I woke up today and checked out BAFTA nominations. To my surprise, Leonardo DiCaprio was nowhere to be found in Best Supporting Actor category for his work in Django Unchained. Now, some of the people gave up hope and are saying there is no way he is getting nominated tomorrow. I myself can't wonder about that anymore because it gives me a headache.The Academy made many snubs over the years and the ones that always surprised me most happened when an actor was nominated for Golden Globes, yet missed out on Oscar nomination. It was hard to narrow the worst snubs of the last 12 years to just 5 - there are so many. The ones I listed here are just the people who didn't even get a nomination - if I were to make a list of people who won, though fellow nominees deserved it more, I'd spent 2 days making this post.
I hope it will cheer you up. How? What the hell I'm talking about? Let me explain - I want to remind you all that worse things have happened. Even if DiCaprio is snubbed tomorrow, it won't be the first time, nor it will even be for his best work. Below is the list of the snubs that continue to make me furious, years after they happened:
(Honorable mentions: Tilda Swinton in Julia, but she wasn't really in the race as she was snubbed throughout the Oscar season, Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener and Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon)
5. Naomi Watts, Mulholland DriveGolden Globe nomination? No.
Though Watts's performance here is my all time favorite performance, I'm including her on fifth place because she didn't get much award love. People weren't predicting her to be nominated. That snub baffles me as it is clear that the members of the Academy saw the movie - David Lynch got nominated for Best Director. Watts eventually got nominated for 21 Grams but her work in Mulholland Drive is much more impressive and memorable.
4. Ryan Gosling, Blue ValentineGolden Globe nomination? Yes.
Both Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling were fabulous in the movie, yet it's only her who went on to receive a nomination. Gosling, same as DiCaprio, is one of the most frequently snubbed actors - him being snubbed for Drive last year caused riots in the Internet, though I've been more appalled by the Academy overlooking his excellent performance in The Ides of March. Blue Valentine is, for me, the best performance by Gosling - he was the heart of the movie and he made us feel for his character which wasn't easy.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary RoadGolden Globe nomination? Yes.
DiCaprio was snubbed last year for J.Edgar, but for me the most horrible thing was when he wasn't nominated for Revolutionary Road. I maintain that this should have been Kate Winslet's Oscar win - instead due to Harvey Weinstein and Miramax's usual efforts (which ironically may help Leo get nominated tomorrow) she won for far worse work in The Reader which was also one of the biggest category frauds I witnessed. But back to DiCaprio - Winslet was fantastic but DiCaprio was the one to watch. He was just fabulous on screen and reminded me of young Marlon Brando with his passionate work and the lengths to which he pushed his acting. And the look on his face in the film's final moments (picture above) is quite simply unforgettable.
2. Viggo Mortensen for every single one of The Lord of The Rings movies - three snubs in the row.Golden Globe nomination? Not even once.
This snub is actually one huge snub with three snubs in it. Three years in a row that happened. It's been a decade and it still makes me angry. Whenever I rewatch Peter Jackson's incredible trilogy I'm just stunned by the amount of incredible performances and the - almost complete - lack of award recognition for these wonderful actors. In three years the only person who got Oscar nomination was Ian McKellen for The Fellowship of the Ring. He lost to Jim Broadbent in Iris. But Viggo Mortensen, as fantastic as McKellen was, delivered the most amazing performance in the trilogy and it's beyond me how the hell did Academy give 11 Oscars to The Return of the King, without even giving a nomination to the actual King. When Gladiator won, you awarded Gladiator. When The Artist won, you awarded The Artist. So...what the fuck?
1. Michael Fassbender, ShameGolden Globe nomination? Yes.
There are still no words to describe how I feel.
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Yep agreed.
ReplyDeleteFassy, Leo and the Gos were amazing. I think Andrew Garfield should have been nominated for The Social Network.
The total disregard towards Harry Potter pains me the most. Like hell, they didn't even get to present. Everyone from Twilight did.
I still don't understand what the hell was their problem with Potter.
