Actors who should have Oscar statues
Peter O’Toole never won an Oscar. Nor did Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant or Vincent Price. That, right there, should tell you how flawed the awards have been, despite the best intentions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
As we barrel toward awards season and its annual slate of serious awards- bait films, we decided to remind you of 37 living actors you probably thought already had statues at home — and the roles they should have won them for.
Ford’s starring turn in this sci- fi classic retains his signature cynicism, even his wry humor. But the central question — is his character Rick Deckard human or replicant? — required the star to flex a few new muscles, Harrison
which he Ford did with such finesse that fans still debate the answer.
The film features only Redford, as a single nameless character, dubbed in the credits as “our man.” He speaks a handful of words as his yacht begins to fill with water in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Yet you cannot pull your eyes off him.
Jackson often portrays characters living on the thin line between light and dark, but never again did he fling between the two like a plucked rubber band.
In a star- crowded movie, her performance as Sarah, one of several old friends mourning the loss of their pal Alex. Close is its beating heart.
Some characters are icons, some performances are iconic — even if they’re misunderstood. Pitt as Tyler Durden fits both categories.
Williams does the nearimpossible: presenting the past and present versions of a character who hasn’t undergone much physical transformation Michelle but Williams has matured so much she might as well be someone new.
The walk, the voice, the clothes, the hair — it all came from Keaton trying to interpret Tim Burton’s vision, and, boy, is that a match made in heaven.
There is no harder role than playing yourself, except maybe playing other people playing yourself.
Murphy disappeared completely into James “Thunder” Early, a composite of several R& B singers, most notably James Brown and Little Richard. Murphy’s performance shocked audiences; producer John Davis watched five minutes of the movie and declared that “Eddie will definitely win the Oscar.”
To play the mad intergalactic doctor, Lithgow lifted an Italian accent from an MGM tailor and changed his walk to that of an “old crab, because my alien metabolism is supposed to be messed up,” he later explained. The bizarre result is a deeply committed performance that’s wildly over- the- top and a singular, hilarious character.
Talk about a master class in inner conflict. For a good portion of the movie, Farrow must portray the titular Rosemary Woodhouse as psychotic for thinking she was impregnated by a demon. Then, once it becomes clear she hasn’t lost her mind, she’s stuck between her maternal instincts and the knowledge that, yes, she is carrying Satan’s spawn. Throughout the movie, she acts with her wide, luminous eyes — always wet, from joy, fear, anger or sorrow. She twists and contorts her nightgownclad body, signaling her submission to otherworldly evil.
Dismayed that so many viewers fell for reality TV, Phoenix grew out a beard, became generally unkempt and announced his retirement from acting to become a rapper. For several months, he didn’t break character ... ever.
Everyone around him speaks in thick, Minnesotan accents, politeness hiding any untoward emotion. Not Buscemi’s Carl Showalter, the hit man who questions parking lot attendants about the “limits of your life, Steve
man.” For Buscemi all his wisecracks, he’s ultimately a fool who underestimates everyone around him. Most people rightfully remember Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson, the pregnant cop who won’t stop until the killings do. Carl is the other side of that coin. We might not like him, but the movie needs him.
Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, the diner scene is unforgettable, a true popculture touchstone. But Ryan also created a character so indelible, people remember her sandwich order, know how she feels about air conditioning and can recite her sex dreams from memory. Sally feels like a longtime friend, one we never tire of seeing, the kind of presence most actors require multiple seasons of a sitcom to achieve.
The comic once known for absurdist slapstick so fully wanted to become Andy Kaufman for this biopic, he famously refused to break character
Jim Carrey through the entire production.
The Coen brothers created many characters for the hulking actor over the years, but none as quotable as Walter. It’s the way he starts his sentences at a normal tone before breaking into screaming fits that always manage to circle back to ‘ Nam. “The Chinaman is not the issue here, dude! I’m talking about drawing a line in John the sand, Goodman dude, across this line you do not,” he barks, before abruptly reverting to his indoor voice. “Also, dude, ‘ Chinaman’ is not the preferred nomenclature. ‘ Asian American,’ please.” Almost every one of his line readings deserves an Oscar. Just try to read this quote and not hear it in his voice: “This is not ‘ Nam, this is bowling — there are rules.”
