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OSCAR: Melissa Leo Goes Rogue With Her Own Personal Campaign Ads

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday February 4, 2011 @ 9:16pm PSTTags: 83rd Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Melissa Leo, Oscar Best Supporting Actress, Oscar Campaigning, Oscars, The Fighter
Pete Hammond

Apparently she wasn’t content to let the Paramount and Relativity marketing machine do all the campaign work. So Best Supporting Actress frontrunner Melissa Leo personally paid for Hollywood trade ads (including on Deadline.com) Thursday showing  her super glammed-up wearing “Faux (not real) Fur” and a glittery evening gown. The text simply said “Consider”  and then below that, “Melissa Leo”, and in very tiny fine print off to the side the web address www.melissaleo.com, a photo credit, and a faux fur credit. There is no reference to her movie, The Fighter, or her critically acclaimed and  gritty real-life character, Alice Ward. Perhaps the point was to show a completely different side of the actress from the blue collar mother and fight manager she portrays in the film, a Supporting Actress role that has already won her the Critics Choice award, a Golden Globe, and a SAG award. It’s a trophy haul that has put her in lead position to take the Oscar.

So why go rogue now? I spoke to Leo today moments after she arrived in New Orleans to resume her role in HBO’s Treme. She explained the ads followed months of her frustration at not being able to land magazine covers, even with all the awards and attention for The Fighter. Leo is 50 years old and she attributes the media’s lack of interest to ageism and because of that and other factors she’s not considered “box office”.   “I took matters into my own hands. I knew what I was doing and told my representation how earnest I was about this idea. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot,” Melissa told me. So she and three friends arranged a special “fun” photo shoot instead of using the usual studio-prepared photo from the film for “For Your Consideration” ads.

“I am quite certain I have not overstepped any boundaries of the Academy,” Leo told me. “I did hear a lot of very positive comments, particularly from women of a certain age who happen to act for a living and happen to understand full well the great dilemma  and mystery of getting a cover of a magazine. I also heard there were negative comments, but no one said them to my face, sadly. I like to hear what people think. I could explain myself.” She noted that the night before she had been guest of honor at a party celebrating her nomination and thrown by Robert Duvall, James Brolin, James Gandofini, and Demi Moore. “All I ask of Hollywood is they consider Melissa Leo. If you want to hire me, give me a shout,’ Leo added.

Leo’s ads were limited to this week as ballots went out and “are now Kleenex” as she says. It will be interesting to see if they have made any impact at all on a race that, at this point, appears to be hers to lose. A studio source tells me Paramount and Relativity were completely unaware of the ad until seeing it print themselves. Paramount plans no individual ads for any of their Supporting Actress nominees, a list that also includes Leo’s co-star Amy Adams and True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld. But there are two new 30-second TV spots highlighting Melissa Leo and Christian Bale because both have swept early precursor awards. How Leo’s personal ad will play is a bigger question as it’s rare to see actors these days, particularly frontrunners, go this route.

Oscar consultants have long thought that personal campaigns can send the wrong message or come off as overkill. Some frontrunners have proven you don’t even have to campaign at all to win. Last year Mo’Nique was criticized by some bloggers for staying in Atlanta and doing her new talk show and refusing to “play the Oscar game”. Yet she won handily that year just by letting her performance speak for itself.

On the other hand, Candy Clark paid for a steady series of quarter page ads for her role in 1973’s American Graffiti. As the only cast member to launch a campaign, it paid off with a Best Supporting Actress nomination for the then-little known actress. Similarly, in 1987 Sally Kirkland paid for a series of ads cramming critics quotes into an Oscar ad campaign for her small indie, Anna – and that resulted in a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination for her for Best Actress, a real feat considering the low profile of the film and no budget to campaign it.

