Lunenburg, NS- In advance of the 2026 Oscars, the first-ever Academy Award for Best Cast has been won by Lunenburg Elementary second grader Bobby Smithers, earned after falling from the school’s tube slide and getting a quick trip to the Fisherman’s Memorial Hospital for repairs.
“A good cast should feel natural, almost like it isn’t there. That’s really the art and science of the craft,” said Nurse Diana Murray, who led Bobby’s care. “It’s like editing, in that you really only notice it when it feels unnatural or less than comfortable. I think the work our team did with Bobby is really best-case scenario. Plus he got in and out quickly, which is hard to do at his age.”
The Oscars have recently added a Best Cast award, the first new category in their 98-year tradition since Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2001. Frontrunners included One Battle After Another and Sinners for their ensemble work and Marty Supreme for its mix of professional and amateur performances. In a surprise result though, it went to the seven-year-old Smithers, who intended at first to use the new slide in the standard way, before inspiration struck and he elected to climb up the wooden frame to ride down the top of the tube like he was surfing.
The frontrunners were believed to have lost votes for not actually having any casts on screen. Meanwhile, Mr Smither’s audiences were reported to find his effort “outlandish”, “unusual” and eventually “a little disturbing and loud.”
The patient expressed humility in the face of the accolades. “To be honest,” he said. “I thought that they’d give the trophy to Mina. When she broke her leg at field hockey last summer they gave her one of those boots you can walk in. Those are cool. But mine is blue at least. Also, when I had to hold still for the X-ray, the lady said I held still the best. Maybe that’s why I won?”
Later in the ceremonies, Bobby’s younger sister Erica won the prize for Best Art Direction for her drawing of a flying dog she used to decorate her brother’s cast.
