Watching the Academy Awards this year, it felt like a foregone conclusion that Leonardo
DiCaprio would win for his chilling, bison-chewing performance in The Revenant. Not because his
performance was so great, but because after six nominations, everyone agreed he was due
for a win. Sometimes it seems like the Academy gives Oscars to reward a body of work more
than a particular performance, or as an attempt to correct overlooking past performances.
Because of this it often feels like the actor doesn’t win for the movie they should have.
Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Actors who won Oscars for the Wrong film.
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart By the time Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for
playing washed-up country star Bad Blake in 2010’s Crazy Heart, he’d had a career
that had spanned five decades and several classic roles. He’d received four nominations
prior to this, but none of these were for his most iconic role of all time. Comedies
are often overlooked by the Academy, but there’s no denying that The Big Lebowski would not
be the cult favourite it is today were it not for Bridge’s bang on hilarious performance
as the film’s lead. He may have won for being Bad Blake, but Jeff Bridges will always
be The Dude to us.
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook 2012 was a breakout year for Jennifer Lawrence.
She picked up Katniss’ bow and arrow for the first Hunger Games film and picked up
an Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook. While she charmed her way into mainstream America’s
heart, more serious film fans already knew her for the dark indie hit Winter’s Bone.
At 20 years old, Lawrence gave an unflinching performance as a young woman trying to keep
a roof over her dysfunctional family’s head. Give the academy credit for going off the
beaten path and giving Lawrence a nomination, but she was still the new kid in town and
the award went to the more established Natalie Portman for Black Swan.
Christian Bale for The Fighter It’s no secret that Christian Bale goes
full tilt into any role he plays. Known for his physical transformations, Bale took home
gold for his role as a drug addicted boxing coach in The Fighter, but being gaunt and
twitchy wasn’t nearly as impressive as what he did with the Patrick Bateman character
for American Psycho ten years prior. Bale shed his child star persona to play this pumped
up narcissistic psychopath with perfection in a film that was probably a little too out
there for the Academy.
Russell Crowe for Gladiator If Titanic taught us anything, it’s that
the Academy likes to reward box office success. It seemed like this was the case in 2001 when
Gladiator won Best Picture and Russell Crowe took home the Oscar for his lead role as Maximus.
While Crowe did nail some intense scenes in this epic movie, it was primarily an action
hero role which came between nominations for two performances widely considered as much
stronger demonstrations of his talent: The Insider in 2000 and A Beautiful Mind in 2002.
Denzel Washington for Training Day Russel Crowe and Denzel Washington should
probably just swap Oscars. In the year that Crowe won for Gladiator, Washington was snubbed
for his tour de force performance as Ruben Carter, a boxer who was wrongfully imprisoned
for almost 20 years. They both found themselves in the race again the following year when
Washington beat out Crowe’s Beautiful Mind performance with his over-the-top dirty cop
role in Training Day.
Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind Crowe was about the only major player in A
Beautiful Mind who didn’t take home gold that year. Ron Howard won best director and
Jennifer Connelly won best actress for playing his wife. While Connelly did an admirable
job portraying Alicia Nash through the decades, the intensity level never came close to what
she achieved in Requiem for a Dream two years earlier. Her brave depiction of addiction
shocked viewers who still saw her as the little girl for Labyrinth and established her an
actress with chops and longevity.
Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman Al Pacino delivered Oscar nominated performances
in such modern classics as The Godfather, The Godfather II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon
and Glengarry Glen Ross, so it may surprise you to learn that the one he actually won
for was The Scent of a Woman. Sure the blind retired army lieutenant gave us Pacino’s
trademark “whoo-ah”, but the hammy performance hasn’t aged nearly as well as his more subdued
Michael Corleone.
Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby It seems like the Academy has a soft spot
for boxing films. In 2005, Million Dollar Baby nearly swept all of the major categories,
which meant a best supporting statue for Morgan Freeman. A decade has past and most people
probably can’t quote a single line from this film or even recall that Freeman narrated
it, yet his narration and character from The Shawshank Redemption are forever etched into
the consciousness of the millions who hold that film close to their heart. Red was the
guy who could get it for ya, and Freeman definitely delivered.
Sandra Bullock for the The Blind Side In 2009 Sandra Bullock gave an impressive
performance as a woman who adopts a homeless African American boy in The Blind Side, earning
herself an Oscar nod from the Academy. As good as she was, the film was mostly carried
by its emotionally manipulative movie of the week narrative, whereas a film like Gravity
really depended on Bullock’s performance to carry us through. What was essentially
a one woman show in front of a green screen, Bullock brought great gravitas to her role
in Gravity, while The Blind Side already feels dated.
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant As the inspiration for this list, we’d be
remiss not to mention Leo. The trophy eluded DiCaprio for so long that it became a running
joke and internet meme. Most of the press around The Revenant was about the lengths
Leo went to for this role, and how it all seemed like the actor was just clawing his
way towards Oscar glory. But by putting himself in these real, harsh conditions, it would
seem that the role required more reacting than actual acting. The character of Hugh
Glass didn’t feel as fully realized as some of Leo’s past work, particularly What’s
Eating Gilbert Grape, the film that earned Leo his first Oscar nomination at 19. As Arnie,
a mentally disabled teenager, DiCaprio created a character that was funny, tragic, and heartfelt
whereas Glass was just… cold.