Despite the Christopher Nolan snub, Natalie Portman’s baby and Mark Zuckerberg’s pride, the strangest real life narrative to emerge from this year’s Oscar’s race is the nod to anonymous street artist, satirist and perennial prankster, Banksy. Recognized for his delightfully meta street art documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, a Banksy win represents the best opportunity for Oscars chaos and dare we say, the biggest prank of his life. What happens if he wins? Who will accept the award? Is it actually a “documentary”? So many opportunities for aesthetically pleasing satire!
True to form, the Academy have come prepared. To ensure a dignified, incident-free telecast, The Academy have hatched a scandal-curbing fall back plan should the elusive street artist win (and he should) for Best Documentary Feature. According to organizers, if Banksy wins, he won’t be allowed to take the stage in his preferred costume of choice: a monkey mask. Instead, one of the film’s producer, Jaimie D’Cruz, will accept the award on Banksy’s behalf.
Says Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis: “The fun but disquieting scenario is if that film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy!’ Who the hell do we give it to? [The Academy] needs to have a procedure in place. That’s the fun part of this job. There’s always some crazy-ass wrinkle you never thought of before.”
Academy President Tom Sherak agrees: “We suggested to them that it might be a good idea that if [Banksy] did win, one of them would accept in his place – that it would not be dignified for the Academy to have somebody come up wearing a monkey’s head,“.
Sherak even tried to underplay the decision by saying it would maintain the artist’s anonymity which is kind of like telling Snoop Doog not to smoke weed because it damages his voice. Let’s hope Banksy wins, accepts the award himself and creates a spectacle. The Academy loves it when people turn acceptance speeches into awkward political statements.
by Kellie Hill
