Sam Rockwell’s performance in Moon, the low-budget directorial debut of Duncan Jones, has received almost universal praise. Successfully portraying two versions of the same character with distinctly different personalities he has been nominated for a number of awards, and is likely to also receive a nod from BAFTA come January.
Unfortunately, despite this, he is unlikely to receive a nomination for an Oscar.
In most cases for a film to receive a nomination for an Oscar it needs a huge publicity campaign, involving frequent adverts in trade publications like Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and Screen International. While this is pocket change for big-budget studio films, for a tiny, independent British production like Moon, it is impossibly expensive.
Of course, for Duncan Jones, a tiny marketing budget wasn’t an issue when promoting Moon, and apparently doesn’t faze him now, as he has launched a grass-roots campaign to get Rockwell an Oscar nomination.
On the 15th October he published a series of tweets:
Ladies & Gentlemen of the net. Web sites, fanzines, anyone who loves Sam Rockwell. I need your help…
Sam Rockwell is amazing in Moon.. I think anyone who sees the film would agree with that. But due to out limited budget…
.. we are unable to run a “campaign” to get him a nomination for best actor. If anyone is willing to help create a buzz for Sam…
I see all these PR machine driven media blitzes for things like Paranormal Activity & the like, & I just would love us to get one real…
netizen led drive to get Sam Rockwell a nomination for an Oscar. Please help. Please spread the word. Please let the Academy voters hear.
Which led to the creation of the hashtag #SamRockwellOscar, and at the time of writing many of Jones’ Twitter followers are including it in their messages, building a swell of publicity for the campaign.
You can read more about the campaign at Man Made Movies, the Duncan Jones news site.
We at HeyUGuys wish both Jones and Rockwell all the best for their campaign, and hope it is successful. In fact, while we think about it, perhaps Jones should get a best director nod as well.
