Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar 'Curse' Explained by Experts
Observers of pop culture, “insiders” of the film industry and astrologers put their respective expertise at the service of a burning question: why does Leonardo DiCaprio still not manage to win the Oscar for best actor?
Four Oscar nominees in the past twenty years without ever being awarded a prize, Leonardo DiCaprio, a subscriber to intense roles, critically acclaimed international superstar and eternal loser, has become the object of a strange cult that happily shakes the internet at each “awards season”. While his performance, to say the least, in The Revenant by Alejandro Iñárritu (Oscar winner in 2015 for Birdman) could finally win him the precious statuette, Vanity Fair asked a handful of experts to decode the "DiCaprio curse" .
The Oscar insider: Didier Allouch
“There is no DiCaprio curse, it's more of a running gag maintained by social networks. Whoever loves chastises well, and Hollywood loves Leonardo DiCaprio a lot. A great actor takes his time. He must have been 18 when he was first nominated for an Oscar, so we thought, 'he has time to try things before he gets rewarded. Of course there are sometimes crashes, but in DiCaprio's case every time he lost it was against a better performance than his.
It's a phenomenon that has always existed, but it is undoubtedly the time and the social networks that pushed running gag so far with DiCaprio. And he enjoys it. I interviewed him recently and he said "I find that funny, it's nice, it shows that people like me." He's a real old school superstar. A film like The Revenant, which lasts almost three hours, filmed entirely in the snow, with very little dialogue, and yet which touches the Star Wars scores at the box office thanks to its performance alone, that's all that matters for him. As for finally winning an Oscar for this movie, that's pretty sure. He has a small competitor with Fassbender for Steve Jobs, but the latter is currently in the same situation as DiCaprio a few years ago. We will therefore no doubt make him wait a little longer. It should also be noted that Oscar voters are mostly actors, and that the latter may be very sensitive to the physical effort delivered by DiCaprio on The Revenant. "
Cinema correspondent for the Canal + group since the end of the 1990s, Didier Allouch hosts the Oscar ceremony for cinema on French television every year. Based in Los Angeles, he produces and directs the show Hebd'Hollywood for Canal + Cinéma and Heb'Hollywood Séries for Canal + Séries.
Pop author: Élise Costa
“The hypotheses are endless: no spectacular regime for a role, nomination at the wrong time, rivalries between the studios ... In reality, you never wonder if Leonardo DiCaprio wants an Oscar. Sure, he wouldn't spit on it, but does he want it as much as we do, we want it? Basically, is it really a curse? On closer inspection, it looks more like a blessing. James Dean has never had an Oscar. Brad Pitt has never had an Oscar. Bill Murray never had an Oscar. Tom Cruise has never had an Oscar, although he would have deserved one for his dance of joy on the Oprah Winfrey couch. However, they are actors who are very popular with the public. Who remembers the name of Murray F. Abraham (Oscar for best actor for the role of Salieri in Amadeus) so well?
And I believe that somewhere, part of the public wishes he never won the golden statuette. Because then that validates our opinion: the Oscars, it's a good show, but a big joke. Internet memes on the subject are not so much a way of making fun of the actor as they are of the institution of the Academy Awards. If anyone deserves supreme recognition, it's him. The “DiCaprio curse” myth is one way of doing that to him. "
Elise Costa is an author. She writes about pop culture, the Internet and back country roads. She wrote How I Didn't Meet Britney Spears (ed. Rue Fromentin).
The film critic: Jacky Goldberg
“I think Leonardo DiCaprio is too good for the Oscars, who almost always reward bad actors, or at least good ones in their bad roles. For example, they never rewarded Cary Grant, and have been systematically wrong since, at the very least, 1998 and Jack Nicholson in For better and for worse. DiCaprio is too good. Too smart. Too subtle. Too haughty to stoop to do what the Academy asks of the actors: humiliate themselves, roll in the mud, disguise themselves in a ridiculous way, take an exaggerated accent, invent a disease or a defect ... Alas , all this or almost, he has just done it in The Revenant, his worst role, which will, without a doubt, allow him to counter the curse, and to have it, finally, his statuette. "
Jacky Goldberg has been writing in Les Inrockuptibles since 2007, particularly on American cinema. He regularly collaborates with Vanity Fair, GQ, and Glamor and appears in the program Le Cercle on Canal +. He made a documentary on Judd Apatow and the new American comedy, This Is Comedy (2014).
