Academy Awards 2015: The smear campaigns blighting this year’s big Oscar contenders

IT’S as much an Oscar tradition as gorgeous gowns and gift bags: Inside the case files of the 2015 nominees struck by smear campaigns.

OSCAR loves a historical film — three (12 Years a Slave, Argo, The King’s Speech) out of the last four Best Picture winners were based on real historical events and figures, as are four (Selma, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, American Sniper) out of this year’s eight nominees.

Just as de rigueur as the Academy’s love of a historical film is the wider industry’s desire to nitpick the accuracy of such movies every year ... coincidentally, right around the time Oscar ballots are sent out.

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Questions raised ... Tom Hanks played Captain Phillips which some suggested was an incorrect portrayal. Picture: Columbia Pictures.

Some subject matters are simply inherently controversial and reignite debate. In other cases, the sudden appearance of an irate op-ed in a US newspaper or a tip-off to question a naysayer is part of an orchestrated smear campaign, an opposing studio’s attempt to halt the surging chances of a rival film.

Last year, questions were raised as to whether the real-life ship’s captain taken hostage by Somali pirates was the hero the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips made him out to be. Doubts were also cast on the true authorship of the book on which 12 Years a Slave was based.

US senators even got involved in the 2013 awards season, sending a letter to the studio behind Zero Dark Thirty to bemoan the film’s “grossly inaccurate” contention that information gained through torture led to tracking down Osama bin Laden.

Rusty triumphs ... Russell Crowe won his Oscar despite one of the worst whisper campaigns in the event’s history Picture: AP

The Russell Crowe film A Beautiful Mind overcame a particularly heavy negative campaign to pull off its 2001 win. Film historian Pete Hammond told the New York Times it may not have been “the worst year in Oscar history, but (it was) pretty low”.

Among the smears levelled against the subject of the film, mathematician John Nash, were anti-Semitism and adultery.

“To accuse the subject of a film of being anti-Semitic when you know that a lot of the people who will be voting on the Oscars are Jewish, well, that’s really down and dirty,” Hammond said.

A film doesn’t necessarily even have to be based on fact to stir up whispers: In the lead-up to the 2009 Oscars, it was claimed the filmmakers behind eventual winner Slumdog Millionaire had exploited two of their child actors and left them to hopeless futures in the slums of Mumbai.

Under fire ... Slumdog Millionaire faced accusations of exploitation of child actors. Picture: Supplied.

Harvey Weinstein, the studio boss widely regarded as the king of Oscar campaigning, was last month asked by Deadline to face up to charges that he was behind the anti-A Beautiful Mind crusade, as well as the controversy surrounding this year’s contender Selma.

“Will I fight for a story that praises us to the hilt? You bet,” said Weinstein. “Will I wake you up at 4 in the morning? Sure. But I don’t say ‘so and so is a bastard’ or ‘their movie is inaccurate’.

“I don’t deflate footballs,” he said. “If we win, it’s fair and square.”

The Weinstein Company has this year been saddled with its own controversy, as critics cry foul about the The Imitation Game.

Yet, like every other filmmaker whose drama is faced with claims of historical inaccuracy or embellishment, Weinstein has the ultimate defence: the contenders in the Best Picture category are not documentaries.

“When you make a movie,” he said, “sometimes for dramatic tension you need to do things.”

Ahead of the 2015 Academy Awards on Monday (Australian time), we open up the case files on 2015’s controversial nominees.

Aqusations made ... The civil rights clash between President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) continued off-screen after Selma. Picture: StudioCanal

SELMA

Charge: “The film falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr.”

Methods: In a Washington Post op-ed blatantly aimed at Academy voters (it ended with the directive: “The movie should be ruled out ... during the ensuing awards season”), former LBJ assistant Joseph A. Califano Jr declared the makers of Selma had taken “trumped-up license with a true story”. The film depicts King’s 1965 voting rights marches in Selma, Alabama, during which state troopers beat marchers and three people were killed. That the President was “reluctantly behind the Voting Rights Act” and that he used the FBI to discredit King are among the film’s “falsehoods”, said Califano. “In fact,” the aide wrote, “Selma was LBJ’s idea.”

