When good Academy Award winners go bad?
 

I've noticed in the past couple decades at least that a lot of 1st time Oscar winners make very poor choices on their next role(s) and that tends to lead their career in ominous directions.

I know sometimes the next role was already filmed prior to winning, but even a few films down the line they don't get back to what made them the mostly deserved winners in the first place.

My cases:
1. Cuba Gooding Jr. (won for "Jerry Maguire" in '96, is really considered a pop culture joke now with dubious roles in "Snow Dogs" and "Chill Factor")

2. Marisa Tomei (won for "My Cousin Vinny" in '92, hasn't been heard of since. no, of course she has carved a little niche in independent movies like "In The Bedroom", and of course her role in "Seinfeld", but nothing completely Oscar memorable)

3. Forest Whitaker (won for "The Last King of Scotland" in '06, does tv roles in "er" and "The Shield", makes movies "Vantage Point" and "Street Kings")

4. Halle Berry (won for "Monster's Ball", then does "Gothika", bares breasts in "Swordfish", and does a little superhero movie of which i don't remember the name)

not as much, but...5. Charlize Theron (won for "Monster", then does "Aeon Flux", stint on "Arrested Development", "Hancock", and yes nomination for a very small movie in "North Country")

of course a lot of the roles i mention are my opinion of not being great, but none of them are what made them winners in the first place. most of them had much better roles prior to them winning even.



so what other actors or actresses have won the award and then gone on to do much less than Oscar worthy material and why do you think this happens?

Forest Whitaker are you nuts?

Cuba and Berry are obvious (though you got the order wrong in that Berry bared her breasts in Swordfish BEFORE Monster's Ball), but the others on your list don't work quite as well.

Tomei was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for In the Bedroom (2002)
Theron was nominated for Best Actress for North Country (2006)
And it just hasn't been long enough to indict Whitaker nor is there really any reason to

Have you *seen* Forrest Whitaker in "The Shield"? He's fucking fantastic, his best role to date. Unbelievably incredible. Just because he's doing strong television work hardly means he's "gone bad".

Marisa Tomei was in Lumet's latest "Before The Devil Knows Your Dead", where she showed off her assets generously but still put in a really strong performance. Lots of people were talking about her. More about the assets, but still... I'd hardly call appearing in that film "going bad".

Cuba Gooding Jr. was fucking massively overpraised for "Jerry Maguire", as was that piece-of-shit movie itself.

Anyone heard from Marcia Gay Harden lately? Or Roberto Begnini? Or heck, Lou Gosset Jr.?

Cuba has a hella lot more then that:

Rat Race
Boat Trip
Norbit
Daddy Day Camp

Also, just because you win an Academy Award doesn't mean you're a great actor or even especially marketable. It means you either performed great in a particular role and/or received more votes than anyone else due to politics, other, more worthy actors splitting the vote or not getting nominated, etc.

Roberto Benigni, for example, won the Oscar despite essentially playing himself (imo) in Life is Beautiful. Not only isn't he much of an ACTOR (more of a comic persona), but he's definitely not marketable...at least in the U.S.

Julia Roberts won for Erin Brokovich and I'm sure very few would put her up in the pantheon of "Great Actors." Plus, the award, in my opinion, should have gone to Ellen Burstyn for Requiem for a Dream that year.

There are tons of other examples.

I think Kim Basinger would certainly qualify for this thread.

I'd take this role too if I'm next to Roselyn Sanchez wearing all of those see thru tops all the time. :hump:

Do you really expect Forest to answer you?

Forest won his oscar 2 years ago. Give him a chance.

And don't forget what he was doing before the Oscar. It's been a step-up for him, as in he actually appears in stuff people see.

Jesus wept, guys! How can you have this thread and miss the one person who should be top of the list?!?!?

Nicolas Cage!!!

B-movie whore!

ben affleck- joke
george clooney- makes bad ones but rebounds the next year with great one

Adrien Brody's career didn't take off after winning for The Pianist. He's done some higher profile work like King Kong, The Village, and Hollywoodland, but nothing that has made him a big star. I think he was interested in playing the Joker in TDK, but we all know how that went.

She didn't win, but Kate Hudson has been in some real crap since her nomination for Almost Famous.

F. Murray Abraham, best actor winner for Amadeus, comes to mind.
Although he's been in some fairly well-known films since then like Bonfire of the Vanities, Mobsters, Last Action Hero, Muppets in Space and Finding Forrester, most of his roles have been in low-budget films like Bloodmonkeys and A House Divided or in foreign films.

point being i don't understand winning the Oscar and then immediately doing utter crap in VP and SK.

excellent call!

You also completely overlooked Theron's second Academy Award nomination for North Country.

I thought about mentioning Nicholas Cage, but the fact that he has been nominated after his first win made me not mention it.

She also stars in Aronofsky's upcoming The Wrestler. Cuba Gooding may possibly by the most glaring example of a Oscar winner going completely south. His post-win filmography is one of the absolute worst of any actor this decade. He is an national embarrassment.

Mira Sorvino

^ I believe the thread title indicated they had to be "good" before they went "bad".

She is easily my most-hated of all celebs.

She hasn't done anything Oscar-caliber since My Cousin Vinny, yet she got an Oscar nomination for In The Bedroom? She's managed to have a solid career even without being in popular movies.

I don't think Oscar's are a good basis for performance or success... case in point - Gary Oldman has never received an Oscar nomination.

BUT, going by your Oscar to downward spiral - I'd have to look at Lou Gossett Jr. and Mira Sorvino.