Throughout Oscar history, though, there have been some prime and in some cases notorious personal ad campaigns which have backfired after being launched by Oscar-hungry nominees or the reps behind them. The most infamous was the tasteless Supporting Actor campaign which Chill Wills ran for his role in The Alamo (1960). His ad featured a photo of the entire Alamo cast and read: “We of the Alamo cast are praying harder – than the real Texans prayed for their lives in the Alamo – for Chill Wills to win the Oscar as the Best Supporting Actor – Cousin Chill’s acting was great”. It was signed “Your Alamo Cousins”.  It caused star/director John Wayne to publicly take out his own ad renouncing Wills, saying in part, “I refrain from using stronger language because I am sure his intentions were not as bad as his taste”.  Groucho Marx also took out a small ad that said he was happy to be “Chill Wills’ Cousin, but I voted for Sal Mineo”.  Wills later blamed his publicist. He lost to Peter Ustinov in Spartacus.

And many think Diana Ross could have won the Best Actress Oscar in 1972 for Lady Sings The Blues were it not for the daily barrage of big gaudy ads paid for by producer and mentor Berry Gordy. They were generally seen as way too much and in-your-face. She lost to Liza Minnelli for Cabaret.

In 1985, The Color Purple Supporting Actress Margaret Avery ran an ad that read: “Dear God, My name is Margaret Avery. I knows dat I been blessed by Alice Walker, Steven Spielberg, and Quincy Jones who gave me the part  of ‘Shug’ Avery in The Color Purple. Now I is up for one of the nominations fo’ Best Supporting Actress alongst with some fine, talented ladies that I is proud to be in the company of. Well God,  I guess the time has come fo’the Academy voters to decide whether I is one of the Best Supporting Actresses this year or not! Either way, Thank You, Lord for the opportunity. – Your little daughter, Margaret Avery.” Avery was roundly criticized for the ad which was written in a dialect not even used by character in the film. She lost to Anjelica Huston for Prizzi’s Honor.

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OSCAR: Supporting Actor/Actress Q&As – Part 1: Damon, Douglas, Renner, Steinfeld

By MIKE FLEMING JR. AND PETE HAMMOND | Friday January 14, 2011 @ 3:08am PSTTags: 83rd Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Hailee Steinfeld, Jeremy Renner, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Movies, Oscar Best Supporting Actor Category, Oscar Best Supporting Actress, Oscars

Matt Damon, True Grit – He was the leading man starring in his Invictus director Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter. But his best chance at an Oscar is thought to be Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit in the supporting role of … Read More »

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OSCAR: Best Supporting Actor & Actress – Nothing Secondary About These Races

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday January 11, 2011 @ 6:50pm PSTTags: 83rd Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Movies, Oscar Best Supporting Actor Category, Oscar Best Supporting Actress, Oscars, Pete Hammond Oscar Coverage
Pete Hammond

Category placement is always a delicate dance come Oscar time. In 1966, Walter Matthau won the Supporting Actor Oscar for The Fortune Cookie even though he was on equal footing with co-star Jack Lemmon. In 1981, Susan Sarandon admitted to voting for herself in Supporting for Atlantic City only to surprisingly land in lead. Patricia Neal took Best Actress for Hud in 1963 even though she was really playing a supporting role. Anthony Hopkins could have gone for support in 1991’s Silence Of The Lambs but was campaigned instead for lead and won. George Clooney was originally going for lead in 2005’s Syriana, where he almost certainly would have lost to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Capote, but strategically dropped to support where he also became an Oscar winner. And, in the most complex of scenarios possible, Catherine Zeta Jones  went strategically for  support in Chicago while her equal co-star Renee Zellweger had Best Actress to herself but lost to Nicole Kidman, who won for The Hours in a role that could have been classified as supporting but that’s where her co-star Julianne Moore competed so as to avoid cannibalizing her own chances for lead actress in Far From Heaven.

Get the picture?

Until 1936 in Academy Awards history, featured actors either competed alongside stars or not at all. Since then, the Supporting actor and actress categories have tried to make distinctions between themselves and lead, although it seems every year the line gets blurred. It was no exception in 2010 with so-called leading roles being campaigned for Supporting in some instances to give them a better shot at a nomination or avoid competing with co-stars. Which is perefectly acceptable since the Academy actors branch leaves it up to voting members to determine the appropriate category for each performance. Sometimes this results in split votes. Often in surprises. So here are this year’s prime contenders by alphabetical order:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Fighter (Relativity/Paramount) – Bale’s dynamic turn as crack addicted Dicky Ward has drawn top reviews and made him a heavyweight contender not just for a nomination, but also the win. His dramatic weight loss and surprising performance is just the kind that attracts Oscar.

