Oscar Bounced

Jamie Foxx in Stealth. His character dies early in this post-Oscar role.

HOLLYWOOD GROUCHY WHEN IT COMES TO POST-OSCAR ROLES FOR MINORITY ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES

Jennifer Hudson will “star” in Sex and the City: The Movie as . . .  Carrie’s Assistant??? Seems the actress (or songstress?) who made a name for herself can’t even get a name for herself. Although Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dreamgirls (2006), it appears that her reward is, well, another supporting role as a supporting minority. Sadly, this marginalization dynamic is not isolated. If you saw the 2001 Academy Awards, then you witnessed an historic event: for the first time ever, minority actors earned top honors in both the Best Actor and Best Actress categories (Denzel Washington, Training Day; Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball). Curiously, the optimism stemming from the 2001 Academy Awards did not “open the floodgates” to diversity within Hollywood.

Since this “watershed” moment, a few other minority actors have been nominated or won Academy Awards, only not to appear to directly profit from such newfound notoriety and fame. Consider Don Cheadle who was nominated for the 2005 Best Actor Award for his compelling work in Hotel Rwanda and Jamie Foxx, who won that same year for his captivating performance in Ray. Together, these two examples might (correctly) lead some to believe that Hollywood has provided a ray of hope, but the subsequent trajectory of movies by each may cast this assumption in doubt.

For the Oscar winner Foxx, his first post-Oscar appearance was Stealth, in which he dies in the early portion of the film (archetype: Background Figure, Utopic Reversal). Cheadle's nomination was followed by a nearly three-year hiatus from any prominent role, which came via a limited, independent, biopic release in Talk to Me.

In returning to Hudson, oftentimes when casting a Black character in a mainstream movie, studios will lean on the talents of an established Black music artist or comedian. This reduces their overall risk since many of these rappers and comedians have already demonstrated that their name can generate mainstream attention and capital. These Black celebrities already have a built-in, financially proven audience that can help the studio recoup its initial investment, and draw an audience that might not have otherwise patronized a certain movie (e.g., Erykah Badu and Biz Markie in Cider House Rules). Unfortunately, Hollywood’s increasing reliance on Black rappers and comedians has come at the expense of “classically trained” Black actors, who already face a disadvantage landing parts in mainstream movies.

Thus, Hudson, as a finalist for one of the top-rated and highest watched shows in television history, American Idol , was in many senses used by Hollywood for the audience that she would attract while still “hot” under the national spotlight’s glare. Hudson’s subsequent casting in Sex and the City: The Movie indicates the background role Hollywood truly envisions for her true “acting” future.