How Oscar bait took over awards season: Method acting, true-life tales and prosthetic honkers
Take one real-life story, ideally about an important person from the past. Hopefully their tale is set during a war, or a time of general strife, so there are plenty of obstacles that can be overcome to the sound of swelling orchestral music. Cast an actor who’s much better looking than the real important person, so that they can spend hours in the make-up chair during the film shoot, giving them some anecdotes for the chat show circuit. Present them with a few set-piece speeches that will look good when played out-of-context during an awards ceremony. Ask Meryl Streep if she’s around for a glorified cameo that has “Best Supporting Actress” written all over it, and voila! You perhaps have the perfect Oscar bait.
If you pay attention to the film calendar, you’ll have noticed that every year without fail, winter time sees cinemas filled with this sort of film: worthy, weighty stories, ones that, we’re told, “speak to the current moment” somehow, even if they’re set in the, or whatever was.
