Oscar's Overlooked Stars: Geeks

Oscar's Overlooked Stars: Geeks http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72791-0.html?tw=rss.index One of the most awkward moments at the Oscars comes after the announcement of best visual effects. A small herd of not-so-svelte men storm the stage. With the global limelight shining, but with no collective gift for public speaking, they thank the dozens of people who made their wicked explosions and slow-mo gun battles possible. Those who will be honored by Oscar this week will remain unstalked by paparazzi, their names instantly forgotten even by the millions of fans of their work. But on the glitziest weekend of the year, Hollywood's inventors, technicians and visual effects wizards increasingly are becoming VIPs. The three films nominated for 2006's best visual effects Oscar -- Poseidon, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Superman Returns -- have, to date, brought in more than $1.5 billion at the global box office. The five best picture nominees have done barely one third of that. In other words, the tech guys are big money. In solidarity with these big-brained, unknown movie heroes, here's a top eleven list, in chronological order, of geek-worthy moments in Oscar history. In solidarity with their achievements, here's a top 11 list, in chronological order, of geek-worthy moments in Oscar history. 1930: It's not called the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for nothing. Oscar launches a parallel ceremony, the Scientific and Technical Awards, to honor inventors that advance the movie-making cause. These days, the Sci-Tech Awards are handed out a few weeks prior to the Big Night by a foxy emcee (Scarlett Johansson, Rachel McAdams, Maggie Gyllenhaal) willing to share the stage with the generally all-male recipients. The 2006 winners, announced on Feb. 10 of this year, included creators of an environmentally friendly soundtrack printing process and a remote-control camera. 1938: Farciot Eduart, Paramount's FX superstar, begins an eight-year Oscar streak by winning a Scientific and Technical Award for his "dual screen transparency camera setup." Over his career, Eduart will receive nine nominations, three Oscars and seven Scientific and Technical Awards. These days, he's remembered as the guy who mastered the rear-projection system that allowed two actors to sit in a car, on a soundstage, while the landscapes and/or bad guys remain in motion behind them. 1940: A dozen years after it handed out its first little golden man, the Academy finally decides to recognize the guys who make movie magic. The first Oscar for special effects goes to The Rains Came, beating out a forgettable little picture called The Wizard of Oz. 1964: Painter Emil Kosa Jr. wins the first Oscar in the newly renamed "visual effects" category for Cleopatra. The losing nominee: Ub Iwerks, an animator and early Walt Disney partner who put some of the scares in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Ubwerks' granddaughter Leslie is a nominee for best short documentary this year. 1969: The landmark 2001: A Space Odyssey, a nominee for writing and directing, goes nearly empty handed at the big show. Stanley Kubrick grabs only the Oscar for his visual effects, the only statuette he won, despite 12 nominations for five different films. 1971: Historians call the early 1970s a new Golden Age of Hollywood, with Scorsese, Coppola et. al. running the asylum. Really, those years were about schlocky disaster movies. Airport was nominated for 10 Oscars in 1971, and two years later Posiedon Adventure was nominated for nine. Earthquake won the best visual effects statuette in 1973, and The Hindenburg did the same the year after. Even the forgotten volcano film, Island at the Top of the World, won a nomination in 1975. It makes us wonder: Where's Richard Kiel's best supporting actor Oscar for Silver Streak? 1978: It's Spielberg vs. Lucas, with each nominated for best director. Woody Allen wins, for Annie Hall, but Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind takes home two statuettes (for cinematography and sound effects editing) and George Lucas' Star Wars wins seven more. Their combined 20 nominations represent an out-of-this-world evening for sci-fi. 1981: Dennis Muren and Richard Edlund share an Oscar for best visual effects for The Empire Strikes Back. Three years later, they'll win another for Return of the Jedi. In all, these two visual effects wizards have been nominated for a combined 25 Oscars, winning 12, and have been awarded four Scientific and Technical Oscar certificates. Their crowded trophy cabinets make Edlund, who was given a lifetime achievement award at the Sci-Tech Awards earlier this month, and Muren, now Spielberg's go-to FX guy, two of the most sought-after humans in Hollywood -- the Brad Pitts of effects. 1983: Geeks have three films to track on Oscar night, with the spotlight on Poltergeist (three nominations), E.T. (nine nominations, three wins) and Blade Runner (two nominations). It's proof that genre films -- sci-fi, fantasy and horror -- are ready for prime time. 2002: After decades of classic toons, from Pinocchio to Fantasia to Chicken Run, getting shut out of the party, the new animated feature category gives props to a box-office-shaking genre. Shrek wins the first one, and Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House are finalists this year. 2004: A legion of fans take their Gollum impressions out of the closet when Return of the King becomes the first fantasy film to wins best picture. The Lord of the Rings finale makes more Oscar history, winning all 11 categories it had been nominated in. Instead of heading off to some glitzy party after the ceremony, Peter Jackson, now the official high priest of geekdom, pops into a no-tie affair hosted by a LOR fansite.