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    Every 2022 Oscar-Nominated Performance Based On A Real Person, Ranked

    An outstanding year for prosthetic artists and vocal coaches everywhere.

    Rachel Dunkel
    by Rachel Dunkel

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, Will Smith as Richard Williams, and Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana
    Kathy Hoang / BuzzFeed

    2021 was the year of actors playing real people in movies. Lord have mercy were there many — both in biopics and inserted into random works of fiction. Campy, serious, experimental, musical. It's difficult to think of a type of real-life story that wasn't depicted last year. 

    As it's now awards season, and human nature to judge, I thought I'd rank all of the performances in competition for an Oscar from least to most successful. I have assessed these performances holistically, meaning it really doesn't matter if the actor in question looks and sounds exactly like the real person they're playing. It matters a little, but the physicality they give to the performance and the spirit of the performance is far more important, if you ask me.


    Let's begin with some honorable mentions:

    Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza)

    MGM / Courtesy Everett Collection, Tom Wargacki / WireImage

    I'm giving it the award for: non-Oscar-nominated performance that made me say, "Mmmmm I think that's just Bradley being Bradley" but then I saw a video of the person he was playing and thought, "Oh man, he really did it and maybe should have been nominated (over J.K Simmons)".

    The role: Jon Peters — hairdresser to the stars and Barbara Streisand's boyfriend in the '70s.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Like, yes, 100%! Peters and Cooper aren't too dissimilar, but it's still a great impersonation. Just watch this Barbara Walters interview with Barbara Streisand and Jon Peters to see what I mean.

    Verdict: Like this honorable mention's title suggests, I didn't think much of this performance while watching Licorice Pizza for the first time, but after seeking out some videos of Peters, I was really impressed by what Bradley was laying down. Coop's still in the house, but the cadence and sheer amount of manic energy coming from this guy are really captured.

    Buy tickets.

    Bradley Whitford (Tick, Tick...Boom!)

    Netflix, Douglas Elbinger / Getty Images

    I'm giving it the award for: non-Oscar-nominated bit part that blew me away and I would happily watch an entire biopic of them.

    The role: Stephen Sondheim — the greatest musical theater composer and lyricist of all time, of course!

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: To a tee! The squinting, wild head bobs, and voice are all present and accounted for.

    Verdict: I could watch one million hours of Bradley Whitford as Stephen Sondheim. With Sondehim's recent passing, a biopic feels inevitable, and though my love for Sondheim would make me fear what they would do in a Sondheim movie and who they would cast, knowing at least one great actor-as-Sondheim performance is out there brings me great solace.

    Watch it on Netflix.

    Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)

    Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds and Jude Hill as granny, pop, and buddy in Belfast
    Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection

    I'm giving it the award for: Oscar-nominated performance by actors playing almost real people in an almost biopic, but not quite.

    The roles: Granny and Pop — inspired by writer and director Kenneth Branagh's grandparents.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Literally the only people who would know are Kenneth Branagh and his family, so idk, ask them! 

    Verdict: Due to plausible deniability, let's just say they were perfect. Spot-on. Incredible. 

    Rent it on Prime Video.

    And now for the real contenders:

    8. J.K. Simmons (Being The Ricardos)

    Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection, Courtesy Everett Collection

    The role: William Frawley — Vaudevillian actor who played Lucy and Desi's temperamental landlord and friend, Fred Mertz. on I Love Lucy.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Regrettably, J.K. seems to be leaning mainly on his usual voice and physicality. The gruff edge he does give us is one we've seem from him before (Up In The Air, La La Land, need I go on?) and isn't particularly unique to this performance.

    Verdict: He was fine, but I find it incredibly bizarre that this is an Oscar-nominated role. I am begging one voter to explain to me why the Academy decided this performance was outstanding, or how they remembered it at all. Playing a real person aside, I would not call this a stellar turn, even if it had been a non-recognizable character. When I yelled "PUT J.K. SIMMONS IN EVERY MOVIE" after rewatching Juno recently, someone took me too seriously...

    Watch it on Prime Video.

    7. Javier Bardem (Being The Ricardos)

    Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection, Courtesy Everett Collection

    The role: Desi Arnaz — Cuban-American actor, singer, star of I Love Lucy, and Lucille Ball's husband from 1940–1960.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Bardem worked hard on Arnaz's Cuban accent, and he did a fine job, but...I don't understand how he was supposed to fully embody Arnaz, considering they look and sound literally nothing alike. Again, I'm not one that NEEDS every biopic to have a perfect imitation of the subject — that's far from the point — but the casting of this role is very odd. Arnaz would've been about 35 during the time this movie takes place, and in the old footage, looks mad young. Javier is currently 52 and looks and sounds like it. That's not a slight, it's just bad casting. And while I think Bardem could have done more to put more of Arnaz's lightness and bounce into his performance, I understand that it would have been an uphill battle.

    Verdict: Bardem did what he needed to do. His dancing and singing was lovely, and I'd 100% watch a three-camera sitcom starring him, but I don't feel that he was set up for success here. I bought him as a charming playboy, but I had a hard time looking past the crevasse between the age and look of Arnaz and Bardem, especially when Arnaz was well known to be younger than Lucy. Looks aside, ultimately I saw very little of Arnaz here. The casting and performance, which decidedly wasn't aiming for any realism at all, felt even stranger when positioned next to Nicole Kidman, who had on prosthetics to make her look more like Lucille Ball. Why care so much about the look of one of the two main characters but not the other? I do not understand what happened here.

