Beauty of the Biopic The emerging trend this awards season: biography over originality By Jack Smart DEAR BACKSTAGE READER, Do you want to win an acting award? If so, you should consider playing a real person rather than a fictional character. The former is more likely to capture voters’ attention, and so far, the 2022 awards season indicates that trend is due to continue. Consider the recently announced Screen Actors Guild Award film nominations, which are particularly prophetic this season. Because the Critics’ Choice Awards have been postponed and the 2022 Golden Globes announced unusually muted results via Twitter instead of in a televised ceremony, SAGAFTRA’s nominations are our best indicator yet of who’s in the running for the 94th annual Academy Awards. Of the SAG Awards’ leading ladies in film, all but one (Olivia Colman in “The
Lost Daughter”) are playing reallife figures. In the leading male category, only two (Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Power of the Dog” and Denzel Washington in “The Tragedy of Macbeth”) are fictional. The many controversies dogging the Hollywood Foreign Press Association notwithstanding, the Golden Globe results speak to this tendency to recognize biographical over fictional performances. Among the winners were Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball in “Being the Ricardos,” Will Smith as Richard Williams in “King Richard,” and Andrew Garfield as Jonathan Larson in “Tick, Tick…Boom!” If you also count contenders playing roles that are recognizable because they’re
Jennifer Hudson in “Respect”
remakes (Globe winners Ariana DeBose and Rachel Zegler in “West Side Story,” Critics’ Choice nominee Peter Dinklage in “Cyrano,” or SAG nominee Cate Blanchett in “Nightmare Alley,” for example), the amount of actors who are playing characters completely from scratch is small. A number-crunching study from the Hollywood Reporter confirmed that playing real people gives you much greater odds of notching an Oscar nomination or win. Even more fascinating is that this trend has increased over the past two decades; in the 21st century, close to half of all nominees have gotten on the ballot by playing a real person. One explanation for this is that a re-creation provides a more obvious metric of success than a creation: Does the actor do a
Sincerely,
Jack
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QUANTRELL D. COLBERT
good job transforming into or inhabiting an actual person we can reference? In a BBC article titled “How to Win an Oscar,” journalist Helen O’Hara pointed out that “it is extremely difficult to see what difference is made and which performance is better than another” when it comes to fictional characters. “But when an actor plays a real person, you can judge a little better.” Other factors include the actor’s resemblance to a character and the source material’s commitment to documentary-like facts. Jennifer Hudson doesn’t look much like Aretha Franklin, but SAG nominators clearly considered the true-to-life re-creations in “Respect.” Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominee Kristen Stewart provides a physically and cosmetically authentic Princess Diana, but the events of “Spencer” are far from factual (an element that might have factored into her SAG snub). Considering whether Kidman resembles and delivers essential truths about Ball is part of the fun for awards voters. Looking at what’s shaping up to be a thrillingly competitive awards season for film stars, I can’t help but admire the character-builders who started with less rather than more. While Smith, Garfield, and the “House of Gucci” cast had actual people to research, and the stars of book-to-film adaptations “Dune,” “The Lost Daughter,” and “The Power of the Dog” had source material to read, someone like SAG nominee Caitríona Balfe had only her own relationship with the politics and history of Ireland to bring Ma to life in “Belfast.” As always, I’m hoping there continues to be variety in what is considered an award-worthy performance. We don’t want pursuing a biographical role to become a calculated strategy employed to win over voters.