Reaction: The director of Selma, Ava DuVernay, responded that the “notion that Selma was LBJ’s idea is jawdropping and offensive to (the civil rights organisations) and black citizens who made it so”. In one of many op-ed rebuttals that pointed out the film was correct in its depiction of LBJ having priorities above voting rights in 1965, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund wrote: “Any effort to hijack the attention this film richly deserves because of its portrayal of LBJ reflects everything that has been wrong with most civil rights films from Mississippi Burning to The Help — films that concern themselves principally with the heroism of white people in a movement that was created, driven and shaped by black people.” Or, as prominent African American historian Henry Louis Gates put it: “Any attempt to make this about the Great White Father is misdirected.”

Verdicts pending: Nominations for Best Picture and Song, but considered 2015’s foremost snubee with DuVernay not nominated for Director or star David Oyelowo for Actor.

War, what is it good for? ... Awards, ticket sales and controversy. Director Clint Eastwood with Bradley Cooper. Picture: AFP/Robyn Beck

AMERICAN SNIPER

Charge: Whitewashed the facts of the Iraq war. Overlooked the flaws (racist, lacking moral confliction) of its hero, Chris Kyle. Glorified snipers. Echoes of Nazi propaganda.

Methods: More conservative versus liberal war than smear campaign, the American Sniper hullabaloo kicked off when documentarian Michael Moore (“We were taught snipers were cowards”) and actor Seth Rogen (“American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that’s showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds”) shared their thoughts about the movie on social media.

Reaction: Patriots such as country singer Blake Shelton (“Sickens me to see celebrities or anybody slam the very people who protect their right to talk shit”) and Sarah Palin (“Hollywood leftists: while caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you’re not fit to shine Chris Kyle’s combat boots”) leapt to the defence of not only the film, but all US military personnel. Meanwhile, the entire country was busy buying tickets to see the film (its US gross is $393 million and rising) and star Bradley Cooper said, “Any discussion that sheds light to the plight of the men and the women of the armed services ... it’s fantastic.”

Verdicts pending: Nominations for Best Picture, Actor (Cooper), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, but no Director nod for Clint Eastwood.

Too pretty, too treasonous, not enough sex ... Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game Picture: Roadshow

THE IMITATION GAME

Charge: The film slanders WWII code-hacker Alan Turing by downplaying his homosexuality and insinuating he committed treason.

Methods: A blog on the New York Review of Books labelled the movie “a poor imitation of Alan Turing” and “a bizarre departure from the historical record”. Its complaints against the film ranged from star Benedict Cumberbatch being far too “glamorous” to play the “slob” Turing to its invention of an encounter where Turing agrees to not turn in a Soviet spy if the spy will keep his homosexuality a secret. The latter, detractors claim, is the worst sin, in effect making Turing a traitor. Other objectors were more perturbed that the film didn’t show Turing having any homosexual sex.

Reaction: The writer of the film, Graham Moore, welcomed the controversy around the film as a good thing — especially if it shone more light on a campaign to win official pardons for Turing and the 49,000 other British men persecuted in the 1950s for their homosexuality. “Alan Turing wasn’t a gay mathematician, he was a mathematician who happened to be gay, and we felt that was an important cultural statement,” said Moore.

Verdicts pending: Nominations for Best Picture, Actor (Cumberbatch), Supporting Actress (Keira Knightley), Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Production Design and Original Score.

Who wouldn’t love to have Channing Tatum play him in a movie? ... Apparently the real life Mark Schultz. Picture: Roadshow

FOXCATCHER

Charge: Homosexual undertones in the on-screen relationship between Olympic gold medallist wrestler Mark Schultz (played by Channing Tatum) and millionaire coach/benefactor John du Pont (Steve Carell) were “sickening and insulting”, claimed the real-life Schultz.

Methods: After consulting on the movie, Schultz took to Twitter in December to rant about his new-found hatred of Foxcatcher after reviews (picking up on that homosexual subtext) began flooding in. As well as noting every fact the movie got wrong and fretting about it jeopardising his “legacy”, Schultz aimed a series of vitriolic tweets at director Bennett Miller, calling him “scum” and a “liar”. “Everything I’ve ever said positive about the movie I take back,” Schultz wrote. “I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.”

Reaction: Miller and Co. stayed silent. Weeks later Schultz performed a seemingly unprompted backflip. “I apologize to you before the world, Bennett. I’m sorry,” he tweeted. He also went on to label Foxcatcher a “masterpiece”, wished Oscar success for Miller, Carell and Mark Ruffalo, declared Tatum was “robbed” of a nomination and thanked the director for honouring his brother Dave in the film.

