Amy Adams

It’s hard to imagine what more Amy Adams needs to do to get an Oscar, what more can she give, and what role can she take on? She has been a better Disney princess than most Disney princesses, she has acted alongside Kermit the Frog, and starred in one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time which is also one of the most heart-breaking and beautiful films of all time – Arrival. So despite six nominations, Amy Adams has never won an Oscar since DiCaprio won an Oscar and is probably the most obvious actor working without one.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – Any of the scenes in Arrival where Amy Adams or the audience realises what is going on.

Ralph Fiennes

Fiennes has been making great films for decades now (not The English Patient though) and could have won for any number of films. He is best known for his dramatic roles in films like Schindler’s List or Quiz Show, but in more recent years has took on a number of comedic roles and excelled; Fiennes almost steals the show in In Bruges where arrives halfway through the film managing to escalate the swearing and violence against telephones. He is a stereotypical Oscar-winning actor who has not won an Oscar.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – The Grand Budapest Hotel, despite being a delicate middle-aged concierge launching himself fiercely at fascists to defend his friend.

Toni Colette

Toni Colette has been amazing on screen at least as early as Muriel’s Wedding in 1994. A wonderful actor who can mix comedy and sadness perfectly. Only nominated once for Sixth Sense her performance in Hereditary was thought to be a contender only to fail to be even nominated – which many including me put down to the Academy’s disdain for horror.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – Perhaps the “I Am Your Mother” scene from Hereditary but its hard not to pick the ABBA performance in Muriel’s Wedding.

Mads Mikkelsen

Surely one of the best actors working today Mads Mikkelsen has a string of roles worthy of an Oscar win; recent candidate was Another Round but only one amongst many. The Hunt, A Royal Affair are two more brilliant dramatic performances, while his portrayal as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale was surely one of the biggest reasons that film was so successful.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – the final dance scene in Another Round.

Stanley Tucci

An actor who simply being mentioned is in a film will pique the interest of a fan of the art form. Tucci is a charming actor and in roles like The Lovely Bones, Julie and Julia and Margin Call he has given great performances. The fizzing charm Tucci brings to roles like Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games trilogy is revitalising (ps see The Hunger Games trilogy for great actors not to have won Oscars – Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Jeffrey Wright, Toby Jones…)

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – Margin Call – Tucci gives a beautiful monologue concerned with the reduction of commuting times for workers.

Sally Hawkins

Sally Hawkins is an absolute delight. A wonderful actor and capable of amazing performances. Whilst there is certainly much more to Hawkins’ career than The Shape Of Water it is a phenomenal performance. It is beautiful and to those who have not seen the film…her character Liza cannot talk, she uses sign language which usually has no subtitling for the audience and relies on the other characters to translate but still able to convey huge emotions deftly. Hawkins’ breakout role was in Happy-Go-Lucky a film which allowed Hawkins to be tremendously funny, sweet, vulnerable and more, showing for all her silly antics she has such strength. And it is hard to not instantly fall in love with her portrayal of Mrs Brown in Paddington as a bastion of human kindness.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – The Shape of Water – arguing with her friend about rescuing the “monster” as she grows increasingly angry.

Ethan Hawke

Hawke is a great actor who has four nominations: two for acting and two for best adapted screenplay but is yet to win. Hawke has been a fantastic actor for decades, first gaining acclaim in Reality Bites and then Before Sunrise (and the other two films in the truly spectacular Before trilogy). He starred in the underrated sci-fi gem Gattaca championing human spirit over a dystopian genetic supremacy, as well as co-starring in Training Day alongside Denzel Washington. He had a go at the actor dream role of Hamlet and has shown himself capable of playing troubled artistic souls and everyman characters you can identify with.

Most Oscar Worthy Scene – Before Sunset – the final scene in which he sits listening to Julie Delpy talk, being utterly charmed by her and knowing he will miss the plane that would have taken him away from her.

Also Read: For Your Consideration: Sci-Fi, Comedy & Oscar Snubs

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Turning Down Roles & Making Demands

One of the major issues in casting in modern Hollywood is actors playing characters of different ethnicities, cultures, etc., Bradley Cooper’s upcoming film Maestro had been dogged by complaints that Leonard Bernstein should not be played by someone who isn’t Jewish. In what for virtually any other actor would have been considered turning down a career-defining role Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather because he thought “Italians should play Italians” and he had no business taking on such a part. Jack Nicholson already had a couple of career-defining roles so perhaps that made it easier to pass.

