For years, fans have worried that Leonardo DiCaprio is on track to become the Susan Lucci of the Academy Awards.
Lucci, the beloved star of the now-canceled soap “All My Children,” endured 19 consecutive Daytime Emmy nominations for best actress before finally winning in 1999.
Though DiCaprio has been nominated for Oscars five times, he is sure to be nominated again Thursday for his role in “The Revenant.” With his win for best actor in a motion picture drama at Sunday’s Golden Globes (“The Revenant” also won for best drama film), there is once again speculation that this could be his year.
And, of course, there are plenty of jokes. Tough day? Well, “just remember that you you’ve won as many Oscars as Leonardo DiCaprio.”
The actor received his first nomination in 1994, when he got a best supporting actor nod for his role as the mentally disabled little brother in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” But the award went to Gene Hackman for “Unforgiven.”
In 2005, as Howard Hughes in “The Aviator,” he was nominated for best actor. That year, Jamie Foxx beat him out with “Ray.” Two years later, best actor came knocking yet again for DiCaprio’s role in “Blood Diamond.” But that honor went to “The Last King of Scotland” star Forest Whitaker.
In 2014, DiCaprio was nominated for best actor for the wild ride with director Martin Scorsese that is “Wolf of Wall Street.” The film, which DiCaprio co-produced, was also nominated for best picture. But Matthew McConaughey won best actor for “Dallas Buyers’ Club.”
This time around, DiCaprio is getting tons of attention not only for his acting chops but for his survival skills, enduring treacherous filming to fill the role of a hunter who must brave the wild after he is left for dead.
“Does anyone even know what a Revenant is?” Alynda Wheat wrote in People. “We should probably all get on the same page about that, because the Leonardo DiCaprio film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu just burst forth as an Oscar frontrunner. That means that the race to the Academy Awards didn’t so much tighten, but dogleg wildly to the left. Hang on.”
Surely, after actually eating raw bison liver (it’s called method acting, people), DiCaprio is due for a win, yes?
DiCaprio told Yahoo that he knew what he was getting into.
“It’s epic poetry, an existential journey through nature, and this man finding a will to live against all odds,” DiCaprio said. “Yet he changes, nature changes him and I think those elements changed him while we were doing the movie.”
But don’t celebrate just yet. Vanity Fair points out that “DiCaprio has won two previous Golden Globes without going on to win Hollywood’s big prize — in 2005, for ‘The Aviator,’ and in 2014, for ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ “
