Desperation has seeped into nearly every nook and cranny of our society. Just look at my favorite sport, professional baseball. Steroids, Amphetamines and all kinds of other performance-enhancing substances have tainted America's Favorite Pastime. The same type of desperation also floats its way around Hollywood. Actors and actresses get engrossed by the pressure of winning a highly-coveted Academy Award. The Oscars are the pinnacle of the acting profession and, many times, even the biggest-named stars will do whatever it takes to bring home the statue (just look at Melissa Leo's unfathomable campaigning for a Best Supporting Actress win in The Fighter).
Oscar-bait roles aren't always a failure though. On occasion they actually pan out and lead to a triumphant conclusion, just look at Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. After missing out on 6 previous acting nominations, Pacino signed on to play a blind Army vet who just happens to be a bit suicidal. Any form of mental deficiency or physical inability tends to cater to many of the impressionable Academy Voters. And for Pacino, the result was his lone Oscar victory.
Obviously Al Pacino serves as a perfect example of when an Oscar-desperate role succeeds, but he's not alone. There's plenty of other instances where similar decisions have sent stars head first into an Oscar race. Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland) and Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) all represent moments in recent history where some of Hollywood's biggest names signed on for an Academy-flavor role and ended up receiving an acting nomination. However, for every successful desperation-role, there's handfuls of others that ultimately fail. Here's my (and co-author Greg Rouleau's) list of the Top Ten Most Desperate Non-Nominated Oscar-Bait Roles of the last decade.
#10. Tom Cruise - The Last Samurai
After coming up short three times at the Academy Awards for performances in Magnolia, Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July, Cruise took the "whatever it takes" approach by signing on for an uncharacteristic role in 2003's end of the year release The Last Samurai. Admittedly, I am a fan of the film and felt that Cruise gave a very solid performance. Yet, the Academy voted in a different direction and the end result was another Oscar miss for the one-time Mega star.
#9. Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Anyone who knows me is aware of the great deal of respect I have for the young and gifted actor Ryan Gosling. After being nominated for 2006's Half Nelson and losing the competition, Gosling rebounded with the 2007 drama Lars and the Real Girl. The People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive runner-up packed on a few pounds and "uglied" himself up for the role (which is something the Academy typically fawns over i.e. Charlize Theron in Monster). For being quite an interesting movie and another strong performance by Gosling, his desperation to win that statue never seemed to work in his favor.
#8. Meg Ryan - In the Cut
Perhaps not the most egregious attempt at an acting award, but everyone loves when an actor plays against type. Meg appeared to be quite desperate to shed the "good-girl" image (as well as all of her clothes) from a never-ending run of rom-coms and dramatic love stories. Teaming up with Jane Campion seemed like a smart move, as well, the respected female auteur had directed both Holly Hunter and 11-year-old Anna Paquin to Oscars 10 years before in The Piano. But the film ultimately failed to register with critics or audiences.
#7. Will Smith - Seven Pounds
In 2001 rapper turned actor, Will Smith, got a taste of the awards season with his Oscar-Nominated portrayal of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Therefore, it wasn't a big surprise when he signed on to star in another Oscar-bait role for the 2006 father-son drama The Pursuit of Happyness. Once again, Smith found himself on the losing end of another nominated performance. Two years later in 2008 the actor went "all-in" with his starring turn in Seven Pounds. The emotional puzzle-piece drama never concluded with the Oscar victory he had hoped, making Will Smith's role in Seven Pounds one of the most desperate performances of the last ten years.
#6. Jim Carrey - I Love You Phillip Morris
Jim Carrey broke out onto the scene as a comedian but quickly honed his skills to become a fine dramatic actor. After making a splash with lauded performances in Man on the Moon, The Majestic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the gifted performer still never made his way into the Academy Award's final five. In 2009 Carrey decided to go "the gay way" with his turn in I Love You Phillip Morris. Completely aware of the Academy's soft spot for playing a homosexual, Carrey delivered another knockout performance but still ended up being left out of the awards season discussion. It was a desperate attempt that cannot be ignored.
#5. Nicole Kidman - Cold Mountain
Despite winning her first statue one year prior for The Hours, Kidman followed up her performance as Virginia Woolf with another Oscar-bait role in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain. The film, positioned as an awards juggernaut, ultimately failed to live up to its hype and was left out of the Best Picture and Director categories. Kidman's hammy showing was rightfully ignored as well, which was a major distraction in the film, apparent by her melodramatic performance and lack of chemistry with co-star Jude Law.
#4. Ed Harris - Copying Beethoven
For a few years, Harris was the actor's equivalent to Martin Scorsese: heaps of critical praise, roles in respected films and numerous nominations but zero Oscar wins to his credit. Starting in 1995, he accumulated 4 Oscar nominations in 7 years, along with a supporting role in the 2001 Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mind. Then, the actor appeared snake-bitten by the time he watched Chris Cooper's name called in 2002 (probably his best chance at gold, for the dramatic performance in "The Hours"). Hence, Harris found a role in Copying Beethoven that seemed to have all of the criteria for awards. Popular historical figure? Check. Disability? Check. As well as a dramatic story that allows the lead actor to "shine"? Of course! But the film took liberties with the history of Beethoven and was panned by critics (28% on Rotten Tomatoes), despite some acknowledging strong work by Harris. The desperate Oscar attempt was clearly evident among critics, including Hollywood.com's Fred Topel who stated, "It's the kind of movie made purely for acting awards, which is really unfair to audiences who deserve at least some story for their money".
#3. Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Nothing gets the Academy going quite like a biopic. Thus, a statue-less Leonardo DiCaprio decided to team up with legendary director Clint Eastwood to bring the real life story of J. Edgar Hoover to the the big screen. For the longest time DiCaprio's anticipated role was the talk of the town. Even Leo himself had to envision giving a long-awaited speech to all of his peers and colleagues. Eventually J. Edgar reached theatres and proved to be far too mediocre to acknowledge DiCaprio's best efforts. And to this day, he remains win-less.
#2. Bill Murray - Hyde Park on Hudson
To be brutally honest, it pains me to include many of my favorite Hollywood stars on this list. Perhaps none more than the always great Bill Murray. Throughout his lengthy and prestigious career, Murray has accumulated only one Oscar Nomination (2003's Lost in Translation). Since then, Murray has been on a quest to secure one of those nifty little statues that he sees many of his peers flaunting. Whether it was 2005's Broken Flowers or the more recent Hyde Park on Hudson (where he portrays polio-stricken President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), Murray has clearly reeked of desperation. But at the end of the day, he's still been shut out by the Academy.
#1. Cuba Gooding Jr - Radio
Cuba's career certainly peaked at the 1996 Academy Awards where he took home the prize for Supporting Actor in Jerry Maguire. That night he delivered an enthusiastically heartfelt and memorable speech. But his career would take a dive shortly after, as Cuba never managed to elevate his status to leading star. Things really started to go sour in 2001, with his role Michael Bay's own attempt at an "Award-worthy" blockbuster, Pearl Harbor. Soon after came Snow Dogs, a trite stab at family entertainment. And how about this for a cinematic trifecta; Boat Trip, a laughable 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. His downward spiral continued with The Fighting Temptations and Radio, both "rotten" entries onto his resume and ALL three garnering Razzie nominations for Worst Actor. On the surface, Radio appeared to be the one that could return Gooding Jr to Oscar form. Yet, this overly-sappy attempt to tug at the heart strings with its formulaic plot and Cuba's misguided performance turned out to be a dud. Worst of all, the most blatant attempt at gaining awards recognition was Cuba going all-out with his character's disability. And as we all know, you never go "full-retard".
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