Acting Oscars in an alternate universe

Acting Oscars in an alternate universe:
I'm just sort of reimagining the Oscars here dating back to 1989. I tried to keep myself to a certain number of rules in limiting what I wanted and what was realistic. One rule was that the number of Oscar winners in the alternate version must equal the number of Oscar winners in history. For example, if I penciled in Russell Crowe for a second Oscar, that would make it one less Oscar winner total. It was a matter of balancing multiple Oscar winners with single Oscar winners.
Secondary rules were to balance dues, be realistic in who would win, and make sure that as many of the deserving actors, if I deprived them an award somewhere, I'd give it back to them later.
By dues, I mean the dues that go into whether an actor wins an Oscar is dependent on whether they've won one before and if so, how recently that would be.

Without further ado, let's start:
89:
Best Actor: Tom Cruise, Born on the Fourth of July*
Best Supporting Actor: Martin Landau, Crimes and Misdemeanors*
Best Actress: Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy
Best Supporting Actress: Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot
I was originally planning to just do the 20-year period of the 90's and 00's but I needed to strip Denzel Washington of his 89 supporting Oscar to even things out so I went back a year.

In this year, I decided to give the Oscar to Tom Cruise becasue as I wrote in a seperate post, Cruise really needs an Oscar somewhere for the good of Hollywood. I picked Cruise to get the Oscar for 4th of July because I realized when I replaced Day-Lewis for Brody in 2002, I deprived history of its first and only Best Actor winner under 30-years old. To take his place, I thought, I could either give it to Tom Cruise for Born on the 4th or snub Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl and I chose the former being that the latter wasn't particularly likely.

90:Best Actor: Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune
Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci, Goodfellas
Best Actress: Kathy Bates, Misery
Best Supporting Actress: Anjelica Huston, Grifters*
Everything here is kept as is. Kathy Bates performance in Misery was iconic and Joe Pesci gave one of the best supporting roles ever so there's no need to change either of them. Jeremy Irons is a well-respected theater veteran who deserves nothing less than an Oscar. I was considering keeping Whoopi Goldberg because she couldn't guest-star on 30 Rock as an INGOT winner without this award.


91:
Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs
Supporting Actor: Harvey Keitel, Bugsy*
Actress: Laura Dern, Rambling Rose*
Supporting Actress: Amanda Plummer, Fisher King**
In 1991, I wanted to take the opportunity to reward either Bugsy and JFK with an acting Oscar and I ended up going with Harvey Keitel. Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Kingsley both deserve Oscars elsewhere and being that I found room for that, I thought I'd reward Harvey Keitel for his fairly distinguished career as mobster Mickey Cohen in Bugsy.
I decree Jodie Foster needn't have two Oscars so I took her Silence of the Lambs win away. This prevents Silence of the Lambs from being just the third film to win actor, actress, director, screenplay, and picture, but it's just a horror film anyway. Laura Dern is also Hollywood royalty and has had a relatively respectable career. Shy paramour Amanda Plummer stuck out more in The Fisher King than nagging girlfriend Mercedes Ruehl in my opinion.

92:
Best Actor: Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman
Supporting Actor: Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
Best Actress: Susan Sarandan, Lorenzo's Oil*
Best Supporting Actress: Greta Sacchi, Player**
I initially had thoughts of rewarding "The Player"'s Tim Robbins for his role as a creepy Hollywood executive a little too willing to get away with cold-blooded manslaughter. It would have compensated for my not awarding Robbins in 2003 and I still wanted to give him an Oscar (his acting wins me over, his politics don't). I was considering bumping Pacino down to supporting for Glengarry Glenn Ross but after 7 failed noms, Pacino deserves better than supporting actor. I could have even awarded Pacino a second supporting nom and a 9th nomination with the Insider in 1999 but I decided that Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman is one of my favorite performances and one that I needed to defend against the detractors and I feel equally highly of Eastwood in Unforgiven. I wanted to give Susan Sorandon something. 

A chance to void Marissa Thomei's controversial win, fortunately, gave me the opportunity to award Altman's film with a win for unnominated Greta Scacchi, who played the "Ice Queen"-Robbins' equally dark lover whom he meets in the most immoral of circumstances.


93:
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, Philadelphia
Supporting Actor: Ralph Feinnes, Schindler's List*
Best Actress: Holly Hunter, Piano
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Paquin, Piano

As a fan of Anna Paquin and Holly Hunter, I didn't want to mess with their Oscar wins and the back-to-back wins that defined Hanks career (as well as cinema in the 90's) didn't need tampering either. Tommy Lee Jones gets his own down the road, and Ralph Feinnes one of the UK's finest, gets his for Schindler's List.


