldn't it be cool if? You know, wouldn't it be funny if? And Eddie Murphy's, you know, very funny in Shrek. And, you know, that movie was very popular.

So it does not surprise me whatsoever that this would have been. I would bet that he pulled votes. I would bet that he was somewhere in 6th to 9th that year. Who didn't get nominated because Eddie Murphy was pulling? All right. Let's do this. Their votes. Who in 2001 was part of...

Did Hayden Christensen ultimately lose out for Life as a House? Because the Shrek... Hayden Christensen might have been six. Busemi could have been six. For Ghost World. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Yep.

Good thinking. Good thinking. And then we're considering... Not bethany for Beautiful Mind. Was there ever talk of Clive Owen for Gosford? Or no. I don't think so. I don't think so either.

We might be forgetting someone else. What about like Hugh Grant for Bridget Jones? I kind of feel like awardsness. Was he BAFTA nominated? I mean, wouldn't shock me. The BAFTAs love that shit. That Helen Fielding shit. Possibly Jim Broadbent for Mulan Rouge as well as Iris.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 2001 BFTA's, Colin Firth was nominated alongside Eddie Murphy, Robbie Coltrane for Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone. Hugh Bonneville for Iris, and then Jim Broadbent won for Moulon Rouge, the role he should have won. So handsome in Iris.

Jim Broadbett won for Moulon Rouge in the way that should have also happened at the Oscars, is what I would also say, for that. Um, so, yeah, that's a very BAFTA lineup right there. Let me tell you what. Um, I got to say, had Eddie Murphy been just regular performance nominated for Shrek? It would have been a good nomination. Now, if Eddie Murphy is nominated in a hypothetical voice acting category, he walks away with the win. Does he, is he still subject to the same, uh, thing that nipped him in the bud for dream girls where it's just like a lot of people just plain don't like him? Not for, not for this performance.

No. Okay. No, I think he would have walked away. I mean, I think when you have the, like, we have to have the conversation of would the voice acting Oscar be seen as a lesser award. I think it would. Maybe to it, if it would happen that, like, Chris Pratt would get an Oscar for voicing Mario Luigi, which I don't think would happen. I think it would still be subject to a certain degree of snobbery.

But, like, then there are sometimes undeniable, like Eddie Murphy as Donkey and Trek. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, here's another example, and this is not from an animated movie, but this is another one where, you know, the conversation became real, which was Scarlett Johansson and her, 2013's her. Scarlet got a Critics' Choice nomination for Best Supporting Actress. And I remember there was much, much talk of should Scarlett Johansson be a serious contender for her because of, you know, this fantastic performance.

She's essentially the second lead of the movie. She's playing a, you know, AI girlfriend years before. the cast of Scrubs would be involved. And it's a really fantastic performance. And there was actual, like, genuine conversation. And I, you know, so if there's a voice acting, you know, category that year, I think Scarlett runs away with it. Much to the chagrin of, who am I going to say, Edina Menzel, who would have been nominated for Frozen that year. So.

which that is an interesting conversation about how much okay so yes it's singing and dialogue Elsa like says like four words in that movie that are not a song because like I think if you're just talking dialogue I don't let it go is its own thing

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say that but like Kristen Bell is the more interesting vocal performance in that. But actually, I think if we're going to talk about Frozen, I think the unfortunate thing is the person who gets nominated from Frozen is Josh

Gad. Okay. This is another consideration. I don't like it. As the category evolves through the years, does this become the haven for like who is the character type who gets nominated? Is it Robin Williams has the genius?

Is it just the lead or is it right? it the featured comic relief? Is it like the funniest performance? Is this the rare area where comedy ends up winning the day at the Oscars? I think that's an interesting question, because I could see a world in which that is true, but I can also see a world in which they just sort of default to like whoever's top billing. You know what I mean? And, you know, your nominee, I mean, Aladdin really would have been the Stratherberg. You could never see, you know, the guy who voices Aladdin being the nominee instead of Robin Williams. But I could see Jody Benson being the nominee being the winner for The Little Mermaid over Samuel E. Wright who voiced Sebastian

or Pat Carroll who voices Ursula. I think you can look towards the song category to see where things might move in that direction, right? I was also going to say Jerry Orbach for Beauty and the Beast. Well, I have a whole section planned on how things would have shook out during the Disney Renaissance, so put a pit in that. Okay. I think another one that would be a complete walk to a win would be Ellen DeGeneres for Finding Nemo, because I remember these conversations also happening around Ellen's performance as Dory. Absolutely. Absolutely. That was the standout performance.

People love that. Also, Finding Nemo was your animated feature winner that year. the other animated feature nominees that year were not as, you know, not as flashy, not as, you know, sort of packed with, you know, voice acting luminaries. Give me a second. I was vamping, but I can't vamp and type at the same time because I'm, uh, see, I can't even vamp and type it. Just let me type. 2003, yeah, so your other nominees are Brother Bear, which $100, who's the lead acting voice in Brother Bear. Joaquin'clock. All right, that wasn't, that was just kidding. And then Triplets of Belleville is the other, and so you're not going to get any nominees out of that. What if Joaquin Phoenix's second Oscar nomination of all time was a voice acting performance in Brother Bear?

He would have killed every single member of the Voting Academy. But yes, I think Alan DeGeneres would have been a very, very big major. contender. Then Ellen would have an Oscar, and would that have been a good thing? I don't know. I mean, at that point, she was beloved. So would she have later thrown that Oscar at a staffer who, you know, was displeasing her, perhaps?

But, you know, then that's a good story. Speculative. Speculative, speculative. Speculative, speculative. We don't know anything. Let's get into the Disney of it all because I don't think either one of us are going to knock your socks off with the notion that this category had it existed in the 1950s and 60s would have been chock-a-block

with vocal performances from the Disney animated features. What I think is interesting, again, is who, from these movies do we think would have emerged? I think you and I are both quite partial to the idea that the diva voicing the most sort of mother character in these movies would end up getting nominated for the most part. Certainly the year. Well, I think Eleanor Oddly is... Talk to the children about Eleanor Oddly.

She's Lady Tremaine and Cinderella, and I think even more iconically, she is maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. I think both of these are excellent choices, although I will point out that in Cinderella, 1950, Verna Felton voices the fairy godmother in Cinderella. And I could see that performance winning and then the very next year, Verna Felton can go back to back because she then voices the Queen of Heart. hearts in Alice in Wonderland. And I think that's the performance in Alice in Wonderland that probably ends up, you know, being the focal point. Who voiced the Caterpillar? Because I would have to rebut that the Caterpillar is a great vocal performance. Well, and Alice in Wonderland. There is also, you know, the Cheshire Cat. Let's see. True.

Alice in Wonderland, the voice of the Caterpillar is Richard Hayden. Great performance. Let's see. What are this person's other major roles? And then there were none. Mutiny on the Bounty. Oh, he played the Von Trapp's family friend, Max Detweiler, in the song music. So that guy.

And then also, as the Cheshire Cat, it's Sterling Holloway. Now, Sterling Holloway is the voice of Winnie the Pooh. In Winnie the Pooh is the voice of Ka, the Snake, and the Jungle Book. Any of those, like, Disney characters where you're like, that person kind of sounds like Winnie the Pooh is Sterling Holloway, because he, in fact, was Winnie the Pooh. So those are your probably major contenders. But I do think Vernifelton maybe rises above the pack there.

I think if there is a Disney movie that there would have been like, you like break the stick and everyone has to fight with the stick to the death, it would be Jungle Book because like all of those performances are big, they're fun, they're... Right. All the gays and us and all the gays would have been like George Saunders as Shir Khan. You know, is the villain, is a very, very... Is Shircon the first canonical gay Disney villain? Bravo, bravo.

An extraordinary performance. And thank you for detaining my victim. Is it before or after Robin Hood? It is... Because Robin Hood is one of the rare Disney movies where it's a gay villain, but then the villain's sidekick is all. so gay. I guess Beauty and the Beast is that. Gay male villain, because you can absolutely make

the case that, like, Maleficent and Carrella DeVille are queer women. True. You could make the case that the Captain Hook in the Disney Peter Pan is gay. Yes, but Smee is not, is what I'm saying.

You're saying Smee is a hunkahunca heterosexual 11 is what you're saying? All right. I buy that. I might be saying that. Currella DeVille is gay. but the two guys that she sends to kill the dogs. I forget their names. Are not a couple? They're not a couple.

Those are two hetero lifemates. That's probably two. But yeah, so the jungle book, you have George Saunders as Shir Khan. You have Louis Prima as King Louis, who not only voices but sings. Sterling Holloway, as I just mentioned, the voice of Winnie the Pooh is back as Ka the Snake. You have, the person who I think probably does win that year is Phil Harris as the voice of Ballou, the bear, because obviously I think that's a really, you know, that's your crowd-pleasing character. You also have Sebastian Cabot, Mr. French from the television series, Family Affair, is the voice of Bagheera, the Panther. I believe it's Bigger as a Panther. Anyway, but yes, you're absolutely right. There is a ton. of internal competition put a pin in this because

I think if the jungle book is your first movie that perhaps although give me a second hold on Academy Awards 1967 I just want to make sure

well that is the year of Dr. Doolittle are there various talking parrots Right. You never know. I mean, if they wanted to pad the stats for Dr. Doolittle, they might have wanted, they might have, you know, did that. Anywho. The thing about Robin Hood, Sir Hiss and Prince John both being gay. I mean, his name is Sir Hiss. He's pretty gay. No, it's pretty gay. Peter Eustinov, I always forget this. Voice Prince John. Peter Eustinoff has played a bunch of gay guys before. This is true. Okay. I mean, I mean, And then the voice of Sir Hiss, give me a second. Obviously, very lisping character. That is Terry Thomas.

I do feel like the iconic gay Disney villains would probably have all taken a backseat to the blues of the world, right? The, you know, more gregarious and heterosexual-coded characters among us. But who is to say? To jump ahead to the Disney Revival. Okay, hold on. We have to have the Pat Carroll as Ursula Conversation. So, if I may. You may. You may.

I have a question, but go off and then I will ask my question. You may get there anyway. The Little Mermaid, 1989, kicks off the Disney Renaissance. I'm going to say that let's sermon. that this is, this voice acting category has existed since the 19, whatever 40s. Like, this has been around the whole time. So it's not a new category that is being invented around this time. I still imagine that the Little Mermaid maybe starts,

starts things a little slowly. It doesn't necessarily get like its entire cast nominated, but I feel pretty solid that at the very least, Jody Benson, voice of Ariel, Samuel Wright, voice of Sebastian, Pat Carroll, voice of Ursula, are your nominees. Now, who else is in contention in 1989? Well, you said dust to Oliver & Company. Oliver and Company is the year before.

Oh, no, it was 88, but they developed them at the same time. Yes. We'll talk about Oliver and Company in a different context. don't you worry. Now, one who would have to be disqualified on the technicality, unfortunately, Samuel L. Jackson for Do the Right Thing, because after that montage where they're all, you know, talking, you know, all the different groups are talking about how they're racist towards all the other groups, you see Samuel L. Jackson yelling, y'all take a chill.

And so he's on screen. But what you do have in 1989 is Bruce Willis as the voice of Talking Baby Mikey in Look Who's Talking, which, as I always mentioned to people, was a monster hit. There is no way Bruce Willis is not a nominee that year. I would also point out that that is the year of the animated Don Bluth film All Dogs Go to Heaven with the main character voiced by Bert Reynolds. does Bert Reynolds perhaps win an Oscar for All Dogs Go to Heaven when he couldn't win one for Boogie Nights? Probably not, but I do think they're a very good choice.

He gets nominated. Now here's the other thing I'm going to say about 1989. Best Picture nominee Field of Dreams. There is a voice in the cornfield that says, if you build it, he will come. Now, I know that in the credits, they say, and the voice as himself. So in a world where there is a voice acting Oscar category, do they, instead of getting cute and saying himself or whatever, do they credit whoever is the voice so that they could possibly get a Beatrice-straite-esque voice acting nomination for like saying literally three lines in the movie? Food for thought. So who do you think wins?

of that year, 1989. This was going to be my question. Because... Original song winner is under the sea, which I think is a important... And poor unfortunate souls is not nominated. Exactly. I do think realistically,

Samuel Wright wins that Oscar. Not undeservedly. That's a great performance. It is. I think the dark horse, the other contender is Jody Benson. I think Jody Benson very well could get the win there. But I do agree with you that I think in terms of what was buzziest around then, I think Samuel Wright does win the Oscar.

It's the genie and Aladdin thing of like that's going to be the big humorous performance. I do think if a voice acting Oscar existed, it would default to comedy. That's the blue, that's your blue character is Sebastian. So moving into 1991. Now, was it an IMDB game? where we mentioned that Martin Sheen is the narrator at the very beginning of JFK? Because he is. We mentioned that last week. And he never shows up. So he would have been eligible. There is only narration in that very beginning. It's not like the narration continues throughout the movie. But

it's Martin Sheen. So maybe. I would venture to say, looking at all of the great sort of landscape of 1991, there's not a whole lot of other contenders. I think this is a year where all five nominees could come from the same movie, that movie being the best picture nominated Beauty and the Beast. I think Paige O'Hara as Bell is a lock. I think Robbie Benson as The Beast is a lock. I think Angela Lansberry is probably your front runner to win as Mrs. Codz. I think Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, the Candlestick, absolutely. And is kind of your Sebastian in that like he sings the big crowd pleasing song.

And while I think you could probably make a case for, David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth, I think Richard White as Gaston is my fifth nominee that I would round about it. Now, could it be the guy who voices crazy old Maurice? Perhaps. Could it be the voice of Lefou? Perhaps. I should actually name these people instead of just saying the voice of like a real asshole. Voice of Maurice is Rex Everhart Voice of Lafou is Jesse Corti There's also the great Joanne Worley

As the voice of the wardrobe Laughan's own Joanne Worley Ah, here we are You'll look ravishing in this one That's very kind of good But I do feel like Those five that I mentioned There's also Bradley Pierce's Chip

But like whatever chip Embarrassing character Worst character and beauty of the piece Yes Fuck about Chip. You don't even need Chip. Chip is literally there as a studio note of kids are going to watch this movie. There has to be a kid in the movie.

I guess we're going to make a teacup. As somebody who had a chip figure, like a chip toy, like I'm sure they sold a lot of toys with Chip. But yes, Paige O'Hara, Robbie Benson. The kids didn't give a fuck about Chip? I think they probably did. Paige O'Hara, Robbie Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansberry. It is an intra-Beautlyne. Intra-DISney Bloodbath here.

Do they campaign against each other? Are there whisper campaigns? Does Jerry Orbach, like, spread a rumor that Angela Lansberry is, you know... The thing is, Jerry Orbach should be the winner between them. But Angela Lansbury does win because she still doesn't have an Oscar. She's a previous Oscar nominee. she would have won that Oscar. And it's Angela Lansbury.

She already has this great, this Emmy storyline going where she had never won an Emmy for murder, she wrote. So like the Oscars could really kind of stick it to the Emmys. Yeah, I think, I do think Angela wins. So, moving in to 1992, 1992 is the biggest lock for the winner. Robin Williams is going to win for Aladdin.

But this is the most competitive of the years where the Disney Renaissance is really killing it. and I will tell you why. Aladdin not only has Robin Williams, you have Jonathan Freeman as the voice of Jafar. Again, we are hoping that we live in a world where queer-coated Disney villains get voice acting nominations. But this is a hope.

I also think, and this goes into dividing speaking voice from singing voice, Leah Solonga as the singing voice of Jasmine, should be considered because she's Leah Solonga. But, you know, whatever. This is the year of the Muppet Christmas Carol. This is the first Muppet movie made after the death of Jim Henson.

But you do have Frank Oz, who is, you know, the voice of, you know, among others. Frank Oz does Miss Piggy, right? I don't remember. Hold on Muppet Christmas Carol. Yes.

Frank Oz. voices and whatever, Muppeteers, Miss Piggy, Fuzzy Bear, Sam the Eagle, animal, and various other characters. You have Steve Whitmire, who voices Kermit, along with Rizzo the Rat, Beaker, and various other characters. And then you have Dave Goals, who voices the Great Gonzo, Waldorf, Bunsen. various others. I think were it Jim Henson

voicing Kermit, then it's a different story. But I think Frank Oz is probably a big contender for the Muppet Christmas Carol. Even though Muppet Christmas Carol was really not respected in its time,

people thought that movie was horrible when it was released. But don't you feel like if this was a category that had been around during the heyday of the Muppet movie? Oh, absolutely. There would be a legacy of these kind of nominations.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So I think that would help carry. But maybe they would have won for earlier Muppet movies to the point where the Academy might not have felt so urgent to nominate. That's a possibility. Especially when it's like it's a Muppet movie that was not seen positively at the time. I definitely think Gilbert Godfrey is nominated. Also for Aladdin? That's possible.

Yes. Yes. Good, good, good note. Gilbert Gottfried Oscar nominee. We need to live in that world. Other animated movies this year, there were several. Fern Gully is this year. Robin Williams is also a voice in Fern Gulley. There's that whole thing about how he had signed up for Fern Gully.

Then he signed on to Aladdin with the caveat that I will sign up for this movie if you promise not to merch my character. Jeffrey Katzenberg said, bitch, you thought. And not only tries to, like, play games with the Fern Gully, like, production schedule and tries to essentially, like, ice that movie out of existence, but also completely goes back on his promise to Robin Williams and, like, merches the fuck out of the genie. Because, of course, he, like— How can you not march the genie? Well, this is also the thing. Like, Robin, I, you know, love you and miss you.

But, like, that was probably not a realistic hope. Ever in the realm of reality. I think the nominatable one, though, in FernGar. is, of course, Tim Curry. We talked about this when we talked about the original song, extravaganza that we did, Toxic Love. Also, though, do you remember the movie of Rockadoodle? Oh, of course.

I watched Rockadoodle. Okay. Glenn Campbell, as the voice of Shanticle in Rockadoodle, is probably getting nominated, considering Glenn, the Academy's historical fondness for Glenn Campbell extended to that fucking documentary um, between a billion years later

that got the original song nomination. This is also either of Babeae's kids. Does Phase On Love? We don't die. We multiply. Does Faiz on Love get a nomination for Baby's Kids? Probably not, but who knows? That could be fun.

Also, in terms of voiceover, Robert Redford, voices over, does the voiceover narration for a river runs through it? And even though that voiceover narration is attributed to the older version of this main character who does appear on screen, it's not, it's not Redford. So I think he would count. Would it be weird that Robert Redford's career performance Oscar nominations would have been The Sting and voiceover narrator for a river runs through it? Yes.

But that movie was a cinematography winner. So I think he's a contender there. Who are your nominees, predictive-wise? Who would you predict gets the nominees that year? I think it's an interesting call about. Oh, sorry, one more. One more. Asi Davis does voiceover narration in Malcolm X.

Oh, well. And I think that's a big contender. Yeah. How many nominees are we saying there are? There's going to be five. Five, not three? Right. Okay.

Then Robin Williams, Gilbert Godfrey, Asi Davis. I'll go with you on Glenn Campbell even though like Rockadoodle is more of a VHS thing Rockadoodle's an abomination But like How dare you, sir?

How dare you be smirched? I only first watched it as an adult Which makes a big difference, I think. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm sure as an adult it sucks. And then yeah, I'll go with Frank Oz Okay. I think my five are

Robin Williams, Glenn Campbell, Ossey Davis, Frank Oz, and I think, I don't know whether I'm just rooting for the home team,

but I say Jonathan Freeman for Aladdin as the voice of Jafar. 1994, so we're going to skip 1993 because there's no a Disney feature animated movie, but 1994, the Year of the Lion King, this is also a movie

that threatens to do five for five. I think your bulletproof contenders there are James Earl Jones for Mufasa, Nathan Lane as Timoan, Jeremy Irons as Scar. I also think, despite the fact that one of these things just doesn't belong here, Matthew Broderick is probably going to get a nomination for voicing adult Simba. This is also the year of the film The Pagemaster. Now, there are certain characters in the Pagemaster who are both live, action and animated by Patrick

Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg, I believe, are only animated. Correct. So I think they're contenders, but the person I would throw in is a legacy, which is Jody Benson is the voice of Thumballina in Thumbulli.

So, I would say... I totally forgot about that Thumbalina. Now, you could also say, you know, Wuppie's also a voice in the Lion King. She's one of the hyenas. You could say Moira Kelly. in the Lion King. You can say Robert Guilla in the Lion King.

Ernie Sabella as the voice of Pumba. Jonathan Taylor Thomas as young as young Simba. Oh, also Mr. Bean, what's his name? What's Mr. Bean's name? Rowan Atkinson. Is the voice of Zazu. So there's also that. So there's a plethora of possibilities from the Lion King,

a movie that I think would have absolutely dominated the voice acting category that year. So, who do you think would be the five? Trying to think of another option that hasn't been said. I went through the list of

major releases that year, and I couldn't really find anything. I might have accidentally glossed over something, but like... James Earl Jones wins, plus Jeremy Irons. Nathan Lane, yeah. James Jones wins, and I would argue that by this point, he's winning his second Oscar,

because he would have already won for Darth Vader at some point. Yes. Do I think Matthew Broderick? Adult Simba is kind of a wet blanket. I know, but I still think he gets nominated. But don't let me influence you. I'll go with that, and honestly, a fifth might be Whoopi. Whoopi or Robert Guillaum, I think, are probably your best contenders.

Ernie Sabella is the one I think. deserves it, but I don't think he gets it. Because Pumba's very funny. All right. Anyway, that's to me the heyday of the Disney Renaissance. We can move into like Pocahontas and Hunchback and whatever, but I do feel like, as was the case with the original song category, you end up getting a sort of like waning enthusiasm from that point.

Hunchback is not fully respected by the Academy, but I do think there would be a strong chance that Tom Hulse would win the voice acting Oscar as Quasimodo considering he was a previous Oscar nominee for Amateurstas. I think also Pocahontas gets utterly bodied by Toy Story in 1995. I think Toy Story, Toy Story is a movie that maybe gets five nominations in 95. I think you probably get... Ratsenberger. Don Rickles, Ratsenberger, Lori Metcalfe.

Yeah, yeah. No, but I think you get Oscar nominee. Tim Allen. You get Hanks. You get Allen. You get, um, um, at the very least those two. And then probably, yes, Irene Bedard, uh, for Pocahontas. And who voices John Smith? Is it Mel Gibson? It's Mel Gibson. You probably get nominee Mill Gibson. Um, I think Tom Hanks would be the rare protagonist from a Disney movie that would win a voice actor. I think Hanks wins that category in a walk, particularly because it's coming off of his back-to-back. Like, he's a three, he wins his third Oscar in a row, like in 95.

It's crazy, but it does happen. It really does happen. So, anyway, do you think Annie Potts gets a nomination for Toy Story? I don't know. Jim Farney? Are we living in a world where they're like, the star of the earnest movies? Come on down. you are finally an Oscar nominee.

Honestly, Rickles might not be... I could see them building a career achievement award just like Don Rickles, he was friends with all of these actors who you gave Oscars to. Wallace Sean? Is this the final... You get a Wallace Sean nomination

finally at last as Rex? Oh, do you know... Okay, a couple things. A, Arly Ermi as the voice of the Army men. B... So funny. Did you know, that the voice of Sid, the mean next-door neighbor kid, was Eric von Dettton?

No. Do you remember Eric von Detton? I literally could not tell you what program he was on, but I remember he was like a Tiger Beat, sort of like YM, you know, team beat cover face from that era. And then ended up being on the celebrity mole the year that Kathy Griffin was on it. So, um, anywho, let's move out of the Disney Renaissance. And, but now this is an interesting thing to move into, um, the Pixar of it all. Because I think also then Pixar ends up probably dominating this category on and off for the next 30 years, right?

This is where like types probably change for the category of like the type of roles, because I do think this is maybe where you get. some of the more like Pixar-y stunt casting that happens. Well, and also in 2001, so that's how many Pixar features happen before 2001? It's the first and second toy stories, and it's a bug's life? Yes. And that's it. Okay. So then 2001 happens.

Monsters Inc. is that year, but that's also Shrek, and that's the first year of the animated feature category. Now, I would posit that from 2001 onward, every year you will have, if your winner doesn't come from those five animated feature nominees, most of your nominees probably will be made up of people from those movies, I think. It'll be probably most years, it'll be three or four voices from your animated feature nominees. and then like a Scarlett Johansson and her or a, you know, someone from a, you know, Great American orator for a documentary. Something like that, right. But so, and this I'm going to go really quickly because it's a lot of years, but I'm just

going to go 2001, I think you're looking at probably Eddie Murphy or Mike Myers from Shrek. 2002, did you know that DeVe Chase from fucking the ring voices not only Chihiro in the American dub of Spirited Away, but also Lilo and Lilo and Stitch. I knew Lilo and Stitch. Yeah, so she's in both of those. So I think she ends up probably wins for Lilo and Stitch. Unless they really don't want to give it to a child,

in which case there are probably other options in 2002. 2003, Ellen DeGeneres wins it for finding Nemo in a walk. 2004, I posit that Brad Bird wins it for voicing Edna Mode in the Incredibles. That's your Ballou from that movie. Sure. Probably, even though we would maybe rather give it to Holly Hunter. You know what I mean? I think it goes to Bradbird. 2005.

Look at who the animated feature nominees are in 2005, right? You get... Oh, is this where we finally get Ardman voice acting Oscar? So I think that's probably wishful thinking. You think it goes to Corpse Bride? I think it goes to Johnny Depp for Corpse Bride, particularly because it's right after Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah. Award for Best Animated Future.

Because also, is Monster House that year? No. I don't remember. Hold on. Bringing it up. 2003 or 4, right? 2004? No, 2005.

Right. That's your Wallace and Gromit wins. I don't think you end up getting anybody from that. Corpse Bride and then Howells Moving Castle. Which, there are some interesting choices. for the America, particularly among the American dubs. From that, Billy Crystal is one of the American voices in that, Lauren Bacall. What if Lauren Bacall's Oscar comes from Howell's Moving Castle?

Honestly, work, truly, like, as the witch of the waste. But I do feel like Johnny Depp coming off of back-to-back nominations for Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Neverland, I think they give him the award for corpse. Right. 2006, Hugh Jackman for Happy Feet, and then by current day he has his EGOT. We'll talk about EGOT soon enough. 2007, do you agree with me that it's Pat and Oswald for Ratatouille, or do you think they find a way to give Peter O'Toole his Oscar for... Oh, it's Peter O'Toole.

Do you think so? It's Peter O'T. Yeah. That's the worst character in that movie. Great. Again, this is where I'm like, it's the Pixar stunt casting. that becomes a thing, especially when it's like, things are already, like, if they're already nominating him for, like, Venus,

which is a way that no one really seemed to like. And it's the year after that. It's the year after he doesn't win for Venus because everybody's like, he would win. Yeah. 2008 is the year of Wally. Now, for as much as they liked Wally, I don't think that character has enough voice work beyond, you know, but he says a few things.

But, like, that's not a vocal character. Do you think... I think it's nominated. Sure. But do you think that they give it to Jack Black for Kung Fu Panda? No. Who do you think they give it to? I mean, I would kind of think...

