10 times Netflix tried and failed to manufacture Oscar bait

‘Pain Hustlers’ (David Yates, 2023)

Pain Hustlers was one of the only films directed by David Yates outside of the Harry Potter franchise, and lined up a cast of previously unnominated stars in Chris Evans and Emily Blunt. Its subject material couldn’t have been more timely, given that it was centred around the opioid crisis and the crimes of Purdue Pharma, which had also been the subject of the previous year’s ‘Best Documentary’ nominee All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.

While it was aiming at the dark comedy style of Adam McKay films like Don’t Look Up! and The Big Short, Pain Hustlers had little to say about its controversial issues, and wasn’t nearly substantial enough to push the needle. Blunt managed to get her first nomination the same year for Oppenheimer, but Evans is still waiting on his first chance to be recognised.

‘The Laundromat’ (Steven Soderbergh, 2019)

Steven Soderbergh has been releasing as many misses as he has hits in recent years, and The Laundromat is the exact type of film that would have benefited from a director who wasn’t working at such an aggressive self-imposed pace. Although the film attempts to be an exposé on the Panama Papers that merges multiple stories into an anthology, it’s evident that Soderbergh was too caught up in fourth-wall breaking and dark comedy that he wasn’t able to show the same amount of dedication that he did with Traffic or Contagion.

The Laundromat was released in September in order to capitalise on award season traction, but it was actually Soderbergh’s second Netflix film of 2019, the former being the much better High Flying Bird, which was a clever commentary on the dynamic between athletes and corporations, yet it was released in February without any serious awards aspirations.

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ (Ron Howard, 2020)

There might not have been a more destructive film in the current decade than Hillbilly Elegy, the Ron Howard-directed autobiography of current Vice President JD Vance. While Howard might not have intended the film to be catnip for conservatives (as Vance was an anti-Trump Republican at the time), the film came off as mawkish, condescending, and desperate Oscar bait.

Although Glenn Close did end up earning a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nomination, given how weak the competition was during the Covid-19 year of restricted releases, her acting was highly criticised, and she also earned a Razzie Award for ‘Worst Supporting Actress’. Unfortunately, the criticism that the film received may have given Vance the incentive to reject Hollywood as being biased against him, leading him to become more radical with his political aspirations.

‘The Prom’ (Ryan Murphy, 2020)

It’s actually pretty impressive for Meryl Streep to be in a film and not be Oscar-nominated, given that she’s been recognised more than any actor in history, but not even the Academy could have helped one of the worst movie musicals in recent memory, The Prom, even if the original Broadway show had been fairly well-received.

Ryan Murphy may have placed a spell on the Television Academy, the body that keeps doling out Emmy nominations to him, but The Prom was an out-of-touch dramedy about the importance of representation that ultimately felt like an unabashed ego trip for rich, famous stars. Streep and Nicole Kidman turn out some of the worst performances of their careers, but the film’s awards chances are most obliterated by James Corden, an actor who drags down pretty much everything that he is involved with.

‘Rebecca’ (Ben Wheatley, 2020)

The Armie Hammer controversy hadn’t quite emerged to threaten the awards chances of Rebecca, as the film failed to gain traction based purely on its own lack of merit. Remaking a ‘Best Picture’ winner is a difficult endeavour, but the Oscars haven’t been opposed to recognising new versions of West Side Story and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Ben Wheatley is a talented horror director, but he wasn’t the right fit for a tragic gothic romance, particularly when Alfred Hitchcock’s original had already contributed some of the most iconic images in cinematic history. While the new version could have distinguished itself by being more faithful to the novel, it felt like a poor placeholder from the service since the original Hitchcock film wasn’t streaming; it was no different than Gus Van Sant’s take on Psycho in 1998.

‘The Unforgivable’ (Nora Fingscheidt, 2021)

Sandra Bullock has had a very strange award season trajectory. It was after years of reviled projects that she won a controversial ‘Best Actress’ Oscar for The Blind Side, which didn’t automatically make her a star again. Ever since her second nomination for Gravity, Bullock hasn’t appeared in anything of note, and The Unforgivable was a failed attempt to take on a grittier role. Her performance isn’t even very good, as the best acting in the film came from Jon Bernthal.

The film had the opportunity to say something about the challenges faced by reformed criminals after they are released, but it was undercut by its mawkish and unconvincing storylines. Given that Bullock has become one of the few Hollywood figures who have come out in support of AI, it doesn’t seem likely that she will be anywhere close to the Oscar conversation again anytime soon.

‘War Machine’ (David Michod, 2017)

Brad Pitt starring in a military satire about an infamous American Army leader during the middle of the Middle East conflict seemed like a perfect Oscar vehicle, especially with a talented filmmaker like David Michod behind it, who had gotten Jackie Weaver a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nomination for Animal Kingdom, and had also directed the well-received post-apocalyptic neo-western The Rover. However, the Oscars have never quite respected Iraq War films in the same way they have films about the Vietnam conflict, and War Machine felt like a loaded commentary that was a few years too late.

Pitt may have been trying to win an Oscar by playing against type as an awkward, dopey lunkhead, but he ended up winning his first acting prize by simply utilising his inherent charisma when Quentin Tarantino cast him to play Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.

‘Malcolm & Marie’ (Sam Levinson, 2021)

Zendaya has unfortunately become a muse for Sam Levinson, who has used her brilliant talents as an actor to make his shallow writing seem profound. It was between seasons of Euphoria that the Covid-19 lockdown forced directors to find creative ways to make films, and Levinson decided to make an intimate chamberpiece about a famous director (John David Washington) having a conversation with his girlfriend after the premiere of his latest project.

It’s such a blisteringly egocentric vanity project from Levinson that it’s not hard to see Washington’s character as a self-insert, but the film was rushed to a February release on Netflix in order to qualify for the extended awards timeline held by the Oscars in the unusual year. Zendaya will get an Oscar nomination eventually, but it’s for the best that it wasn’t for Malcolm & Marie.

‘The Six Triple Eight’ (Tyler Perry, 2024)

The allegations of sexual misconduct made against Tyler Perry won’t damage his awards chances as much as his inability to make a good film. He certainly has a system of churning out lazy thrillers and comedies on a regular basis, but those somehow aren’t as insufferable as his occasional attempts to position himself as a prestige director. The Six Triple Eight is based on an interesting true story about women in World War II, and it might have made for a compelling drama in the hands of literally any other filmmaker.

The only nomination that the film received was the cursory ‘Best Original Song’ recognition for Diane Warren, whose name guarantees an automatic slot in the category each year. Warren has enough sway to always be nominated without ever winning, and she certainly wasn’t going to secure her first victory for a film as embarrassing as The Six Triple Eight.

‘The Ballad of a Small Player’ (Edward Berger, 2025)

The Ballad of a Small Player is one of the strangest award season misses in recent memory, given that on paper it seemed like a slam dunk. The novel adaptation came from Edward Berger, who was coming off the success of directing two ‘Best Picture’ nominees in All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, both of which had managed to win ‘Best Film’ at the Baftas.

A gambling thriller starring Colin Farrell sounded electrifying, especially since the actor has been making nothing but good choices of late and had recently earned his first nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin, but the film is just too shaggy and unfocused to be taken seriously as a prestige player, and so Netflix moved on to prioritise campaigning for Frankenstein and Train Dreams, which both succeeded in earning major Oscar attention.