94:
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
Best Supporting Actor: Martin Landau, Ed Wood
Best Actress: Jessica Lange, Blue Sky
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Tilly, Bullets over Broadway*
94 was such a great cinematic year and I didn't really want to mess with anything here. I like that also-rans Ed Wood and Bullets Over Broadway got love in the acting categories and I think Jessica Lange (in a bizarre win) deserves a second Oscar. I switched Dianne Weist for Jennifer Tilly, however. This avoided a double win for Weist, who's career has been unremarkable.

95:
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Dead Man Walking
Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris, Apollo 13*
Best Actress: Elizabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas
Best Supporting Actress: Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
Apollo 13 is my favorite film of the 90's and wanted to award Ed Harris for it, who conveys all the tension and drama of the space race with his frenetic pacing as mission director Gene Kranz. Presidential portraits seem award-worthy enough and giving Hopkins a second Oscar ensures that he won't be remembered just for his performance as a serial killer. Let's switch up Dead

96:
Best Actor: Ralph Feinnes, English Patient
Best Supporting Actor: Armin Muehler-Stahl, Shine*
Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Fargo
Best Supporting Actress Juliette Binoche, The English Patient
James Woods for Ghosts of Mississippi and Tom Cruise were under consideration here. I wasn't particularly impressed with Rush in Shine but I felt Rush deserved an Oscar and couldn't give it to him in 2000 or 1998. Gooding Jr. who has single-handedly diminished the value of the award with poor post-Oscar career choices, gets to be erased and a man with a mesmerizing performances gets in instead.


97:
Best Actor: Rob Duvall, The Apostle*
Best Supporting Actor: Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting
Best Actress: Helena Bohman Carter, Wings of the Dove*
Best Supporting Actress: Kim Bassinger, LA Confidential

98:
Best Actor: Joseph Feinnes, Shakespeare in Love**
Best Supporting Actor: James Coburn, Affliction
Best Actress: Fernando Montonegro, Central Station*
Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Griffith, Hillary and Jackie*

99:
Best Actor: Matt Damon, Talented Mr. Ripley**
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Clarke Duncan, Green Mie*
Best Actress: Annette Benning, American Beauty*
Best Supporting Actress: Chloe Seveigny, Boys Don't Cry*

00:
Best Actor: Russell Crowe, Gladiator
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio del Toro, Traffic
Best Actress: Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovitch
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Hudson, Almost Famous*

01:
Best Actor: Russell Crowe, Beautiful Mind*
Best Supporting Actor:Jon Voight,Ali*
Best Actress: Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly, Beautiful Mind

02:
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven**
Best Actress: Rene Zellweger, Chicago*
Best Supporting Actress: Meryl Streep, Adaptation*

03:
Best Actor: Ben Kinglsey, House of Sand and Fog*
Best Supporting Actor: Jonny Depp, Pirates of the Carribean**
Best Actress: Charlize Theron, Monster
Best Supporting Actress: Scarlett Johannsen, Lost in Translation**

04:
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray
Best Supporting Actor: Alec Baldwin, Aviator**
Best Actress: Hillary Swank,, Million Dollar Baby
Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways*

05:
Best Actor: Joaquin Pheonix, Walk the Line*
Best Supporting Actor: George Clooney, Syriana
Best Actress: Reese Whitherspoon, Walk the Line
Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weicz, Constant Gardener

06:
Best Actor: Ken Wattanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima**
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Actress: Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal*
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

07:
Best Actor: Virgo Mortgensen, Eastern Promises*
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men**
Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her*
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There*

08:
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, Dark Knight
Best Actress: Kate Winselt, Reader
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Milk

09:
Best Actor: Morgan Freeman, Invictus*
Best Supporting Actor: Christophe Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, Last Station*
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air*

Stats:
Existing multiple oscar winners who have lost Oscars (unless otherwise noted, they've gone from 2 oscars to 1 oscar) in my multiple reality: Jodie Foster, Michael Caine, Jack Nicholson (3 Oscars to 2 Oscars), Hillary Swank, Kevin Spacey (2 to 0), Denzel Washington
Existing Oscar-winners who have gained an Oscar in this alternate timeline: People who have gone from 1 oscar to 2 oscars (or 2 to 3): Meryl Streep, Rob Duvall, Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau, Julie Christie, Russell Crowe, Anjelica Huston, Jon Voight

People who no longer have Oscars: Mo'nique, Jeff Bridges, Jim Broadbent, Gwenyth Paltrow, Cuba Gooding Jr., Maria Thomei, Chris Cooper, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nicole Kidman, Adrian Brody, Roberto Begnini, Whoopi Goldberg, Sandra Bullock, Helen Hunt, Marion Cotillard

People who are now suddenly very much due an Oscar: Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kevin Spacey

Long due people who now finally have an Oscar in this alternate timeline: Ed Harris, Annette Benning, Ralph Feinnes, Tom Cruise, Lynn Redgrave, Harvey Keitel


.

