Australian Odeon

Every January/February, the world of cinema works itself up into a frenzy over which films released during preceding 12 months are most deserving of recognition from the Academy. While there are always omissions, below are the four most egregious examples of Oscar snubbery.

 

The list is composed of actors who did not receive an Oscar nomination for their performance.

 

 

4.  Andy Serkis – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To this day, motion-capture performances struggle to gain recognition outside technical categories in any awards ceremony, but what Brando was to method acting, so is Serkis to motion-capture performance. Serkis has become to go-to-guy for motion capture, providing performances for TinTin, the Planet of the Apes sequels and acting as an advisor to James Cameron for Avatar, but his greatest achievement in terms of characterization remains Gollum/Smeagol. To suggest that the character of Gollum does not owe anything but voice and movement to Serkis is like suggesting John Hurt had nothing to do with the character of the Elephant Man because he was wearing prosthetics. Serkis’ make-up just happened to be digital and so extraordinary was his performance, that for the 2002 Oscars, instead of a summary montage of the film for it's Best Picture clip, they simply showed the Gollum/Smeagol duologue from The Two Towers.

 

3. Scarlett Johansson – Her (2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though a largely digital presence, Serkis at least had the advantage of a physical character. Johansson had no such luck for her performance in Spike Jonze’s near-future love story Her. Joaquin Phoenix’s character purchases a new intuitive operating system for his computer, which tailors itself to the user. The personality that emerges is Samantha, voiced by Johansson. As the film progresses, Phoenix falls in love with Samantha, and she with him. The film could easily have been a parody on modern day preference for technological rather than human interaction, but largely due to Johansson’s voice work, Her is actually a love story, which develops in a similar fashion to similar doomed romances such as A Love Story or Annie Hall.

 

2. Bruno Ganz – Downfall (2004)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all historical figures, Hitler would seem to be the least nuanced. Any cinematic audience is immediately going to recognize him and find anything he says or does reprehensible, so the temptation would be to simply play him as a monster, or a Bond-like super villain. However, in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film about the final days in Hitler’s bunker, Bruno Ganz delivers a thoroughly human performance, inspired by the idea of the banality of evil. Ganz’s Hitler is a sad, angry malcontent whose failing grasp on power propels him to make cowardly attacks on his own Generals who simply do their best to follow his increasingly erratic orders. At no point is the magnitude of the man’s crimes far from frame, but in humanising Hitler as best as possible, Ganz reduces the dictator from the personification of evil to a small, vile man with no one to blame for his fate but himself. Foreign language performances are seldom recognised by the Academy, but Ganz should surely have been one of the exceptions.

 

1. John Wayne – The Searchers (1956)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the mid-1950s John Wayne was arguably at the zenith of his popularity, on a winning streak that included Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. Reteaming with John Ford in 1956 for another Western seemed like slam dunk entry in the genre that had brought both men unparalleled success over the last decade and a half, but initial reactions to The Searchers were largely tepid. Critics took issue with the film’s length and for what they assumed to be ‘muddled and confused’ characters and storytelling. This perhaps explains the lack of accolades for Wayne, as he had not yet played a character as nuanced and conflicted as Ethan Edwards, making the character and his potrayal by Wayne perplexing to critics of the time. From the relationship he has with his brother’s wife, to his racist attitude towards Native Americans, Wayne delivers a vivid portrayal of a man having to face his own nature as he attempts to reconcile the changing world around him. But when Oscar time rolled around, the Academy felt Yul Brenner’s turn as the King of Siam was more deserving of recognition. How much this has to do with the concurrent release of The Conqueror in 1956, in which Wayne played Genghis Khan, remains open to speculation.

 

 

 

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