DeleteBlerg, snubs. Oscars carry no bearing over the quality of a performance. It shouldn't be taken seriously. Don't let it get you down.
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't but it's what drives many actors - the desire to have one. So it's a shame when wrong people are awarded.
DeleteI'm guessing they're mostly over it. We all should be, too.
DeleteAlmost everyone cares about getting proper recognition for their work and efforts. Actors aren't different.
DeleteSurely Christopher Nolan not being nominated in the Best Director category for Inception is one of the biggest snubs ever. If ever a picture was ALL about the direction it was Inception.
ReplyDeleteThis is only the list about the actors, but I'm not a big fan of Inception. I wouldn't have a problem with him being nominated, though.
DeleteThe Gosling snub for Valentine was horrible and odd given that Williams was nominated. Same goes for Fassbender in Shame, he could have been nominated 3x last year in my eyes (Shame, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre).
ReplyDeleteA pick of my own: Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale from The Prestige.
Exactly if both of them wouldn't get in that's one thing, but omitting him when she was in? Weird.
DeleteThey were both excellent in The Prestige.
I had a feeling Revolutionary Road would be here, with your comment the other day on my site!
ReplyDeleteFor me,Ezra Miller deserves a golden globe or oscar, his varied work in We Need to Talk About Kevin & The Perks of Being a Wallflower is terrific, I can hardly believe it's the same actor in those two movies!
I've heard Naomi Watts has done great work in The Impossible, so there is still a chance, she's got the globe nom this year :)
Agree about Ryan Gosling, he was also snubbed for Lars and the Real Girl.
He was very good but I think the more glaring omission from Kevin is Tilda Swinton, she was amazing in the film.
DeleteI think they will nominate either Riva or Wallis instead of Naomi, but who knows what can happen :)
So true - he was incredible in "Lars and the Real Girl"!
Swinton made that movie. If there was ever a Lead Actress in a film, she was it. Stupid decision.
DeleteI thought the fact they snubbed her and Theron for YAdult was awful.
DeleteI can agree to this list. Here's some I want to mention.
ReplyDeleteScarlett Johansson for either Lost in Translation or Girl with a Pearl Earring as she won a BAFTA for the former.
Gene Hackman for The Royal Tenenbaums which he won a Golden Globe for.
Jim Carrey for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
and Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky which she won a Golden Globe for as well.
I think the votes for Johansson were split that year, big shame too.
DeleteThose are all good picks. Unfortunately Academy tends to ignore comedies, even if someone wins GG for one.
Though I haven't seen all of the performance, seems like all of them are worthy of a nom. I was very surprised to see Fassy's name absent from last year's list. I thought it was a shoo-in! And you know I agree with you wholeheartedly about Viggo!
ReplyDeleteI also second Nikhat that Andrew Garfield should have been nominated for The Social Network!
They always have surprise nomination too bad last year's they didn't include Fassy just to do it :/
DeleteThat's so great, because there really isn't enough love for this performances!
I wasn't a fan of Garfield's work but I thought he was better than Eisenberg who got nominated.
At this very moment, my mom is watching Shame and I'd be surprised if she didn't tell me that Fassbender was brilliant! I mean, okay, don't get an Oscar, fine, but what the fuck at not even getting a nomination!?
ReplyDeleteTo be fair though, all my favorites, Gosling, Fassbender, Gordon-Levitt - have yet to win big! Two of them have Globe nominations and Gosling has an Oscar nomination from 2007 but they have been bringing out AMAZING movies over the past few years! How? What? And, can I just say, Bigelow, seems like a political move - female director, another movie, must include her.. Haven't seen ZD30 but I remember not loving Hurt Locker so..
Rant over and out.
That was ridiculous. If he didn't get GG nom that's one thing but this?
DeleteI think ZD30 is the most calculated movie of the year and I don't know why she felt so entitled to make this movie and suggest we are watching facts when it's just another attempt at capitalize on political situation and grab awards. People say Les Miz is baity, but not like that.