    Watch it on Prime Video.

    6. Nicole Kidman (Being The Ricardos)

    Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection, Courtesy Everett Collection

    The role: Lucille Ball — comedian, actor, and star of I Love Lucy.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: *Sigh* Not really? I think the use of prosthetics actually takes away from this performance. I almost feel like the more they made Kidman look like Ball, the more I noticed how much she didn't match Ball's energy. This role was obviously a tall order, and you could just see too much of the effort. I think Kidman's a great comedic actor, so I feel like most of the issues came more from the script and direction than her, but nevertheless, this is what we have. Her husky voice was pretty good though, so at least there's that!

    Verdict: Mmmm can you tell I hated almost everything about this movie? I digress. I just wish that all of the energy that was put toward making Kidman look like Lucille Ball — in many ways the least important part of playing a real person — went toward her achieving the feel of her. I think Kidman was more than capable of playing Lucy, but maybe just not in this particular movie, where truly every element was a near flatline. Points for potential, but not for much else.

    Watch it on Prime Video.

    5. Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

    Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection, Karwai Tang / WireImage / Getty Images

    The role: Oracene 'Brandy' Williams — Venus and Serena Williams' mother and coach.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: While there aren't *that* many videos of Brandy Williams to go off of, and she's not as well known as her husband, Richard, Ellis's mannerisms and physicality are absolutely on-point while feeling really natural.

    Verdict: I found that Aunjanue Ellis's performance brought the same grounded, loving, steady presence to King Richard as Brandy did to her real family. It was played with realism, heart, and strength, and the only note I have is that I wish the movie would've given us even more of it!

    Rent it on Prime Video.

    4. Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)

    Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection, Ron Davis / Getty Images

    The role: Tammy Faye Bakker — larger-than-life television evangelist and singer.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Honestly, yeah, she does! I was somewhat nervous while watching this movie, waiting for the accent to drop or for Chastain to turn it off for a moment, but she managed to carry Bakker's absolutely bananas energy, voice, and overall affect with her for the whole ride.

    Verdict: Good job, Jessica! It couldn't have been easy to deliver this performance, but it lands itself squarely in the middle of the list because, even so, it might ultimately be easier to emulate a very broad, distinctive character than one with more subtlety or realism.

    Watch it on HBO Max.

    3. Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick...Boom!)

    Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection, Sara Krulwich / The New York Times

    The role: Jonathan Larson — a composer, lyricist, and writer of the autobiographical one man show, Tick, Tick...Boom!. He would go on to write the musical RENT, which won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: Definitely! Although not trained as a singer before landing the role, Garfield really pulled this performance off — a feat, considering he's onscreen for most of the film, and usually in song. While his looks and voice weren't exactly like Larson's, I don't totally think it needs to be for this to be a successful turn.

    Verdict: The joie de vivre and boyish charm that comes through palpably in the home videos of Larson and recordings of his own Tick Tick...Boom! performances are equally present in Garfield's imitation. Attempting to replicate Larson to a tee would have spectacularly backfired for this performance, but Garfield's take on Larson, that maintained Larson's essence while keeping things looking effortless resulted in an entertaining, lively, and joyful watch.

    Watch it on Netflix.

    2. Will Smith (King Richard)

    Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection, Mark Mainz / Getty Images

    The role: Richard Williams — Venus and Serena Williams' father and coach.

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: For sure. His faded Shreveport accent is incredibly effective (in this Slate piece, a dialect coach agrees) and the physicality — a bit stooped but still spry — was excellent, especially considering there was a decent amount of action Smith had to do while in that stance — namely, coach tennis.

    Verdict: I don't think I'd be the first person to say that Will Smith has been phoning it in a bit over the last few years (I'm sorry, I've been trying to erase Suicide Squad from my brain to ill effect), so it was an absolute joy to see him rise to the occasion and really transform for this role. Broken record time, but while his accent and physicality were of course great, it was equally the energy and spirit Smith brought to King Richard that made it stand out more than a rote impression.

    Rent it on Prime Video.

    1. Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

    Neon / Courtesy Everett Collection, Pool / Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

    The role: Diana, Princess of Wales

    Did they get the accent and physicality right: One billion percent yes. Watching videos of Diana, she can be so stiff, but has so much movement and life in her chin and eyes, and it's safe to say Stewart has snagged her own spot in the Royal Family as the Princess of Chin and Eye Acting. Her physicality manages to be even better than her nearly spot-on accent, which is saying a lot.

    Verdict: Everyone was shocked when Kristen — known (unfairly, imo) for her aloof and standoffish, yet riveting, acting style — was cast as Diana. That reaction made no sense to me, since in the spotlight, Diana was also aloof and standoffish, yet riveting. Good casting set Kristen up for success, but she followed through times 1,000. I feel director Pablo Larraín (also the director of 2016's Jackie) sometimes sets his actors up for too much scrutiny by having them aim for exact impressions instead of artful interpretations of the real people they play, but in this specific case, it paid off thanks to Stewart's meticulous work. While I think Spencer as a film has issues, nobody can say that it was lacking due to Stewart's performance. I simply wish the script could have risen to her level.

    Stewart landed the number one spot by combining an incredible impression of Diana with her energy and je ne sais quoi — things that separately could have made this a good performance, but together made it the best of the year.

    Watch it on Hulu.

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