Hudson Valley Company Shares Oscar Statue Secrets

We talked to the company creating this year's Academy Award statues and discovered some secrets about Oscar.

Adam Demchak, the VP and General Manager of Polich Tallix in Rock Tavern, was approached by the Academy about a year ago, asking to take over production of the prized statues. As a bronze foundry, Polich Tallix was tasked to create an updated version of Oscar, made from solid bronze.

The foundry, located in Orange County, took scans of a modern-day Oscar and combined it with a 3-D scan of an original 1928 Oscar to create the new version. After the design phase was over, 57 awards needed to be produced for the big night. With only a brief, three-month window to get things done, Demchak and his staff have been working hard since December to get everything ready for next Sunday's ceremony.

Not only did the company have to produce the 57 awards, they also had to create base plates with all of the winners' names. Of course, secrecy of the winners is extremely important so plates were created for every nominee in each category. After the envelope is opened on stage, the Academy Award recipient is actually handed an Oscar without their name on it. Later, at the Governor's Ball, their nameplate is officially affixed to the statue.

Demchak shared some more behind-the-scenes secrets about the awards and answered our big question; Was he tempted to make an extra Oscar for himself?  If it were us, we'd have a Best Actor award with our name on it sitting on the mantle. Check out what he had to say about Academy Award secrecy and security below.