Jan. 16, 2006 issue - Technically speaking, yes, they can. With ballots for Academy Award nominations due on Jan. 21, all that voters have to do to honor Andy Serkis's momentous work as Kong in director Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is scribble in the actor's name on their forms. Although the on-screen ape is computer-generated, Serkis provided the base performance through a technique called motion capture. As a result, he's eligible for a statue. But Serkis probably won't need a tuxedo come Oscar night: just as he was for Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings," he'll almost certainly be overlooked again. Serkis has emerged as the first artist of a nascent discipline of acting—the CGI character—but Oscar voters have a stubborn bias in favor of real, live flesh. [More]