Harrison Ford, Glenn Close, Bette Midler

“God give it to Harrison!”

One longtime Academy member exclaimed to Variety about industry speculation that Hollywood legend Harrison Ford is the frontrunner to win an honorary award at this year’s Governors Awards. Their passion reflects the growing support for the 83-year-old film icon.

Ford isn’t the only prominent company being discussed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is expected to choose the prestigious Oscar winner by mid-June. For weeks, studios, agents, publicists and other Hollywood insiders have been lobbying Academy leaders and board members. Incidents often happen over lunch or drinks at the Chateau Marmont or through persistent phone calls.

Presumptive winners know little about what is going on for them.

The ceremony, which Jennifer Fox has produced for the past seven times, allows you to choose up to four recipients. Meanwhile, newly revised guidelines call for at least three separate disciplines to be represented in a given year, from acting and directing to editing, cinematography and other bottom-line jobs.

The Academy’s 11,000 members submit hundreds of names for every film. Aside from the Oscar winners themselves, this process has become one of the Academy’s most closely guarded (and successful) secrets. Now, this mandate leaves the board to do what it does best: consider.

Ford arrives just as late as the other winners. An Oscar nominee for Peter Weir’s 1985 thriller The Witness, he is the face of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films and one of the most popular actors in Hollywood history. Ford has already received a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, won an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes and is a front-runner for his first Emmy Award for Apple TV’s “Shrinking.” His supporters believe there is no need to wait another year for a statue. An AMPAS spokesperson declined to comment.

Other names are also gaining support.

The name of influential producer Jerry Bruckheimer, 82, one of the most commercially successful figures in the history of the medium, has been floated, with one person suggesting he is a strong candidate for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Still, presenting the award a year after Tom Cruise’s honorary Oscar win would mean consecutive salutes to the “Top Gun” axis. It doesn’t look very good.

Also up for Thalberg’s trophy are London-based producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, co-chairmen of Working Title, who have produced such hits as Bridget Jones’s Diary and Four Weddings and a Funeral. The pair may be worth celebrating, following in the footsteps of previously anointed duos like 2024 James Bond movie producer Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and 2018 married power couple Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

Numerous sources have told Variety that Glenn Close has been proposed to at least four times in the past decade, and in one particular year was very close to being chosen. She has eight Oscar bids for her body of work, including such unforgettable films as “Fatal Attraction,” and is in the running for either an honorary Oscar or the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The latter argument is made clear by her years of mental health advocacy with Bring Change to Mind, the nonprofit organization she founded in 2010. Close and the late Robin Williams were close friends since they starred together in The World According to Garp (1982), and in honor of his memory, her foundation presents the Robin Williams Laughter Legacy Award at its annual gala. The scars of Close’s loss in The Wife (2018) still linger, and many hope it will be rectified. Another name that has been mentioned in some places is legendary performer Bette Midler. He has a long philanthropic resume in addition to appearing in classic films such as “The Beach” and “The Rose.”

Industry insiders say support for veteran comedian Martin Short, whose close friends include Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Only Bill co-star and former honoree Steve Martin, is “growing.” That tribute reel will be as stellar (and entertaining) as anything in recent memory.

Beneath the passion lies an unpleasant calculation. How much time do the potential winners have?

As we enter a year marred by the passing of beloved talents like Rob Reiner and Catherine O’Hara, people are paying special attention and love to our most cherished living figures. AMPAS often gets it right, like when Donald Sutherland was presented with a statuette in 2017 before his death in 2024. But sometimes it’s too late (i.e. Richard Burton, Stanley Kubrick).

Director Ridley Scott, who missed out on an Oscar for “Gladiator,” is 88 years old, but his name keeps coming up. However, the Academy is reluctant to award awards to those who make films that are likely to be submitted for Oscar nominations. The British filmmaker has The Dog Stars, starring Jacob Elordi, scheduled for release this year. That’s why Mike Leigh, whose new film “Tender Loving Care” is scheduled to be released later in the season, is unlikely to be on the list this time. Notably, songwriter Diane Warren was awarded this honor in 2022. That same year, she was working towards a nomination for “Applause” for “Tell It Like a Woman.”

There wouldn’t be too many objections if one of the leading authors like Gothic horror and fantasy master Tim Burton, the “queen of rom-coms” Nancy Meyers, the hyper-stylized Michael Mann, or the poetic and ethereal Terrence Malick were featured on the board (although the famed recluse Malick is likely to be absent; honorees are usually expected to attend).

And what about the cultural figures who have always been present in our cinematic life? Variety magazine surveyed industry insiders and found that Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek), John Leguizamo (Carlito’s Way) and Rosie Perez (Fear Nominations included popular performers including multihyphenates of black, Latinx and Asian descent, including James Hong (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Joan Chen (The Last Emperor).

However, in the technology sector, overdue artisan supporters are seen vying for positions. Three-time nominated cinematographer Ed Lachman (“Maria”) has been close to being considered for the past few ceremonies, but could resurface. Composer Thomas Newman has been nominated 15 times but has never won, but he has been mentioned before, and one Music Branch member said he was always mentioned among his colleagues. The great Jack Fisk, husband of Oscar winner Sissy Spacek, who became one of the oldest production design nominees in history for Marty Supreme, is rumored to have submitted a name.

However, keep in mind that the selection range is small. It is possible that none of these names will be ultimately selected. Instead, the Academy may now select four industry figures who have been awarded other medals it deems worthy.

And, believe it or not, you can also consider posthumous beneficiaries. According to two AMPAS members, film icon Marilyn Monroe was shortlisted last year, ahead of her 100th birthday. That possibility seems to be laid to rest (for now), as her large-scale exhibition is currently on display at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles.

Of course, as Paul Newman and Spike Lee demonstrated, winning a prestigious Oscar doesn’t preclude you from winning a competitive Oscar. With that in mind, there’s a good chance the artist will be removed from movie buffs’ unofficial list of people who will win an Oscar someday. These include director David Fincher, actor Willem Dafoe, sound mixer Greg P. Russell, and costume designer Jacqueline West.

This begs the question: Was Tom Cruise’s prestigious Oscar coronation premature? Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Digger,” which opens in October, shows the pot-bellied mogul so unrecognizable that he boasts an extravagant transformation that could lead to awards glory.

These results are troubling to vocal enthusiasts.