Astrologer: Rosine Bramly
“When you look at Leonardo DiCaprio's theme, you have all the clues to fame: the Moon on the Ascendant is a sign of great fame as an artist. Scorpio ascendant Libra, he knows how to assert himself with charisma and he is not about to stop. He has Sun and Venus in Scorpio, that makes him sexy and unsettling, he can play all roles, from the darkest and tortured to the most insolent and physical too. Mars in Scorpio doubles down when it comes to its impact on women. Jupiter and the middle of the sky guarantee him incredible success even in the most mature age. He will never retire, he will continue to have beautiful roles that he will carry to the fullest every time. So long-term success guaranteed worldwide.
What's embarrassing about the Oscars? First between October 2012 and September 2015, Saturn in Scorpio created huge blockages in terms of rewards, but created a period of hard work of hard work and good material construction. But the Oscar, nay! Jupiter and Neptune fight in his sky and do not make it easy for him to gain the recognition of the environment. Neptune creates an atmosphere of shenanigans around him and he doesn't play that kind of game. He doesn't woo people who might award him the Oscar. He wants to have it because he deserves it, that's all.
2016 is clear of Saturn in Scorpio but Neptune is still playing a murky game, which does not guarantee the Oscar on a board. But his chances of winning the Oscar are better than they've been in 6 years. So it should play out positively in the years to come and if it's not 2016, it can be 2017 or 2018, he will still receive the award he deserves. "
Rosine Bramly has been an astrologer for 43 years. She writes for the women's press (Teen Vogue, Vogue Italy and Glamor) and consults in high circles of cinema (Isabelle Adjani, Colin Farrell) as in New York political circles.
The screenwriter: Laurent Vachaud
“You have to understand how the Oscars work. To get a nomination, and therefore a statuette, you have not only to want it but above all to have made it known. By that I mean that the candidate must, as in an election campaign, go out to meet the voters by squeezing ladles in Hollywood's buttocks. Not all are willing to do it. Then, the image that the actor conveys is also decisive because many members of the Academy are of a respectable age and rather conservative in their choices: in other words it is better to be a well-behaved boy, embodying positive values and values. noble roles.
It is also better not to have had success too soon. Al Pacino, arguably one of the greatest actors of our time, waited almost twenty years for the Oscar. Why ? First because he didn't blend in with the Hollywood community, and second because he often played the roles of cops and murderers, which are rarely rewarded. To impress the Academy, you should preferably have had a very show-off role, which requires a physical transformation, in a film celebrating the values dear to America. DiCaprio has so far had little opportunity to shine in such a job. Only the roles of Howard Hughes and J. Edgar Hoover (in Aviator and J. Edgar) were likely to see him win, and again… the Eastwood and Scorsese films both cast unflattering lights. on their characters. The Revenant of Iñarritu is a very successful film, directed by an Oscar-winning director last year, DiCaprio is particularly good at it, in a very physical role where he appears transformed. His chances of winning are therefore good, but we must remember that Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Michael Caine, Gene Kelly, Brad Pitt, Robert Redford, Kirk Douglas, James Dean, John Travolta, Peter O'Toole, Steve McQueen, Johnny Depp, Peter Sellers, Joaquin Phoenix, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and Richard Burton have never won the Academy Award for Best Actor either, despite numerous nominations. Which took nothing away from their glory. "
A film critic at Positif, Laurent Vachaud is also co-author, with Samuel Blumenfeld, of a book of interviews with Brian DePalma. Screenwriter for television and cinema.
