Taylor Swift and Paul Mescal among 398 individuals invited to join Film Academy
Academy has invited a number of actors, directors, musicians and writers to join its ranks
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Your support makes all the difference.Pop star Taylor Swift and Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal are among the 398 individuals invited to join the organisation behind the Oscars this year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has offered invitations to a number of successful figures in the arts, including Grammy-winning artist Swift, 33, and Irish actor Mescal, 27.
Other notable invitees including Nope star Keke Palmer, Canadian musician, actor and producer The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), Elvis actor Austin Butler, and Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan.
Many of those invited have either won or been nominated for Oscars, such as Everything Everywhere All At Once writer/producer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who must choose one of the three categories, and Kerry Condon and Stephanie Hsu.
The majority of invitees this year hail from countries outside of the US, including Triangle of Sadness’s breakout star Dolly De leon, Phantom Thread’s Vicky Kreips, and Park Hae-il of Decision to Leave fame.
Among the Hollywood actors on the list are British stars Lashana Lynch and Nicholas Hoult, and American actors Bill Hader and Selma Blair.
Swift was invited to join the music branch, after writing a song for Where the Crawdad’s Sing – producer Reese Witherspoon’s adaptation of the 2018 novel by Delia Owens – along with The Weeknd, who has written songs for blockbuster films including Black Panther, Fifty Shades of Grey and Avatar: The Way of Water.
David Byrne, RRR’s MM Keeravaani, and Ryan Lott and Ian Chang of the experimental band Son Lux have also been included among the music invitees.
Those invited to join the director's branch include Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Santiago Mitre (Argentina, 1985), Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and Carlos López Estrada (Raya and the Last Dragon).
Among the executive branch invitees are Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente and SXSW director emeritus Janet Pierson.
Some directors were invited to other branches. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On director Dean Fleischer-Camp received an invitation to the animation and short film branch, while Aftersun’s Charlotte Wells’ invitation was for the writer's branch, which Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro was also invited to.
The academy has continued to endeavour to diversify its ranks. Should all the invitees accept their invitations, the makeup of the Academy’s ranks will be 34 per cent women, 18 per cent from underrepresented ethnic or racial communities and 20 per cent from countries outside the US.
Additional reporting by Associated Press