Pop quiz: What do Chris Rock, Claire Denis, Eddie Vedder and Josh Hutcherson all have in common? Answer: They could all be Oscar voters very soon. The annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invitation list always makes for interesting reading, shedding light on just how large and far-reaching the group's membership is — or could be, depending on who accepts their invitations.
This year, 271 individuals have been asked to join AMPAS, meaning every one of them could contribute to next year's Academy Awards balloting — and it's as diverse a list as they've ever assembled. Think the Academy consists entirely of fusty retired white dudes? Not if recent Best Original Song nominee Pharrell Williams takes them up on their offer. Think it's all just a Hollywood insiders' game? Not if French arthouse titans Chantal Akerman and Olivier Assayas join the party. It's a list that subverts expectation at every turn.
Well, nearly every turn. Some of these are obvious: of course everybody's favorite new ingenue, Lupita Nyong'o, was going to get the nod after taking home the Best Supporting Actress honor. And her “12 Years a Slave” co-star Michael Fassbender is likewise an obvious pick.
They're among a number of this year's nominees and winners invited to join the fold, including Williams, Barkhad Abdi (after making just one film), Sally Hawkins, June Squibb, Steve Coogan, producer du jour Megan Ellison, animation master Hayao Miyazaki, Best Foreign Language Film winner Paolo Sorrentino and nominees Thomas Vinterberg and Hany Abu-Assad, “Gravity” composer Steven Price, “12 Years a Slave” writer John Ridley, “Frozen” songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez, and many more. Other notable names: Clark Gregg, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mads Mikkelsen, Jason Statham, Denis Villeneuve, Jean-Marc Vallee, Eugene Jarecki… and so on and so forth.
It's important to note that this isn't necessarily the first time everyone on the list has been invited: they're free to turn the Academy down, and the Academy is free to keep asking. (You can bet, for example, that the animators' branch has been wanting Hayao Miyazaki to join their ranks for eons.)
Amid a host of strong picks, I think two branches have particularly excelled. The cinematographers have (slightly) made it up to Sean Bobbitt for that egregious “12 Years a Slave” snub by extending an invitation, and have also included two of the most exciting up-and-comers in the field: Bradford Young and Masanobu Takayanagi. And if you've ever wondered why the writers frequently arrive at the most discerning nomination fields, check out their very smart (and refreshingly international) list of invitees. The idea of Claire Denis (for my money, the greatest filmmaker still working at the top of her game today) being an Oscar voter is mind-melting and heart-warming at the same time.
Check out the full list on the next two pages and share your thoughts in the comments. Who are you thrilled to see make the cut?
Actors
Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”
Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”
Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”
Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”
Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain”t Them Bodies Saints”
Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”
Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel”s The Avengers”
Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,” “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Josh Hutcherson – “The Hunger Games,” “The Kids Are All Right”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Enough Said,” “Planes”
Kelly Macdonald – “Brave,” “No Country for Old Men”
Mads Mikkelsen – “The Hunt,” “Casino Royale”
Joel McKinnon Miller – “Super 8,” “The Truman Show”
Cillian Murphy – “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception”
Lupita Nyong'o – “Non-Stop,” “12 Years a Slave”
Rob Riggle – “21 Jump Street,” “The Hangover”
Chris Rock – “Grown Ups 2,” “Madagascar”
June Squibb – “Nebraska,” “About Schmidt”
Jason Statham – “Parker,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”
David Strathairn – “Lincoln,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Casting Directors
Douglas Aibel – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Immigrant”
Simone Bär – “The Monuments Men,” “The Book Thief”
Kerry Barden – “August: Osage County,” “Dallas Buyers Club”
Nikki Barrett – “The Railway Man,” “The Great Gatsby”
Mark Bennett – “Drinking Buddies,” “Zero Dark Thirty”
Risa Bramon Garcia – “Speed,” “Wall Street”
Michelle Guish – “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Nanny McPhee”
Billy Hopkins – “Lee Daniels” The Butler,” “Disconnect”
Ros Hubbard – “Romeo & Juliet,” “The Mummy”
Allison Jones – “The Way, Way Back,” “The Heat”
Christine King – “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith”
Beatrice Kruger – “To Rome with Love,” “The American”
Marci Liroff – “Mean Girls,” “Pretty in Pink”
Debbie McWilliams – “Skyfall,” “Quantum of Solace”
Joseph Middleton – “TheTwilight Saga: New Moon,” “Legally Blonde”
Robi Reed – “For Colored Girls,” “Do the Right Thing”
Kevin Reher – “Monsters University,” “Finding Nemo”
Paul Schnee – “August: Osage County,” “Dallas Buyers Club”
