sábado, 16 de janeiro de 2016

Leonardo DiCaprio: even wild bears can't stop him winning an Oscar now

Does Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globes win for The Revenant make him a shoo-in at the Oscars? For the sake of his health, let's hope so
The zodiac’s dates may be slightly out this year: Sunday 10th January was all about Leo rising. For playing the vengeful fur-trapper Hugh Glass in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama last night, and the honour equipped the actor not only with another trophy for the sideboard, but also that intangible but vital awards-season attribute: momentum.
DiCaprio was already a favourite to win the Best Actor Oscar next month: because of the well-publicised"endurance" nature of the role (tales of Leo fording icy rivers and chowing down on raw bison liver have dominated the film’s awards campaign), but also because he’s the actor for whom the honour is most widely considered overdue.
The Globes results sent him streaking out in front of the pack as if he had a hungry bear on his heels. The Revenant was the night’s big winner, with three awards: Best Actor (drama) for DiCaprio, Best Director for Iñárritu, and Best Film (Drama). And though the overlap between Globes and Oscars voters is nil, a Globes win can send a film or performer’s stock soaring just before the final round of Oscar voting begins – and when it comes to the lead acting categories in particular, the Globes have recently served as an uncanny barometer.
Leonardo DiCaprio with Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of The Revenant
Leonardo DiCaprio with Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of The RevenantCredit: Rex/Rex
Every year but one since 2009, every eventual Best Actor Oscar-winner has triumphed in the Globes’ Best Actor – Drama category first. And the exception was 2011, when the Academy Award went to Jean Dujardin, who won in the Globes’ Best Actor – Comedy or Musical category instead.
It’s true that the Globes have an abiding affection for DiCaprio that doesn’t seem to be matched by the Academy. Both ceremonies had a bead on his talents early, and nominated him for his supporting work in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1994. But since then, the Globes have nominated him 10 more times – including a double-nomination in 2007, for his work in Blood Diamond and The Departed – and he’s won outright three times, for The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, and now The Revenant.
The Oscars, on the other hand, have been more cautious: only three further nods since 1994, and no acknowledgement at all for his work in Titanic, Catch Me If You Can, The Departed or Django Unchained.
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As such, the Academy’s voters now find themselves facing a bit of a conundrum. Because DiCaprio’s struggle to make The Revenant has been so extensively and noisily documented, there’s a sense that if they don’t give them an Oscar for this, what on earth will he have to go through to win one? As one anonymous member of the Academy recently said:  "I’m afraid if he doesn’t get it this time, next time he’ll be hooking his nuts up to a car battery."
Though I don’t personally think Glass is his greatest creation to date – that would be The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jordan Belfort – there’s no question DiCaprio’s hell-for-leather approach is partly responsible for making The Revenant such a rollicking, knuckle-whitening ride.
So he’s a perfectly reasonable choice for Best Actor, and it’s not just Globes voters that think so. As well as popping up on the Bafta shortlist last week, DiCaprio has also been nominated by the Screen Actors’ Guild – the winner of which has been in lockstep with the Oscars’ for the last 11 years.
Of course, there’s still a month of campaigning to go, and everything is technically still to play for. But if the Oscars now plump for anything else, it’ll look less like open-mindedness than an act of wilful perversity.
Join the cast of The Revenant at the London premiere on January 14, thanks to Telegraph Film's exclusive live-stream coverage. Watch at telegraph.co.uk/film/the-revenant, and follow along on Twitter with #RevenantPremiere 

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