5 Most Outrageous Oscar Mistakes Nobody Can Forgive

The Oscars ceremony is approaching, set to take place this Sunday, March 2, and things are getting quieter as Hollywood’s bet makers are done with their final predictions for the big winners.

However, the overall excitement is now blended with fear that the Academy might make a sudden turn after all, awarding those who weren’t as good as their more outstanding fellow nominees.

This isn’t just a bad omen brought out of nowhere since, despite its status in the industry, the Oscars has had a long history of making absolutely horrible mistakes that at some point made many question the reputation of the most prestigious ceremony out there.

Some of those past mistakes are still a big problem which poses a threat to the nominees of this year and further.

Meryl Streep — The Iron Lady (2011)

With decades of professional experience under her belt, Meryl Streep is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and versatile actresses of the modern times, and, honestly, her much younger acting colleagues can’t even compare.

It’s safe to say Streep deserved a whole bunch of Oscars and almost every single one of her roles is truly exceptional, but had she been awarded for any other movie except for The Iron Lady, no one would’ve said a word.

Making an attempt to focus on the life and career of ex-British PM Margaret Thatcher, the film just doesn’t do its job properly, and that’s probably the reason why Streep wasn’t even able to get into character as profoundly as she usually does.

Julianne Moore — Still Alice (2014)

The Academy has been constantly slammed for delaying its decision to award an actor nominated several times and then giving them an Oscar for a very undeserving role, which was also the case for the 2015 ceremony.

Back then, Julianne Moore took home the statuette for Best Actress, praised for her leading role in Still Alice, though the first win came after Moore was nominated four times in previous years, including for her 1998 hit movie Boogie Nights.

Many were outraged to see that the Academy had acknowledged Moore more than 15 years after she was supposed to get the award, while also snubbing Rosamund Pike, nominated for Gone Girl that year.

Christoph Waltz — Django Unchained (2012)

Just like Meryl Streep, Christoph Waltz is another long standing legend of the industry with every role turning out to be just impeccable, though not all of Waltz’s performances are arguably Oscar-worthy after all.

The actor’s Best Actor win at the 2013 ceremony is still considered another outrageous move from the Academy, with other strong and very deserving contenders like Samuel L. Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman (who died just a year later) missing out on their first award.

Needless to say this was already a second Oscar win for Waltz who had got Best Supporting Actor for Quentin Tarantino ’s Inglourious Basterds just 3 years prior.

Alicia Vikander — The Danish Girl (2015)

Another example of the Academy suddenly remembering about its debt to a long-ignored actress, Alicia Vikander’s win at the 2016 ceremony was giving a “what the hell” vibe once again.

Yes, there’s nothing bad to say about the actress’ worthiness of the award, though her triumph did feel like an excuse for a long-overdue snub during previous awards seasons.

Vikander’s win for the role of a long-suffering wife in The Danish Girl feels even weirder when reminded that her fellow nominees were Carol’s Rooney Mara and The Hateful Eight’s Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Gary Oldman — Darkest Hour (2017)

Gary Oldman’s win of Best Actor for his role of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour came as yet another proof that the Academy comes up with bad timing for awarding the deserving actor much more frequently than it’s supposed to.

At the 2018 ceremony, Oldman was a frontrunner alongside Phantom Thread’s Daniel Day-Lewis, Call Me By Your Name’s Timothée Chalamet and Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya; naturally, out of all contenders, Oldman turned out to be the nominee with the least compelling movie after all.

Aside from Darkest Hour, the actor has plenty of truly fine works that deserved Oscar nods or even wins.