10 Times Actors Won Oscar's For The Wrong Role
Leonardo Dicaprio Wins For The Revenant. Should've Won for: The Wolf Of Wall Street.
The Revenant according to Leonardo Dicaprio is the most grueling film that he has filmed to date. While he puts in a solid performance as Hugh Glass and I admire him for working through such difficult situations filming this project, it is not his best film. Sure the cinematography, the score, the landscape and Tom Hardy's supporting role as John S. Fitzgerald are all great. However, the real story of Hugh Glass is about forgiveness not this revenge tale.
Besides, Leonardo Dicaprio put in one hell of a performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf Of Wall Street a couple of years prior. Leo did such a great job playing this lying, cheating, money hungry, drug addict asshole it's difficult to believe that he was didn't enjoy playing that role.
Tom Hanks Wins For Forrest Gump & Philadelphia. What He Should’ve Won For: Saving Private Ryan & Cast Away.
Saving Private Ryan based on WWII was directed by the one and only Stephen Spielberg. The ensemble cast is absolutely amazing and it does one hell of a job capturing the dangers of WWII and what these men went through. Tom Hanks plays John H. Miller a U.S. captain whose goal is to rescue Private Ryan (played by Matt Damon) behind enemy lines.
Sure, Forrest Gump has it's moments, but that film hasn't exactly aged the best. Seeing Tom Hanks play this frightened U.S. captain struggling from PTSD is really just jaw dropping good. The emotional damage the war left soldiers such as John H. Miller is really a detriment to their character.
As far as Philadelphia goes, the movie is excellent. However, Denzel Washington is just as responsible for the success of that film and he didn't even receive a nomination. I think Tom Hanks winning an Academy Award for Philadelphia for playing a lawyer fired for being gay and having AIDS is disrespectful to the gay community and created this false narrative that people attracted to the same gender only contracted such an illness. Meanwhile, in Cast Away, Tom Hanks literally almost died filming this film and put his body through hell about a story of a desperate husband/father who gets lost at sea during a storm and has to fight for his life on an abandoned island until he is rescued.
Daniel Kaluuya Wins For Potraying Black Panther Member, Fred Hampton in Judas & The Black Messiah. What He Should've Won For: Get Out.
Judas And The Black Messiah, tells the real life story of Black Panther Party member, Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) being betrayed by an uncover FBI informant, William O'Neal (played by LaKeith Steinfield) in the late-60's in Chicago. While, LaKeith and Daniel both put in very phenomenal performances tackling this real life subject there are some inaccuracies of the Black Panther Parties portrayal. One of them being that the late Fred Hampton was a lot younger than Daniel Kaluuya during the time of filming.
Get Out is what should've earned Daniel Kaluuya his first Academy Award. In Get Out Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris Washington who gets more than he bargain for when he visits his white girlfriends parents for the weekend. To see a thriller/horror movie of a black man in american fighting against microaggressions, racial stereotypes, class and being fetishized is incredibly terrifying and uncomfortable to witness. This film is very eye opening to non black Americans who don't know what we go through on a daily basis. The line: “I want those eyes you see through”, is very important because a lot of people that dislike black people of other POC's strictly hate us because they want to be us.
Will Smith Wins For King Richard. What He Should’ve Won For: Ali & The Pursuit Of Happyness.
King Richard was a passion project for not only Will Smith but also the Williams sisters. It's a biopic of their father, Richard Williams. You can tell by the interviews and Red carpets that this film was something that needed to be told. Some people were upset that it didn't focus on the Williams sisters, however, they're attached as producers on the film and it has their father's name in the title. Not only is this one of Will Smiths best performances but it's one of the best Biopics in my opinion.
One thing that people remember the most from the film is not Will Smith winning the Academy Award but want happened earlier that night. It's been 2 & a half years let it go people. But Will Smith puts in one hell of a character change as Ali in the Biopic of the same name. From his speech patern to his movements in the ring. And The Pursuit of Happyness is such a raw emotions of feelings that it's hard not to feel teary eyed.
Denzel Washington Wins For Training Day. What He Should’ve Won For: Malcolm X.
Training Day marked the first film where Denzel Washington played a villain. In this film he plays Alonzo Harris a crooked cop who enjoys getting over on people. The film isn't necessarily Denzel best acting performance, but it is great for a character analysis for Alonzo Harris and Jake Hoyt (played by Ethan Hawk) and how they're morals make them who they are. It's a great film to vibe to and is one of my favorite films that take place in a day.
