Melissa Leo has confessed that winning an Oscar turned out unlucky for her.
For those unaware, Leo’s portrayal of Alice Ward in the 2010 David O. Russell-directed 2010 biographical sports drama film The Fighter won her an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in 2011.
While answering fans’ questions, which have been published in The Guardian, the acclaimed Hollywood actress admitted that securing an Oscar became detrimental to her private and professional life.
Sharing her thoughts, she explained, “One loses one’s mind. I had won a lot of prestigious awards for The Fighter that season, and sat in that great gigantic theatre thinking: ‘Well, it certainly is possible.’”
“Kirk Douglas came out to present the best supporting actress award, opened the envelope and called my name. I was so delighted to meet him — that was all I was thinking about,” The Equalizer star recalled.
“I turned to the house, which in most theaters, you can see by looking a little above your own eyesight. In the Dolby Theatre, you have to raise your chin like you’re about to scale Mount Everest. Every single actor, director and producer you recognize, is staring you in the face. I then cursed, and I’m still sorry I cursed. I f**** curse all the time, but you cannot curse on network television. Thank God for the 10-second delay, which was introduced for f***** idiots like me. Having said that, winning an Oscar has not been good for me or my career. I didn’t dream of it, I never wanted it, and I had a much better career before I won,” she stated, describing the scene.
Moving Forward, Leo said that she accepted the role of Alice because Russell wanted her to portray the character.
The Oblivion actress unveiled, “I accepted because David really, really wanted me to be his Alice. Then I met the real Alice Ward, who came from a very different socioeconomic background than my mother’s mother, but there was something of my mother’s mother in her, so that’s where I found a path towards becoming her.”
“I was no more than 10 years older than the majority of the nine people who played Alice’s children, but that’s movies for you,” Melissa Leo noted.
