(
)
On a 2005 episode of “Extras” — a show that regularly satirized actors — Kate Winslet, playing herself, laid out a key rule for winning an Academy Award.
“If you do a film about the Holocaust, you’re guaranteed an Oscar,” she said. “Schindler’s bloody List. ‘The Pianist.’ Oscars coming out of their arse.”
Four years later, Winslet won an Oscar for her role in “The Reader” — a film about the Holocaust.
At this point, the notion that certain “Oscar bait” roles can bring actors and actresses closer to the coveted prize is as widely accepted as the belief that Eddie Murphy will one day don a fat suit once again. But the sort of roles that constitute Oscar bait change with the times.
Over the past decade, six actors have won an Academy Award for a singing role, including two — Reese Witherspoon for “Walk the Line” and Jeff Bridges in last year’s “Crazy Heart” — who played country music artists affected by alcohol or substance abuse. So one might assume that Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s playing a recovering-alcoholic country singer in “Country Strong,” which opens nationwide Friday, is making a play for Oscar gold. (The film had a limited release in Nashville and LA in late December — just in time to make the cut-off for nominations.)
“Gwyneth is doing her own singing [in this film], and that’s something the academy likes,” says Matt Atchity, editor-in-chief of the Rotten Tomatoes movie site. “Part of being a good singer is being able to sell the song, so that’s an example of your acting ability. That’s certainly what helped Jeff Bridges win his award.”
The singer-as-Oscar-bait phenomenon is relatively new. Prior to 2001, the last actor to win an Oscar for a singing role was Robert Duvall, who won the 1984 Best Actor award for “Tender Mercies” — which starred Duvall as a recovering-alcoholic country singer.
While films like “Moulin Rouge!” and “Chicago” brought musicals back into vogue, the increased Oscar attention is also due to the multidimensionality of these roles.
“If you play a performer with an onstage and offstage life, and you can richly draw a contrast between those two, that’s automatic Oscar bait,” adds S.T. VanAirsdale, editor of Movieline.com.
Other types of Oscar bait include straight actors playing gay, like Sean Penn in “Milk” (or Best Actress hopeful Annette Bening in this year’s “The Kids Are All Right”); anything about British aristocracy, as with Helen Mirren in “The Queen”; and pretty stars downplaying their looks, as Charlize Theron did in “Monster.”
But the most frequently referenced form is taking on a handicapped character: Dustin Hoffman (“Rain Man”), Al Pacino (“Scent of a Woman”), and Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump,” whatever Forrest Gump’s handicap was).
Early reviews of “Country Strong” are not good — the Hollywood Reporter, for example, dubbed the film “Country Weak,” and L.A. Weekly called it “more tone deaf than Paltrow’s advice Web site, GOOP” — so Paltrow (who won Best Actress in 1999 for her role in “Shakespeare in Love”) might struggle to win, despite the role.
If she really wants a return to Oscar glory, she might consider a crueler character in the future. Since 2001, nine actors — almost a quarter of all winners — have taken home the gold for playing heartless, sadistic villains, including Javier Bardem’s cattle-gun killer in “No Country for Old Men,” Theron’s prostitute strangler in “Monster” and Forest Whitaker as genocidal despot Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.”
But these days, there’s an even better chance in playing a real person. In the past, sixteen actors have brought home the gold for playing real people. At this point, though, Oscar bait has taken on so many forms that it often requires more than one kind to make a truly Oscar-worthy performance.
This year, the Best Actor front-runner is Colin Firth, who, in “The King’s Speech,” plays King George VI, a real person (Oscar bait No. 1) in a British royalty period piece (Oscar bait No. 2) who fights to overcome a debilitating stutter (Oscar bait No. 3). Natalie Portman, meanwhile, plays a performer (Oscar bait No. 4) who is mentally ill (Oscar bait No. 3) and has a lesbian dalliance (Oscar bait No. 5).
Poor Gwyneth, with only one singing string to her bow, might not stand a chance.
“If you’re a straight actor, play a gay character, and have an on-screen kiss,” advises Annette Bourdeau, a writer for Moviefone.com. “Better yet, play a gay character during the Holocaust. And make it a Holocaust musical. That would be a lock.”