LOL @ your "Dreamy Aragorn" gif Sati. You crack me up. :D
ReplyDelete...cool?
DeleteIt's cool in a funny way if you're a straight male. LOL. I can just picture girls sighing over it. :D
DeleteYour blog is always cool. ;)
Ahhhh, absolutely they do :) Though my girlfriends usually sigh when Legolas is on screen :P
DeleteIf Leo gets snubbed, I'm going bat shit on the Academy. All jokes aside, looking at Leo's acting resume, and considering how many good roles he's played since Gilbert Grape, I'm beyond baffled that he's won zip yet. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's even weirder? That they gave Foxx the Oscar in 2005 over Leo when the was the one who got the Globe.
DeleteThe fact that Olivia Colman wasn't even nominated for Tyrannosaur is an absolute travesty, the fact that the film was snubbed in every category just compounds the negative feeling I now have for the play-it-safe cowards who make up "The Academy".
ReplyDeletePlay-it-safe is the best way to describe them.
DeleteYou should use the Golden Globes as the pre-Oscar standard for the forerunners, they're notoriously unreliable, and they're the Hollywood Foreign, they're the bottomfeeders of the bottomfeeders. The Oscar have thousands of voting members, while the Golden Globes, have a few hundred at best. They happen to through a great party, and that gets them on TV (Which wasn't always the case) but the best thing to use for comparison are the Guild Awards, SAG, DGA, WGA, etc. (Although the latter, has some bizarre that can make them bad prognosticators) if they've announced the nominations yet (A few haven't, 'cause the A.M.P.A.S. moved all their dates up this year, for some reason)or I've noticed the Critics Choice Awards are fairl close to accurate. Use the Baftas, use the others, but the Golden Globes are not that well-respected, anywhere in Hollywood. Their interesting, but they're really not the Awards to predict Oscars on.
ReplyDeleteI do know what Globes are. I don't know why you use highly derogatory "bottomfeeders of the bottomfeeders" but the common opinion is they are prestigious and the second best after Oscar. You may not share this view, but I do.
DeleteI don't use them to predict the Oscars on. But most of the actors awarded with Globes usually get the Oscars. I included the GG noms here 'cause I enjoy them and respect them. This is not a prediction post, this is snubs post, based on the actual Oscars snubs that happened.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteLast year was the first year I followed it correctly and I was so outraged Drive and Gosling got no love. I've now learnt and understood that the group is full of old people, so at least my expectations are now in check for future Oscars!
Thank you!
DeleteYeah Drive really deserved better. I think the fact how old the members are were even more evident with Shame snubs.
Excellent post! I agree with you on the performances you spotlighted, though I haven't seen #3 and #5 yet.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You should see Revolutionary Road, great performances and very underrated movie.
DeleteWholeheartedly agree about Fassbender, that is one of the worst snubs I can remember. Well, just the fact that the film in general was overlooked is a sin! Well now we know that Leo isn't nominated, I'd say it's done partly to hard luck in the fact that Christoph Waltz was also in Django. I've not seen it yet but I think if he wasn't in it then Leo would have a better chance. I think Skyfall barely getting a mention this year is quite a big snub too.
ReplyDeleteYeah but Skyfall got 4 nominations, TDKR got nothing :( I think they should have campaigned Waltz as lead, he is actually a co-lead in Django for me, that would definitely give Leo a better chance to score a nomination.
DeleteGreat choices. I agree with every one of them. Mortensen was better than McKellen, and should've at least been nominated for his performance in Fellowship. And though Fassbender is my #6 leading male performance from 2011, I totally agree that he deserved to be nominated, at least as a consensus pick.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's such a shame Fass remains without a single Oscar nomination :/
DeleteJust watched Blue Valentine and I definitely have to agree with you about that Gosling snub. Man, that was an amazing performance.
ReplyDeleteHe was INCREDIBLE. I liked Williams' work but Gosling was even better.
DeleteFassbender's snub was just unforgivable. Mulligan should have gotten in too.
ReplyDeleteI agree, she was very good and certainly worthy of a nomination.
Delete