Beware the Curse of the Oscar

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Poor Second Acts

Clooney's next stop, The Good German, got OK reviews but tanked at the box office. And his jump to super-serious roles may be at the heart of the Oscar curse. Once actors get the approval of their fellow actors—not to mention acclaim from the media—their egos often get as big as their reputations. Oscar winners tend to believe that they are, really, great actors. Maybe that's why Clooney decided to go for another meaty role, rather than do another of the Cary Grant-like turns that have made him his megamillions. (Thankfully, he's warming up another of those Ocean's 11 sequels.)

Maybe it also explains why right after winning her second Oscar, for Million Dollar Baby, Hillary Swank signed on to work for director Brian DePalma in The Black Dahlia. Now there's no denying Swank has talent, and I believe she deserved her two best actress wins. But she was terrible as the femme fatale in The Black Dahlia, which grossed a pathetic $22 million and was nominated only for its cinematography.

Then again, it's not just the actors who make a mistake buying into all the hype after an actor takes home some hardware. Oscar winners get their names emblazoned on ads for upcoming flicks, and those gravel-voiced guys in the trailers remind us of their past glories. The folks behind the science-fiction action film Aeon Flux rushed to plunk some cash down to get Charlize Theron right after she won her best actress Oscar for 2004's Monster. It got lousy reviews and did lousy box office, and didn't do much to help Charlize's reputation.

Worth the Risk

There have also been the personal tragedies that have followed Oscar wins. After taking home his best actor award for 1977's The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfuss went into a tailspin that included drug addiction and a string of bombs before he redeemed himself (and was nominated again 18 years later for Mr. Holland's Opus). Reese Witherspoon and Halle Berry both broke up with their husbands not long after their big nights in Oscar's shadow.

Of course, curse or no curse, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone with a Screen Actors Guild card who wouldn't be willing to tempt fate with one trip up to the stage of the Kodak Theater. Just ask Forrest Whitaker (see BusinessWeek,com, 6/05/06, "The Academy Should Reward Whitaker"), who's likely to win his first Oscar on the 25th for his lead role in The Last King of Scotland, or newcomer Jennifer Hudson, who jumped from American Idol to the supporting actress nominee for Dreamgirls. Would they like a taste of that Oscar curse?

Does the Grill serve martinis?

Grover is Los Angeles bureau manager for BusinessWeek.