The subtitle to this post could be "but won't get one this year." Four of these five have gotten nominations, but the big prize has eluded them so far. This list is in alphabetic order, because I can't measure the degrees of the ripoffs:
Leonardo DiCaprio. He's done good work as a teen ("This Boy's Life"), a young leading man ("Titanic") and an adult ("The Aviator"). He can make mediocre pictures look better when given his head ("J. Edgar," "Revolutionary Road"), and he takes risks by appearing in movies that won't be hits. What he'll have to do to win: Just keep working. By 50, he'll make his acceptance speech.
Tina Fey. Only a fourth of the writers working in Hollywood are women -- the majority of those are in TV -- but Fey will someday cross over to movies and stay there, as a double-threat actor-comedian (and maybe a dramatic actor, for all I know). She's smart, funny and adaptable. What she'll have to do to win: Write or play a serio-comic role that flirts with tragedy but ends happily.
David Fincher. His best shot to date was "The Social Network," which for my money was the best picture of 2010. (Loved "The King's Speech, but...no.) He can direct horror, drama, romance and dark comedy, and he's one of the few directors ever who can sustain a pace that's fast or slow, tense or relaxed, with equal skill. What he'll have to do to win: Direct a large-scale epic.
Anne Hathaway. Anyone who can make Catwoman smart and sensual without a hint of silliness deserves acclaim. She can handle heavy drama, romantic comedy, action, musicals and pure fluff, all with apparent ease, and she can make unsympathetic people interesting enough to watch. What she'll have to do to win: Play a dying character in a better movie than "Love and Other Drugs."
Christopher Nolan. He's the only person in Hollywood who has yet to make a sub-par movie over a career of any length. (Fincher had "Alien³.") His Batman trilogy is the best exploration of a fantasy world since "The Lord of the Rings." But Academy voters find him too dark or complex, neither of which they like or understand. What he'll have to do to win: Make a heartfelt, realistic drama.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
People who need an Oscar right away
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5 comments:
you will be wrong again about Hathaway- she'll best supporting for Le Mes...and, nobody on this list NEEDS anything
Hathaway DOES play a dying character in the upcoming Les Miserables, for which no doubt she'll get at least a nod.
See, this is why I say you don't know how to do film critique. Anne Hathaway was funny and touching in Love and Other Drugs, and close to brilliant in The Devil Wears Prada, which you don't even bother to mention.
You've been doing this job too long. The Observer needs to find someone with an up to date take on modern cinema.
Are you folks just not reading? Lawrence is saying that these people DESERVE to win.
Nice piece, Lawrence. Leo has in my opinion been stuck in an almost dark to super dark character period. It's almost as if he doesn't feel comfortable playing anything else (The Departed, Shutter Island, Inception, Revolutionary Road, etc.)
I'm not 100% sold on Tina Fey being a cross-over star that will ever be able to entice the Oscar folks.
As for Fincher, Hathaway, and Nolan, those 3 have very very bright futures in my estimation and I predict they all will win Oscar hardware in the next 3-4 years.
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