They would give it to Bed Bert for Wally. You think so? All right. Quite possibly. Okay. I think they give it to Jack... Because that's an incredibly respected movie, but it didn't really win many Oscars because, you know,

it's losing to Dark Night and Slumdog Millionaire. I think what I think... But I think that would be the reason behind it. I think there would still be a respectability thing. Like, they'd be too snobby to give it to not only Jack Black, but Kung Fu Panda. I understand that instinct, and I have it too. But if there is a history of a vocal performance Oscar,

do you feel like that category ends up making this kind of performance a little more palatable for Oscar voters? When you have a history of the guy who voiced Ballou or the guy who voiced, you know, I don't know, name other sort of like community character. I mean, the closer analog would be Robin Williams. And at that point, Robin Williams was already an Oscar nominee. like in real life. True. That's true. I'm just saying like... I hear you.

It's a debate worth having. 2009, I think they just give it to Ed Asner for Up. Yeah, Ed Asner on a walk. 2010, do they give it to Hanks again for Toy Story? Do they do the Golden Girls thing and be like, now it's Tim Allen's turn to win for Toy Story 3? or do they go for someone else? Now, 2010 there's only three nominees. It's How to Train Your Dragon and the Illusionist.

I don't know if they give it to Jay Barichelle, even though I probably would, because I think he's wonderful in that movie. I think they give it to Michael Keaton for Toy Story 3. Oh, that's an interesting notion. I forgot about that. He's just Ken. That is true.

Or did they give it to Ned Bayes? as lots of huggin' bear. You know, we're missing some Shrek's two. Or does Jody Benson... Because none of the Shrek... Well, Shrek 2, I guess we just kind of said that Brad Bird was getting it as Edna Morrow.

Yeah, I don't think anybody from Shrek 2 beats out the Incredibles that year. Not even Antonio Banderas. I'm jumping the gun to the next year. There's an Antonio Banderas question to be had because, yes, 2011 is the year of Pussomuz. It's 2010, let's say, It'll be interesting, whoever they end up giving it to.

2011, yes, Rango wins best animated feature. So they could give it to Johnny Depp for award number two. They could also give it to Antonio Banderas for Pusson Boots as, you know, that is also a nominated movie. I did a little bit of a cheat here, and I sort of put a pin in Antonio, because I do feel like people were still pretty positive on Depp in 20, 2011, and I think Rango's your frontrunner. But, Benares is very popular. So, but stick with me. 2012, I think Emma Thompson wins it for Brave.

What do you think? I think it's John C. Riley for Record Ralph. That was my other, that was my other consideration, was John C. Riley for Record Ralph. I think that's a very strong option. Your other animated feature nominees that year were Paranorman, Frank and Weeny, the Pirates, Band of Misfits. think they give it to anybody from those ones. Yeah, I think that's a strong, I think that's a strong possibility.

2013, as I said, Scarlett Johansson for her nips it from Edina Mansell and Josh Gad. And Josh Gad, yes, honestly. You know, Despicable Me Too is nominated and we also breeze past the original. What year was the original? Despicable Me? Hold on. 2010?

2011? I want to say 2009, but hold on. It might be 2010. It's the same summer as Toy Story 3. It is 2010. It is 2010. You're right. It's very possible. Steve Carell won that.

That is a very... Honestly, yes. There's a Toy Story 3 scrum, but Steve Carell wins it for voicing grew. I think you're absolutely right. 2014 is a tough one, because that's your year of like big hero. Six. And box trolls, Song of the Sea, the tale of the Princess Caguia. I think they give it to Cape Blanchet for how to

train your dragon too. I was going to say the same thing. Okay. All right. Um, 2015, I think the instinct is to just be like, oh, Amy Pola for Inside Out, but Phyllis Smith got a ton of great reviews for her voice performance and Inside Out. So I think Phyllis Smith ends up winning that that year. Another reason this category would exist is that we would absolutely have Academy Award nominee David Thulees, which is currently something we don't have. That is true, because that's a year of Anomalisa. Jennifer Jason Lee, probably also a nominee that year for Anomalisa. 2016 is a competitive year because you have Zootopia, and I do feel like Jason Bateman, yes, but I think especially Jennifer Goodwin is a contender for Zootopia. But I think Dwayne Johnson

wins it for Moana on the Robin Williams' genie principle. I think Wally-Crowave. Owens, actually. I think this would be against the norm. I think especially with, because she does the singing and does the dialogue, and I do think people really love how far I'll go, and it didn't win the song, Oscar. I mean, you make a strong case. I do think that it could be like a consolation for that. I just think Dwayne Johnson is such a irresistible, like, Oscarsy narrative of just like it's the perfect like milieu to award him in. But you make a good case. You make a good case. 2017, do you agree with me that it's Gail Garcia Bernal for Coco?

Absolutely. Okay. Other, I don't even know, like Alec Baldwin. Hopefully not. Alex Baldwin for the boss baby. Or John Cena for Ferdinand. Yeah, probably not. God, 2017 animated feature. That's a rough category that year. All right.

you do have all sorts of folks from Into the Spider-Verse, and that is your animated feature winner. You also have your various Wes Anderson luminaries from Isle of Dogs. You also have John C. Riley back in the house with Ralph Breaks the Internet. Sarah Silverman also probably gets nominated for both of these Ralph movies, I think, as well.

But I think this is the year that Holly Hunter takes it for Incredibles, too. Maybe Brad Bird, if Brad Bird hadn't previously won, because Edna Mode's an even bigger presence in Incredibles 2. But I think Incredibles 2 is Helen's movie. Do you know what I mean? Like, she is like the main character in that movie. Do you wonder about Brian Tyree Henry in Spider-Verse? It's a possibility.

It's a strong possibility. I think also, because Mohercial is also a voice in that, right? Yes. And this is the year that he wins his second Oscar for Green Book. Would they be enamored of a Golden Globes-esque, you know, one actor winning two awards in the same night kind of a thing? I think probably not, but worth talking about. 2019, I think it very possibly could be Tony Hale as Forky in Toy Story 4. Although my vote would go to Annie Potts for Toy Story 4

Because I think Bo Peep is kind of amazing in that movie Your other nominees this year How to Train Your Dragon, The Hidden World Did they ever nominate Gerard Butler for those How to Train Your Dragon movies? No No Also, I lost my body, Klaus The Missing Link, which is a Hugh Jackman

possible nomination Do they nominate any of the voices from Klaus? J.K. Simmons? I think you'd more likely get a Galaphanakis nomination for Missing Link than anything from Klaus. Yeah? Okay. That's interesting. Galaphanakis is the missing link? Goofy sidekick.

That's perhaps. I... Yeah, I don't know. This is also the year of the Lion King, Which was not mocap. Right. So you might get some nominations there. Beyonce.

Beyonce wins for Nala. That's a good point, though. That's a good point. And also, like, as we're going through this exercise, there are obviously other movies that will end up intruding in. 2020 COVID year, I think your possibilities are slimmer than normal. I think they probably just like handed to Jamie Fox for Seoul. Yeah.

I think that's uninspired, but whatever it happens. 2021. I think the Enkanto thing ends up being irresistible. I couldn't pick any of the supporting players, even Leguizamo as Bruno, because Bruno really isn't like a round. They sing about him, but he's not really around. I think they just give it to Stephanie Beatrice for playing the lead role, right? Because Encanto is so huge. So huge. Like, it's just, it's enormous. And, like, they're not going to give it to anybody from Flea. They're not going to give it to the kids from Luca.

Well, Flea is all interviews, too. So, like, that would bring up an interesting eligibility. That is true. Yes. Question. Abby Jacobson for Mitchell's versus the machines isn't an uninteresting case. honestly Maya Rudolph too because Maya Rudolph around this time is winning all these Emmys for you know her voice performances and Big Mouth and such so like she'll have been in both Luca and Mitchells versus the machine so maybe it's one of those like this is her year kind of a thing and they give it to Maya Rudolph for Mitchell's versus the machines this is also closer to like the Big Mouth craze where she wins like nine million Emmys for Big Mouth. Exactly exactly. So, yeah, maybe this is Maya Rudolph's year. Maya Rudolph with an Oscar. Maya Rudolph getting an Oscar.

She was just about to say. Very good. Very good. 2022. Give it to Salma. Oh, for Puss and Boots, the Last Wish. See, this is where I was like, take the pin out of Antonio. This is where you give it to Antonio, although this is a much more competitive year.

I will have things to say about various people in this, but I think also you can make a case for Sandra O. in turning red. You can make a case for... Well, I mean, General Del Toro's Pinocchio has a whole lot of really starry folks. Ewan McGregor is Jiminy Cricket, both Kate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. But I think it's probably...

I'm going to give it to Antonio Benderis. If you want to give it to Salma Hayek for Pousin Boots' The Last Wish, you have my blessing. Yes. 2023. Now, Robot Dreams doesn't have any voices, which is too bad because I want to give Robot Dreams all the awards. Here's where I think they go back to Spider-Man, and I think they give it to either Brian Tyree Henry or Oscar Isaac.

