Vampires and the Academy Awards

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Mar 30, 2001

Well, the 73rd Annual Academy Awards have come and gone, and nary a single Oscar went to a vampire movie. There were two nominations this year, however: Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actor (Willem Dafoe) for "Shadow of the Vampire."

Now I would like to say that Willem Dafoe deserved it, dammit, and I can't believe he was snubbed, etc., etc., but to be honest, I haven't seen the movie yet (I know-for shame, for shame) so I can't say that Dafoe's performance was better than that of the winner, Benicio Del Toro, for "Traffic" (and I did think Del Toro was positively fantastic in the role). And I didn't see "The Cell" either-which picked up the Best Makeup award-to say that Ann Buchanan and Amber Sibley were robbed by not being handed the Oscar for their makeup in "Shadow" (though from stills, commercials, etc., I think it was a pretty close call).

The Academy has never been very kind to the vampire movie. Now I'm not 100 percent sure on this, but I think the only vampire movie to win any Oscars was "Bram Stoker's Dracula," the Francis Ford Coppola picture from 1992. It picked up Oscars for Best Makeup, Sound Effects Editing and Costume Design. As for other nominations for vampire films, I'm really not sure what they are, and I'd have to do a little more digging through the Oscar archives for details, but I'm pretty certain no vampire flick has ever won Best Picture.

And to be honest, none really deserve it. While I love Tod Browning's 1931 version of "Dracula," and I think it was very influential, it was too flawed in the acting and writing to deserve a win. Same goes for some of the recent big vampire outings like "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Interview with the Vampire." While some of you may be fans, my personal opinion is that any movie with Keanu Reeves in it doesn't deserve to win an Oscar, and while "Interview" was a nice treat for vampire film goers, it just didn't thrill me as a movie.

Now I have some thoughts on the recipe for a vampire movie worthy of Oscar.

1. Pair up Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro again (they were in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" together) and cast them, along with Helena Bonham Carter, as the lead vampires. (And no matter what you do, even though he's won a few Oscars and the Academy really seems to like him, resist the temptation to cast Tom Hanks.)

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