Jim Broadbent, Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics) – This previous Supporting Actor winner (Iris) retains his usual class and dignity, delivering another quietly effective performance for frequent director Mike Leigh. But that may not be enough to overcome flashier competition.

Pierce Brosnan, The Ghost Writer (Summit Entertainment) – Brosnan gets a real chance to stretch his image and show his chops under the direction of Roman Polanski. The film’s February release doesn’t help being remembered against a tough field of contenders.

Vincent Cassel, Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) – This French star gets a juicy, hard-edged role in an American film and runs with it. The fact that he is also being campaigned in the lead category for his mesmerizing two-part Cesar award -inning portrayal in Mesrine won’t hurt his chances.

Matt Damon, True Grit (Paramount) – Damon is an Academy favorite. Under the guidance of the Coen Brothers, he gets right the role singer Glen Campbell screwed up in the 1969 version. But he’s playing second fiddle to Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges more likely to earn nods.

Michael Douglas, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) – Douglas revisits the Gordon Gekko role 23 years later and has the industry rooting for him to overcome his bout with cancer.  He could become the first actor to win two Oscars for playing the same character.

Andrew Garfield, The Social Network (Sony Pictures) – Garfield was impressive in two distinct dramas this fall, the other being the little-seen Never Let Me Go. Plus he’s the new Spider-Man. But his role here is earning Oscar talk with Golden Globe and CCMA nominations.

Ed Harris, The Way Back (Newmarket) – A four-time Oscar nominee, this well-liked veteran is overdue,  and his physically challenging role is first-rate work which his peers expect from him.   But the film’s year-end qualifying run and lack of marketing funds may dim his chances.

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions) – Although Jennifer Lawrence seems to get all the attention, nominations for this journeyman actor’s authentic backwoods portrayal from the Spirit Awards and SAG are beginning to make a longshot Oscar nod far more realistic.

Bill Murray, Get Low (Sony Pictures Classics) – Many feel Murray was robbed of the Best Actor Oscar for Lost in Translation and the actors branch might just want to make it up to him by recognizing this nicely-etched performance which scored an Indie Spirit nomination.

Sean Penn, Fair Game (Summit Entertainment) – Penn steals this entertaining true-life political thriller. The role would seem to belong in lead but Summit is hoping the two-time Best Actor might stand a better chance in supporting. Though the movie has faded without much buzz.

Jeremy Renner, The Town (Warner Bros) – With a triple-play of supporting nods from SAG, Golden Globes and CCMAs, Renner has emerged as a very good bet to grab his second consecutive Oscar nomination after first being named last year in the leading actor category.

Sam Rockwell, Conviction (Fox Searchlight) – Rockwell is popular with his fellow actors and long underrated. He won early buzz for his performance but has so far not shown up in many pre-Oscar contests. With lack of recognition by SAG, he is suddenly in an uphill climb.

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features) – Ruffalo worked just six days on this indie dramedy but he obviously did something right to earn SAG, CCMA, and New York Film Critics attention. This lively supporting turn should result in his first career Oscar nomination.

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Co) – Rush hits it out of the park and gives this very accessible period drama its heart and soul. A former lead actor winner for Shine, Rush is one of the frontrunners to hold Oscars for both lead and supporting roles.

Justin Timberlake, The Social Network (Sony Pictures) – Pop star Justin Timberlake has displayed acting talent  before in films like Alpha Dog and his SNL hosting gigs but he is suddenly in the Oscar conversation despite fierce competition from even his own movie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, The Fighter (Relativity/Paramount) – Adams has already landed two Oscar nominations and seems certain for a third in this change-of-pace role as the expletive spewing, tough-as-nails bartender girlfriend of Micky Ward. Voters love to see actors go against type and expertly so. Read More »

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