A longtime admirer of Marilyn Monroe is spending thousands of his own money campaigning for the Academy to give her a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars, claiming her talent was “violated by the entire industry.”
Artist Michael Moebius is agitating for the late icon, who died more than six decades ago, to receive credit for his services to film and entertainment, and has even planned an elaborate $30,000 stunt to catch the attention of movie bosses. the Academy before this year’s ceremony on Sunday. evening.
Michael is also fighting for Hollywood heavyweights James Dean and Elvis Presley to be honored for their “unparalleled contributions to film and culture” and has launched a Change.org petition to help mobilize public support.
“Everyone thinks they have an Academy Award because they are such household names, but they don’t,” he told DailyMail.com exclusively.
A fan of Marilyn Monroe has launched a campaign to get her a posthumous lifetime achievement award at the Oscars.
Artist Michael Moebius joins Marilyn, Elvis Presley and James Dean in receiving the Academy’s nod for their “unparalleled contributions to film and culture.”
‘Everything they did is connected to the entire Hollywood industry. They are like the gods of the entire industry and if you think about it, they all had a sad story.
“They were all violated by the entire industry.”
Michael launched a Change.org campaign in December to pressure the Academy to act, and as of this writing, the petition has been signed more than 56,000 times.
He said: “We are not judging the acting or the music, we are just saying that his achievements for the entire industry and his influence were tremendous.”
“I think everyone will be on our side to give back, because they entertained everyone.”
Michael launched his campaign after trying to imagine an image of Marilyn, James and Elvis accepting Oscars for one of their artistic projects.
When he finally realized that the three had been snubbed, he was motivated to take action and painted the three of them holding Oscars in a year-long imagined piece.
“I was going to paint them together in a beautiful, fun way on a Hollywood night, you know, having a good time,” he said. “But they’ve never been together like this.”
Born in 1926, Marilyn was among the great stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, but has never been recognized by the Academy.
Michael also fights for James Dean (left) and Elvis Presley (right) to be honored by the Academy.
Michael’s business partner Kevin Esfandi is also involved in the ambitious campaign and has questioned why the trio have been “overlooked”.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, he said: “When you look at the list of posthumous Oscars given, lifetime achievement awards given and overall awards given by the Academy and recognitions given by the Academy, it’s quite a long list.”
But you don’t see any of these three names on it.
‘Are they not good enough? Is this an oversight? Are they already so big that it is not necessary to recognize them? But isn’t that a bit backwards? Is that the punishment of leadership? Are you so recognized that you don’t even receive an award?
He is hopeful that this will change soon, as he revealed the elaborate plan to get the Academy’s attention.
Every year in the run-up to the Oscars, Hollywood studios put up huge billboards all over Los Angeles with the nominated films along with the label “for Oscar consideration.”
Michael has teamed up with his partner Kevin Esfandi (left) and the two plan to put up billboards calling for posthumous Marilyn, James and Elvis awards.
He spent a year imagining what Elvis, Marilyn and James would have been like receiving the lifetime achievement Oscars.
“We’ve created very similar comparable ads,” he shared. ‘We have a few different digital billboards put up around the city and we’ll be linking them thematically to the Oscar season.
“We have these huge billboard trucks that have screens on all sides and in the back and we’re literally going to park them in front of their offices.”
Revealing how much money they are investing in the project, Kevin predicted between $20,000 and $30,000.
“It will be worth it,” he said enthusiastically. “It’s important to bring this to the Academy’s attention, and there’s really no better way to get their attention than to put it in front of their faces.”
Born in 1926, Marilyn was among the great stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Throughout his career, he starred in 29 films before his tragic death, at age 36, after an overdose of barbiturates in 1962.
While Marilyn was never nominated for an Academy Award, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical in 1960 for her role in Some Like It Hot.
Marilyn was never recognized by the Oscars, but she did win a Golden Globe before her death.
Elvis was also snubbed by the Academy, despite his illustrious acting career.
James is also considered one of the greatest male movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Born in 1931, he enjoyed great success before his life was cut short, aged 24, in a car accident.
Following his death in 1955, James became the only actor to receive two posthumous Best Actor Oscar nominations: one in 1956 for his role in East of Eden and another in 1957 for his role in Giant.
Despite never winning an Oscar, James received a Golden Globe Award for Special Achievement a year after his death.
Additionally, Elvis starred in a whopping 31 feature films during his lifetime and was once one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood.
While he was greatly decorated for his contribution to music and earned 14 Grammy nominations, three Grammy Awards, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, his performance was not recognized by the Academy.
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 96th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Sunday.