Links to my Oscar Grades

First off, this was a gem I found about the ten most successful nonsequels:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-3877-DC-Film-Industry-Examiner~y2009m5d18-Where-No-Man-Has-Gone-Before-The-10-Most-Successful-NonSequels

Also, I graded the Oscars:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-3877-DC-Film-Industry-Examiner~y2010m3d10-Grading-the-Oscars-Part-II-Awards

The Oscars in 50 tweets

And there you have it the Oscars live-blogged by me half a minute ago via web
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K-Big thanks military, cliche (yawn), thanked firemen, cliche again, but hazmat workers, now that's original, bravo! less than a minute ago via web
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and lastly Hurt Locker and K-Big winning, I was hoping for a director-picture split, moreto the point, I was hoping for Up in teh Air 1 minutes ago via web
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Bullock is from my hometown, gotta love that, wish Meryl won but what can you do, at least Bullock gave a great great speech 2 minutes ago via web
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Bridges needed to save it for the thank you cam, no need to act surprised either, you were the favorite 2 minutes ago via web
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I found it funnier that Remmer;s career is so unremarkable up to this point that colin farrell of swat had to praise him 3 minutes ago via web
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Clooney's head is going to soon explode, i loved Stanley Tucci's jab at meryl streep. 3 minutes ago via web
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hated the new format for five random colleagues giving their adorations to the nominees, besides, G Clooney doesnt need any more love 4 minutes ago via web
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hope everyone enjoyed my live oscars, didn't make it to the end, but briefly: 5 minutes ago via web
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sorry, i stopped liveblogging the oscars, went to the gym about 15 hours ago via web
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let's hope q tarantino pronounced those names correctly about 20 hours ago via web
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even a pedestrian joke like Pedro and Quentin being pet names for each other works because of delivery! about 20 hours ago via web
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Editing went to Hurt Locker...hoping for the District 9 or Up in the Air about 20 hours ago via web
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up in the air had a good short montage about 20 hours ago via web
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i don't even remember what tyler perry introduced about 20 hours ago via web
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ahhh #tylerperry, you're self-conscious that your filmic work is an embarrassment, that's step 1, step 2: now stop making bad movies about 20 hours ago via web
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ok, don't worry, i slept through the documentary category about 20 hours ago via web
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mark gianiccio's speech reminded me of Steve Sodebergh's speech and Russell Crowe's Beautiful Mind BAFTA Speech...good cross-pollination about 20 hours ago via web
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Mark Gianiccio or whatev his name is gives best speech of the night about 20 hours ago via web
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And Up wins score! was this the first Pixar win in a non-cartoon category? about 20 hours ago via web
these dancers for best score are amutuers, let's hope that EW gives them the proper low grade, how do i even know what thye're dancing for? about 20 hours ago via web
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lastly, Brittney Murphy, man, i never thought i'd see her in memoriam. teary eyed about 20 hours ago via web
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natasha richardson could have won an oscar, i think, too bad she never got the right bait, also, Karl Malden RIP about 20 hours ago via web
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i miss natasha richardson about 20 hours ago via web
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anyone notice that army archerd, film writer, was in the in memorium this year? i hope that if this twitterfeed is good enough, i get in too about 20 hours ago via web
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an old tradition: the hottest lady in Hollywood gets to meet the dorks of Sci and Tech awards: lds & germs: Eliz Banks! about 20 hours ago via web
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i swear to god i just saw kathryn in the mr. rogers audience about 21 hours ago via web
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kind of looks like Charlie from IT's Always Sunny won an Oscar, even though it's just Mark Boal about 21 hours ago via web
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District 9, The Blind Side and Education are being introduced, are they going in order from least to most likely to win? about 21 hours ago via web
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star trek wins in make-up, then again, if you go to any trekkie convention you'll see self-applied makeup artists doing that i'm sure about 21 hours ago via web
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ben stiller did the same thing before, aha! about 21 hours ago via web
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inglorious basterds got robbed for best screenplay about 21 hours ago via web
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OK, Downey Jr. and Tina Fey are on a roll together, it's the same exact bit as last year but more corrosive, Downey is letting Fey have it about 21 hours ago via web
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sorry, loyal viewers twitter literally got stuck on me about 22 hours ago via web
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NO complaints on them showing multiple scenes from each acting nom, 3 yrs ago they showd 4 seconds of Abby Breslin screaming, this is better about 23 hours ago via web
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Christophe Waltz wins! Certainly a respectable choice. DYK Inglorious Basterds was his first English-language film? (i'm 90% sure of that) about 23 hours ago via web
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Can you imagine a professional writer wrote that speech Penelope Cruz gave? about 23 hours ago via web
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Yeah, that's right George Clooney..if you don't make nice with the hosts, they'll make you look bad, they didn't even lampoon you! ha! about 23 hours ago via web
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precious...the only movie to live up to the video game. zinger! about 24 hours ago via web
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dam helen mirren? not all the jokes are hitting but i'm ok with it, A for effort, wish Alec Baldwin would be more physical and move more about 24 hours ago via web
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hahahaha, Invictus has the two things you love "rugby and the mixing together of white and black people" niiice delivery, alec about 24 hours ago via web
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yes, i concede not a lot of jokes they can make about the hurt station which i'm ok with a spoiler alert joke there about 24 hours ago via web
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opening: they're just rolling jokes out rapidfire everyone the room and they're not even worrying if they hit or not about 24 hours ago via web
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and by couple, i just mean like a hope-crosby jay-silentbob pair, and you need to hold hands to sow just a little bit of hetero-love 1:46 PM Mar 8th via web
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glad to see Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin holding hands, a small amount of homoerotic chemistry is certainly needed, since they're a couple 1:30 PM Mar 8th via web
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ahhh yes, the great pairings in movie history: astaire and rogers, hope and crosby, the guy in prison who "dropped" the soap 1:26 PM Mar 8th via web
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omg, did they just use a prison shower rape reference? little kids at home, cover your ears 1:24 PM Mar 8th via web
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ok, are alec and steve running late? now it's neil patrick harris? 1:23 PM Mar 8th via web
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why are the 5 actors and actresses up there, they look like wax museum figures 1:22 PM Mar 8th via web
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morgan freeman doesn't seem that close to his daughter, they're not even standing next to each other, but he looks fly with his shades 1:19 PM Mar 8th via web
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helen mirren, happy to see her nominated 1:17 PM Mar 8th via web
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watching (mostly fwding) through the red carpet)...does the red carpet realize Zach Efron's not nominated...he's friends with adam, congrats 1:07 PM Mar 8th via web
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live bloggng the oscars on 13 hour tape delay, ready, everyone? 1:03 PM Mar 8th via web

