Wait, that’s Reneé Zellweger? Matthew McConaughey? Daniel Day-Lewis? *cue dramatic music* Biopics have taken the Oscars by storm like never before in the 2010s. Audiences have been perplexed to see famous people depict famous people in close accuracy, and the methods they have implored to nail the attributes of these people. National Geographic lists that from 1966 to 2021, 146 of its Best Actor & Actress nominations depict real people, 36 of these bagging the awards.
But despite the skilled artistry and honor given by these actors, a question hangs — is the basis of a great performance concentrated on one’s ability to look, move, and sound like another person? Provided the familiarity of only White-centered figures in history, will the Academy’s obsession with biopic characters restrict diversity in Hollywood?
Yeah, impersonations are impressive
From stand up comedians to lip sync battles, impersonations are indeed entertaining. In the context of film, there’s nothing more show-stopping than an actor accurately replicating another person’s life. “There’s something to compare the performance to,” film producer Christine Vachon tells Today. “You can say, ‘Wow, Jamie Foxx really looks like Ray Charles.’” Further praise is given to those who go the extra mile — from Marion Cotillard’s thinned eyebrows in resemblance of Edith Piaf’s, to Eddie Redmayne’s depiction of Stephen Hawking’s battle with ALS, to Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw bison liver the way Hugh Glass did (and hey, it FINALLY got Leo his first Oscar!).
Truly, the level of dedication of these actors is unparalleled, grounded on tons of research and method acting to depict humans damaged and rebirthed by real-life struggles, becoming the figures we respect today. But there’s a concern over rewarding a uniform way of storytelling. Being recognized by the Academy, after all, is a big deal for actors who wish to become a Hollywood hall-of-famer.
The Oscars is more than just a history lesson
Nominees for Best Actor from the 2014 to 2016 Oscars all had 4 out of 5 based off of real people, the winners being Matthew McConaughey (Ron Woodroof, AIDS patient in the 80s in Dallas Buyers Club), Eddie Redmayne (physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, and Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass, trade hunter and explorer in the 1800s in The Revenant). While these wins honor both the dedication of these actors and the real people they’d portrayed, fictional performances, remarkable in their own right, have been set aside. There may be some emerging Best Actor/Actress bets from fictional characters, but a lot of these are already household names. Willem Dafoe was already Willem Dafoe during his best supporting nomination for The Florida Project (Oscars 2018). Pieces of a Woman lead and Best Actress nominee (2020 Oscars) Vanessa Kirby was previously nominated for an Emmy as Princess Margaret in The Crown (another historical figure).
The 2020 Oscars have again listed nonfictional nominees both for the lead and supporting awards. It is only Daniel Kaluuya’s knockout performance as activist Fred Hampton (in Judas and the Black Messiah) that garnered the Best Supporting Actor award — with Anthony Hopkins (Best Actor for The Father), Frances McDormand (Best Actress for Nomadland), and Youn Yuh-Jung (Best Supporting Actress for Minari) gaining awards for playing fictional characters. And this not to demean the morphing of Andra Day to Billie Holiday, or Gary Oldman’s Old Hollywood presentation of Herman Mankiewicz, but of the equal fitting to really find out who is, after all, the best actors and actresses of the year.
#OscarsSo(Historically)White
Inclusivity will always be an issue of the Academy Awards because despite its centuries-old prestige and high publicity, it is a local awards show based in a country far from excreting its systemic racism and patriarchy. The co-editor of The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture, Belén Vidal, expresses this concern to National Geographic. “The biopic traditionally has been very gender biased. It’s been about the great men of history, or the white great men.” If a Filipino aspiring actor like me would desire to be on the Oscars stage, I’d be far from getting my shot because Filipino-American historical figures are often left in the shambles. If the Academy wishes to ensure a fight that’s fair and square, they must recognize, first and foremost, Hollywood’s inequality problem.
Being an actor is not easy. Once the cameras start rolling, you have the duty to give justice to the life you are embodying. The pressure is greater to those depicting actual people that have had its significant roles in history and pop culture. But to only highlight the latter stories means filtering the opportunity to tell new and diverse stories. The Oscars is more than just a history lesson. It is a storyteller.