Gail Stevens – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Lucinda Syson – “Gravity,” “Fast and & Furious 6”
Fiona Weir – “J. Edgar,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Ronnie Yeskel – “The Sessions,” “Atlas Shrugged Part 1”
Cinematographers
Sean Bobbitt – “12 Years a Slave,” “The Place beyond the Pines”
Philippe Le Sourd – “The Grandmaster,” “Seven Pounds”
James Neihouse – “Hubble 3D,” “Nascar: The IMAX Experience”
Masanobu Takayanagi – “Out of the Furnace,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Bradford Young – “Ain”t Them Bodies Saints,” “Pariah”
Costume Designers
William Chang Suk Ping – “The Grandmaster,” “In the Mood for Love”
Pascaline Chavanne – “Renoir,” “Augustine”
Daniela Ciancio – “The Great Beauty,” “Il Divo”
Frank L. Fleming – “Draft Day,” “Monster”s Ball”
Maurizio Millenotti – “Hamlet,” “Otello”
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor – “Great Expectations,” “Good Will Hunting”
Karyn Wagner – “Lovelace,” “The Green Mile”
Designers
William Arnold – “Lovelace,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”
K.K. Barrett – “Her,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Susan Benjamin – “Saving Mr. Banks,” “The Blind Side”
Bill Boes – “The Smurfs 2,” “Fantastic Four”
Tony Fanning – “Contraband,” “War of the Worlds”
Robert Greenfield – “Priest,” “Almost Famous”
Marcia Hinds – “I Spy,” “The Public Eye”
Sonja Brisbane Klaus – “Prometheus,” “Robin Hood”
David S. Lazan – “Flight,” “American Beauty”
Diane Lederman – “Lee Daniels” The Butler,” “Tower Heist”
Heather Loeffler – “American Hustle,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Christa Munro – “Jack Reacher,” “Erin Brockovich”
Andy Nicholson – “Gravity,” “The Host”
Adam Stockhausen – “12 Years a Slave,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Directors
Hany Abu-Assad – “Omar,” “Paradise Now”
Jay Duplass – “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” “Cyrus”
Mark Duplass – “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” “Cyrus”
David Gordon Green – “Joe,” “Pineapple Express”
Gavin O”Connor – “Warrior,” “Miracle”
Gina Prince-Bythewood – “The Secret Life of Bees,” “Love and Basketball”
Paolo Sorrentino – “The Great Beauty,” “This Must Be the Place”
Jean-Marc Vallée – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Young Victoria”
Felix van Groeningen – “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” “The Misfortunates”
Denis Villeneuve – “Prisoners,” “Incendies”
Thomas Vinterberg – “The Hunt,” “The Celebration”
Documentary
Malcolm Clarke – “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” “Prisoner of Paradise”
Dan Cogan – “How to Survive a Plague,” “The Queen of Versailles”
Kief Davidson – “Open Heart,” “Kassim the Dream”
Dan Geller – “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,” “Ballets Russes”
Dayna Goldfine – “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,” “Ballets Russes”
Julie Goldman – “God Loves Uganda,” “Gideon”s Army”
Sam Green – “Utopia in Four Movements,” “The Weather Underground”
Gary Hustwit – “Urbanized,” “Helvetica”
Eugene Jarecki – “The House I Live In,” “Why We Fight”
Brian Johnson – “Anita,” “Buena Vista Social Club”
Ross Kauffman – “E-Team,” “Born into Brothels”
Morgan Neville – “20 Feet from Stardom,” “Troubadours”
Matthew J. O'Neill – “Redemption,” “China”s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan
Province”
Rithy Panh – “The Missing Picture,” “S-21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine”
Lucy Massie Phenix – “Regret to Inform,” “Word Is Out”
Enat Sidi – “Detropia,” “Jesus Camp”
Molly Thompson – “The Unknown Known,” “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”
Cynthia Wade – “Mondays at Racine,” “Freeheld”
Executives
Adrian Alperovich
Sean Bailey
Len Blavatnik
Nicholas Carpou
Nancy Carson
Charles S. Cohen
Jason Constantine
Peter Cramer
William Kyle Davies
Christopher Floyd
David Garrett
David Hollis
Tomas Jegeus
Michelle Raimo Kouyate
Anthony James Marcoly
Hiroyasu Matsuoka
Kim Roth
John Sloss
Film Editors
Alan Baumgarten – “American Hustle,” “Gangster Squad”
Alan Edward Bell – “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”
Dorian Harris – “The Magic of Belle Isle,” “The Mod Squad”
Sabrina Plisco – “The Smurfs 2,” “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
Tatiana S. Riegel – “Million Dollar Arm,” “The Way, Way Back”
Julie Rogers – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl”
Mark Sanger – “Gravity”
Joan Sobel – “Admission,” “A Single Man”
Crispin Struthers – “American Hustle,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Tracey Wadmore-Smith – “About Last Night,” “Death at a Funeral”
Joe Walker – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”
John Wilson – “The Book Thief,” “Billy Elliot”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Vivian Baker – “Oz The Great and Powerful,” “Conviction”
Adruitha Lee – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “12 Years a Slave”
Robin Mathews – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “The Runaways”
Anne Morgan – “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” “A Little Bit of Heaven”
Gloria Pasqua-Casny – “The Lone Ranger,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”
Members-at-Large
Peter Becker
Jeff Dashnaw
Kenneth L. Halsband
Jody Levin
Tom MacDougall
Chuck Picerni, Jr.
