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Winning the prestigious gold statue is something that almost all actors dream about and aspire to. But not all of them feel that way. Few movie stars are not fans of the Academy Awards and don’t want anything to do with the Oscars. Here they are.
“I think it’s bulls–t,” Phoenix said about the Oscars in an interview last year. “I think it’s total, utter bulls–t, and I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t believe in it. It’s a carrot, but it’s the worst-tasting carrot I’ve ever tasted in my whole life. I don’t want this carrot. It’s totally subjective. Pitting people against each other … It’s the stupidest thing in the whole world.” However, earlier this year he walked back some of those comments. “I wouldn’t have the career that I have if it weren’t for the Oscars. I haven’t been in a lot of movies that have made a lot of money … and getting nominated (for Gladiator and Walk The Line) has probably helped my career tremendously,” Phoenix said to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Even though he has been nominated twice, Ethan Hawke is not a fan of the Oscars. In an interview with Gotham magazine, the actor said: “Look at how many forgettable, stupid movies have won Oscars and how many mediocre performers have Oscars above their fireplace. Making a priority of chasing these fake carrots and money and dubious accolades, I think it’s really destructive. People want to turn everything in this country into a competition so it’s clear who the winner is and who the loser is… It’s why they like to announce the grosses of movies, because it’s a way of saying ‘this one is number one.’”
The outspoken actress was speaking to magazine Vulture in 2012 and to the question of whether one of Nicole Kidman could potentially earn an Oscar for her performance in The Paperboy, she said: “I f**king loved it. One of my friends said, ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar for that.’ I was like, ‘Nah, man. She’s not black!’” Michelle continued, “I laugh, but it’s also very sad. It makes me want to cry. But I really believe. You have to be trashy and black to get nominated. You can’t just be trashy.”
Seth Rogen slammed the Oscars for hanging 2011 host James Franco out to dry, adding that now he would consider hosting the ceremony only if better writers were hired. “I think when you agree to do something like that, you put a certain amount of faith in the institution, knowing that they’ll take care of you, and I feel like they didn’t,” he said. “Why hire James Franco and then give him Billy Crystal’s monologue?”
Widely-criticized host of the 2011 Oscars ceremony also blames the writers for his performance. “I felt kind of trapped in that material,” Franco said, adding that was especially true of a number where they wanted him to dress in drag as Marilyn Monroe. “I was so pissed about that I was deliberately going to fall onstage and hopefully my dress would fall off or something — they couldn’t blame that on me; I was in high heels.”
Another previous nominee, James Cromwell, is also unenthusiastic about the Oscars. “The Academy Awards were basically created by the industry to promote pictures. They weren’t really to acknowledge the performances,” he said. “Then it became sort of this great popularity contest, and now it’s an incredible show and it’s seen all over the world. But the strain on us to put ourselves up against other people to think that it’s some sort of contest — and it isn’t a contest — we’re all in this together. Listen, the Academy Award is just a crapshoot.”
Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins slammed the actors who play nice with Hollywood bigwigs to improve their award show chances. “I can’t stand all that. I find it nauseating to watch, and I think it’s disgusting to behold. People groveling around and kissing the backsides of famous producers and all that. It makes me want to throw up, it really does. I’ve seen it so many times,” he told the Huffington Post. “I think, ‘What are they doing? Don’t they have any self-respect?’”
Bradley Cooper was nominated for an Oscar at the 85th annual Academy Awards, and while he attended the show, he didn’t want to win it himself. “I don’t want to win an Oscar,” he said. “It would change nothing. Nothing. The things in my life that aren’t fulfilled would not be fulfilled. Career-wise, right now, it’s better that I don’t win one. I don’t want to win. I don’t.”
