WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

When I quoted DanDigital I assumed he was referring to the more conservative Mickey Rourke who Hollywood absolutely hates losing to the extremely liberal Sean Penn who Hollywood loves to no end, in the Best Actor Category. Sorry if my post helped fuel any confusion.

Ledger was up against Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Josh Brolin (Milk), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), and Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder).

Well, considering that I'm a progressive myself, I can see what you mean. However, political convictions have no impact on an actor's on-screen performance, so that sounds quite absurd to me. Brolin was superb in Milk, but I haven't seen Doubt or Revolutionary Road yet.

You are absolutely right, they do not have anything to do with an on-screen performance. However, it isn't like the Academy is completely unbiased and doesn't have certain ideological leanings. Penn won for playing a homosexual activist a mere months after California voters got rid of same-sex marriage. And then you have Rourke...the bad boy of Hollywood who has sympathized with Bush and is just more conservative in general...and he mouths off about Hollywood, etc. a lot.

I'm not saying Penn wasn't good, but if you take all these other factors into consideration, it seems as though Rourke didn't stand a chance.

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Back to the topic though, I just re-watched Rorschach's death-scene and am even more convinced than ever that Haley topped Ledger.

so any possible nominations for Jackie Earle Haley next year? we know he'll definitely win some stuff at the MTV movie awards later this year.

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Political (and religious) convictions might not impact an actor's on-screen performance. But an actor's leanings can impact a nomination and how the Academy votes. You think Mel Gibson has ANY chance of EVER winning again, or even being nominated, no matter if he turns out something that blows away Braveheart? Nope. But an actor willing to be more progressive in a positive direction will increase his odds of a nomination, especially with promoting the elevation to equal-rights status of a marginalized group, especially if portraying that progression on screen.

Political convictions can be in art, but they shouldn't influence art or the flow of it. I've always felt that directors overseeing projects with political messages should remain faithful to the situation as a whole without injecting their personal views into the issue. This same standard of objectivity and decency should apply to the Academy.

Fixed. Somehow you attributed what I said to someone else. But whatever the Academy believes about gay marriage, it shouldn't have factored into the decision to give Penn the award or give Rourke the award. I personally think Rourke was amazing, and whether or not he is a few screws loose, is conservative, or hates the Hollywood establishment should not affect his chances of winning based solely on an amazing performance.

Somehow I think we will see something similar happen to Jackie Earle Haley. Haley doesn't seem like he is one of the people Hollywood would want to win an award and he is portraying an ultra-conservative character. All of that, plus the fact that Watchmen isn't your typical movie (complex, violent, etc.) and people don't really seem to want it to succeed, are likely to prevent Haley from receiving a much deserved nomination (at least when we compare his performance to other performances thus far this year, and indeed, there are lots more left). Personally, I think WALL-E should have been nominated for Best Picture, but it's an animated movie, and no chance of that ever happening again.

My concern is that, barring some lackluster performances from lead actors in other Oscar contending movies, The Academy will now be hesitant to give another acting Academy Award to someone in a "comic book movie" after Heath Ledger. They might be afraid of setting that precedent instead of having Ledger's performance be a "one-off."

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I've only had one dream in my life with kids in it that didn't involve me gnawing my feet off, and it had to do with kids doing my laundry.

Jeez, It's WAY TOO EARLY to be talking about Oscars already, especially in regards to Haley.

Granted, I think Watchmen stands a chance for it's technical and art aspects at the Oscars but that's it. We're only in March and we've still got a long ways away. One of the biggest reasons The Dark Knight and Wall-E were under consideration for so long was because 08 was a weak year for Oscar-level movies. Looking at 09 already, It already looks much stronger than 08.

As much as we'd like to see Haley get a Actor or Supporting Actor nom, he'll probably get either dismissed or lost in the shuffle.

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"When someone asks if you're a god, you say YES!"

As good as Haley was, he ain't getting nominated. Nobody in this movie is getting nominated for anything. And while it should be considered for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, it ain't getting nominated for any of those, either. If it continues to do well at the box office it might be looking at some technical achievement awards, but this movie is the antithesis of everything the academy stands for, and they are never going to honor it the way they should.

Members of the Academy are people too and it's damn hard to stay completely objective, especially when it comes to choosing someone for Best Actor...which is completely subjective. It seems like you believe Sean Penn won only because of Prop 8 recently and maybe as a consolation prize for Brokeback Mountain a few years back. I don't agree with this.


He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Little Children.



As you just admitted, we have MUCH more to see this year.



Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture.

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Haley didn't win for Best Supporting Actor in 2006; Alan Arkin did.

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He did it.

My mistake.

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Yes, but ten years before there was a Best Animated Feature category.

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http://www.doghousecomics.com

Still. If the Academy REALLY had a thing against animated movies, I'm sure they would have nominated something else instead. Heck, they wouldn't even bother to make an Animated Feature category, they'd just go on ignoring animated movies altogether.

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I vote for Haley because his part showed more emotion, because he had chances to. Rorschach is a character. TDK's Joker is an idea, an absolute, not a person. Ledger fit the part just as good as Haley fits Ror, but he wasn't able to show off his skills as much because his character starts the same and ends the same: resolute.

And that was the last time. Since then they've added the Best Animated Picture so it doesn't happen again.

Agree to disagree then, because I am sure that had something to do with it. I know Penn was good in it, but I happen to think Rourke deserved it more.



I know. Key word though is that he was nominated. I said he doesn't seem like he is one of the people they would want to win and I stand by that. He didn't win back then when he played a PEDOPHILE and he probably won't get nominated this time around for playing a SOCIOPATH. Especially on the heels of an actor winning for playing a sociopath in another comic book movie.


No arguments there. I will reserve judgment until we see more movies,.


And if you actually read what I said, you would realize that I was alluding to Beauty and the Beast's nomination without directly mentioning it. I didn't say we will never have an animated movie nominated...I said there is no chance of that ever happening AGAIN, thus illustrating my recognition that it did happen once before. I am well aware of Beauty and the Beast's nomination and loss to Silence of the Lambs, and was commenting that that is likely to be the only animated movie that ever had a chance of winning because it was pre-Best Animated Feature category.

I'm sure the nomination of Beauty and the Beast was not the reason for adding the category, especially since it was added ten years later. It is not technically impossible for a film to be nominated for Best Picture and Best Animated Feature. Hasn't yet happened, but that doesn't mean it can't or never will just because Wall-E wasn't nominated this year.

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