Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most famous and beloved members of the
twilight zone peopled by actors whose greatness is acknowledged and
celebrated by everybody except the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. Just like Peter O'Toole (who was nominated eight times and
then finally handed an honorary award), Leo's never won an Oscar.
It's not for lack of trying. This year, Leonardo scored his fourth
nomination for playing devious drug-addicted stockbroker Jordan Belfort
in The Wolf Of Wall Street. He's been nominated thrice before - Best Supporting Actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Best Actor for The Aviator and for Blood Diamond - without winning once. Leonardo fans also think he was unfairly overlooked for Oscar nods for films like Catch Me If You Can, The Departed, Revolutionary Road and Django Unchained.
In 1994, Leonardo's sensitive performance as the mentally challenged Arnie Grape was bested by Tommy Lee Jones' US Marshal in The Fugitive. In 2005, his turn as the reclusive and OCD-ridden Howard Hughes lost to Jamie Foxx's performance as blind singer Ray Charles. In 2007, Leo's South African accent was a marvel to hear but outshone at the Oscars by Forest Whitaker's Ugandan one as Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland.
If online chatter and a Google analysis of search trends were to decide this year's Best Actor, then hand Leo his long-overdue Oscar already. His Golden Globe win last month was hailed by fans as an indication of things to come at the Academy Awards, and a CNN report appearing to show a plaque bearing Leonardo's name for Best Actor was greeted by online fanfare and shrieks of joy (vever mind that plaques are made ahead for each nominee).
Could Leonardo DiCaprio finally be going home with a little golden man? Few would disagree that Leo's performance in and as The Wolf Of Wall Street is nothing short of sensational, but consider his competition - Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free black man kidnapped, sold into slavery and subjected to horrific abuse in 12 Years A Slave; Matthew McConaughey as a homophobic AIDS patient smuggling medicines in Dallas Buyers Club; Christian Bale as a balding, pot-bellied con artist forced into a sting operation in American Hustle; and Bruce Dern as an elderly, confused father on a journey of discovery across the American Midwest.
Knowing the Academy's penchant for pathos, it seems unlikely they'd give a high-living fraudster the Oscar when they could give it to a bloody-but-unbowed slave or a bigot dying of AIDS. But if they did, it wouldn't be a moment too soon.
In 1994, Leonardo's sensitive performance as the mentally challenged Arnie Grape was bested by Tommy Lee Jones' US Marshal in The Fugitive. In 2005, his turn as the reclusive and OCD-ridden Howard Hughes lost to Jamie Foxx's performance as blind singer Ray Charles. In 2007, Leo's South African accent was a marvel to hear but outshone at the Oscars by Forest Whitaker's Ugandan one as Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland.
If online chatter and a Google analysis of search trends were to decide this year's Best Actor, then hand Leo his long-overdue Oscar already. His Golden Globe win last month was hailed by fans as an indication of things to come at the Academy Awards, and a CNN report appearing to show a plaque bearing Leonardo's name for Best Actor was greeted by online fanfare and shrieks of joy (vever mind that plaques are made ahead for each nominee).
Could Leonardo DiCaprio finally be going home with a little golden man? Few would disagree that Leo's performance in and as The Wolf Of Wall Street is nothing short of sensational, but consider his competition - Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free black man kidnapped, sold into slavery and subjected to horrific abuse in 12 Years A Slave; Matthew McConaughey as a homophobic AIDS patient smuggling medicines in Dallas Buyers Club; Christian Bale as a balding, pot-bellied con artist forced into a sting operation in American Hustle; and Bruce Dern as an elderly, confused father on a journey of discovery across the American Midwest.
Knowing the Academy's penchant for pathos, it seems unlikely they'd give a high-living fraudster the Oscar when they could give it to a bloody-but-unbowed slave or a bigot dying of AIDS. But if they did, it wouldn't be a moment too soon.
