Thompson on DiCaprio
To get up to speed for her piece about formidable Best Actor contender Leonardo DiCaprio, Hollywood Reporter columnist Anne Thompson persuaded Warner Bros. to let her see Blood Diamond, the hard-hitting Ed Zwick drama set in South Africa that costars DiCaprio, Djimon Honsou and Jennifer Connelly. Thompson treads gingerly in describing the film, but the piece nonetheless contains three “tells.”
One, she calls it “a big expensive drama with a heartfelt political message, just the kind of movie that needs the extra boost of an Oscar campaign.” Two, she says that Warner Bros. “will mount Oscar campaigns for both The Departed” — in which DiCaprio definitively kills as a Boston-mob mole — “[which is] already a commercial success and doesn’t need an Oscar push to attract audiences, and Diamond, which needs all the help it can get.” And three, she says that “if Departed really takes off as a Best Picture contender — and if Diamond doesn’t — then DiCaprio too could be promoted from supporting actor consideration for the Scorsese movie into a best actor aspirant for that movie as well.”
Dicaprio, Thompson proclaims, “is front and center in an anti-hero role” in the Zwick film. “He’s a ruthless South African diamond smuggler who enlists Connellly’s perky journalist to help him find the missing son of Honsou’s South African farmer — as well as his buried giant diamond. Along the way, Connelly and Hounsou’s characters both help DiCaprio’s damaged treasure hunter find his conscience. It’s DiCaprio’s movie all the way, thick Afrikaner accent and all, and Warners is pushing him for a best actor nomination.
“There’s just one problem: The studio’s Departed has become such a hit with critics and audiences that the one movie Scorsese and DiCaprio had no intention of campaigning for has become a serious Oscar contender as well. This leaves the studio scrambling to take care of the needs of all its players.”
DiCaprio, she concludes, “is facing the happy dilemma of handling two possibly Oscar-worthy performances. Warners says it will campaign for DiCaprio in the best actor category for Diamond, a movie whose political agenda he cares about deeply.
“At this point, according to his p.r. rep Ken Sunshine, DiCaprio will join his Departed brothers in the supporting actor category, which will pit him against Nicholson and Damon in a hugely competitive race along with likely contenders Hounsou, Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers), Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland), Michael Sheen (The Queen) and Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine).” (HE says forget Haley and McAvoy.)”
Having DiCaprio compete in Supporting against Nicholson is retarded. Nicholson should and will win that. DiCaprio should pull a Soderbergh and just submit both Departed and Blood Diamond. Let the more preferred performance get the nod, and trust me, there will be a big enough presence, just like Soderbergh got the win for Traffic.
Scorsese had no intention of campaigning? Since when? “After Hours?”
If there is a deity, Nicholson won’t win for “The Departed.”
So, you’re saying he’s a lock, then, Josh?
After Hours is brilliant! It kills me more people aren’t familiar with it. Revise those Netflix queues, there’s a disturbing movie for Halloween, folks.
Dicaprio is no supporting actor in The Departed. He is no less prominent then all the following in their Best Actor wins: Denzel (TD), Spacey (AB), Hanks (P), Hopkins (SOLT), Hoffman (RM), Douglas (WS), etc., etc.
ammendment; though Leo probably also is no more prominent than Hawke in Training Day, and of course he got a supporting nod, so there is precedence.
The studio can campaign all it wants, but the Academy voters aren’t stupid enough to fall for it. If he’s got a shot, it’ll be for Lead Actor, though the split threat is real. Who knows? He may pull a Michael Douglas and get nominated for one role while his other lead scores a Picture nomination (and Douglas wasn’t the only one to have this happen).
Leo and Matt are clearly playing lead roles in “The Departed.” Actors get themselves in trouble sometimes when they feel they have two Oscar worthy performances in one year. I still think Scarlett Johansson missed out on a Best Actress nomination for “Lost In Translation” when she campaigned for a supporting actress nomination for that role and a leading actress nomination for “Girl in the Pearl Earring.”
Leo is the lead in the Departed.
Arkin?!? Steve Carell first, then Paul Dano, THEN Arkin. I love all three, but it would be a disaster if Arkin’s nominated and Carell isn’t.
Leo is the lead in “TD” and justly deserves a BA nod for his performance.
I feel confident whichever lead performance is most well received by the critics , be it “TD” or “BD” , Warners will mount a strong campaign on Leo’s behalf for a BA nod
Though, personally, for me, as good as Leo’s performance is in “TD” , hard to believe his “BD” could be better
And if DiCaprio is put in the supporting category for The Departed, the whole Academy system is corrupted beyond forgiveness.
In that case you may as well nominate Ellen Burstyn for best actress for “Mrs. Harris” (It’s a TV performance? So what? 12 seconds long? Who cares? We’re so full of crap we had our skin replaced with elastic so we could shove even more in there!).
Campaigning Leo for Supporting would not only be offensive on an aesthetic level, but it might backfire: if his perf in Blood Diamond doesn’t make it, and voters are confused about where to place him for The Departed, Leo might end up being snubbed in both categories. I’m not sure that Leo deserves a nod for The Departed (I preferred Damon), but I would hate to see him miss out a nomination because Warner Bros was greedy.
Warners just announced it has moved up the release of BLOOD DIAMOND to Dec. 8 “in response to strong reactions from early screening audiences.” Dan Fellman quote: “We have seen the positive buzz on the film building, so it made sense to put it up on screens as early as possible to take advantage of what promises to be excellent word-of-mouth. We also want to give Academy and guild members every opportunity to see Blood Diamond on the big screen in anticipation of a very competitive awards season.”