But they could also give it to Chameek Moore. They could also give it to Jake Johnson. There's a lot of possibilities for this, but I think it's either Brian Tyree Henry, who is, 2023 is the year of his, no, is 2022 when he's nominated for Causeway? So it's the year after he's nominated for Causeway. I can't remember if it was 22 or 23. I think it was 22. Okay. So there's that, you know, as a consideration as well. 2024, I think it's an open and shut case. I think Lipita Nyango for a wild robot wins it. Incredible. walking away. And last year is kind of a tough one, actually, mostly because, with the exception,

I think it's just a generally uninspiring year for animated features. I think they give it to somebody from K-pop Demon Hunters, right? Like, they're probably going to get... Is there anybody who does sing and dialogue? Yeah, I think everybody else in Huntry. No. Oh, they might give it to Audrey Nuna, who is maybe the, like, most, like, independently notable of all of those folks. Can I make a case? I know that we've just been focusing purely on animated.

Yes. I think they should have given it to Will Patton for Train Dreams. Oh, well, as I said, we're going through. all of these years. We're talking animated, but like obviously... Any of these years is subject to other, like, insurgents from, you know, from voiceover narration. So, yes, that's a really good one, Will Patton. I don't think he...

Well, Train Dreams is the Best Picture nominee. So you have that. Same. All right. Thank you for indulging all of that. Let's talk about the potential... egot invocations here. Would this basically become the Oscar version of doing an audiobook for the Grammys?

That is an excellent, excellent case. Yes, so I went through the list of notable people who are only an Oscar away from completing their eGOT. So who would have an eGOT today were the voice acting category? in existence. James Earl Jones, as I mentioned, is like number one with a bullet. I think James Earl Jones probably wins for at least once for voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies, maybe more than once. And then also, I think, wins for the Lion King. Both Billy Joel and Bat Midler are one Oscar away from Egotting. They are both voices in Oliver's company. Right. So, if one of them wins for that,

there you have it. Hugh Jackman, as I mentioned, could have won for Happy Feet, probably less likely, but maybe could have won for the missing link. Either one of those would have given him his egot. And then my favorite one is Lily Tomlin is an Oscar away from an egot. I don't think Spider-Verse would have got her there. No, but you know what I have her for?

Voice Over Narration for the Celluloid Closet. I mean. And I don't think she's a talking head in that. I think she's just the narrator. That is correct. So that's what I, wouldn't that be cool if that's her Oscar to Egot is voicing over the Cellulite closet? I believe that year was 1996, but can correct me if you mind? Based off of the...

Or is it 2000. That would make sense. Hold on. No, it's not too. It's not that late. The Celluloid closet. 1995. Okay.

So, yes. So, yeah, I think it makes the EGOT conversation a lot more interesting for, certainly at least for performers. Yeah, I think also the question of previous this had Oscar buzz movies that get taken off of the list that now all of a sudden have an Oscar nomination. I went right to where the wild things are, which certainly James Gandal. I would hope would have been the, but also like Catherine O'Hara, Forrest Whitaker. I think Catherine O'Hara, I think we mentioned that when we did that episode, I love how confrontational Catherine O'Hara is as that character in that movie. I think she's incredible. But yes, I think Gandalfini is absolutely the one who gets the push for that movie.

That is what, 09? Yes. So that's your Ed Asner for Up Year. I still think Asner wins it for up, but I think Yandolphini gets a nomination, which then makes it an exception rather than this had Oscar Buzz flagship. Could you think of any other movies that we've done? We did the good dinosaur, but I don't think... Maybe the good dinosaur gets a nomination. Jeffrey Wright?

Francis McIorman? Sure. What year was that? 15? Yes. I think Inside Out gets a lot of those nominations. I think Phyllis Smith, Amy Poehler, hopefully Richard Kind, right, as Bing Bong, at the very least those three, maybe also Mindy Kaling, maybe also Bill Hader, Lewis Black, whatever. But I think it gets at least three nominations that year.

And then you're probably also. Oh, and then I think Anomalisa gets probably the other two. I think it's hard to crack that category in 15. but the good dinosaur is welcome to try. Should we get into our 10 movies we're giving a voice acting Oscar, too? Hell yes. Because I had, as I said, I really, I tinkered and I tinkered with this list, and I made some changes. And it's really hard.

It's really hard. Like, I'm looking even at our honorable mentions, and I'm like, well, the honorable mentions should be the wins in some way. I'm saying, like, it's all really good. It's just really hard. Don't get mad at us. We also had to weed out, like, we knew we would talk extensively about Disney history here, so we don't have any Disney specifically in this list. Because it's like we knew we would get into it.

We knew that there would be the praise that we would talk about those. I think we have ours in some kind of a quasi-alpha, or not alphabetical, chronological order. Close to it. Close enough. Close enough. Yeah, exactly. Should I begin? Go for it.

In those days, they had time for everything. Time for sleigh rides and balls and assemblies and courtillions and open house on New Year's and all day picnics in the woods. And even that prettiest of all vanished customs, the serenade. Imagining this category existing way back, way, way back, is fun because you can imagine some of the people who might have won voiceover Oscars, and I went all the way back to 1942 and gave an imaginary voice acting award to Orson Wells

for his narration of his own film, The Magnificent Ambersons. Orson Wells is one of my favorite voices in old-timey movies. I feel like just, that's a person. perfect narrator. It really just, um, there's pomposity, there's sort of, um, grandiosness. There's, I also think the fact that he's the director doing his own voiceover narration is kind of perfectly encapsulates the sort of like monomaniacal Orson Wells thing. Um, have you ever seen the Magnificent Embersons? Yes. It's good. I like it. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Um, obviously very storied movie because of all of the lost footage from it.

Yes. So I have no idea. I didn't go back and really dig through what else was going on in 1942. But I feel like that would have been a formidable contender for voice acting. I love this choice. I love the choice of a narrator. I feel like some of the other thing where we're going through, we're talking specifically about animated over like each successive year.

Yes. We're like, we're not necessarily narrator heavy on our picks of what we would give Oscars to, but like we're kind of saving it. Well, on a strict, on a strict volume level, if you had a category like this every year, the majority of possible nominees would be voice performances from animated movies, just because, you know, you just have fewer options elsewhere. But yes, I think then your next probably most plentiful would be narrators from documentaries. And I think then you would have narrators from narrative films and voice performances from live action films, which are fewer and far between. But tend to be... I do think you would have a lot of celebrity narration nominees. Yes. I think those would be...

the ones that would be seen as more boring. Your good night oppies and whatnot. Angela Bassett on my honorable message. As she should be. The best thing about Good Night Offey. As she should be. But in the realm, as I said, when you get into character voice performances from live action movies, while they're not the most plentiful, I do feel like when you get a good one, they're really memorable.

And so I think that brings us to your first pick. What's the problem? I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. What are you talking about, Hal? This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. My first pick, which as I was telling you off Mike, I sat in, because it's so hard to narrow down to, like, just five. You know, ever since we've planned this, like, the ideas have been rattling off, and I was surprised that this one didn't strike me until I'm, laying in bed last night.

One of the most distinct, I think, movie villains of all time. And that's Hal from 2001, a space odyssey, voiced by Douglas Rain. This list is kind of chock-a-block with iconic movie villains when you look at it. Yeah, maybe that's what we kind of ended up. Not really. I think we have some significant villains.

Some significant ones, yes. But, I mean, there is a... There's also something about the way that Douglas Rain vocalizes Hal that is uncanny in its humanness and non-humanness, for lack of a better word. Yeah. The, like, slight inflections that, you know, make you consider how as a sentient being with emotions and thoughts and, you know, mental abilities like deception and self-preservation.

It's a dance he does with Kubrick too, where Kubrick is so, his style sort of makes things in this environment so sparse, so spare, that the tiniest little change of tone change of inflection, change of like all of a sudden, hell is sounding a little more suspicious, hell is sounding a little more impatient, hell is sounding a little more evasive, you know what I mean?

Well, and that sparseness too, for like everything that's going on in the movie makes you like grab onto like the little tiny bits of detail in the vocal performance, even more. And this is like your ultimate, like anti-star, you know, recognition, right? If you are, if this is a category that operates the way we wish it would, it would have space for, obviously, yes, you know, big movie stars,

big, you know, the Orson Welles of the world, but also then it would know that a performance like Douglas Raines as Hale is undeniable. Certainly from a, you know, best, wait, 2001 was picture, director or director not picture? I can't remember. Picture not. Oh, director not picture. Right. Okay. Yes. But still, like a major presence at the Oscars. Yes, yes. And of course, a divisive, but an immensely popular movie at its time. But you can also kind of, if we're thinking about, you know, further back and when, I'm pretty sure 2001 got an honorary Oscar. Was it's Visual Effects Oscar, just an honorary Oscar? They didn't have the category.

More than likely, but this was what, 68? But you could see it had, you could see a version of history where this voice performance is also the inciting incident for this category to have existed, you know? Yep, exactly. Because it is such a distinct performance. It's the most distinct performance in the movie that, you know, we don't really talk about the performances in 2001, even though, like, the performances are absolutely, you know, aiding. what this movie is doing. So 2001 of Space Odyssey won best visual effects and there was another nominee in this category

at least as depicted on this Wikipedia page. Ice Station Zebra was nominated but did not win. Who could forget Ice Station Zebra? Who indeed? Who among us? So, okay. My next one do we want to go strictly in chronological order

and skip my next one and do... People can follow. People can follow. Let's volley back and forth. All right. My next one I just saved your life and you still don't trust me. I don't trust anybody or anything. Not even your own eyes. That's the gun that killed Archie Maroon.

