12 times the Oscars got it wrong — including the 'worst decision in ceremony history'

The Oscars doesn’t always get it right, according to many critics (Picture: Getty Images) The biggest night in the film calendar is nearly upon us once again. It’s time for the great and good of Hollywood to pop on their best outfits, swan up the red carpet and sharpen those tearful acceptance speeches for a viewing audience of millions. Yes folks, Oscar night is looming, with the gongs due to be handed out at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 15). This year it’s looking as competitive as ever, with millions set to tune in (in the middle of the night if you happen to be in the UK) to see who takes the top honours. And with the likes of One Battle After Another, Sinners, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme among the main contenders, competition is set to be fierce. However, there’s been occasions over the years when it’s widely thought that the Academy voters got it ‘wrong’ — from surprising best picture choices through to snubbing legendary acting performances. Or in some cases just ignoring a deserving film altogether. Let’s get into it. Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare In Love/Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1999) Gwyneth Paltrow swiped the Oscar from Cate Blanchett at the 1998 event (Picture: Shutterstock) The controversy around the 1999 Oscars is notorious. Not content with handing the best actor prize to Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful – raising eyebrows among those who thought Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan) or Sir Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters) were more likely winners – the best actress category also caused a spot of bother. That’s when Gwyneth Paltrow scooped the trophy for Shakespeare In Love. A good performance, but better than Cate Blanchett playing Queen Elizabeth I? Or Fernanda Montenegro in the heartwarming Brazilian road movie Central Station? It caused quite the stir. Gwyneth later revealed the dramatic effect the win had as she told The Today Show: ‘I think it was probably around the time of winning the Oscar where you go from people kind of being curious about you or discovering you or rooting for you to it all being upended, and people really wanting to tear you down and take great pleasure in it. ‘Which ends up being a really beautiful lesson in knowing who you are…loving the people you love.’ And the Shakespeare In Love controversy didn’t end there… Shakespeare In Love/Saving Private Ryan (1999) Shakespeare In Love or Saving Private Ryan? One notoriously missed out on best picture As if Gwynnie’s best actress win didn’t cause enough furrowed brows at the 1999 Oscars, there were further rumblings of discontent when Steven Spielberg’s brilliant war epic Saving Private Ryan, widely expected to take the best picture prize, lost out in that category to – you guessed it – Shakespeare In Love. And while the latter is a perfectly decent film, many later suggested that the aggressive marketing campaign undertaken by distributors Miramax, led at the time by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein, had more to do with Shakespeare’s win than the fact it was a better movie. Ryan wasn’t shut out completely, with the film winning five Oscars including best director for Spielberg. But its best picture loss is still regarded as one of the biggest upsets in ceremony history. Crash/Brokeback Mountain (2006) Crash or Brokeback Mountain? This one caused a major upset (Picture: Shutterstock) When Ang Lee’s brilliant Brokeback Mountain hit cinemas at the end of 2005, it quickly became the hot favourite to sweep the following year’s Oscars, with many assuming it would walk away with well-deserved prizes for best film and best director. And indeed Lee did take the directing prize. But one of the biggest Oscars upsets emerged just minutes later when low-budget ensemble drama Crash was named best film instead. The result was so shocking that even Jack Nicholson, presenting the best picture Oscar, mouthed ‘woah’ after announcing the winner. Two decades on many Academy members have admitted being surprised by the result, with some critics later pronouncing it one of the ‘worst’ decisions in Oscars history. Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All At Once/Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2023) This battle ended in an Oscar for Jamie Lee Curtis (Picture: Shutterstock) Two titans of acting went head-to-head in the supporting category at the 2023 Oscars, with Jamie Lee Curtis eventually winning the statuette for her performance in eventual best picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once. However, many thought Angela Bassett should have taken top honours for the Black Panther movie Wakanda Forever, with the actress herself looking visibly disappointed on the night to have lost out. ‘It was, of course, a supreme disappointment, and disappointment is human, so yes, I was disappointed, and I handled it like a human being,’ the actress later told Oprah Winfrey. Bassett didn’t miss out completely as she was awarded an honorary Oscar the following year, where presenter Regina King described her talent as ‘transcendent’. The Color Purple (1986) This classic went home from the Oscars empty-handed (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock) Steven Spielberg’s brilliant adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel was one of the favourites going into the Oscars in 1986. After all, it had landed 11 nominations including best film and director as well as acting nominations for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. But at the end of the night, the film went home empty-handed after failing to win a single Oscar for its troubles. While Goldberg lost out to veteran actress Geraldine Page, and Winfrey to Anjelica Huston, the film itself was beaten by Out Of Africa, which took the two top prizes. Although it’s not the only time a film with a slew of nominations has left empty handed. 1977’s The Turning Point was also nominated in 11 categories only to score a big fat duck on the night, while Martin Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York won none of the 10 Oscars it was nominated for in 2002. Al Pacino in Scent Of A Woman/Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (1993) Al Pacino won best actor for Scent Of A Woman, shutting out Denzel Washington as Malcolm X (Picture: Shutterstock) Back in 1993 Denzel Washington appeared to be the front-runner to take the best actor prize for his role in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, having won huge critical praise for his portrayal of the Black nationalist leader. Until, that is, he lost out to Al Pacino for his role as a cantankerous, visually impaired ex-Army Colonel in Scent of A Woman. Which proved to be an unpopular decision, with Lee later saying: ‘No disrespect to my brother Al Pacino, I love him. But Denzel, in my opinion, should have won. What he did with that film was amazing.’ Others felt that after seven previous nominations without a win, Pacino was awarded the Oscar for his collective body of work rather than because he gave the better performance. Green Book/Roma (2019) Green Book saw off competition from the strongly-fancied Roma in 2019 (Picture: Shutterstock) Here’s one which left people shocked in 2019 as the top prize was announced. Alfonso Cuaron’s black and white drama Roma, about a domestic worker in 1970s Mexico and her relationship with the family she is employed for, had been widely tipped to become the first non-English language film to win best picture. However, when the envelope was opened, it was Peter Farrelly’s comedy-drama Green Book, about the friendship between African-American pianist Don Shirley and his Italian chauffeur Tony Lip, which was named as the winner. All of which sparked debate about whether the Academy was favouring feel-good, accessible films for the top prizes over smaller, critically acclaimed favourites — considering Roma was widely thought to be the better movie. It did, however, win best foreign film, cinematography and best director for Cuaron, so didn’t go completely unrewarded. Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday/Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1951) Judy Holliday pulled off a major upset over other iconic roles (Picture: Shutterstock) We’re heading back several decades now, when Gloria Swanson was widely considered to be a shoo-in to win best actress for playing the iconic role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. But, however ready the actress may have been for her close-up, it never came. Instead the award went to Judy Holliday for her turn in Born Yesterday, as an uneducated young woman who is forced to learn etiquette from a news reporter. The win was at the time seen as a major upset, although Swanson wasn’t the only actress who was left wanting. Bette Davis also missed out on the prize for her role in All About Eve, which scored a record – at the time – 14 nominations and went on to take the film and directing Oscars. Gandhi/E.T. (1983) Gandhi took best picture from ET — but even its director questioned it (Picture: Shutterstock) There’s no denying that Gandhi is a wonderful film, with a career-defining performance from Ben Kingsley as the revolutionary figurehead who led the campaign for Indian independence. However debate still reigns over whether the Richard Attenborough-helmed movie, which won six awards at the 1983 Oscars including best film, was really worthy of taking the top prize from Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Even Attenborough himself questioned whether it was a better film than the iconic blockbuster. Speaking to Simon Mayo on Five Live in 2008 he said: ‘Without the initial premise of Mahatma Gandhi, the film would be nothing. Therefore it’s a narrative film but it’s a piece of narration rather than a piece of cinema, as such. E.T. depended absolutely on the concept of cinema and I think that Steven Spielberg, who I’m very fond of, is a genius.’ Grace Kelly in The Country Girl/Judy Garland in A Star Is Born (1955) Grace Kelly or Judy Garland? The winner was not who people expected (Picture: Shutterstock) Judy Garland and Grace Kelly are both Hollywood icons — but when they went head to head at the Oscars, it was widely expected that Garland would take top honours for her legendary turn in A Star Is Born. On the night it went to Kelly for her role in The Country Girl, as the wife of a washed-up, alcoholic actor attempting a comeback, with the win regarded as one of the biggest upsets in Oscars history. As it was, Garland didn’t even attend the ceremony, watching instead from a hospital bed after having recently given birth, although she was so heavily tipped to win a camera crew were on standby to film her reaction. Awkward. Anthony Hopkins in The Father/Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2021) Anthony Hopkins’ win caused a big upset in 2021 (Picture: Shutterstock) The 2021 Oscars was notable for a number of reasons, including the fact that the ceremony, held in the wake of the pandemic and global lockdowns, was somewhat stripped back and held in April instead of March. One thing which had appeared certain, however, was that Chadwick Boseman – who tragically passed away in August 2020 aged 43 from colon cancer – would be awarded a posthumous best actor statue for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In fact, it was regarded as such a sure thing that producer Steven Soderberg even switched the order of presentation around so that best actor was given last. All of which led to quite the shock when the Oscar instead went to Anthony Hopkins for his role as an elderly man struggling with dementia in The Father. Hopkins – who at 83 became the oldest best actor winner ever – went on to recognise Boseman in his speech, saying: ‘I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman who was taken from us far too early…I really did not expect this, so I feel very privileged and honoured.’ Citizen Kane/How Green Was My Valley (1942) Citizen Kane is now widely regarded as the best film ever made (Picture: Shutterstock) Finally, let’s consider the case of Citizen Kane, the Orson Welles masterpiece which is widely regarded by film critics as ‘the greatest movie of all time’. Considering its reputation, you’d think it would be a lock for best picture, right? Wrong. Because the movie ended up losing to the romantic drama How Green Was My Valley, about a Welsh mining family in the Victorian era. Say it ain’t so! It’s since been suggested that Kane lost the top prize because of a smear campaign by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst — who served as Welles’ inspiration for the main character. Hearst, who was unhappy with the way he was portrayed, took revenge by banning any mention of the movie in his publications, while cinema managers, fearing libel lawsuits, was also reluctant to show it. The upshot was that Kane flopped at the box office and on Oscars night it only took the award for best original screenplay, while other, lesser movies went home with the gold.