30 Oscar losers that should have been Oscar winners
By Emily Scott
Cate Blanchett losing to Gwyneth Paltrow – Best Actress (1999)
The Winner
Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola, a fictional romantic interest of Shakespeare’s. She’s bandied about by various men and powerful people because she has no agency as an Elizabethan woman. Movie-Shakespeare is inspired to write Twelfth Night based on her, natch.
The Loser
Cate Blanchett as the real HBIC of Elizabethan England – Elizabeth herself. Basically, men constantly deceive her until she decides not to mess with them at all. She’s a total badass. Both the queen and Cate Blanchett.
Why It Was Wrong
No one expected Gwyneth to take this. Like, no one. Same as the Best Picture award. But in retrospect, it’s even crazier. One of these women went on to win multiple other Oscars and become one of the greatest actresses of her generation. The other went on to parlay her whiteness into a lifestyle brand. But even though the Academy voters didn’t know about Goop, it was still clear who should have been the winner here.
While both movies took place in the Elizabethan era, the roles were very different. Paltrow’s character Viola represented a traditional expectation of women. Her storyline consisted of falling in love with a man while she’s promised to marry another man. Sure, she’s “spunky” in that way that female characters are when they’re supposed to be “not like the other girls.” But her only reason for existence is to act as Shakespeare’s muse. And that’s not to say that Paltrow didn’t do a good job. It’s just to say that she didn’t have much to do.
Blanchett, meanwhile, was portraying the most powerful woman in the world. Her story also has a lot to do with men, of course. But her story is mainly about how she reacts when they deceive her and let her down. I mean, the movie ends with her renouncing men altogether and being crowned as the “Virgin Queen.”
In short, Paltrow’s Viola only exists for men. Blanchett’s Elizabeth doesn’t need or want them. And agency, as you might imagine, gives an actress a lot more to work with. So Blanchett’s emotional journey in Elizabeth is way more nuanced and well-executed than Paltrow’s. I don’t think Cate is hurting for Oscars now, but this one absolutely belonged to her.