And Doom pulled the trigger. I went with Kathleen Turner from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And I almost decided to get a little too cute maybe and do this as a tandem win. Kathleen Turner as the speaking voice of Jessica Rabbit and Amy Irving as the singing voice of Jessica Rabbit. But I'll respect to Amy Irving. people do forget that Amy Irving is the singing voice. They do. They do. Kathleen Turner is, I mean, one of your great kind of casting decisions of all time is to pair, you know, the sort of literally cartoonish voluptuousness of Jessica Rabbit with Husky isn't even sufficient of enough of a word for Kathleen Turner's voice. And the way she plays it up in this, you know, while also doing lines like, oh, my God, it's dip!

Which is how I would react to every time I would see the baseball players in my high school packing a dip in their mouth to walk around with. It's so gross. Anywho, Kathleen, back to California. Kathleen Turner. She's perfect. She's absolutely perfect. You know, the scenes where she's, you know, trying to manipulate Eddie Valiant, you know, turning up this sort of, it's, she is a, she is a performance in quotation marks, right? This is a performance that is stylized like you wouldn't believe out of necessity.

It is exactly what I don't even I think it goes beyond exactly what the movie calls for I think it like helps to define the movie every bit as much as you know the art direction or the animation or any of this kind of stuff She also...

I mean I think you can look at a picture of Jessica Rabbit and hear Kathleen Turner just like on site Yes yes That's how distinctive a vocal performance. It's incredible. It's so good. It's so much fun. She has having so much fun. She also does the not inconsiderable job of like selling you on the fact that Jessica Rabbit would be so devoted to Roger. You know what I mean? This this absolutely impossible marriage of

different species, literally different species. You know what I mean? She's incredible. She's so much. Don't kinkshame Jessica Rabbit. Never. Would I ever? do that. No, she's incredible. And, um, I mean, talk about a performance that deserved to have them bend the rules to, you know, give her a nomination for that because my God, so good. Um, you have another strong independent woman. An excellent day for an exorcism. You'd like that? Intensely. You know, the most independent, the strongest, woman. Many are saying this about Pizzuzzi.

Mercedes MacCambridge and The Exorcist. I mean, truly when we thought of doing this, the first two performances that came to mind are this one and the one that I will do next. I knew that. Yeah. Mercedes MacCambridge in The Exorcist, of course, like, it's movie legend. Like, they, and she, like, it sounds like she didn't do this willingly, reportedly she did. She was like, tie me to a chair, feed me raw. Let me chain smoke and give me bourbon. And that's how I'm going to do all of this vocal shit.

You know, former Oscar winner for All the Kingsmen. Yes. Also nominated for Giant. Fucking Love Giant. She's so good in Giant. Lesbian excellence in Giant. And I think Mercedes McHenridge owes a lot of credit to how terrified people were of this movie at the time where you have people like fainting and going into hysterics.

obviously, like, that's in tandem with a lot of other things. And it is in tandem with Linda Blair's performance. I would never in my life discredit what Linda Blair does on the screen. Because you turn the volume off and it's still that scary, right? And that's still an incredible performance. But of course, there was the controversy. Murchasey McCambridge was not originally credited for it. It was seen at the time as costing Linda Blair the Oscar for this movie.

as it came out, that Mercedes-McCainbridge did all of that vocal work. And then there was also stunt doubles for Linda Blair for a few shots in the movie. But yeah, all the women who independent throw your green puke at me. The Great Pizzou. It's not even like the big lines you remember. Like the, you know, the part where she's just like, it's a, you know, it's a wonderful day for an exorcism. You know, I think that's when... Yeah, just like the low grumble, not even like the barking obscenities.

No, it's amazing. It's also a really fucking funny performance. Like, she gets, like, her vocal quality finds these lines and turns them into punch lines, you know. Yeah. One of the women nominated alongside, I believe, nominated alongside Linda Blair that year, because that was the year that Tatum O'Neill won for Paper Moon, right? And Madeline Khan was also nominated in that category, I believe. Tomorrow, at Mouthheimer Park, we will all decide what to do. I'll bring the uptown mice, and you bring the mice from downtown.

Madeline Khan, in my beloved animated classic from Don Bluth in American Tale, 1986, There's a lot of possibilities in an American tale. Christopher Plummer as Henri, the Pigeon, of course. Dom de Louise as, what's his name, Tiger, the sort of buffoonish sidekick, John Finnegan, voicing Warren T. Rat Nehemiah Persoff nominating or nominating voicing Papa Moskowitz. But it is the great Madeline Khan as Gussie Mousheimer, the aristocratic socialite of the uptown mice, gathering, you know, rousing the rabble to rise up. Emma Goldman, like, rousing the rabble to rise up against their cat oppressors.

She's so fucking funny in this movie. I know we just went through with an exhaustive list of, like, you know, voice performances and animated movies, but we didn't get to talk about it, an American tale. Obviously, the, whatever, the speech impediment stuff is down. definitely played up. What's a wowie, a wodge gathering of mice for a

reason. But man, as she always does, she's just like, she really fucking sells it. She's haughty. She's also the thing at the end,

when like everybody in the audience is crying because he found his papa, and literally the thing that cuts through your tears is they cut to Gussie Moussheimer, hugging the cat tiger, the nice cat, his little claw, and goes, I did not think when I woke up today that I would be hugging a cat. And she's just like, she's the best. I fucking love her.

May she rest in peace, Madeline Khan, an icon. Whatever gets Madeline Khan an Oscar. A legend. I'm saying. Retroactively, we're all for it. Exactly. All right. What is your next one?

From the seamless performance of this ritual, Archon, that New York believed him to be Madame Olenska's lover. In my opinion. Speaking of Oscar winners. Speaking of maybe previous punchlines on previous category is episodes.

To me, the greatest movie narrator of all time that has this massive impact on the film, how we interpret it, how we gauge the tone, of the movie

is Joanne Woodward in the age of innocence. It truly is like... To me, the greatest Martin Scorsese movie, and I know that it's close competition. It's... And maybe the, like, how it wins by a nose,

the millimeter it has ahead of all other Scorsese movies is Joanne Woodward, who, you know, is interpreting Edith Wharton's text and like this is also one of the great narration performances when it's like you talk about narration being lazy

or to beholden to an original text or being too expository telling the audience what to think feel or believe about what they're seeing and this is this like runs against all of that because it's It's so world-building.

It's not, you know, the movie itself is so florid. It's so emotional. You have the score that's so incredibly beautiful. And it's like one of Scorsese's most ornate movies. And her delivery is so sparse. And while she has this warm quality to her voice, she's Joe Edwardward. She's like not exactly a chilly presence. but there is a reserviveness that really kind of builds on the movie's whole emotional walls.

This being the same year that she's also playing Hanks' mother in Philadelphia, to me, is very striking. One of the things that I love best about the Age of Innocence is how decidedly American it is, that it is this costume drama that by a quick glance at it, you might mistake it for, one of, you know, any number of English sort of, you know, country manner, Jane Austen or whatever, just like something, you know, even Edwardian or whatever. Particularly when the top-billed star is Irish Daniel D. Lewis, right? You have Miriam Marquoli's in this movie. But because, but what I think makes it interesting is just how much Scorsese makes it into an American story.

And I think casting Joanne Woodward to do the voiceover narration, who does this voiceover narration in a way that is not like anachronistically modern, but she's not as like liltingly mannered as the characters in the movie are. She's more warm as a good way of putting it a little bit more relaxed, a little bit more sort of that she's telling this story from this very,

um, more sort of like kind of relaxed American perspective, right? Which doesn't sound it even more in the fact that this is not a story about, you know, England with, with its long history of class rigidity or whatever. this is America playing in the milieu of class rigidity in a way that is almost doomed to crumble upon itself eventually. And I think she is a reminder to you that we are not, this isn't Judy Dench, you know, doing the narration, right? This is. Yeah, it's one of the many things to the movie that keeps you from having perhaps type of emotional distance from the story that a period,

this standard period movie might have, you know, because you're like, oh, this is about very different people in a very different time. This is not about me. This is not for me to connect to anything. And I do think that that's sometimes how people approach period dramas or like period movies that like, you know, it's, it's eye candy. in some type of way. It doesn't necessarily relate to their life.

And I think the entire approach to age of innocence is not that. And that thing you're talking about, about how she's a little out of time. You know, she's not delivering what you would expect from a movie, a period movie like this, where the narrator might speak in like a period, you know, inflection. But it's also not this uber casual. 90s delivery. It's one of our elder states people delivering, you know.

She's incredible. She's so good. Incredible. Incredible. What's your next one? Speaking of villains. What's that noise? Popcorn.

Are you making popcorn? Uh-huh. I only need popcorn movies. Well, I'm getting ready to watch a video. Really? What? Oh, just some scary movie. You like scary movies?

Uh-huh. What's your favorite scary movie? taking things in a completely different direction. I almost didn't include this because I almost, like, didn't think of it. And then once I did end up thinking of it, I was like, I would have kicked myself if I hadn't landed on Roger L. Jackson as the voice of ghost face on the phone in 1996's scream, but also all the subsequent screen movies. but I'm going to limit it here to 1996. I mean, you know what made me arrive here is my oft-referenced Black Christmas

because I was like, should I include, and oh, and I wrote down their names too, Nick Mancuso and, of course, Director Bob Clark, were the voices of, one was the voice of the guy on the phone and the other was the voice of the voice in that guy's head sort of commented. Yeah. Yeah.