War films have been a staple of cinema since the beginning of cinema and much as been said about whether can you have an “anti-war” war film. One film that few people would call anti-war was Top Gun, which sometimes blurred the line between an exciting war film and a recruiting ad for the American military. Matthew Modine was originally considered for the role of Maverick, ultimately played by Tom Cruise, but Modine passed on the film because of his anti-war politics. Instead, Modine took the lead role of Joker in Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick’s devastating attack on American military culture and the Vietnam War.

When James Cromwell was offered the part of Logan Roy’s brother Ewan in Succession, he had a few conditions, the most important being that Ewan would be ideologically opposed to everything Logan Roy and his company stood for. He lambasted Logan for lowering the public discourse, cheapening culture, climate change denial and more. This matches Cromwell’s own politics and meant a great deal to him. Given that, it seems that the Succession writers feel much the same way it probably wasn’t too difficult to accommodate Cromwell.

Much missed comedic actor Robin Williams refused to take part in Aladdin 2 after a falling out with Disney. Williams had been excited to be in Aladdin but did not like the marketing campaigns that came with Disney films, he didn’t want to be featured in millions and millions of toys, posters etc. Disney agreed but the subsequent merchandising storm that followed had Williams feel Disney had broken their agreement with him and wouldn’t have anything to do with the sequel.

Awards

One of the most famous examples of an actor refusing an award was Marlon Brando when he refused to be present for his Best Actor Oscar win for his role in The Godfather. Instead of attending Brando sent Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather to collect the award, citing Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans as his reason for refusing it. So shocking was this to some people at the time that John Wayne threatened her and he had to be restrained by security guards. To further complicate matters members of Sacheen’s own family have stated that the family has no Native American heritage.

Brando’s refusal came only two years after George C Scott turned down an Oscar for Patton on the grounds that he didn’t believe actors should compete for awards, describing the ceremony as a “two-hour meat parade”. Just to complete the set the only other person to turn down an Oscar was screenwriter Dudley Nichols in 1935 due to there being a writer’s strike.

Actors will turn down awards and roles for all sorts of reasons, it needn’t necessarily be of political beliefs or a moral stance, and for such an insecure career it must be a difficult decision to turn down a lucrative role or an award you’ve spent your entire career striving for.

Also Read: Hollywood & The Military: A Special Relationship

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Adam Deacon (2012)

Since 2012, the Kidulthood star and Anuvahood director had several days in court. Deacon was sectioned due to mental health troubles and received a restraining order from the now-disgraced Noel Clarke. But after beating his demons he began working again. His Righteous Villains part won him a Vegas Movie Award, he appeared in the Megan Fox film Rogue and is directing his second film Sumotherhood.

Juno Temple (2013)

Juno Temple has maintained a steady workload post-2013. Ranging from the odd Maleficent series to the experimental Unsane, and earning a lot of awards attention for her part in the beloved Ted Lasso. Temple’s work may seem small scale but no matter where she appears she’s always a highlight.

Will Poulter (2014)

His versatility was already known when he accepted his award. But since winning, Poulter was in the successful Maze Runner series, critical darlings Detroit and The Revenant, and highly considered genre projects Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Midsommar. Finally, with Poulter joining the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise as Adam Warlock his star will only continue climbing.

Jack O’Connell (2015)

After his stellar 2013-2014 output Jack O’Connell’s release schedule paused. But he returned in 2016s Money Monster and he scored another performance award for the affecting short film Home. Additionally, he led the acclaimed western series Godless. And he has been cast in Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s upcoming Lady Chatterley’s Lover adaptation. O’Connell has come a long way since Skins.

John Boyega (2016)

Outside of Star Wars, John Boyega’s moves were sometimes unsuccessful (Pacific Rim: Uprising) but Detroit earned him praise, and Small Axe: Red, White, and Blue won him a Golden Globe. His return as Moses in Attack the Block 2, and his part in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s forthcoming The Woman King looks set to continue showcasing Boyega’s unique voice.

