What are examples of competitive performances that likely lost or failed to even recieve a nomination due to a terrible campaign?
Diana Ross - Lady Sings the Blues - nominated but likely lost due to Barry Gordy’s overly aggressive campaign.
20
u/MiserableCourt1322 6d ago
Harvey Weinstein using fake quotes from critics in his campaign for Gangs of New York.
Melissa Leo buying ads where she's dressed up in a fur coat and it just says "Consider"
Joan Crawford calling every one she knew up to vote against Bette and then calling all the actresses that were also nominated for best actress and convincing Geraldine Page and Anne Bancroft not to show up and let them let her accept the award on their behalf of they won. And just in case that all fell through she got the Academy to let her present and award just in case Bette did win. Joan Crawford could have ruled the world if she had gone into politics.
2
19
u/Most_Extreme_2290 6d ago
Chill Willis campaign for the Alamo is legendary; printing ads with faces of the winners reminding them that he voted for them in the past and now they should return the favor. Not to mention the tasteless ad mentioning that cast prays harder for Willis to win than the real people of Alamo prayed for survival. Sad part is he might have won but after that? Never.
2
6d ago
[deleted]
1
u/flyingbutresses 6d ago
I don’t really remember any verbiage or narrative for hers, only the pictures being tacky.
3
6d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
3
u/flyingbutresses 6d ago
That’s it, and the white dress by the pool one is what I was thinking of!
I think this was ahead of nominations for the fighter, and she’d scored one 2 years earlier for leading actress. At the time, I think Amy Adams was getting the buzz and studio attention, and she self funded these. In the end, it didn’t hurt her with the major awards - she swept (minus BAFTA) and won Oscar.
I was happy with her win and liked the performance. Still, the pics are what the kids call cringe. Speaking of, don’t even get me started on her Oscar speech and Kirk Douglas’s presentation….
1
u/Ok_Beat9172 6d ago
If they had gone with a campaign that told her real story she might have been closer to a win.
She did win though.
1
u/MiserableCourt1322 6d ago
You're right. I'm sick with a cold so I'm not remembering things great right now.
1
1
21
u/DreamOfV 6d ago
Lady Gaga got all the precursors and was considered a possibility to win for House of Gucci but she went a little too hard on the campaigning and said a lot of bizarre actor-brain things and lost the nomination entirely
1
u/BooleanBarman 6d ago
What precursors did she win? I don’t remember her taking anything sizeable that year.
1
u/DreamOfV 6d ago
Sorry - she got nominated at the big four televised precursors. She won New York Critics Circle, which isn’t a major precursor but was notable enough to be on people’s radar.
1
u/Cherryandcokes 1d ago
I honestly think they just hated that movie, which I think came down to the accents. Too camp for the Oscars.
9
23
u/Fun_Protection_6939 6d ago edited 6d ago
Respectfully, Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues doesn't even come close to the tour-de-force that is Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, who won both GG and BAFTA, and thus, was a lock.
0
u/K6g_ 6d ago
All I am saying is that every nominee is supposed to have a chance., but Barry's campaign doomed any chance she might have had. I am not say Liza wasn't supposed to win or that she didn't deserve to win. Just contrary popular belief, winning an Oscar is not guaranteed. Just at her mom's awkward loss at the hospital.
1
u/Certain-Werewolf-974 6d ago
You’ve created a narrative in your head that just isn’t true and you can’t be convinced otherwise despite overwhelming proof.
1
u/capncrunch94 6d ago
Every nominee in fact does not have a chance. Just look at Best Picture since they expanded it. If you thought Nickel Boys had a REAL chance compared to the other top films this year, you haven’t been paying attention to how the Academy works. And that’s not a shot at Nickel Boys it’s a great movie but had no shot in hell winning
1
12
u/K6g_ 6d ago
5
u/NedthePhoenix 6d ago
I've maintained that it wasn't Lopez's campaign really that cost her the nomination but her reputation. She'd been known as difficult and a diva for years, and that doesn't matter when it's other people voting for you. But when it came down to the people who'd ACTUALLY worked with her and spent time on her sets? No nomination
5
u/MiserableCourt1322 6d ago
Hustlers deserved more respect. In terms of movies about strippers, it was better than Anora.
3
u/ChartInFurch 6d ago
They should have definitely considered a movie that came out years later before skipping nominations for this one.
1
2
10
u/Cheap_Champion7853 6d ago
Don't know whether it was bad campaign but Children of Men not getting a Best Pic nod was crazy to me.
3
u/rorykellycomedy 6d ago
Bit of an obscure example, but Peggy Cass was nominated in the 50's for a supporting role in Auntie Mame, a role for which she'd won a Tony. She was working on Jack Paar's TV show at the time. IMDB claims that he campaigned too hard for her and lost her the award (hard to corroborate.)
2
2
u/ltdanswifesusan 6d ago
No way to tell to what extent it impacted voting but Hal Ashby added a gag reel to the end of Being There (unbeknownst to Peter Sellers). At the premiere, once the movie ended, Sellers turned to Ashby and said "You cost me an Academy Award."
2
u/NedthePhoenix 6d ago
It's such a bizarre choice because that ending is POWERFUL. And then it feels immediately undercut by a half-assed gag reel. I don't know if Sellers wins without it because hat's an absolutely stacked Actor lineup of 4 great actors who hadn't won at that point (Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider, and Sellers) and a great Jack Lemmon performance. But it certainly didn't help.
3
u/K6g_ 6d ago
14
u/DreamOfV 6d ago
Gascón got exactly what she was always going to get - a nomination. She was never win competitive even before the scandal
1
u/The_Lady_Lilac 6d ago
Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage, one of the best villainous performances ever got screwed because the studio refused to campaign for her
50
u/Most_Extreme_2290 6d ago
While Diana Ross‘ campaign was indeed aggressive and considered not appropriate at the time, it was all smoke and mirrors since Liza Minnelli had it in the bag.