Nothing we own today is worth what it was a year ago -- not our houses, our 401Ks, not even our careers. So with the Oscar noise at last dying down, it's worth asking whether even an Oscar is worth what it used to be.
I would argue, hell no.
For filmmakers, winning the top prize, or even a nomination, used to mean a ticket to creative autonomy as well as to plump paydays. Look what a "Pulp Fiction" best screenplay Oscar did for Quentin Tarantino in '94 or the screenplay Oscar for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for "Good Will Hunting" in '97.
Well, not anymore. Tarantino's been busy, but we haven't seen much work from Bennett Miller ("Capote"), Taylor Hackford ("Ray"), Peter Weir ("Master and Commander") or Spike Jonze ("Being John Malkovich") since their moments in the sun.
Sure, these are talented guys with idiosyncratic tastes, but still, despite all the attention showered on them, they haven't been getting their work out there.
Nor have some of the nominated writers -- Stephen Gaghan ("Syriana"), Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale"), Alexander Payne ("Sideways"). Where have they all gone?
An Academy Award, or even a nomination, used to guarantee an instant pay boost. But some actresses, like Charlize Theron or Hilary Swank, have opted to accept smaller paydays in exchange for better roles in low-budget pictures.
While an abundance of projects likely have been offered them, Jake Gyllenhaal hasn't found anything measuring up to "Brokeback Mountain," nor has Clive Owen since "Closer," nor has the uniquely eccentric Joaquin Phoenix since "Walk the Line." At least Joaquin now claims he's retiring from acting.
There are exceptions, of course. Amy Adams leaped from the obscure "Junebug" to success in the very mainstream "Enchanted" (and another nom in "Doubt"). Philip Seymour Hoffman seems to be in every film now in release. Charlie Kaufman cashed in on his screenplay for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" to get a directing gig on the esoteric "Synecdoche, New York." It might be his last.
The bottom line is that the Oscar is really no longer about big paychecks or even big pictures. Robert Downey Jr. has a whole new career thanks to "Iron Man," but the Academy apparently would never lavish an Oscar on a film that entertained that wide an audience. Given the present proclivities of Academy voters, skeptics doubt whether "Titanic" would have managed a nomination.
Much has been made about the absence of an "Oscar bounce" at the box office for the present group of nominees. "Frost/Nixon," despite its merits, did not gain momentum from its Oscar nomination while "Milk" did its best business prior to the campaign. Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times observed last week that "Hollywood needs to take a long look at its obsession with Oscardom since it seems increasingly clear that the awards no longer deliver the guaranteed marketing bounce."
Well, maybe. I still relish the Oscar ritual with all its eccentricities and contradictions. The Academy has done much to enhance the movie industry both in terms of money and mythology.
But maybe not as much as it did a generation ago.(.variety)
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