Supporting Actress '09 thoughts

,The main suspense with the Oscars was the supporting actress category in my opinion: Anna Kendrick, Vera Farminga, and Monique were locks but there were a lot of great and bad possibilities which could have taken the fifth slot.

Under great, Samantha Morton, Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent
Under bad Marion Cortillard and Judi Dench
Under not good timing Julianne Moore and Penelope Cruz:
Julianne Moore would just get and lose her fifth nomination making it so that every year afterwards, every Moore film would call for Oscar voters and buzzers to desperately want to give her an Oscar as soon as possible because it's a crime against humanity otherwise. Better save the fifth nomination for something remotely winnable.

Cruz is an actress I've always felt would be great for a supporting actress Oscar so I was somewhat glad to see her nominated in 2006 but thrilled to see her nomianted in 08 and even more thrilled to see her win it. Now she's won 2 and 3 in 4 years is a little unnecessary. I still think she might deserve it, but it's not something I'm rejoicing for.

I wanted to see Morton or an Inglorious Basterd girl get one, but I'm glad it's not Julianne Moore or Marion Cortillard (who I don't like at all for some reason).

As for the nominees:
Penelope Cruz is someone I'm happy to see nominated except that it's three noms in 4 years is more then she'll need over a lifetime. Oscars are based on performances and not bodies of work and I respect when Oscar makes decisions based on the present. Under that philosophy, I don't have a problem with the nomination but I'm also not particularly happy about it except for the fact that it could have been someone worse.

Maggie Gyllenhall has always been on my list of people I'd like to see get a nom some day, but it's the exact same role Marissa Thomei had last year in Wrestler so it feels rediculously cliched. Also, how the heck did she pull that off? What's up with Monique? If Eddie Murphy lost the Oscar because he reminded Oscar voters of his unrefined tastes by releasing the movie Norbit during awards seasons, is anyone going to bother checking out the Parkers or watch Soul Plane? Also, who does she think she is not having a last name?