October 31, 2006

The Season: The real deal, does playing a true-life character give actors an edge?

By Pete Hammond

A favorite quote of the week came from a producer of a major awards contender who told us, �I guess since no one has seen it yet, �Dreamgirls� must be the front runner for Best Picture.� He�s probably right.

As several new films unspool at a quick pace now, no consensus in this wide open race is building around any one which leaves pundits to place their bets not on the movies they have seen, but on one of the few they haven�t.

A studio awards consultant candidly admitted to us that they were so nervous facing the prospect of actually showing their film (one that has been popping up on various prediction charts) to the press, that they were trying to keep people away until the last possible minute. That strategy drives its prospects on buzz alone, keeping it high on prognosticators lists as far into the season as possible. That is, until they are forced to let someone outside the studio gates actually watch the thing!

�Oh , it�s still in editing, the director doesn�t want it to be seen with a temp music track, it�ll probably go to theatres with a wet print, blah , blah , blah.�

Meanwhile back to films that ARE being shown. After moderating three Q&As; in a row this week we finally figured out the surest way for an actor to win an Oscar: Get �real.�

All three films (�World Trade Center�, �Catch A Fire� and �Hollywoodland�) had one thing in common: They are about real people and real events and the stars in them are able to speak eloquently about being accurate in their portrayals, an advantage equally talented performers in fictional movies like �Little Children� or �The Departed� don�t have.

Check the stats.

Although the Academy and other organizations have rewarded actors in the past for playing well known folks such as Jake La Motta, Loretta Lynn, Gandhi, Bela Lugosi, Virginia Woolf, Claus Von Bulow and General George Patton, the trend now is simply exploding.

In the 2004 Best Actor race, four of the five nominees were characters with names like James M. Barrie, Paul Rusesabagina, Ray Charles and Howard Hughes.

Last year, the same category welcomed actors playing Johnny Cash, Truman Capote and Edward R. Murrow. Cate Blanchett, Jamie Foxx, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Reese Witherspoon all won their Oscars in the past two years playing instantly recognizable celebrities (Katharine Hepburn, Ray Charles, Truman Capote and June Carter Cash, respectively). It seems the current mindset of voters is, �its brilliant acting if its someone I know.'

But you don�t even have to play a super famous person in order to cash in. When Julia Roberts finally won her Oscar (and every other award in 2000) she had the advantage of having little known Erin Brockovich appearing everywhere saying how accurate and spot-on Julia�s performance was. Don Cheadle broke into the tremendously crowded 2004 Best Actor race with the help of Paul Rusesabagina, the man he so movingly portrayed in �Hotel Rwanda.� Of course it certainly didn�t hurt when, during that campaign season, it seemed Rusesabagina was more of a Hollywood fixture than Tara Reid. And everywhere he went he sang Cheadle�s praises. Invaluable.

But even if the person you play is dead, it can be a plus if there�s existing footage for entertainment news shows to run. Charlize Theron�s pitch-perfect �Monster� portrayal of the late Aileen Wuornos took the 2003 award season by storm, especially when effectively shown side by side with documentary footage of the real Aileen in TV segment after TV segment.

This season there is more of a reality check than ever. Contenders who could continue this trend include Ben Affleck as Superman actor George Reeves in �Hollywoodland,� Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in �Last King Of Scotland,� Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair in �The Queen,� Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgwick in �Factory Girl,� Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter in �Miss Potter,� Annette Bening as the manic depressive Deidre Burroughs in �Running With Scissors,� Derek Luke as South African freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso in �Catch A Fire,� Adam Beach as native American war hero Ira Hayes in �Flags Of Our Fathers,� Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal as their real life 9/11 counterparts in �World Trade Center� and not to be forgotten from earlier in the year Gretchen Mol�s critically praised work as the naughty 50�s pin-up model in �The Notorious Bettie Page�.

Knowing it�s a real person seems to validate the performance for many Academy voters even though most are probably more familiar with Eydie Gorme than Idi Amin.

Actors playing historical icons like Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Ed Harris) could also reap rewards. Or even the most famous mother of all time, the Virgin Mary who could put 16 year old �Nativity Story� star Keisha Castle Hughes (now actually pregnant herself) back in the lead actress race.

This year will also see two �Infamous� cast members Toby Jones and Sandra Bullock try to break into the derby playing Truman Capote and Harper Lee, the same exact roles that earned recognition last year for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener in �Capote�. And even though she�s playing the �fictional� Deena Jones in �Dreamgirls,� Beyonce Knowles could possibly benefit from this trend if people start favorably comparing her portrayal to Diana Ross, the thinly veiled inspiration for the character. Of course playing real didn�t hurt Ross� own film career when she won a 1972 Oscar nomination as Billie Holliday in �Lady Sings The Blues�!

The ultimate coup however could be if air controller Ben Sliney (a last minute cast addition when the original actor didn�t work out) gets a nomination for playing �himself� in �United 93.� One pundit is already on record predicting just such a supporting nod, but we can guarantee it will only happen if voters believe Sliney was genuinely convincing as �Sliney.�

Keeping it real as The Season rolls on.

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