Oscars: what was the first science-fiction movie to win a major Academy Award?
Despite the prestige that surrounds the Oscars ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences often favour specific movies when picking out nominations for major accolades like ‘Best Picture’. Historical dramas, lengthy period pieces, war epics and biopics are just some of the genres typically found in the category. The predictability of the Academy’s selections has resulted in the term ‘Oscar bait’ being coined to define movies that appear to have been created for the sole purpose of racking up awards.
It’s often rather apparent when a movie is Oscar bait. Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis, with its over-the-top exuberance, musical numbers and intense performance by Austin Butler as the King of Rock and Roll, was almost destined to earn ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actor’ nominations. However, the Academy has welcomed a more diverse palette of contesters over the years, such as Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 comedy thriller Parasite winning ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, becoming the first non-English language film to do so.
However, one genre that the Academy has famously overlooked is science fiction. Movies from the genre rarely scoop nominations for any significant awards, particularly ‘Best Picture’ or ‘Best Director’, let alone win them. In fact, the first sci-fi movie to win ‘Best Picture’ was 2017’s The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro. This is perhaps because sci-fi cinema is often seen as less ‘high-brow’ than dramas and emotional epics, and the same can be said for horror and fantasy movies. These kinds of films only tend to receive nominations when they contain enough classical drama alongside their specific genre elements.
When sci-fi movies have won awards at the Oscars, they’re usually relegated to the lesser-discussed categories such as ‘Best Visual Effects’ or ‘Best Production Design’. However, the first sci-fi movie to win an Oscar actually took home a rather significant award: ‘Best Actor’. Frederic March won the prize for his role as Dr Henry Jekyll/Mr Edward Hyde in the 1931 Pre-Code film Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, directed by Rouben Mamoulian.
The film, adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic sci-fi horror novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was also nominated for ‘Best Cinematography’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’. However, it secured just one win for March, one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors from the 1930s and 1940s. He actually shared the award with Wallace Beery, who won in a tied vote for his performance in The Champ. March needn’t have worried, though. He won the award all to himself in 1946 for his role as Platoon Sergeant Al Stephenson in The Best Years of Our Lives.
