Unemployed Ben

With the Academy Awards approaching I’ve been pondering what makes an oscar winning performance?

Generally I tend to agree that the best picture and director categories are pretty much a political process, what else could explain Scorsece not having won. But I think the academy does pretty well in the best actor and supporting actor decisions.

Of course there are notable exceptions like Whoopi Goldberg and Holly Berry but on the whole I tend to agree.

Its hard to not see a great performance when its right there in front of you.

One of the reasons I feel they have done a good job is not by who has won the award but by who hasn’t won the award. Tom Cruise being my example here. He has been nominated a couple times and lost, ive heard people complain that he lost out to actors that arent ‘movie star’ that Tom is and for that reason it wasnt fair.

I love this argument because these people are the ones that just don’t get it. Acting, at least in my opinion is not about being marketable, not about being bankable and its certainly not about being good looking and charasmatic.

The reason he hasn’t won is that he is virtually the same character in every movie he plays, he flashes the same smile, he has the confident body language and he exudes confidence. This doesn’t mean he hasn’t had fine performances, he has, but when watching these movies you feel as though he is acting.

What I mean is that he might be entertaining but what he does on screen isn’t believable. He’s too polished, you can see how much of an effort he puts into the lines, almost seemingly emphasizing every word for affect. This just isn’t the way normal people act or talk. It might be fun or even exciting to watch but you know its not based on reality, its glamourized for wide consumption.

That’s why I think there are two types of actors. The Movie Star and the actor.

Guys like Bruce Willis, Sly Stallone and Tom Cruise are Movie Stars. They can carry a movie, gaurantee huge opening weekends and you can generally forget about the world for the 2 hours they are on screen but do they ever make you think the way an true actor does?

An example is Denzel Washington, some say he plays essentially the same part in every role he plays and can be categorized as a movie star. But the difference as I see it, is in his delivery, his timing, his seemingly effortless abillity to act like a regular person. He walks, talks and even yells like people we have seen all our lives. He doesn’t over reach.

Ill give you an example, the movie Collateral. Tom tries to shake up his image by wearing a grey haired wig and playing a dark and semmingly sadistic assasin. The movie is quite good but who gets nominated for the oscar? Jamie Foxx, and why? Because even in that role Tom has to play the cool guy, the unflappable always in control guy. The character is a hitman with no remorse or feelings and its played as if the guy was a clerk at a grocery store. There is no depth to the character, you can’t tell what he’s thinking, how he is dealing with the situations that arrise, no you only see movie star Tom.

Maybe ones own past has a lot to do with which one of these you are. Maybe some people like Tom have always had it easy. They can’t exude a vast amount of true emotions because he has never really experienced them. Life is hard for most of us, struggling with money, battling addictions, dealing with tragedy. We respond to those things when we see them because we have experienced them. We can see ourselves in Denzel, or Sean or even Tom because they have at times dealt with real life and we can see it in their performances. It touches us, it makes us respond emotionally, it even sometimes pains us to watch.

With a movie star we see what we would like to become; attractive, rich, famous and adoured by millions of people. To be treated like a special person, to have people want to please you. Of course that’s just a dream and that’s why those performances do not resonate, they just touch the surface of our emotions and then move on quickly.

Maybe Jerry McGuire will be remembered long after 25th hour or The Station Agent but that doesn’t mean that it will hold a deeper meaning for the people that see them.

You can’t exude pain if you’ve never felt pain. If your good looking, charasmatic and confident it doesn’t take much for that person to act that way but if that person could really experience life they would be amazed at what they could put into their performance, plus flawed people are just more interesting.

Some examples of what I mean:

An actor stays on the set watching his fellow actor during a scene to watch for subtle nuances so that he can add to his own performance.

A movie star hangs out in his trailer trying to secure the rights to Butch & Sundance so he can remake it and make it better, more hip.

An actor works at every aspect of his character, his walk, the way he smokes, his smile, hid body language. The manner of speech, the way he talks out of the corner of his mouth.

A movie star makes sure his wardrobe is trendy and sculpted to his physique.

An actor shows up on time and is open to ideas from the writer and director.

A movie star orders his assistant to yell at craft service for not having his chai tea, soy milk latte’ ready.

An actor researches his role, goes into dangerous situations to get the feel of what he will represent. Feels a responsibility to be accurate and true to the part.

A movie star goes on a ride along with the local pd where he praised and lauded by everyone around him and then thinks he got to the heart of police work because he saw a shoplifter being arrested.

An actor doesn’t want to go to the premiere because its superficial and demeaning and the majority of the crew isn’t being recognized.

A movie star shows up late to the premiere knowing people will wait for him and that a big entrance is important for his persona.

An actor takes less money to work on a great project because they believe in the movie.

A movie star only takes less money if he can be a producer, get more profit points and get final script approval.

An actor goes to acting class, has a mentor and reads about his profession.

A movie star reads only the 1st page and the last page of a script.

I guess its as basic as this, one seeks the spotlight and one avoids it. One gets emotional about his performance and the other wants to make sequels. One talks about his wife or girlfriend on Oprah while dancing on a sofa while the other one is only heard from when he has to promote his movie not because he wants to. One wins the Acadamy Award and one never will.

Movie Star

Oscar Winner