Terrifying. And like really, like that is, would have never been nominated, I think by the Oscars, but like I would have been, if I were, you know,

around back then, I would have been pounding the pavement for it. But then I was like, oh my fucking God, scream, of course, you know, just in two words,

in hello Sydney, you know what I mean? You have, you have a character. nailed down. So terrifying. That opening scene with Drew Barrymore because we're so used to

things like when a stranger calls whatever, have you checked the children? This very hard to pin down, elusive, they're not going to like, you know, it's just going to say a couple of words and it's going to unnerve you. And of course, the whole thing about scream is hyperliterate, hyperverbal, you know,

teens who have seen all of the movies, Nobody will fucking shut up. Jamie Kennedy is yap, yap, yap, yappin, or whatever. And so, like, yes. So, of course, like, your scary voice on the phone is going to be, like, Jason wasn't the villain. And it's writing the 13th. It was his mother.

And just, like, this whole kind of thing. But, like, never surrenders the creepiness and scariness, even as he's, like, just going, you know, on and on and on or whatever. But, like, the What's Your Favorite Scary Movie line? Sold that movie in that trailer, in those TV commercials. commercials and as that franchise has waxed and waned and sort of arrived at a place now that I don't think you or I like very much at all, the voice remains as potent as ever, I do think.

So kudos to Roger L. Jackson, who I just found out as I was looking him up is also the voice of Mojo-Jo-Jo on the Powerpuff Girls. So fantastic work, Roger. Well done. What's your next one? Do you want to talk about Roger Jackson and Screenville? I mean, what more is there to add? A fully iconic performance.

I mean, again, to like what we were saying with Hal and Mercedes McCamberge for The Exorcist, you know, I think it takes a lot to scare someone just by the sound of someone's voice. Though that's not the case for, you know, necessarily. There's other elements to all of those movies. Do you think the Academy would have had the guts to? to nominate him, even if they had this category back then. Not at all. Not at all. But this is why you are right in calling him out specifically. All right. Your next one I love. I love this. This rage is almost incandescent artistic. The actor in his film has taken over from the filmmaker.

I have seen this madness before on a film set. But Treadwell is not an actor in opposition to a director or a producer. user. He's fighting civilization itself. It is the same civilization that cast Thoreau out of Walden and draw Muir into the wild. Okay, so my next one, I really thought... I might have to technicality you out of this, though. We can... We'll talk about it. Make your case. We'll talk about it.

I'm making a broader case, and I'm pinning it to one movie. You might have to pick a different movie, but like, make your case. I honestly didn't remember. I know the technicality you're going to say, and I honestly didn't and don't remember, but anyway. Okay. So I was thinking a lot about documentaries. I do think, you know, we maybe only threw out a few examples,

but I do think if this category existed and existed for some time, you would have documentary narration nominees and who knows, maybe even a winner. Agreed. Critics' Choice Documentary Awards give out. a prize for this. The Emmys give out a prize for this. This is how Leo would have won his Oscar before the Revenant is

one of the many environmental documentary. You know, no, he would have killed someone if that was his Oscar. He would have killed someone. He'd do it now, now that he has his lead acting Oscar, but he would have killed someone. And

like, I'm not saying that this is my smartest answer I've ever given. This is not, but I do think it is broadly true that one of the great voices in movies you're right. Would deserve a voice Oscar. And that's obviously Werner Herzog. And I chose it for Grizzly Man.

Does he appear in Grizzly Man? The scene that one of the more memorable scenes is the one where he tells the woman, tells the guy's wife, you must never. I don't think he's on camera. Promise me you will never listen to this. I think you do see him. I think you do see him even from like shot from behind. Oh, no, you do because you watch him listen.

Yeah. To the tape. Yeah. Yeah. But like any of, you know. Or watch it. Does he watch it or he listens to it? He listens to it and then tells her you must never listen to this. Okay.

So then maybe. Well, like encounters at the end of the world or whatever. Like any of those ones about deep sea, whatever. Like, there are many movies where you don't. The one about the archipelago. Yes. But he appears in. so many of his documentaries, so maybe he wouldn't be eligible.

But I do think it is spiritually correct. I will foot my own rules about this fake thing we're talking about. Yes, I will allow it because I do love Grizzly man, and I do love him especially in because of all of the great voice acting voices in the cinema, both non-fiction and the fictional realm, you must recognize the one and only great Werner Herzog. A like eight-hour YouTube video of like Werner Herzog talks you to sleep and he just sort of like, I would. Why does Werner Herzog not have a sleep meditation app?

Absolutely. 100%. I would get it immediately. Get on it, Pelotan. Yes. But Werner Herzog, he has to, he has to. would have to have one. Absolutely. If there were going to be voice Oscars, he would have to have one. Period.

Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue in the winter of his 35th year. My first one that I wrote down is the one that I always go to when it's voiceover narration in a live action movie. I didn't even consider choosing this one because I was like, well, that's Joe. That's, that's not, that's not, I'm not stepping on those toes. It's Alec Baldwin for the Royal Tenem Boms, 2001. Say what you will about Alec Baldwin, and I would probably agree with a lot of it. His narration in this movie is absolutely perfect. It's not just in the pro- It's the number two greatest narrator in all of movies.

Yeah, honestly. The prologue, where he sort of, you know, gives you, the, reads out the dossiers on each of the Tenenbaum children. Absolutely perfect. Just dry as you please, you know, that signature sort of Alec Baldwin Husk to his voice. But also... You can basically hear him exhaling a lungs full of nicotine as the touchtone logo shows how... Yes.

Well, and he also has this kind of... And it's ironic because he would end up later hosting a public radio show. But he has a little bit of that public radio, you know, tone to his voice in this thing where he's discerptu. of like Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue and, you know, the November of, you know, his 35th year or whatever. And he, you know, gets the tone that Wes Anderson is trying to go for, this kind of nostalgic New York that never was, this nostalgic sort of 1970s New York that never was. but he also, they have him do kind of the Ron Howard on Arrested Development thing where like he will interject amid dialogue in the movie sometimes to comment on it. I know I'm going to be the bad guy on this one.

But I just want to say the last six days have been the best six days of problem my whole life. Immediately after making this statement, Royal realized that it was true. It's sentimental. It's also incredibly obviously, you know, you know, very archly funny. It's perfect. It's perfect. Again, I will just pop on the first 10 minutes of the Royal Tenen bombs just to watch that part.

It's the same thing, the same year, actually, in 2001. I'll do the same thing with the Fellowship of the Ring. I just enjoy sometimes a narrative info dump. You know what I mean? Just like, give me all the information that I need right here and now, and it's perfect. I love it. I love it so much. All right.

That was my last one. I knew that was coming. I'm always happy to listen to you talk about that performance. Where did that fall on your Wes Anderson performance ranking? Hold, please. It had to have been in the top five. I'm sure it was. Was Schwartzman in Asteroid City your number one?

No, Ray Fines was your number one. Oh, please. 50 most definitive performances in Wes Anderson's movies. Let's see. I think I updated it for Phoenician scheme as well. All right. So my top five were... Oh, wow.

Okay, so no, it was number 35. What? I think it was because it's... Coming from you? I know, but it's mere narration, and that's why I think I did it that way. My top five were in order. Number five, Gwyneth Paltrow is Marco Tenebomb and the Royal Tentenbaum's.

Number four, Bill Murray is Steve Zissue in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zisu. Number three, Jason Schwartzman is Max Fisher and Rushmore. Number two, Gene Hackman is Royal Tennembaum and the Royal Tennembaum's. And number one was Ray Fines as Monsieur Gustav in the Grand Bootapest Hotel. I had such a fun time doing that. Man, I love that. I have sex with all of my friends. But yeah, in my Baldwin blurb, let's see.

what did I write? Anderson's movies always make deft use of narration, be it Courtney B. Vance and Isle of Dogs, or Angelica Houston in the French Dispatch, the latter one of my honorable mentions. But by far the most effective and memorable was Alec Baldwin narrating the almost literary tales of failure that comprised the Royal Tenenbaum's. Baldwin's husky power of a voice sets the table for the events of the film before settling back to pop in every now and then with the nominition, insight, or unspoken truth. the F. Scott Fitzgerald inspirations behind Tendenbaum's almost demand the film unfold like a novel, making Baldwin's

contributions necessary and appreciated. Whoever wrote that was on the ball. What a smart person. All right, give me your last one because I love this one. Everybody good. Plenty of slaves from my robot colony. I gave it my humor settings. We fit it better with his unit.

Closing it out, previously mentioned, I might not have previously mentioned it. If I had remembered, this would be the last one. we would talk about. You may be asking yourself, where are the puppets? Where are the puppetry performances?

Guess what? Sometimes I myself even forget that this was not a mocap performance. It was puppetry. And that is, of course, Bill Irwin as Tars in Interstellar. Raise a glass to Tars. Tars, one of the greats. One of the great entities in the history of our universe. Tars.

A few better. Tars is real and Tars is my friend. Tars is my friend. Yeah. All the bullshit you say about that fucking whale on Pandora, I will say about Tars. Tars is my friend. Paiacon is my friend. Paiacan has been through so much.

