For Your Consideration: The 50 Most Despicable Oscar Snubs of the 2000s
by Peter Knegt (November 12, 2009)
Scenes from "Kill Bill," Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days."
Before any of you get all optimistic about this year’s awards race, I decided to utilize this week’s column to remind you of how horribly wrong things can turn out. As the end of this decade approaches, and you start considering your favorite films and performances, you may or may not be surprised (though I’m guessing “may not”) to find that many of them - if not the majority - failed to receive any recognition from ye ol’ Academy. From “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” to Uma Thurman’s work in the “Kill Bill,“‘s to a seemingly endless batch of foreign language favorites, it’s a frustratingly long list. Attempting to narrow it down to 50 was no small feat, and I’d expect there’s going to be some disagreement. But let me first explain where I was coming from. Essentially, I focused on only nine of the most often discussed categories: best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best original screenplay, best adapted screenplay, and best foreign language film. I realize that the remaining categories offer a plethora of angering exclusions - from “Far From Heaven”‘s costume design to “Requiem For A Dream”‘s original score to the truly obscene absence of original song, “America, Fuck Yeah” from “Team America, World Police,” not to mention the list-in-itself that is the best documentary feature category (“Grizzly Man,” “The Gleaners and I,” “The King of Kong,” etc, etc, etc) - but one can only take on so much. I also figured there should at least be some theoretical chance that the “snub” could have been nominated. One might argue that including the likes of John Cameron Mitchell’s work in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” or Christian Bale’s in “American Psycho” goes against this idea, but I beg to differ. Mitchell - if you can believe it - got a Golden Globe nomination for “Hedwig” (it seems Ricky Gervais ain’t the only thing the HFPA has on the Oscars). I mean more along the lines of suggesting Michael Haneke’s “The Piano Teacher” as a snub for a best picture nomination or Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as snubs in the acting categories for “In The Mood For Love.” Ridiculously deserving as they were, those weren’t snubs. They were complete impossibilities. I can however, bitch about how both those films were shut out of the foreign language film category. And speaking of which, another “rule” - I didn’t include foreign films that weren’t submitted by their countries, as that wasn’t totally the Academy’s fault (though their pesky rules are somewhat to blame). I’m sure I missed loads, and I encourage thoughtful use of the comments section to offer your own choices, and to make predictions about some potential 2009 non-nominees that might warrant a slot on an updated list some day in the future… Paul Schneider in “Bright Star,” anyone? Or how about Michael Stuhlbarg in “A Serious Man”? So for what it’s worth, here are my picks for the 50 most despicable Oscar snubs of the 2000s (though it’s actually more like 70 given some of the “grouped” snubs), in descending order for your anticipatory pleasure. It’s meant mostly as a fun exercise for both myself and (hopefully) you, and as a little reminder as we begin to enter the depths of Oscar season: Only a small percentage of the truly great performances, scripts and films actually end up participating in it.
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Mysterious Skin (2004)
i stand corrected thanks
Fatwally: Not true. Brazil submitted it in 2002 and it was not nominated. The following year the Academy made up for it when it was deemed eligible for other categories, nominating it for 4 major awards:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brazilian_submissions_for_the_Academy_Award_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film
City of god declined to be in best foreign language film category
“Pan’s Labyrinth” for Best Foreign Film. Guillermo should have won and it would have been the best (but possibly totally bleeped) thank you speech.
I get ticked off everytime I think of Christian Balegetting snubbed for “American Psycho.” It was such a BRILLIANT performance. He gave it his all and itsecured him as one of the best actors of my time. In retrospect, he should’ve also been nominated for “Empire of the Sun,” which was such a brilliant and serious performance for a boy of his age. AND…“Rescue Dawn” was brilliant. I mean, Owen Wilson got nominated for his little war movie that didn’t remotely compare to “Rescue Dawn.” What are these people thinking???? I think it is damn time for Bale to get rewarded for his dedication to his craft. My hopes are in “The Fighter” for next year. It all depends on how the movie’s pieced together, but I guarantee you…you will see Dickie Ecklund, and not Christian Bale. I will buy the most expensive bottle of champagne I can afford and toast his success because I have enjoyed his work over the years tremendously and I just want to see it REWARDED. Hell..even a nomination, for God’s sakes. Is that too much to ask for? He was brilliant in “3:10 to Yuma.” I mean, he went from hot-to-trot Bruce Wayne, to a dirt-poor rancher, loser, begger, and dirt-covered, desperate man (believably). What’s he got to do to get an Oscar???? It’s INSANE!!!!!
the Eddie Marsan inclusion is right on.. I’ll add Zeta-Jones for Traffic.
Wow. Way to pointedly snub Thora Birch by choosing her co-stars.
There are of course many best foreign language films missing, but basically a full ack.
Burstyn for Requiem? Please read the book first, and then come back. She totally overplayed it.
oop! I f’ed!! Guess I got to overzealous. But let’s hear it again! Ellen Burstyn!
hoeyjeinen: the list is specifically nomination snubs, which Burstyn is not… otherwise I totally agree she was very deserving over Ms. Roberts.
Saw “Half Nelson” on a SAG DVD sent to my actress wife and loved it. Also loved that it had redemption and a low-key happy ending.
This may be my own vendetta, but I was surprised to not see Ellen Burstyn for ‘Requiem’ at the tippy-top of this list. I seem to run into all kinds of people who are also preoccupied with figuring out that one! Maybe it’s also because Julia Roberts may as well have been ribbon-dancing during that awful acceptance speech.
Hm, I’m with you on Lynch and Rosemarie DeWitt, but Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona for Best Original Screenplay? Not so much. The narrator and Scarlett Johanson ruined it for me. Penelope deserved that Oscar, though.
Totally agree with the vast majority of these. And ‘Kill Bill’ rocks.
Kill Bill was a mindless movie. Does this make any difference?
NO