Just got done watching a tape of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” last night. Not as bad a movie as I was lead to believe, and I thought Matt Damon was very good despite the Brandon Teena teeth.
My question is: how in the HELL did Jude Law get an Oscar nomination for that film? I mean, he wasn’t bad or anything, but he certainly didn’t do anything to deserve an Oscar!
Am I missing sometyhing here? Was this a case of shameless Holywood politics?
Maybe one of the “Talented” Dopers out there can help me out!
Jude Law gave, arguably, one of the prettiest perforances of the year in that film. I believe the NPR commentator referred to him as “An Adonis.” hey, Jude.
Seriously, I dunno. He’s gorgeous, that goes a long way. Voters probably wanted to see him in a tux. I thought that other guy, who played his friend, Philip Seymour Hoffman, was WAY more brilliant. Cate Blanchette was great in that, too. And Matt Damon’s impression of the father was amazing. That was NOT dubbed, that was Matt. But Jude was by far the best looking, and look who gets nomniated?
Don’t try to understand the pimp system that is Hollywood.
Well, that’s about the best cynically accurate summary phrase I’ve seen recently.
Jude Law’s nomination has nothing to do with his specific performance (any more than Tommy Lee Jones winning for The Fugitive reflects his performance as Gerard). Objectively speaking, John Malkovich should have been nominated for Being John Malkovich before Law.
The Jude-ster was nominated through a confluence of two factors:
First: He’s an up-and-comer. He’s been very good at getting introduced, making the rounds and connections, setting up the network. He’s attractive and talented, and he’s been capitalizing properly in the Hollywood power structure. Hence his upcoming role in Spielberg’s A.I., among others.
Second: The Talented Mr. Ripley is a Miramax production. The Weinsteins, Harvey and Bob, as co-honchos at Miramax, always agitate heavily for all of their productions. Did Cider House Rules deserve so many nods? Certainly not, in a year that also gave us Three Kings and Being John Malkovich and Eyes Wide Shut and Mansfield Park and Fight Club and South Park and Lord knows how many other films. It’s just the Miramax publicity machine at work; Jude Law benefited from this the same way the producers of Shakespeare in Love did.
Combine those two, and there really isn’t much surprise. Somebody was going to get nominated, and Law happened to be the right person at the right time.