Spiro Razatos
Mic Rodgers
Kevin J. Yeaman
Music
Kristen Anderson-Lopez – “Frozen,” “Winnie the Pooh”
Stanley Clarke – “The Best Man Holiday,” “Boyz N the Hood”
Earl Ghaffari – “Frozen,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Steve Jablonsky – “Lone Survivor,” “Ender”s Game”
Robert Lopez – “Frozen,” “Winnie the Pooh”
Steven Price – “Gravity,” “The World”s End”
Tony Renis – “Hidden Moon,” “Quest for Camelot”
Angie Rubin – “Pitch Perfect,” “Sex and the City”
Buck Sanders – “Warm Bodies,” “The Hurt Locker”
Charles Strouse – “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” “Annie”
Eddie Vedder – “Eat Pray Love,” “Into the Wild”
Pharrell Williams – “Despicable Me 2,” “Fast & Furious”
Producers
Jason Blumenthal – “Hope Springs,” “Seven Pounds”
Dana Brunetti – “Captain Phillips,” “The Social Network”
Megan Ellison – “American Hustle,” “Her”
Sean Furst – “Daybreakers,” “The Cooler”
Nicola Giuliano – “The Great Beauty,” “This Must Be the Place”
Preston Holmes – “Waist Deep,” “Tupac: Resurrection”
Lynette M. Howell – “The Place beyond the Pines,” “Blue Valentine”
Anthony Katagas – “12 Years a Slave,” “Killing Them Softly”
Alix Madigan – “Girl Most Likely,” “Winter”s Bone”
Paul Mezey – “The Girl,” “Maria Full of Grace”
Stephen Nemeth – “The Sessions,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”
Tracey Seaward – “Philomena,” “The Queen”
John H. Williams – “Space Chimps,” “Shrek 2”
Public Relations
Larry Angrisani
Nancy Bannister
Christine Batista
Karen Hermelin
Marisa McGrath Liston
David Magdael
Steven Raphael
Bettina R. Sherick
Dani Weinstein
Short Films and Feature Animation
Didier Brunner – “Ernest & Celestine,” “The Triplets of Belleville”
Scott Clark – “Monsters University,” “Up”
Pierre Coffin – “Despicable Me 2,” “Despicable Me”
Esteban Crespo – “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn”t Me),” “Lala”
Peter Del Vecho – “Frozen,” “The Princess and the Frog”
Kirk DeMicco – “The Croods,” “Space Chimps”
Doug Frankel – “Brave,” “WALL-E”
Mark Gill – “The Voorman Problem,” “Full Time”
David A. S. James – “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” “Megamind”
Fabrice Joubert – “Dr. Seuss” The Lorax,” “French Roast”
Jean-Claude Kalache – “Up,” “Cars”
Jason Katz – “Toy Story 3,” “Finding Nemo”
Jennifer Lee – “Frozen,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Baldwin Li – “The Voorman Problem,” “Full Time”
Nathan Loofbourrow – “Puss in Boots,” “How to Train Your Dragon”
Lauren MacMullan – “Get a Horse!,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Tom McGrath – “Megamind,” “Madagascar”
Dorothy McKim – “Get a Horse!,” “Meet the Robinsons”
Hayao Miyazaki – “The Wind Rises,” “Spirited Away”
Ricky Nierva – “Monsters University,” “Up”
Chris Renaud – “Despicable Me 2,” “Despicable Me”
Benjamin Renner – “Ernest & Celestine,” “A Mouse”s Tale (La Queue de la Souris)”
Michael Rose – “Chico & Rita,” “The Gruffalo”
Toshio Suzuki – “The Wind Rises,” “Howl”s Moving Castle”
Selma Vilhunen – “Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitta? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),”
“The Crossroads”
Anders Walter – “Helium,” “9 Meter”
Laurent Witz – “Mr. Hublot,” “Renart the Fox”
Sound
Niv Adiri – “Gravity,” “The Book Thief”
Christopher Benstead – “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” “Gravity”
Steve Boeddeker – “All Is Lost,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Beau Borders – “Million Dollar Arm,” “Lone Survivor”
David Brownlow – “Lone Survivor,” “The Book of Eli”
Chris Burdon – “Captain Phillips,” “Philomena”
