Every year the Academy Awards seem to miss out on some of Hollywood’s greatest talent either by not nominating that talent initially, or by voting in a winner who raises eyebrows.
Some Academy Award snubs are legendary. Alfred Hitchcock, considered by many to be the master of suspense, never received an Oscar for one of his films. It took the Academy roughly six decades before they recognized Henry Fonda’s work, and it was a good thing they did because Fonda died shortly thereafter. Then again, it could be argued that things are improving in that it only took Martin Scorsese nearly 30 years to finally win an Oscar.
Let’s take a look at the last decade at five of the biggest Oscar snubs.
1. Ben Affleck – ‘Argo’ – Best Director
After hitting it big with Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck puttered about a bit with some less successful films like Pearl Harbor and Gigli. That being said, everyone loves a comeback, and he proved himself again in State of Play and The Town. So, it’s a bit mystifying how, at the 2012 Academy Awards, Affleck escaped a nomination for Best Director for Argo. The film garnered seven nominations, including Best Picture which it won. Yet, apparently it directed itself to this win because Affleck was not even nominated.
2. Jake Gyllenhaal – ‘Brokeback Mountain’ – Best Supporting Actor
In fairness, the entire cast of Brokeback Mountain got snubbed in 2006: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams were all nominated. Heath Ledger went on to win a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker, and Michelle Williams has been nominated twice more. What really stings is that Jake Gyllenhaal lost to George Clooney in the forgettable Syriana.
3. Amy Adams – ‘Doubt’ – Best Supporting Actress
Talk about always a bridesmaid and never a bride. Amy Adams has been nominated four times in the last ten years for Best Supporting Actress, and has never won. She’s even faced the misfortune of losing out to a co-star, Melissa Leo, nominated in the same category for their roles in The Fighter. The one snub that really stands out is Adams in Doubt, where she more than held her own with powerhouse co-stars Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. She ended up losing out to Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
4. Kathryn Bigelow – ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ – Best Director
It’s hard to get any kind of recognition as a first-time nominee, especially when you are a woman who directs an indie film that is a war movie. It’s even more amazing when you win. The Hurt Locker blew away some amazing competition to win Best Film and Best Director. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you’ll get recognized when you do it again, only this time, Bigelow didn’t even get so much as a nomination. Given that this is the same year as Ben Affleck’s snub, maybe there was something in the water.
5. Jamie Foxx – ‘Django Unchained’ – Best Actor
So much for playing the title character being a shoe-in to a nomination, even when you’ve done just that before. Despite co-stars Leonard Di Caprio and Christoph Waltz, and writer/director Quentin Tarantino garnering Golden Globe and/or Academy Award nominations for this film, Foxx got nothing for playing Django. Well, at least he actually won for playing the iconic Ray Charles in Ray. He’s also doing better than his co-star DiCaprio, who currently has had four nominations in the last twenty years, and not a single win.