subject: Victims Of The Oscar Curse [print this page] You would think winning an Oscar would be beneficial. For a film and the studio that produced it is. It can incredibly beneficial actually. Box office receipts and DVD sales for films that take the coveted Best Picture prize always get a considerable uptick. If it weren't for the Oscar attention, 2009's "The Hurt Locker" would never have been the number one selling DVD for as long as it was. It's different for actors though. The careers of some actors have taken off after an Academy Award victory (Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard). Some, however, have experienced what has come to be known as "the Oscar curse." Here are five of those actors.
Halle Berry
Her moment at the Academy Awards is one of the most moving and well-known in the ceremony's history. When she became the first black woman to win the Best Actress prize, she delivered a moving and weepy tribute to the actresses who had come before. But ever since then, the only time she's been back to the awards was as a presenter. Her "Catwoman" went a long ways to almost ruining a legendary character until Anne Hathaway saved it in "The Dark Knight Rises." Thanks to her performance in "Catwoman," Berry achieved another milestone: The first black woman to ever win the Worst Actress prize at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
Adrien Brody
Thanks to his transcendent turn in Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," Brody looked as though he was one of the preeminent actors of his generation. His star brightened even more after his faceplant kiss of presenter JHalle Berry after winning the Best Actor prize for that film. In the ten years since, that star has burned out frankly. He's still turning in decent work, but in films that rarely get seen and rarely get notices better than mixed. Sure he was in "King Kong," but he may have been one of the least interesting components of that bloated Peter Jackson epic.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
If one were to look up the term "Oscar curse" in the dictionary, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s headshot would most certainly accompany that entry. The actor made pop culture history with his "Show me the money!" line reading in "Jerry Maguire," and with his ebullient acceptance speech after winning the Best Supporting Actor prize. Ever since, Gooding's agent has apparently lived strictly by that "show me the money" motto, and has enlisted his client in utter garbage that an actor would only feasibly ever do for a paycheck. "Snow Dogs?" "Boat Trip?" "Daddy Day Care 2?"
Mercedes Ruehl
Who? This actress won a Best Supporting Actress prize for her turn in Terry Gilliam's highly acclaimed "The Fisher King." But like with the majority of Gilliam's films, Ruehl's career has left audiences perplexed, in that no one can name a single other movie she's been in.
Mira Sorvino
Many actors have won Oscars for Woody Allen movies, and most of those actors have continued to do extraordinary work afterwards (Diane Keaton, Michael Caine, Penelope Cruz). Not Mira Sorvino however. Sure, her turn as the dumb as a doorknob hooker in "Mighty Aphrodite" was uproarious and Oscar worthy. Nothing she has done since has been either of those things though, not by a long shot.
