Oscar Campaign Bust #5: J. Edgar

In early 2011, Leonardo DiCaprio was finally going to receive his fourth Oscar nomination, and possibly win the whole thing for his riveting portrayal of J. Edgar Hoover. A full campaign was launched to nab this generally generic biopic a Best Picture nod, and director Clint Eastwood's film looked primed for at least some technical nominations and a nod for Best Actor. The film was pushed on voters, and sometimes that's all you need. As the award season played out, DiCaprio was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film even took home top ten awards from the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Everything was lined up for Leo. Then the Oscar nominations were announced without his name being called. 

Did it deserve to be nominated? Certainly not for Best Picture (or even Best Makeup), but DiCaprio's performance - one of his best - deserved more consideration. Then again, so did Michael Fassbender's in Shame.

J. EDGAR

Written by Dustin Lance Black

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring Leonard Dicaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts and Judi Dench

Annie Hoover: Edgar, I would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.

Considering Clint Eastwood has lived to witness most of what he chooses to depict in his J. Edgar Hoover biography, simply titled J. EDGAR, it is an awful shame that so much of it feels lifeless and false. Eastwood’s Hoover accomplishes great things, like taking fingerprint technology nationwide and forensic science to new heights, but he does so with very little fanfare, subsequently inspiring even less interest in his audience. Fortunately, incredible performances by Leonardo Dicaprio and Armie Hammer, as the notorious FBI director and his rumoured romantic partner of many years, Clyde Tolson, elevate the picture high enough to overshadow the drab, washed out stiffness of Eastwood’s former America. Dustin Lance Black’s script is smart not to focus solely on Hoover’s sexuality, but unfortunately, the film only truly comes alive when it does.

July Oscar Predictions

Okay, so I'm new at this official Oscar prediction thing. Before this, I would just haphazardly post my predictions in a forum post and call it a day. But now I'm going to do it monthly like most of my colleagues and sooner to Oscar season, weekly. If not daily.

Check out other notable predictors from my fellow bloggers: Nathaniel R. at The Film Experience, Kris Tapley at InContention, and Julian Stark at Movies and Other Things.

Individual categories clickable in the above tabs.  All listed in alphabetical order.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

A Dangerous Method

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Ides of March

The Iron Lady

J. Edgar

Midnight in Paris

My Week with Marilyn

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy

BEST DIRECTOR

David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method

Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar

Michel Haznavicius, The Artist

Steven Spielberg, War Horse

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Clooney, The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar

Jean DuJardin, The Artist

Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method

Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Felicity Jones, Like Crazy

Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn

Albert Brooks, Drive

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March

Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Zoe Caldwell, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method

Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

Marisa Tomei, The Ides of March

Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Techs and screenplay races coming soon.