Sean Astin and his adoptive father, John Astin, are Hollywood royalty. Sean is best known, of course, for his role as Samwise in The Lord of the Rings movies (which you can watch with an HBO Max subscription) and for playing the lead role in The Goonies. John famously brought the comic strip character Gomez Addams to life in the original Addams Family TV show.
While both have had careers that have lasted decades at this point, neither has ever been nominated for an Academy Award. Well, in an acting category at least. Both have been nominated in another category: Best Live Action Short Film. The nominations came 26 years apart, John in 1968, Sean in 1994, but sadly, neither took home the Oscar.
You’re Forgiven If You Didn’t Know This Bit Of Trivia
The Short Films nominees at the Academy Awards usually go underappreciated, if they are noticed at all, so you’ll be forgiven if you didn’t know that the two Astins were nominated in one of the three categories that make up the shorts. However those categories have created some interesting bits of Oscar trivia, like Kobe Bryant winning a trophy for producing the short animated film, Dear Basketball, in 2018.
It has been a fertile place for young filmmakers to cut their teeth and get some exposure. For example, Taika Waititi earned a nomination in the Live Action Short category in 2003, four years before his feature film debut as a director. Jim Henson was nominated in 1966 for his live action film, a few years before he would become a household name with Sesame Street, and later The Muppet Show. Taylor Hackford, who would later be nominated for Best Director for Ray and Best Picture in 2004, won the category in 1979.
The Astin Nominations
John Astin was nominated in 1968, just a couple of years after finishing his work on the original Addam’s Family, for a short comedy called Prelude, which he produced, wrote, directed, and starred in. It was his directorial debut. He lost to a film called Robert Kennedy Remembered, which Astin argued was a documentary not a live action short, which is supposed to be fiction. It won anyway. Astin also claimed that this sparked a change that later required voters watch every nominee, but it’s still a controversial Oscar in his mind.
For Sean Astin, the nomination came from a short called Kangaroo Court, which is described on Letterboxd as:
A black city attorney is forced to defend a white cop who’s being held hostage by a gang seeking revenge for a young boy’s murder.
Though, to be honest, I couldn’t find out a lot about it, nor could I find it to watch anywhere, which is all too-common with shorts. I’ll keep looking though, as I’m very intrigued!
As we get closer to the 98th Annual Academy Awards in March, which will be available to stream with a Hulu subscription. I’m determined to watch more shorts, as I always seem to watch most of the nominees, but rarely these underappreciated films.