Movie Award Hypothetical

As I understand it, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD already had a performance, on film, ready to go, from Oscar-and-Golden-Globe winner Kevin Spacey; and then, for obvious reasons, they had Oscar-and-Golden-Globe winner Christopher Plummer deliver the same lines on the same sets – possibly while in the same clothes, maybe emphatically waving the same prop around when making the same point or whatever – even as plenty of footage of the other big-name actors simply remained the same.

For all I know, they’re still using one or two Can’t-See-His-Face shots of Spacey.

Plummer is now up for a Golden Globe, and may wind up with an Oscar. So what I’m wondering is – well, remember CLUE? Where three slightly different versions of the film got released in theaters? Clearly that wasn’t going to happen this time, since the whole point is why Spacey got replaced; but my question is, could they have done that, with both actors maybe then racking up award nominations for delivering those same lines amidst rather a lot of otherwise-unchanged footage?

I don’t think any movie has ever been made with two different versions using different actors playing the same part. There have been several movies in which more than one actor played the same character. One of the more famous examples was That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) in which Luis Bunuel had Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina both playing the role of Conchita and switched back and forth between them from scene to scene (for no really explicable reason). A more recent example was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) in which Heath Ledger died during the production. Rather than discard his footage, Terry Gilliam cast Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell in the role and redefined the character as a shapeshifter using footage of all four actors.

One final example which may be closest to what you described. How the Grinch Stole Christmas was recorded in 1966 with Boris Karloff narrating and doing the voice of the Grinch. In 1992, for some reason, a new narration by Walter Matthau was recorded.

But my point is, that is what happened this time, isn’t it? As far as I know, there’s a completed version, with Kevin Spacey, that as we speak could be – but, presumably, never actually will be – released in theaters. I mean, yes, maybe they destroyed it instead; but, for all I know, that alternate movie is just sitting on a shelf: ready for showings that’ll never come, and maybe 90% identical to the variant that’s out there getting nominated for awards but with one key difference.

If a future movie did that, and both hit theaters, would both actors be eligible?

If the two versions played for a week in the LA area, both would be eligible. I can’t see any reason why that wouldn’t be the case.