Brent Burge – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
André Fenley – “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “All Is Lost”
Glenn Freemantle – “Gravity,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Greg Hedgepath – “Frozen,” “The Incredible Hulk”
Craig Henighan – “Noah,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
Tony Johnson – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Avatar”
Laurent M. Kossayan – “Red Riding Hood,” “Public Enemies”
Thomas L. Lalley – “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Ai-Ling Lee – “Godzilla,” “300: Rise of an Empire”
Stephen Morris – “Monsters University,” “Fruitvale Station”
Jeremy Peirson – “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Looper”
Mike Prestwood Smith – “Divergent,” “Captain Phillips”
Alan Rankin – “Iron Man 3,” “Star Trek”
Oliver Tarney – “Captain Phillips,” “Philomena”
Chris Ward – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Visual Effects
Gary Brozenich – “The Lone Ranger,” “Wrath of the Titans”
Everett Burrell – “Grudge Match,” “Pan”s Labyrinth”
Marc Chu – “Noah,” “Marvel”s The Avengers”
David Fletcher – “Sabotage,” “Prisoners”
Swen Gillberg – “Ender”s Game,” “Jack the Giant Slayer”
Paul Graff – “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Identity Thief”
Alex Henning – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Hugo”
Evan Jacobs – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Olympus Has Fallen”
Chris Lawrence – “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Gravity”
Eric Leven – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2,” “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1”
Steven Messing – “Godzilla,” “Oz The Great and Powerful”
Ben Matthew Morris – “Lincoln,” “The Golden Compass”
Jake Morrison – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Marvel”s The Avengers”
Eric Reynolds – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
David Shirk – “Gravity,” “Elysium”
Patrick Tubach – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Marvel”s The Avengers”
Bruno Van Zeebroeck – “Lone Survivor,” “Public Enemies”
Tim Webber – “Gravity,” “The Dark Knight”
Harold Weed – “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Star Trek”
Writers
Chantal Akerman – “A Couch in New York,” “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”
Olivier Assayas – “Summer Hours,” “Irma Vep”
Craig Borten – “Dallas Buyers Club”
Scott Z. Burns – “Side Effects,” “Contagion”
Jean-Claude Carrière – “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “The Discreet Charm of
the Bourgeoisie”
Steve Coogan – “Philomena,” “The Parole Officer”
Claire Denis – “White Material,” “Beau Travail”
Larry Gross – “We Don”t Live Here Anymore,” “48 Hrs.”
Mathieu Kassovitz – “Babylon A.D.,” “Hate (La Haine)”
Diane Kurys – “For a Woman,” “Entre Nous”
Bob Nelson – “Nebraska”
Scott Neustadter – “The Spectacular Now,” “(500) Days of Summer”
Jeff Pope – “Philomena,” “Pierrepoint – The Last Hangman”
John Ridley – “12 Years a Slave,” “Undercover Brother”
Paul Rudnick – “In & Out,” ”Jeffrey”
Eric Warren Singer – “American Hustle,” ”The International”
Melisa Wallack – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Mirror Mirror”
Michael H. Weber – “The Spectacular Now,” “(500) Days of Summer”
Terence Winter – “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”
Associates
Matt Del Piano
Joe Funicello
Robert Hohman
Paul Christopher Hook
David Kramer
Joel Lubin
David Pringle
Melanie Ramsayer
Beth Swofford
Meredith Wechter