Verdicts pending: Nominations for Best Actor (Carell), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Director, Screenplay and Make-up/Hairstyling.

The likely Oscar winners by Vicky Roach

The guild awards are in and the votes are counted … so let’s take a look at the likely winners ahead of tomorrow’s Oscar ceremony.

Eight films are vying for best picture, including Clint Eastwood’s headline-grabbing Iraqi war drama American Sniper.

Birdman, starring former Batman Michael Keaton as a has-been superhero attempted, unsuccessfully, to make a Broadway comeback, is the favourite in this category.

But Richard Linklater’s groundbreaking coming-of-age story Boyhood might yet cause an upset.

Eddie Redmayne leads a strong best actor field with his convincing performance in Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything.

And Julianne Moore has the best actress statuette in the bag — revelatory performances from Reese Witherspoon (Wild) and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) notwithstanding.

Top pick ... Michael Keaton portrays Riggan in a scene from "Birdman." The film received nine Oscar nominations. Picture: AP/Fox Searchlight, Atsushi Nishijima

BEST MOTION PICTURE

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Clint Eastwood has two of these coveted statuettes already (for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby). But despite American Sniper’s extraordinary precision at the box office, the Hollywood legend has little chance of making it a trifecta this year. In a diverse and colourful field, the standouts are a time-travelling Texan and a Mexican maverick, both of whom have danced rings around Eastwood’s muscular, clear-eyed military drama in the lead up to these awards. As much as I would like to see an upset here on the back of Boyhood’s deserved BAFTA and Golden Globes wins, the smart money is on Birdman, which picked up all the major guild awards.

Winner: Birdman

Make that two ... The Best Director Golden Globe could likely be won by Alejandro G. Inarritu for the film Birdman. Picture: AP/Fox Searchlight, Atsushi Nishijima

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro G. Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

Again, the vote is spilt between Birdman and Boyhood — with half the pundits preferring Inarritu’s assuredly light touch and the other half plumping for Richard Linklater’s extraordinarily long-term vision (Boyhood was filmed over a period of 12 years.)

Winner: Alejandro G. Inarritu (Birdman)

Birdman could sweep the floor ... Actor Michael Keaton is a favourite to win the Best Actor award. Picture: AFP/ Justin Tallis

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Michael Keaton has the sentimental vote for his multilayered, wonderfully self-referential “comeback” performance as a down-on-his-luck action star with superhero complex. And since this is his first nomination, at the age of 63, Academy voters might well decide that he deserves to take home the statuette. However, Eddie Redmayne’s campaign has gained momentum with BAFTA and SAG awards. And the last 10 actors to win the Screen Actors Guild award also took home the Oscar.

Winner: Michael Keaton

Hot favourite ... Julianne Moore as Alice, in a scene from the film, "Still Alice." Picture: AP/Sony Pictures Classics, Jojo Whilden

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Five-time nominee Julianne Moore has this award in the bag. Her performance as a linguistic professor grappling early onset Alzheimers in Still Alice is flawless. And it comes on the back of an astonishing body of work that spans two decades and includes Safe, Boogie Nights, A Single Man, The Hours, and The End of The Affair. Her win, however, won’t reflect badly on any of her competitors in this category. Rosamund Pike’s breakthrough performance in Gone Girl is quite simply revelatory. Felicity Jones announces herself as an actress to watch in The Theory of Everything. Reese Witherspoon reveals hidden strengths in Wild and Marion Cotillard nails her role in Two Days, One Night.

Winner: Julianne Moore

Best supporting actress ... Patricia Arquette has already won a BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG award for Boyhood. Picture: Robin Marchant/Getty Images

Best supporting actor ... J. K. Simmons was impressive in Whiplash. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

J.K. Simmons performed his own musical “stunts” in Whiplash, a jazz two-hander in which music is portrayed as a blood sport. Since the veteran character actor has an honours degree in composition, voice and conducting from the University of Montana, he had no need of the conductor body double director Damien Chazelle had lined-up. It’s an impressive list, but at this point, Simmons’ steamroller of a performance is unstoppable.

Winner: J.K. Simmons

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Laura Dern (Wild)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)

Having already won a BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG award, Patricia Arquette is short odds favourite for best supporting actress for her naturalistic performance in Boyhood. Only Emma Stone (Birdman), an actress who lights up any scene she is in, offers any real competition.

Winner: Patricia Arquette