Tom Holland (2017)

Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was a sensation. After accepting his BAFTA Holland headlined his own Spider-Man trilogy and had supporting roles in the final Avengers movies. Aside from the MCU Holland starred in the well-regarded Devil All The Time and Onward but Dolittle and Uncharted had poorer reception. With a huge profile and his recent interesting project choices, what will Holland’s future hold?

Daniel Kaluuya (2018)

Get Out and Black Panther (which opened just before the 2018 BAFTAs), showed Daniel Kaluuya’s talent to the world. But magnificent appearances in Widows, Queen and Slim, and Judas and the Black Messiah (which won him an Oscar) cemented him as one of this generation’s best actors. We will soon see him in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Jordan Peele’s Nope.

Letitia Wright (2019)

Claiming her award after universally praised roles like the MCU’s Shuri and Nish in Black Mirror: Black Museum Letitia Wright gained further awards attention for Small Axe: Mangrove. She lent her voice to Sing 2 and joined Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded Death on the Nile adaptation. Currently, she is rumoured to become the lead in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. However recent controversy has many questioning this.

Micheal Ward (2020)

Michael Ward secured BAFTA recognition for Top Boy‘s 2019 series and the controversial Blue Story. Since then, he received more awards nominations for his part in Small Axe: Lovers Rock. And with a starring role in Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light alongside Olivia Colman and Colin Firth coming up he may soon be a big name.

Bukky Bakray (2021)

From her explosive debut in Rocks, Bukky Bakray went on to star in the series You Don’t Know Me. For which she again received praise. She has several projects currently in production. Including the drama Self-Charm and the class-conscious thriller The Strays. After making a huge impact so quickly, Bukky is a talent to watch.

This concludes our look at the last ten years of BAFTA Rising Star winners. Who is your favourite BAFTA rising star and who do you want to see nominated in the future?

Also Read: BAFTA: Steering Towards Greater Inclusion

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Today we’ll investigate the various arguments surrounding gendered awards. Primarily at the Oscars. And ask if we should change them into something else? But let’s begin by briefly looking at the history of gender within film awards.

Here Come the Actresses

The Academy Awards introduced the Best Actress and Actor categories at their first ceremony in 1929. The category’s intent was to give male and female stars equal attention and reward them for their body of work over a certain period. Later the Academy began rewarding players for specific roles. Then in 1937, the Academy launched the Best Supporting Actress and Actor categories to honour great performances given by smaller players. These remain the sole gendered awards at the Oscars.

Battle of the Genders

The most common criticism against the gendered acting categories is that acting doesn’t “inherently” favour any gender. Thus it would be much fairer for everyone to compete against each other rather than keep them segregated. Another objection is that acting remains the only gender split category. There should, however, be no reason to split up acting awards by gender when every other award considers men and women “equally”. Finally, despite trying to provide equal recognition the gendered awards have given little representation to people from marginalised groups.

The point about gendered awards lacking when it comes to diversity holds merit. The judgement of performance based on certain gender signifiers limits trans, non-binary and gender-fluid artists. And actors of colour and actors with disabilities are less likely to be included, regardless of their gender – which needs addressing.

Conversely, some points feel less reasonable. For example, although acting isn’t something that any gender is better at, Hollywood is biased towards cisgender men. They generally receive more roles and money than anyone else. Which gives them greater job opportunities and thus more of an advantage over their counterparts. Especially if the men are white and non-disabled. Additionally, while combining categories seems logical, several major gender-neutral categories show poor results for non-male representation. The only gender-neutral Oscar category to always feature female nominees is Best Costume Design. Meanwhile across 93 ceremonies, only 2 women have won the Best Director award. 1 female cinematographer has received a nomination for best cinematography. And women have won 20 screenplay awards, with men sharing 10 of them. The industry heavily favours cis men. Which makes it harder to defend dissolving the few categories that exclusively reward female workers.

Are We There Yet?

There is certainly a feeling that awards like the Oscars need to change. Other awards bodies, like the Emmys, have recently made moves to include more non-binary performers. Allowing them to enter using the title performer instead of the binary actor or actress. This move marks a huge step forward for inclusivity in the industry.

And there are potential solutions to the previously mentioned issues. Such as including more gendered categories e.g. a Best Female Director category to force Hollywood to show more encouragement to female workers. Categories can also have a greater number of nominees to allow opportunities for more workers to be included. And the push for visibility and recognition of workers of colour, non-binary, trans, gender-fluid and disabled workers must continue.

