Like many a Hollywood star, the Oscar statuette is getting a pre-award show facelift.
But instead of trying to remove wrinkles, fine lines, and other signs of aging, the iconic gold man actually wants to look older.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday that it had dropped Chicago-based manufacturer R.S. Owens, which had been producing the much-coveted awards since 1982, with New York-based Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry.
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The decision was motivated by a desire on the part of the Academy to return to Hollywood's golden age: Polich will revamp the statuette to look like the original 1929 statue, which was given out for the first time at the third-ever Oscars to Best Actor winner Emil Jennings, who clearly went on to be Hollywood royalty.
Polich will manufacture this year's awards, which will air on Feb. 28, through an extensive process that casts a 3D printing of a digital scan of the 1929 model in wax before coating it liquid bronze.
R.S. Owens director Joseph Petree told The Chicago Sun-Times that the move won't cause the company to cut any of its employees.
"They were looking to go back to the bronze statue, which is something we don’t do," Petree said. "I can’t be sad. We’ve been fortunate to make the most recognizable trophy on the planet for 30 years.”
But R.S. Owens isn't walking away completely empty-handed: the company will continue to produce statues for the Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards and for, to quote Amy Poehler, "the rat-faced people of television" who score at the Emmy Awards.
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