The filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton qualifies for the Golden Globes awards but not the Oscars, all due to technicalities. After obtaining a record-breaking 16 nominations and 11 wins at the 2016 Tony's, Hamilton is back at the forefront with new awards nominations thanks to its release on Disney+ in July 2020. However, while the Golden Globes and SAG Awards seem to be giving the recorded play consideration, the Academy is going in a different direction.
After spending years developing a biographical musical following the Moana. And having built that relationship with Miranda, Disney won a competitive bidding war to distribute a filmed version of Hamilton. The Hamilton team then combined footage from three performances, integrated a few pickups, and edited together a seamless product for Disney+.
Given Hamilton's success, it seemed poised to earn several awards nominations, which it has with the Golden Globes. It's been nominated for "Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy" and "Best Actor - Musical or Comedy" for Miranda as Alexander Hamilton. And that's because, for the Golden Globes, a Musical must be "a comedy or a drama in which songs are used in addition to spoken dialogue to further the plot," which accurately describes Hamilton, even though it was a recorded play. However, there's been a controversy since Hamilton isn't eligible for the Oscars.
While there's no rule preventing recorded plays from competing at the Oscars, there is a piece of verbiage added in 1997 for the documentary features and shorts categories, which states, "Works that are essentially promotional or instructional are not eligible, nor are works that are essentially unfiltered records of performances." When pressed on the issue of this content performed and recorded four years prior and produced primarily for another medium, the Academy's Awards Rules Committee convened and decided to exclude Hamilton from contention on the basis that "The Awards Rules Committee will evaluate all matters of rules and eligibility."
2020's unprecedented nature has extended through awards season, and in spite of the flexibility such circumstances have afforded some projects, Hamilton remains ineligible for an Oscar. Perhaps Miranda's comments on an eventual true film adaptation of Hamilton would bolster the Academy's decision (via Variety): "I don’t know what a cinematic version of Hamilton looks like. If I had, I’d have written it as a movie." It remains to be seen whether this instance will rewrite the Academy rulebook in the future, but if anything's for sure, it's that Miranda's chances at an EGOT are far from over.
