So I'm watching the Pursuit of Happyness right now and did a little research to figure out if Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for it...he was. But he didn't win. That was the same year Forrest Whitaker won for the Last King of Scotland, also nominated: Peter O'Toole for Venus, Leo Dicaprio for Blood Diamond, and Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson. That's a talented crowd with some great performances.
I thought about how much I wanted certain people or movies to win when I watch. How I build up my favorite to make it seem like the obvious choice. In hindsight, the competition seems pretty obvious. So I looked back again.
2001: Denzel Washington wins for Training Day. Who'd he beat out? Will Smith in Ali, Sean Penn in I Am Sam, and Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind....oh yeah. How bout that year?
1994: Tom Hanks wins for Forrest Gump. Non-winners: Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool, John Travolta in Pulp Fiction AND Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption.
1993: Tom Hanks wins for Philadelphia beating out Liam Neeson in Schindlers List
That's just a few examples.
I guess what it comes to is that while that little gold man statue seems really important, it doesn't diminish the other performances over time. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, Robin Williams in The Fisher King or Dead Poets Society, Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves, Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Hollands Opus...all nominated, but didn't win. Their performances are still outstanding, none-the-less.
Oh yeah, I was looking up just Best Actor nomination....how bout some women?
2002: Nicole Kidman wins for The Hours, beating out Selma Hayek in Frida and Hours co-star Juliane Moore in Far From Heaven
2005: Reese Witherspoon wins for Walk The Line over Felicity Huffman in Transamerica and Charlize Theron in North Country
1997: Helen Hunt wins for As Good As it Gets over Kate Winslet in Titanic
1987: Cher in Moonstruck beats out Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction
1968: The Academy couldn't even decide and decided that a tie should be awarded for Kathrine Hepburn in A Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl
Seriously. For as much hype as these awards get. They don't legitimize a performance at all.
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1 comment:
Too true. Although, I have to admit, I was ecstatic with the recognition shown to The Return of the King in 2004, I think it was. An outstanding performance however, stands all on its own.
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