With each Oscar season that passes us by, Leonardo DiCaprio remains Oscar-less. It’s become a tradition of sorts, for the Academy to bestow the award to any one of the other actors nominated alongside DiCaprio. No matter how batty the role is, no matter what he had to do to prepare for it, or how hard he campaigns for it, nothing can seem to win the former teen heartthrob his beloved trophy.
At the risk of setting the actor up for failure, this might just be the year he takes home the gold. DiCaprio is starring in Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu’s followup to the Oscar-winning “Birdman.” “The Revenant,” which co-stars Tom Hardy, focuses on a fur trapper, Hugh Glass [DiCaprio], in the 1820’s who is betrayed, robbed and left for dead by his accomplices following a deadly bear attack. The film follows Glass as he attempts to get his revenge.
Though not opening to audiences until early next year, following a limited release starting on Christmas Day, buzz is naturally following the film and DiCaprio’s involvement. Reports say that awards analysts have been hired to strategically campaign the film for Oscars and see the film turns a profit after filming delays led to an expanded budget of $135 million.
It remains to be seen if this will all come to pass, and whether or not DiCaprio’s past ‘snubs’ can carry him to a win after four losses. But has the actor really been ‘snubbed’ like everyone likes to think, or was the competition simply better? Let’s take a look by examining his nominated performances through the years.
- 1994: Best Supporting Actor, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,”
Before DiCaprio stole our hearts as Jack in “Titanic” there was Arnie from “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” Arguably his star making turn, this remains the actor’s best performance. It’s clearly researched work, but never comes off as feeling too rehearsed. In fact, what makes this performance so fantastic is that there’s bursts of life in every single movement, every tic and every spontaneous outburst. At only the age of 19, DiCaprio managed to out-act every single veteran he was nominated with, including the winner, Tommy Lee Jones. It’s a shame Hollywood politics kept a then unknown DiCaprio from winning against more household names.
2. 2005: Best Actor in a Leading Role, “The Aviator”
Lost to: Jamie Lee Fox, “Ray”
“The Aviator” marked DiCaprio’s second collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, and the beginning of a partnership between the two. The film served as a biopic for American film director and inventor Howard Hughes, with DiCaprio in the title role. At this point in his career, this was probably DiCaprio’s most high-profile role to date, and certainly the one that screamed “Oscar!” the loudest. The performance still holds up today as one of the actor’s best; partnered with Scorsese’s technical direction, the two create a brilliant portrait of the late Hughes. However, I can’t begrudge the winner of this category, Jamie Foxx, who literally threw his mind, body and soul into his performance as music legend Ray Charles.
3. 2006: Best Actor in a Leading Role, “Blood Diamond”
Lost to: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
DiCaprio’s third career nomination is something of a head scratcher. The actor had two high profile performances, one in “Blood Diamond” and another in “The Departed.” Not only was “The Departed” a better film (it would go on to win Best Picture and Director) but it received more Oscar nominations and contains the better DiCaprio performance. That aside, the Academy chose to nominate DiCaprio’s work in “Blood Diamond” which is a shame because it’s not particularly good, or even memorable performance. But no matter what performance DiCaprio was up for, I highly doubt he would’ve stood a chance against the eventual winner, Forest Whitaker, whose towering, terrifying and complex performance as dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland” beat out every other performance given by an actor that year.
4. 2013: Best Actor in a Leading Role, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Lost to: Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Looking back at this category, it’s insane how strong this category was— save for Christian Bale’s hammy performance in “American Hustle— and something of a miracle that DiCaprio even landed a nomination, though I’m glad he did. There were so many on the fringe contenders this year duking it out till the very end for the final five slots, including Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips” Oscar Isaac in “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and DiCaprio himself in Scorsese’s late breaking “The Wolf of Wall Street. Ultimately, “The McConaissaince” and the overall popularity of “Dallas Buyers Club” was too much to keep Matthew McConaughey from winning. As great as DiCaprio is, he’s not even my second choice for a winner, a testament to how strong this category was, more of a third place winner. But it’s hard to deny just how hard he worked to play con man Jordan Belfort, displaying a physical understanding of acting unlike anything I’d seen from him before. If one thing is clear, it’s that DiCaprio and Scorsese make magic together.
No comments:
Post a Comment