But if you were to ask me which Denzel performance is better: Malcolm X or Training Day, then I'm going with Malcolm X. Denzel Washington was no slouch to bringing this iconic pro black activist to life. While, a lot of research was put into this film to accurately bring Malcolm X to life, Denzel Washington was also able to add more life to the character with incredible improvisation. Not only that but Denzel Washington also put himself in the shoes of a Muslim man by not eating pork and even studying the Quran to get in the right mindset of Malcolm X.
Anne Hathaway Wins For Broadway Adaption Of Les Misérables. What She Should’ve Won For: The Devil Wears Prada.
Now, I will admit I have not seen Les Misérables. It's been over a decade and I haven't seen it. There are only a few musicals that I enjoy, but I will get to it some day. I am aware that Anne Hathaway was miserable making this film and has even gone on record saying, “I had to pretend to be happy" in regards to accepting her Academy Award for this project.
Comedy films are rarely acknowledged at the Academy Awards and when they are they hardly win anything. I think to this day, The Devil Wears Prada is one of my favorite comedy films and one of my favorite films from Anne Hathaway. Meryl Streep is marketed as the lead actress in this film and even received a nomination for this film as the lead. I love Meryl Streep, everyone does. However, Anne Hathaway is actually the leading actor of this film and even has more screen time than Meryl Streep.
One of my favorite scenes of this film is when Nigel tells Andy (played by Anne Hathaway) that modeling isn’t just about dresses and purses and how she actually has to have a passion for it. It's also a great film about body positivity in the fashion business.
Lupita Nyong'o Wins For 12 Years Of Slave. What She Should've Won For: Us.
12 years of Slave was Lupita Nyong'o Breakthrough Performance. I have not gone back to watch this movie since I first watched it. For the love of God I can't take anymore black trauma/white savior films. They only divide us: black people feel uncomfortable and white people feel guilty for not using their privilege to uplift BIPOC people's voices.
Her performance in Jordan Peele's secondary directional film, Us where she plays Adelaide "Addy" Wilson a mother and wife running away from her past until she is haunted by it in the form of doppelganger's who attack her and her family. Aside from Comedy the Horror genre is also disrespected at the Academy Awards. Lupita Nyong'o conveys a lot of her fear through body language not just dialogue. Plus, playing two different characters in the same film isn't the easy thing to do.
Jamie Lee Curtis Wins Gold Trophie For Everything Everywhere All At Once over Stephanie Hsu. What She Should’ve Won For: Halloween (1978).
Aside from her comedic performance in this film can anyone tell me what stands out about Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All At Once? Because as far as I can tell while it has comedic elements in it this is a tragic story about a mother trying to save her daughter from ending her own life while also trying to salvage her marriage. Stephanie Hsu poured her heart and soul into her performance as a damaged daughter who feels abandoned and alone because her mother (portrayed by Michelle Yeoh) feels ashamed of her being queer.
The original Halloween film is still a classic and is one of the best performances of Jamie Lee Curtis career. Even if they weren’t going to give it to Angela Bassett for Wakanda Forever, they could’ve thought of Stephanie Hsu. It felt like this win was an honorary Academy Award (which they give those all the time) for Jamie not winning years prior.
Viola Davis Wins Best Supporting Actress For Fences Due To Category Fraud. What She Should’ve Won For: Same Role But For Lead Actress
Fences is a period peace adapted from the stageplay of the same name by August Wilson. Honestly, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis were both snubbed by the Academy Awards for their performances. Viola Davis did secure an award for this film in the supporting category but she is the only women actor in this film. She has just as much screen time as Denzel Washington and is a great foil to Denzel.
Viola as Rose conveys so much as a wife and mother who has to mask her pain behind a smile to keep her family together. She is essentially the glue that holds the family together when Troy drinks his problems away and takes his frustration of having a bad father and not making it to the big leagues on his kids. The best scene is when Rose expresses to Troy her frustration over him sleeping with another women. To see her emotionally let loose about her also not being happy about where she ended up in her life but still being with him and loving him is so heart wrenching.
Sandra Bullocks Snags Academy Award For Portraying A White Savior In The Blind Side. What She Should’ve Won For: Gravity.
This didn't age too well, now did it? White savior films aren't for BIPOC people. We're not the target audience and those films are just Oscar bait. I’m sorry but making a film about how you're not supposed to be racist doesn't garner my respect or praise. Considering the truth behind this film, it's not that shocking that this is complete and utter bs.
I have yet to see all of Gravity all the way through. I’ve seen small stuff of the film here and there but I still haven’t sat down to watch it. However, from what I've seen of the film it is visually stunning and Sandra Bullock has great chemistry with George Clooney.