Conclusion

Many believe the current awards system demonstrates that other genders can’t compete with cis men. It can also alienate those who don’t conform to gender binaries and currently provides little representation to marginalised groups. However, gender “neutral” awards overwhelmingly rewards cisgender men (often white and non-disabled) to the detriment of others. Which doesn’t exactly provide encouragement for wholly scrapping gendered awards.

Solutions are available. Ranging from more nominations to more gendered categories to continuing to push for more diversity. But whatever the industry does it must strive for more inclusion and equality before it can claim that the playing field is equal.

Also Read: Oscars-Winning Directors Who Deserved Their Award For A Different Film

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The Oscars

The Oscars have been going on for decades, the first being held in 1929, and have been held every year since, not letting war, industry strikes and indifference get in the way. Importantly, the Academy, the people who vote for the Oscars, are all in the filmmaking industry. This is in contrast to, say, the Golden Globes, which is voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Membership in the Academy is by being nominated or winning an Oscar, or being nominated by two existing members.

Campaigning

Being nominated or winning an Oscar is not simply about being the best. Studios, and sometimes individuals, campaign for an Oscar. There is a small industry in Hollywood around this, with millions of dollars being spent on advertising and promotional events. There’s not only campaigning for your own, but if you want to do a little damage to another film’s campaign, so be it. When Good Will Hunting was looking like a strong Oscar contender, a rumour started that the film wasn’t written by the stars, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, but by their friend and filmmaker, Kevin Smith. The Oscar business can be pretty cut-throat.

The Right Sort Of Film

I do have a couple of axes to grind with the Academy in terms of who wins Oscars. And while I am still angry, The King’s Speech beat The Social Network for Best Picture, that’s not what I’m going to talk about. There are certain types of films that win Oscars. They tend to be dramatic. They tend to be on weighty topics. They have tragedy in them. Films are often described as Oscar contenders before anyone has seen them, simply by knowing what the film is about. And in my opinion, there are two genres that do not get the level of respect from the Academy that they deserve: science fiction and comedy.

To deal with the latter first, as I said, the Academy loves tragedy. Give them a sad story full of death, illness and struggle, and you’re halfway to your Oscar. But if you make them laugh, they might enjoy it, but you’ll probably not win any awards. Judging by my own criteria, the last comedy to win Best Picture was Woody Allen’s Annie Hall in 1977 (films like The Artist or Argo may have comedic moments, but are not comedies). So no nominations for The Man With Two Brains, This Is Spinal Tap or Shaun of the Dead, films far superior to some Oscar winners. I think comedy is far harder to do than drama, to paraphrase a famous quote that has been attributed to many people – Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.

Next up is science fiction. I went back to 1950 and couldn’t find a Best Picture Oscar-winning film that was science fiction. In Best Director, only Gravity comes close to that category. 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the most iconic and influential movies ever made, wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture and while I’m sure actual nominees Rachel, Rachel and The Lion In Winter are great films, I feel the Academy made a mistake there. The categories that sci-fi films traditionally get nominated in are technical awards. Only recently have superhero films managed to crack into Oscar awards territory; Logan was nominated for Best Screenplay, and Black Panther for Best Picture. Many people think that The Dark Knight’s omission from the Best Picture nominee was what prompted the Academy to increase the number of nominees.

One of the most egregious Oscar snubs of recent years was the film The AV Club recently put at the top of their list of films of the decade – Mad Max: Fury Road. The film did win some Oscars, e.g. Costume Design, Sound Mixing and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, but I was stunned that there was no nomination for Charlize Theron. Not only was Theron brilliant (and already an Oscar winner), but the film ticked a lot of boxes for Oscar films – there was tragedy, there was suffering, and there was drama. Theron’s character, Furiosa, even managed to upstage Max, whose name is in the title of the film.

The comedy equivalent is a bit further back, but the truly brilliant Groundhog Day, which got a grand total of zero Oscar nominations. What more do the Academy want? Groundhog Day is a hilarious comedy, with a unique premise, an amazing central performance from Murray, and is a film that somehow manages to tread a careful line of being funny while musing on the meaning of life. And has numerous suicides.

As I said, Oscar season is soon upon us, and we shall see if this year bucks the trend.

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