The academy historically rewards great physical feats — the loss or gain of pounds in the three digits; the mastery of a previously unknown skill such as dancing or boxing; or just plain going full Method. So why doesn’t Tom Cruise have an Oscar? Here’s a brief rundown of stunts he has personally performed for the “Mission: Impossible” movies: holding his breath underwater through a 6 1/ 2- minute swimming/ fighting sequence; dangling from the side of an Airbus in takeoff; scaling Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower. For “Fallout” alone, he flew through the streets of Paris at 100- plus mph on a motorbike, performed 106 high- altitude free- falls ( with a broken ankle!) and learned how to fly a helicopter in six weeks so he could confidently maneuver it through a narrow canyon.
She deserves an Oscar for the whole movie. But, really, she deserves one for her first 3 minutes and 47 seconds of screen time, during which she dances to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” as the opening credits roll. Music usually adds emotional immediacy to scenes, but here Perez adds emotional immediacy to the music, summing up the entire film before it even begins.
The film will always be defined by the scene of Dafoe running toward the chopper, toward freedom, gunfire slamming into his back, the bird heading skyward, as the final bullets slice through his Sgt. Elias, who throws his hands up in anguish. But the one that should earn him the Oscar comes earlier, as Tom Berenger’s Barnes holds a pistol to a Vietnamese toddler’s head. When Elias stumbles upon the scene, we see his body go rigid, shock catching in his throat for an instant before he screams and slams Barnes in the face with his rifle butt. But what sells the scene is Dafoe’s eyes, huge and manic and furious and utterly defeated.
Rarely has an actor poured so much raw passion into what could be an uptight period piece.
It’s not just his commitment to the role; it’s how he fully became Cox. He didn’t just write the satirical songs such as “Let’s Duet,” “Hole in My Pants” and “Weeping on the Inside,” nor simply play the instruments while singing — he went on a countrywide tour as Cox. Talk about Method.
He makes you feel sorry for a guy who deserves no sympathy.
She’s the puppet master, the Lady Macbeth calling the shots behind the scenes. Meanwhile, she must present a happy, subservient face in public. Adams Amy achieves the Adams dichotomy through a certain stillness, that of an animal taking everything in and ready to pounce whenever needed, emotions merely flickering across her eye, caught only by the audience.
What makes Winger’s breakout performance so striking is how little it feels like a performance at all. If acting is a process of transforming into someone else, what is it when an actor transforms into someone who is transforming into someone else?
His brilliance comes from portraying Schindler not as a pure- hearted hero but as the conniving swindler he was, a lustful gambling boozehound Liam who originally Neeson employed Jews because they were cheaper and ends up with a commitment to save them.
Know who thinks Angela Bassett deserved an Oscar for her turn as Tina Turner? Angela Bassett, who said so in 2018. Guess what? She was right.
With a large black swastika tattooed on his chiseled chest and a pleased sneer on his lips after shooting and curb- stomping a pair of black men in the opening of the film, Norton’s Derek Vinyard is a vivid embodiment of the frightening philosophy we often see on the news today.
He did everything the academy loves: took on a challenging historical subject; dialed back the charisma and acted with his face as much as his body; adopted an accent and nailed it; portrayed a quietly noble hero.
Lane is almost always atremble — be it with erotic joy, suffocating guilt, tingling exultation or crushing self- loathing. Sometimes she expresses all of these in a single scene.
It’s easy to point out that being a musician certainly helped him play one, but that doesn’t detract from his looseness as the increasingly drunk John Norman Howard or his convincing ardor for Barbra Streisand.
Decades had passed since his glorious dancing days in “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever”; before he met Quentin Tarantino, he was appearing in the latest iteration of the “Look Who’s Talking” franchise. But with his role as Vincent Vega, he was back.
Fishburne uses that deep baritone and his inherent gravitas to ensnare us, to invite the inevitable question: Just who is this guy? Instead of laughing, we’re intrigued.
Wanna hear a joke? Hilary Swank has two Oscars. Wanna hear a better one? She beat out the goddess Annette Bening for both of them.
There’s a scene in the film in which Fiennes, wearing swim trunks and an unbuttoned short- sleeve shirt, dances almost manically to the Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue.” Dude has never even been nominated for an Oscar.
“I’m a dude, playin’ a dude, disguised as another dude.”