Oscars: How Jamie Lee Curtis and Brendan Fraser surprised

Brendan Fraser (54) was considered a big favorite by many. A status that came as no surprise given his performance in the tragedy The Whale. Still, it seemed inevitable that Austin Butler would win the Oscar for best actor in “Elvis”. When Fraser was read out as the winner, no one was more surprised than himself, delivering one of the most emotional, authentic Oscar speeches of the night.

Fraser was a big star of mainstream cinema in the 1990s (“The Mummy”, “George”), but then faded into the background. In Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” he played, as the 54-year-old himself says, “the role of his life”. Fraser plays the obese Charlie, who in his final days confronts the people of his life – his estranged daughter, his ex-wife, his caring friend Liz, and the suicide shadow of his ex-partner Alan. The film is a gripping outcry against fascist ideology camouflaged behind Christian beliefs, homophobia, sick conservatism and the ailing US healthcare system.

Jamie Lee Curtis (64), on the other hand, was basically considered an outsider in the category for best supporting actress. Here it seemed that the Irish Kerry Condon for her performance as Colin Farrell’s sister in The Banshees of Inisherin. Curtis prevailed in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. Hard to believe, but it’s the first Oscar for the Hollywood veteran, who has been in the business for decades and became a star with “Halloween” (1978). Curtis also trumped her late parents. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh were each “only” nominated for an Oscar.
Leigh for “Psycho” and Curtis for “The Defiant Ones”.

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” (seven Oscars), “Nothing New in the West” (four Oscars) and “The Whale” (two Oscars, also for best make-up) outclassed the rest of the field. “tar” (six nominations) with Cate Blanchett as the dangerous conductor, the laconic tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” (nine nominations) and Steven Spielberg’s cinematic retrospective of his life “The Fabelmans” (seven nominations) and “Elvis” went completely empty-handed.