Ok, so I know alot of actors do this as I mentioned in my title nearly all the time, but which films or tv shows stand out in which you think some actors/actresses have participated in purely for the recognition to obtain an award, whether it be a Golden Globe or an Oscar or Bafta.
I’m sure Sean Penn is guilty of this, I am Sam stands out as one of them films he did purely for the Oscar, some of Penelope Cruz films too (she eventually landed one)
Until I heard the actual story (he and Tina Fey live in the same building, and have been close for years), I was under the impression that Alec Baldwin was on 30 Rock primarily to start an Emmy collection.
For a time there (maybe he’s still doing it) Jim Carrey seemed to be trying to get serious roles in an attempt to get an Oscar. The Majestic, Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine…
That’s funny I was going to say Kate Winslet, Viggo Mortensen springs to mind as well.
Bullshit. If that’s what you think of Penelope Cruz you know absolutely NOTHING about Penelope Cruz. She doesn’t take roles for awards, are you serious? Have you even seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona or Volver? She’s an excellent actress, with a few bad roles like any actor, but when she and the director click, she’s worth 10 golden statues. She’s been nominated twice and won once (and absolutely deserved it) but she SHOULD have been nominated for at least 5-6 additional roles. She’s the real deal. I’ve known that since she was just doing Spanish-language films. I cringed when she did dreck like Sahara and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and freaked when I thought the world was going to lose her to $cientology. Luckily she got away from Tom, went back to her roots of pure acting in good movies, and has regained her reputation. I never even thought of myself as a huge fan until now, and now I feel really offended that you would characterize her as such. I have surprised myself at the steam coming out of my ears.
Do you think Cruz and Penn and whoever else should only do movies like Old Dogs or Twilight or crap that will never get awards consideration? Do you think there shouldn’t even BE such things as high-quality/arthouse films? There sure wouldn’t be any if no actors wanted to be in them, but if they do act in them then they’re accused of only doing the role to get awards attention. It makes no sense to me, unless you just hate good movies, with good acting.
I did mean to change that “Bullshit” to “I disagree” but got distracted by the burger I was grilling. I didn’t mean to come off quite so harsh. I do disagree though, strongly. About Penn too. Why shouldn’t actors want to appear in movies that have good scripts and interesting co-workers? Maybe it’s because I’m one of the 3 people on the planet who actually liked I Am Sam but,the funny joke in Tropic Thunder aside, I didn’t see it as Oscar Bait.
Because having an award on your belt means you’re accepted and you’ve made it, and it will lead onto more roles, more money, more recognition with the exception of Cuba Gooding Jnr of course.
The reason why she was with Tom Cruise in the first place was to enhance her reputation and cement her stake as a major hollywood actress, nothing wrong with that, not sayin’ she’s a bad actress because of it. Think about it;
She’s a Latin actress who speaks English with a heavy accent.
She has to break into Hollywood and be recognised, so she dates Tom Cruise for a while, then breaks up with him and is now known by all tabloids etc.
Lands role, covets Oscar and credibility within acting world. Lands a few roles which she considers award worthy and goes for it.
Which leads me to another one I can think of, Salma Hayek in Freda
I don’t hate good movies with good acting, and hell, that may not even detract from my position, however, it still doesn’t mean they’ve not done it to obtain the Oscar or Bafta.
Can you safely say that no high quality or major arthouse film you’ve seen has not been slighltly geared towards the Oscar season or Emmy nomination category? Because I can say I have seen some films that haven’t been geared towards it, and in that sense you’re right, however, on the other side of the coin, there has to be a few in your mind you can think of which confirms my OP.
I think she dated Tom Cruise because, when he’s not batshit insane, he’s a nice guy and VERY good looking. She already had a great reputation as an actress (at least in Spanish-language films) before she dated him. Her reputation was HURT by dating Tom Cruise so I think it had to have been for personal reasons, not to help her career. How would I know? I don’t, but everything I’ve read and heard about Penelope (by those who know her, not random people on message boards) points to a sweet, humble girl who does NOT covet fame and adulation and awards.
This thread is blowing my mind anyway. Salma Hayek? Freda? She ONLY took it (developed it, babied it, saw it to fruition) for Oscar fame? Not because she wanted to honor and play one of the most famous and interesting female artists in history? Sure.
So you’re saying that Salma Hayek didn’t want any adulation if it was in the form of an Oscar for that role she played, whatsoever? She doesn’t want the recognition and be accepted in the league of great actors by bagging a coveted award in the industry? I know most actors want that award, if you disagree with me fine, but to declare that there isn’t at least one actor out there who is doing what I described is incorrect.
As I said before, having ambition to obtain an award for said reasons and liking the film as well aren’t mutally exclusive, they can intertwine. I’m singling out actors or actresses in my opinion where it is obvious they played the role in the hope of receiving recognition and an award at the end.
Great, you’ve made me take this seriously, I just wanted to have some fun with this, however it looks like I whipped up Penelope Cruzs agent on this board into action, relax…
The thing is, how would you know? Unless the actor is playing in Thundercats 3: The Return of Panthro, it’s plausible they could get an Oscar for any good movie they did. You’d have to be a mind reader to know if they took a role solely for an oscar or not, unless they flat out confessed their motives. Even in the case of the cliched “play a cripple, get an Oscar” trope, you don’t really know if a given actor took the role just to get an award, or if they were drawn to the challenge of playing a disabled person convincingly.
I thought you were asking about movies actors have done just so they could win awards, not whether or not actors want to have recognition. Most of them do, but looking at the background of Frida, it looks like a bad example.
Personally I usually think of movies (not roles) as Oscar bait. Easy examples include many biopics, epics, and overly inspirational stories.
It’s all personal opinion, it’s my personal opinion that some actors are most likely intentionally starring in movies to bag an Oscar, they may be successful and good actors which still doesn’t detract from my opinion about what film they have selected to get an award.
Which types of movies do you think have been produced to do this?
I usually avoid these kinds of movies. But Changeling comes to mind as a recent example, and I think a lot of people called it obvious Oscar bait at the time. I didn’t see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button until recently, but with its lavish period detail and syrupy, life-affirming message, I think it qualifies.
Not Sean Penn. If you accept acting as an art, which I do, Penn is a serious artist (doing the work, I mean. He strikes me as having a real sense of humor about the business). I just never got the feeling he cared so much for awards.
But, man, Hampshire’s right about Carrey. Nothing’s wrong with being funny, Jim. It’s a GOOD thing to make people laugh.
He should stick to making movies with Charlie Kaufman, then, since “Eternal Sunshine” was the last movie he made even to have discernable jokes.
Seriously, dude, cut down on the caffeine.
When the OP can show some evidence that an actor signed a contract for a role that stipulated the producers submit the performance for Award X, Y or Z, I’ll buy the premise of the OP. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but unlikely. It’s too much of a crapshoot.
It never occurred to me before, but what about the actors who are the producers, and presumably submit their own performance for the Oscar?
Oh, come on, don’t be disingenuous. Big-Star-Playing-Retarded-Person-Or-Famous-Dead-Singer is NOT the same thing as “high-quality/arthouse films”. There’s some overlap, but not a whole hell of a lot, and you know it. I don’t want to see Twilight, and I don’t want to see I Am Sam either, I want to see a good movie that isn’t tailored to what the Academy likes to see.
