The most Oscar-baiting biopic according to science
Most biopics have an essence of Oscar bait to them, but a scientific study identified the movie that contained more Oscar-baiting elements than any other.
Credits: Kyusung Gong / ©A.M.P.A.S.
Film » Cutting Room Floor
Wed 5 February 2025 21:15, UK
Since 1929, the Academy has annually awarded filmmakers, actors, and other film industry creatives for their contributions to cinema. It’s the biggest night of the year, spawning many well-deserved wins and historic cinema moments – alongside many controversial ones that still cause fierce debate years later. The issue is that the Oscars are merely a popularity contest, often favouring the biggest stars rather than the actors and filmmakers who have truly delivered the best performances and movies of the year.
While film is a subjective medium – to a certain degree – there have been many snubs throughout the history of the ceremony that have caused widespread outrage, like 2004’s Crash winning ‘Best Picture’ over Brokeback Mountain and the fact that filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick never won ‘Best Director’. Instead, it is often the case that genuinely amazing movies are overshadowed by blatant Oscar bait – Crash being a prime example.
Oscar bait films are those that contain multiple elements almost guaranteed to win over the Academy. They might be overly emotional stories, historical epics or biopics, typically featuring star-studded ensembles and directed by a well-known name. While there are exceptions to these general rules, of course, at least one film that receives a ‘Best Picture’ nomination each year will typically be labelled ‘Oscar bait’, with recent examples including King Richard, The Whale, and Maestro.
Biopics tend to be the most common form of Oscar bait, reeling in viewers with grandiose stories of overcoming hardship, rising to success, and sometimes the subject’s inevitable fall. From Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man to Back to Black, some of these Oscar-bait films have had more success than others, as evidenced by the former’s four wins and the latter’s zero nominations.
However, one biopic has been identified as the most ‘Oscar bait’ of all. According to a study by Gabriel Rossman and Oliver Schilke for the American Sociological Review, which assessed 3,000 films made between 1985 and 2009, there were certain movies that had more qualities that made them ‘Oscar bait’ than others. While 1990’s historical drama Come See The Paradise was their finding for the worst contender ever, it was The People vs Larry Flynt, which came third on the list, making it the most Oscar bait biopic of all time, according to science.
The film was released in 1996 and featured Woody Harrelson as the titular character, a pornographer. He rose to success after his attempt to run a strip club called Hustler Go-Go, resulting in him founding Hustler magazine and becoming incredibly popular. Flynt subsequently becomes a huge figure in the porn industry, resulting in lots of outrage from activists and even legal trouble.
Helmed by the Oscar-winning Miloš Forman, the film saw him nominated for ‘Best Director’, although he lost to Anthony Minghella for The English Patient. Harrelson was also nominated for ‘Best Actor’ – clearly, the movie was a hit with the Academy. Still, to Rossman and Schilke’s algorithm, the film was pure Oscar bait. It ticked many boxes, including being directed by a two-time Oscar winner, starring a well-known cast, falling into the biopic genre, and having an end-of-year release date just in time to be nominated.
Related Topics
Academy AwardsMilos FormanWoody Harrelson