The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and it's widely believed that the Best Supporting Actor award will go to Heath Ledger for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. But if he does receive the award posthumously, then who gets the Oscar?
A posthumous Oscar traditionally is given to the winner's spouse, but if that doesn't apply, the statuette goes to the eldest child.
Heath and Michelle weren't married and Matilda is his only child, but she's too young to sign the winner's agreement, a contract all nominees must sign that states recipients won't resell their Oscar without offering it back to the academy for $1 (which is how the academy tries to keep the statues off the black market).
For Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director, the situation was complicated. "First, we have to decide who gets the job of accepting the award onstage on the night of the ceremony. And then there's the question of the eventual disposition of the posthumous statuette, which may not stay with the person who accepts it."
Someone has to sign the winner's agreement, said Davis, "and a 3-year-old can't do that. Nor can a parent sign any kind of legal document that obligates a child to do something once they turn 18. I didn't know that before we looked into it, but it's a good law."
So, after conferring with both Michelle and Heath's family, the academy came up with a plan: If Heath does win the Oscar, Michelle will keep it for Matilda until she's 18. If Matilda chooses not to keep the statuette, it will go back to the academy.
Sunday is a big night for Hollywood...it will be interesting to see how the evening unfolds.
Comments