An Academy Awards Oscar for a VW MicroBus?

Filed in archive Movies on February 22, 2007

Perhaps the classic Volkswagen bus that performed in the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" should win a "best supporting" role in the Academy Awards. The film is up for four Oscars this Sunday including Best Picture. According to an item in Autoblog "the two biggest highlights of the movie Little Miss Sunshine are the fabulous performance of Alan Arkin as the heroin-addicted, porn-reading grandfather, and the seemingly immortal Volkswagen MicroBus." The reliable Volkswagen bus is the seventh member of the quirky yet heartwarming Hoover family in this amazingly successful road movie, first shown at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

Apparently the actors liked it: Greg Kinnear paid tribute by commenting "I'd like to thank the engineers at Volkswagen for making a beautiful vehicle back in 1969 that was comfortable and so safe." Steve Carrell said "I think that the bus is actually a real actor in this movie." I haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine yet but road movies inevitably make me want to hit the road in search of adventure and this one is certain to set me dreaming of old VW's and romantic places.