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And the Oscar Should Have Gone to … Joaquin Phoenix
Dear Academy: You had your shot in 2013? Don’t blow it again.
Picture it. The Academy Awards. 2013.
And the Oscar went to … Daniel Day-Lewis, for his portrayal of the 16th U.S. president in Lincoln. That’s how things went down in the Best Actor category, and for the third time in his career, Joaquin Phoenix, nominated for his performance in The Master, had to applaud politely while to another thespian went the spoils.
But that time, it was different. Phoenix not only should have been a contender. He should have been the victor, too.
Seven years later, 45-year-old Phoenix at last is set to get his due from the Academy for his gloriously divisive role in Joker. He deserves all the precursor love he’s already gotten (a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA nomination), and when the Best Actor nominee finally claims his Oscar on February 9, he will have earned it.
He’d already earned it seven years ago when Day-Lewis snatched all the thunder that should have been roaring for Phoenix, who perfected what is now his screen specialty — beautiful losers and haunted outsiders — with his performance in The Master.
