F. Murray Abraham

This post's title is a combination of this Sunday's two big events--a Gospel Doctrine lesson on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and the Academy Awards, where F. Murray won the Best Actor Oscar (for his role in Amadeus) in 1985. (Watch that clip, if nothing else to see Sam Waterston with dark hair. I thought McCoy was born with gray hair.)

To further the mashup, here are my Oscar picks, with all winners taken from the readings for the upcoming lesson. (You can see the actual nominees here.)

BEST PICTURE

This is clearly the best picture! For more information, click here.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Abraham, duh. He was the main character, plus he literally acted on every instruction he received from the Lord.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

No winner. Come on, people, this is the Bible--no women had leading roles! Just kidding (but only a little). Sarah wins here by default.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Isaac. He really nailed the emotion of a man who is torn between wanting to obey his father and not wanting to die. Better luck next year, Ishmael.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

The statue goes to Hagar, who once again must play second fiddle to Sarah.

DIRECTING

This one goes to the Lord Jehovah, the ultimate director. Existential question: who would God thank in an awards show acceptance speech?

WRITING--ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Moses. The first 17 lessons this year are from the books of Moses, so he kind of dominates this category.

WRITING--ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Book of Abraham, from The Pearl of Great Price. There is some controversy over the origins of this book, but one thing is for certain--the stories from chapter 1 about Abraham's near-death experience and the founding of Egypt are definitely not in the Old Testament.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Genesis 15. There's a lot of vivid imagery here, including Abraham beholding all the stars in heaven, and later beholding "an horror of great darkness" (verse 12).

COSTUME DESIGN

The priest of Elkenah, pictured above. Check out that sweet black ensemble with loincloth and shoulder strap.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Your winner--foreskins! In Genesis 17, Abraham was circumcised--at age 99! Ouch! That would've greatly altered his reproduction design. (I know that's not the right category, but work with me here.)

VISUAL EFFECTS

The winner is...the angel of the Lord. In dramatic, movie fashion, he made not one but two last-minute saves. Abraham and Isaac were both bound on the respective altars before the angel showed up.

SOUND MIXING

The ram. He was caught in a thicket by his horns. What's that? You say his horns weren't the kind of horns that make sound? Eh, it was a weak category this year.

MUSIC--ORIGINAL SCORE

The Oscar goes to--John Williams?! Man, that guy has been around forever.

That's it. See you on the red carpet!