I'm Acting as Hard as I Can: Surefire Ways to Win (and Lose) an Oscar
By Jeff Otto
With all the talk of luck and good fortune that peppers acceptance speeches, it might come as a surprise that the path to Oscar glory isn't always that hard to figure out. The Academy certainly has its perennial favorite themes.
Knowing that, actors will gladly take a pay cut in order to throw their hat into the Academy Awards ring. The acclaim that comes from winning an Oscar in most cases guarantees career success for years to come. Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Just ask Cuba Gooding, Jr. or Mira Sorvino.
The 2008 awards season is already in full swing, with a few shameless Oscar bids hitting theaters this month. (Yes, I'm talking to you, Will Smith and Tom Cruise.) As such, we thought the timing was appropriate to take a look at Oscar baiting over the years, both the successes and the failures.
Oscar Bait: From Pretty to Not So Pretty
Successes
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This time around The Joker's trademark grin was the result of a terribly severed face rather than a clever make-up job. In fact, his make-up job was more slapped together than detailed clown paint. Ledger used the creepy look to jumpstart, and elevate, Batman's famed arch-nemesis to a whole new level of sinister, one far beyond the snickering purple-suited no-gooder of performances past. This Joker was a tragic, psychologically warped figure who simply wanted "to watch the world burn." |
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Quite simply one of the most stunning transformations in movie history, Theron's performance often came second to the visual shock of seeing the South African beauty attain the look of Aileen Wuornos. Theron also offered a nuanced performance, channeling the ugly girl within to play the psychologically conflicted real life killer. |
Failures
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When Travolta's agent convinced the actor that now was the time to revive his fledgling career by donning a fat suit and fake boobs a la Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, the Oscar winner should have sought new representation. Truly a career lowlight for Travolta, which is really saying something considering the talking babies of his past. |
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Sure, it might be stretching it to think that perennial Oscar darling Paltrow was truly envisioning a job with the Farrelly brothers as a chance to take home another statuette. But this blatantly schmaltzy "comedy" was neither funny nor heartwarming. And, besides that, how callous of the actress to take away that rare Hollywood role that actually requires an obese leading lady? |
Oscar Bait: Physical and Mental Disabilities
Successes
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After surfacing in the '80s by portraying various incarnations of the same funlovin' character in silly comedies like The Man with One Red Show and The Burbs, Hanks officially completed his transformation to legitimate actor with this touching portrayal of Winston Groom's titular character. He also took home the Best Actor Oscar for the second consecutive year, which should have been enough to erase Joe Versus the Volcano and Tuner and Hooch from audiences' minds forever. |
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He'd already pulled off playing a woman, so the autistic Raymond Babbitt should have been a walk in the park by comparison. One of America's best actors for more than two decades, Hoffman's performance in Rain Man made you completely forget anything the actor had done before. He simply was the Rain Man. Sadly, the performance had the side-effect of opening the floodgates for a sea of Oscar hopefuls banking on mentally challenged roles to bait their Oscar fishing line. (see "Failures" below). |
Failures
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Yes Sean, we know you aren't Spicoli anymore, but do you have to beat us over the head with that fact year after year? Doesn't any of that carefree, fun-loving spirit remain? Apparently not. Penn may well be one of the greatest all-time offenders of Oscar baiting, often appearing to pick his parts solely on the basis of their award potential. How else does one explain this ridiculously schmaltzy 2001 tear-jerker? |
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Face it, Cuba, it ain't gonna happen again. The world was temporarily swept up in the fun of Jerry Maguire's famed "Show me the money!" moment, but Gooding's energetic portrayal of football player Rod Tidwell is all but forgotten by now. A string of turkeys -- including What Dreams May Come, Chill Factor, and Boat Trip -- dimmed Gooding's Oscar glow and made being taken seriously ever again a virtual impossibility. The ham-fisted Radio, in which Gooding plays a mentally challenged individual, drew more sneers than cheers, especially at the epically terrible line spoken by Ed Harris: "We're not the ones teaching Radio; Radio's the one teaching us." |
Oscar Bait: The Biopic
Successes
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Often regarded as one of the greatest performances in film history, Sir Ben raised the bar on the movie biopic in his committed portrayal of Mohandas Gandhi. It didn't hurt a bit that Attenborough's film was so well made, taking home Oscars in virtually every category in which it was nominated. |
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De Niro's performance as tragic pugilist Ray LaMotta is one for the ages. His weight gain received much of the attention, but it's likely Bobby D. would have claimed the Oscar even without the extra pounds. Less about boxing and more about a man who had everything and didn't realize it until it was too late, Bull is often considered the best film of the '80s, although it somehow lost the Best Picture Oscar to Ordinary People. |
Failures
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Pet projects rarely pan out and Spacey's Darin biopic is further proof of the rule. Ever since receiving universal acclaim for his inspired performance as Lester Burnham in American Beauty, Spacey has had a tough time making Oscar smile upon him again. Beyond the Sea is by no means a terrible movie, it's just too long and Spacey is far too old for the part. |
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Sofia Coppola tried to do a little something more (or less, depending on your perspective) with the traditional period biopic, drawing comparisons between the queen and modern media darlings like Paris Hilton. It fell with a thud for more reasons than one. Dunst looked the part but offered little else. As a leading lady, the actress hasn't really stepped up to the challenges of a leading lady. She generally offers a competent performance, but clearly lacks the star quality contemporaries such as Reese Witherspoon possess in spades. |
Bonus: Shameless Oscar Baiting for the Ages
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After American Beauty finally gave this longtime character actor a chance at Hollywood leading man, Spacey responded with a series of particularly shameless attempts to capitalize on the success and maybe claim another statuette along the way. It hasn't exactly panned out, with each attempt garnering worse reviews than the one that came before it. Nearly 10 years since his Oscar victory, Spacey has reverted back to his character actor beginnings. |
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One thing we can always say for Robin Williams: For as many terrible movies as he's done (Flubber, Bicentennial Man, What Dreams May Come), he always seems capable of following with a respectable acting gig that makes everyone forget. This positively awful movie, in which Williams portrayed the aforementioned Dr. Funny, was thankfully washed away by the a dark turn a few years later in One Hour Photo and Insomnia. Okay, Robin, now what are you gonna do about RV? |
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A perfect example of shameless Oscar bait success, Cold Mountain somehow garnered seven nominations and even a Best Supporting Actress award for Renee Zellweger's painfully horrible part as southern-twanged Ruby Thewes. I don't care what anyone says. This movie sucked. |
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Buzz was strong as the release of Augusten Burrough's highly anticipated memoir adaptation approached. The buzz quickly petered out, however, the second people actually saw this mess of a movie. Wildly over-the-top and unintentionally ridiculous, this poor man's Wes Anderson movie is a virtual paint-by-numbers of movie mistakes. |