Breaking the ‘Oscar curse’: How a Clint Eastwood film turned the tides for Kathy Bates
Winning an Oscar is supposed to be the high point of an actor’s career. Since their founding in 1929, the Academy Awards have been the most prestigious, coveted, and iconic awards in film and all of pop culture. Careers have been launched and legends cemented by having their names read out on that famous stage, and, even now, when cynicism surrounding the ceremony is at an all-time high, the Oscars still capture people’s attention each year without fail.
However, we all know that taking home a little golden man doesn’t always open the door to success. The ‘Oscar curse’ is very real and even if an actor’s career does continue after winning the prize, impostor syndrome can quickly set in. One person who knows this to be very true is Kathy Bates, who scooped ‘Best Actress’ for her bone-chilling portrayal of Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery.
Bates, who had previously toiled in little-seen comedies and TV movies, is absolutely astounding as Wilkes. Her quiet menace is startlingly real, as you believe that an obsessed fan could genuinely go to the lengths that she does. She defeated some all-time legends to win her award, including Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, but it would be another accolade that finally allowed her to accept that she’d made it.
In 2019, almost four decades after her Oscar win, Bates starred in the biographical drama Richard Jewell. The movie centres on the titular character, portrayed by Paul Walter Hauser, a security guard who discovers a bomb threat during the 1996 Summer Olympics. His heroism comes back to bite him, as he is accused of planting the explosives himself. This leads into the crux of the film, as Jewell and his lawyer (Sam Rockwell) attempt to clear his name. Bates plays Bobi, Richard’s mother, who ends up playing a crucial role in getting her son off the hook.
Richard Jewell was directed by the great Clint Eastwood, and Bates relished the chance to work with such a legendary name. “I remember telling him on the set: ‘I’ve been in this business half a century but working with you, I feel like I’ve hit the big time!’” she revealed to The Guardian. On the ABC movie show Popcorn with Peter Travers, she said, “I was a nervous wreck at first. And I think we all were. We all want to do our best all the time.”
She needn’t have worried too much, because she is absolutely fantastic in the film. A worrying mother seems like an easy character to play, but Bates captures that fear effortlessly, never straying into caricature or parody. In addition to the admiration of critics and audiences, Bates’ performance also earned her another Oscar nomination, her fourth overall. She lost the title for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ to Laura Dern for Marriage Story, but this was her first nomination in over a decade and a half, a welcome return for one of the most underrated actors out there.
Everybody has their own definition of success. For some, it’s being recognised by your peers as the best in a certain category. For others, it’s working with an actor and director you really admire. Both are valid approaches and, in all honesty, Bates’ one is more true to the spirit of art.
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