Pai con. Tars is also here. Pai con didn't rescue fucking Ann Hathaway from the encroaching waves. Now did Pia Khan. You know what? Tars is also a boss. Tars go so fast. But I mean Bill Irwin too

Like Bill Irwin who's like Quite literally maybe the greatest clown alive Yeah probably could have done like he is trained as a clown Yeah probably could have done As was the case with Elaine Stritch The first time that I ever saw Bill Irwin in anything Was on an episode of the Cosby show where he was doing his clowning thing First time I ever saw my full experience of Elaine Stritch

For many years the first time I saw her in anything else I was like, the lady from the Cosby show? Anyway, continue. Well, but it's amazing that he, you know, his foundations are as a physical performer. But, you know, to the point where I'm like, oh, I'm thinking other people are his voice now, but like I think of his voice. And it's like I think of his voice in Rachel getting married. Oh, yeah. You know, whenever he shows up as a bit player in something, it's always.

always just like Leo once upon time in Hollywood, me. Bill Irwin, fucking Bill Irwin. I mean, Bill Irwin is just truly one of the greats that it's like, I just have such an emotional attachment whenever he should. I'm like everybody has their favorite character. Do you remember his one scene in the Laramie Project? I don't remember much of the Laramie Project. Where he talks about watching the Homecoming Parade, the University of Wisconsin

Homecoming Parade that wrapped around his building so he could see it coming. up one avenue and coming down the other. And in the meantime, after coming up the avenue and it would, before coming down the other, the group of people memorializing Matthew Shepard had like jumped on to the end of the parade and were holding a banner for him. It's so, so emotional. And Bill Irwin just fucking slays it. Just absolutely slays it.

And I'm just like, as just tears and tears and tears. slays it and like gets us emotional playing three oscillating hunks of titanium known as Tars. And so much more. When people were like, well, Christopher Nolan's trying to do emotion and can't do emotion, I was like, fuck you. Interstellar is great. We have Tars is my friend. Yeah. Tars is real.

Tars is my friend. What else do I have to say? I want to shout out who voices Case in that movie, or are we saying Case is trash? Who does voice Case? Hold on. I'm looking it up. Interstellar, my favorite, Nolan. Well, Bill Irwin did the puppetry for Case, but not the voice. Josh Stewart as the voice of Case. So there. Good for Josh Stewart.

All respect to that, man. Yes. Okay. Honorable mentions, I got a few. And they're all great. deserving to have been in this list. All at one point or another were on this list, except for maybe one my one, that I was like, this is pure honorable mention. Josh Robert Thompson from Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar.

Josh Robert Thompson, who you may not know my name, nor did I, does the fake Morgan Freeman voice as Morgan Freeman, the crab, who does the little soliloquy about, that essentially becomes like Shoshake Redemption soliloquy on the beach. one of my favorite of many fantastic jokes in Barb and Stark, go to Vista Del Mara, Morgan Freeman. But everybody else I had had on the list

at one time or another, Levi Stubbs is the voice of Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors. Incredible. Talk and singing, the whole thing. How about Christine Kavanaugh as the voice of Babe in Babe? How about that? How about that iconic performance? That's one.

So, 1995, again, The year of the first toy story, Christine Kavanaugh versus Tom Hanks is like maybe the battle of that year's Oscars. Like that would have been a nail biter, I do feel like. Get out of here, you big butt heads. Credited to Kristen Kavanaugh. One person said that in cinema, and that was Christine Kavanaugh. Also the voice of I'm pretty sure Chuckie from Rugrats, right?

That's the same voice. I don't remember. I think I'm right. Ricky Jay from Magnolia, who I don't believe shows up anywhere else in Magnolia. No. Just voices over the prolog. Once again, I love a prolog narration. Give me a prolog narrated by a fantastic actor.

The way he not only narrates those three highly coincidental situations, but then when he gets to the end and, you know, oh no, please don't say that this is. mere coincidence. You know, these strange things happen all the time. And then boop, boop, boop into Amy Mann singing on his loneliness number. Tremendous. And then finally, I really, really hated to leave these two icons off. Jenny Slate and Isabella Rossellini in tandem for Marcel the Shell with shoes on. We talked recently about how Isabella Rossellini in La Cimera, that should have been her Oscar nomination.

this should have been her first Oscar nomination, voicing the grandmother. That becomes her should have been her first Oscar nomination. Well, okay, okay, yes. Also respect to Blue Velvet. We could keep going back. But her performance is the grandmother shell in Marcel, the Shell with Shoes on, is so good.

And obviously, I have been a giant fan of Jenny Slate in general, but also Jenny Slate as the voice of Marcel, going back to, you know, the short form, internet video internet video days so much respect to two iconic

performances those are my honorable mentions did I leave anything wait sorry I do have a notebook here so I just want to

make sure that I didn't leave anything Terry Hatcher and Coraline also very good Robert Mitcham and this is the voiceover for Tombstone

that's pretty good sure Earth the Kit in the Emperor's New Groove was one we didn't mentioned in the... Isma, absolutely. Pull the Levercrunk.

Pull the Levercrunk. Vin Diesel in the Iron Giant, or else all the, you know, the bros will get mad at us. But also it is genuinely fantastic. If he had been nominated for saying I am Groot four different ways,

oh, he probably would have. Not liked that. But he would have. I wouldn't have liked that. Well, he would have. Well, Bradley Cooper would have been lying. Also would have. And then Phoebe Wallerbridge in Solo.

One of the, one of the, you know, redeeming factors of Solo, I thought. Oh, and also I thought, We didn't really have this conversation, but I had the thought of, like, who would have been the nominations last year? And I did jot these down. Alan Tudic for Superman as one of the robots. Coleman Domingo for Wicked for Good probably would have been nominated, and that would have been Wicked's one nomination.

Ben Washaw, Paddington, and Peru. I'm imagining Ben Washaw just gets nominated every time there's a Paddington movie. Audrey Nuna and E.J. from K-pop Demon Hunters. And then honorable mention Andy Sandberg in Zootopia, too. So there we go. All right. What are your honorable mentions? So a few we mentioned, we mentioned Angela Bassett for Goodnight Opi. We mentioned Lepa.

That's the one where she did the thing, right? Good night. She sure did. Lupita for the Wild Robot. That absolutely, she would have won an Oscar for that. That's an incredible vocal performance. Because I knew you were due. Baldwin

in a Wes Anderson. I thought long and hard about Jason Schwartzman and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Also was on my honorable mention list until I saw him on yours. Yep.

It's so good. A two, now let's do a weird one. There's several voice performers in Madi Diop's documentary Dahomi that's incredibly evocative

and I thought really cool and made that movie part of what... How do they present themselves within the context of a documentary? So it's about

Native artifacts from Africa being you know, re-homed in their nation of origin and there's parts of the documentary where like the artifacts like are speaking. Oh, cool. Basically. I love that movie. That's a great documentary. And then another, let's do a weird one, Tilda Swinton for Uncut Jets.

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Yep. And then I'm going to close it with narrators, because I thought long and hard about a lot of different narrators. One that most certainly would never have been nominated for an Oscar, even if this category exists. And it's very brief, so I felt like I could not include it.

But, like, one of the first names I thought of was John Laracette in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes. reading would be like on a plain Saturday afternoon, a group of teenagers or whatever, like that thing? Yeah. The delivery of that, like, opening 30 seconds absolutely informs what you're about to see. That movie's a fucking masterpiece.

One that would have been nominated Michael Horton for Barry Lyndon. Yep. And then one that I almost had on my list that I think is really great, really informs the tone of that movie. That's Will Lyman for Little Children. Oh, incredible. Yes. Narrating it like a frontline episode is a master stroke from Todd Field, but yes, incredibly well done.

Yeah. Voice acting. Voice acting. There should be an Oscar for it. We love it. Chris, this was a really, this was a meal of an episode, and I think we really, you know, took a good way. We hope you love this May miniseries. It's just us going off for a while and then 100 snub style listing a few things that we think should have an Oscar that doesn't have an Oscar.

Honestly. So we hope this is fun for you. It's our element. We love it. Folks, as always, if you want more this head Oscar buzz, more even than what we were giving you today, you should check out the Tumblr at this head Oscar buzz. You should follow our Instagram at this head Oscar buzz. Also, if you're not already signed up for our Patreon, you'd sign up for our Patreon at this had Oscar buzz.patron.com. We had an episode on the American president to kick off our main miniseries

over there. We are going to be doing an excursion that will have us both in rare ornery form. If you want to listen to us, be bad. But in a fun way, not in a, not in a, you know, toxic way. It'll be, it'll be a good time. Chris, other than that, where can the listeners find more of you? Letterbox and Blue Sky at Chris V. Fio, that's F.E.I. I am on Letterbox and Blue Sky at Joe Reed, read spelled R-E-I-D. We would like to thank Kyle Cummings for his fantastic artwork, Dave Gonzalez and Gavin Muvius for their technical guidance.

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Like, give her all you got. Pull the five-star lever. Pull that five-star lever and write something nice about us. That is all for this week. We will be back with episode three of the May miniseries in one week's time. We hope you'll be back for it for more categories. more fun and more buzz. Bye.

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