Pretty much everyone agrees that making Rocky’s voice that of his lead puppeteer, James Ortiz, was absolutely the right decision. Though Project Hail Mary makes a point of trying out different voices for the alien before settling on Ortiz, even Meryl Streep isn’t the right fit for the plucky Eridian, who pulls out all the stops to save the stars alongside Ryan Gosling’s Dr. Ryland Grace in the smash hit sci-fi movie.But Ortiz’s impact may go much further than his initial performance as everyone’s favorite rock-like alien chum. Variety has revealed that he will be submitted for Best Supporting Actor at next year’s Oscars.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Ortiz still has a potentially bumpy road ahead, despite being eligible for the award. It’s not a sure thing because the Oscars still have to decide to nominate him. If that actually happens, it would be unprecedented territory for the Academy, which has never recognized a puppeteer or voice performer behind a puppet character in its acting categories. Nor has it ever recognized motion capture performers in those categories who voice characters, like Andy Serkis and his iconic Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. All that might be about to change thanks to Ortiz’s outstanding puppetry and voice performance in Project Hail Mary.“Typically, we talk about puppetry as a technical achievement, and it is,” Ortiz explained. “It’s a spectacle. For me as a performer, however, that’s never my entry point. I’m interested in the heart of the character — what they’re trying to communicate, what they’re feeling underneath all of it. When we can take a medium like puppetry, which is often seen as decorative, and bring to life a character with a beating heart in a way that genuinely affects people, then we’re doing something truly meaningful.”If Ortiz is indeed nominated for Best Supporting Actor, fans of this year’s hopeful blockbuster could start to believe that the times, they are a-changin’. The move might also generate early buzz around next year’s Oscars ceremony after ratings for the 98th Academy Awards hit a four-year low in the U.S.. The post Project Hail Mary Throws Oscars Curveball with Surprise Contender appeared first on Den of Geek.