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Thursday, March 8, 2007
Film FILM: From Oscar to ... Norbit?
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Mar 8, 2007 at 3:24 PM
Ever since Luise Rainer won back-to-back Best Actress Oscars in the mid-1930s and then watched her career fade into obscurity, there's always been talk of an Oscar curse, as if winning the gold statue was a sure sign that a performer's days in the spotlight were numbered. This of course is pure nonsense — I wouldn't say that Jack Nicholson's career was curtailed in any way after winning an Academy Award for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (on the contrary, he later won two more), but certainly there have been examples of Oscar-winning thespians who, like Rainer, have largely become footnotes in the annals of film history.
One example is F. Murray Abraham. Since winning the Best Actor Oscar for Amadeus, he's appeared in 65 productions, but good luck trying to name more than a couple (many have been straight-to-DVD titles or international productions that haven't reached our shores). But the most curious example of the post-Oscar blues belongs to Cuba Gooding Jr.
Gooding earned the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 1996's Jerry Maguire. That victory hasn't exactly translated into choice roles in acclaimed films, but neither is he going quietly into the night. Instead, Gooding has been working steadily in movies that are backed by major studios and released on thousand of screens across the nation. What's astonishing is that, with rare exception, these pictures tend to be bottom-of-the-barrel excursions, turkeys which indicate that either Gooding has the worst taste in scripts or will do anything for a buck.
What Dreams May Come, Chill Factor, Instinct, Pearl Harbor, Rat Race, Snow Dogs, Boat Trip, Radio, Norbit ... it's a depressing list.
Among this year's winners, Helen Mirren, Alan Arkin and Forest Whitaker have already established themselves, so Jennifer Hudson is the only one who needs to heed the Cuba curse.
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