Aaron Sorkin Thinks The Bar Is Set Higher For Actors Than Actresses When It Comes To Winning An Oscar

December 16, 2014 / Posted by:

More leaked Sony emails have been released, and today’s “I bet you wish you hadn’t said that” moment comes courtesy of The Newsroom’s Aaron Sorkin. UsWeekly says it happened during an email exchange between Sorks and Sony co-chair Amy Pascal regarding a New York Times op-ed by Maureen Dowd about the lack of diversity and women in film. Aaron Sorkin claimed that when it comes to winning an Academy Award, famous guys who put on wigs and pretend to be somebody else have a “much higher bar” to clear than famous ladies who put on wigs and pretend to be somebody else. Sorky references Cate Blanchett’s win for Blue Jasmine as an example (“You’re dead to me, Sorky” hissed Cate Blanchett atop her throne of acting awards).

Cate gave a terrific performance in Blue Jasmine but nothing close to the degree of difficulty for any of the five Best Actor nominees. Daniel Day-Lewis had to give the performance he gave in Lincoln to win — Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook, in which she did what a professional actress is supposed to be able to do. Colin Firth/Natalie Portman. Phil Hoffman had to transform himself into Truman Capote while Julia Roberts won for being brassy in Erin Brockovich. Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side and Al Pacino lost for both Godfather movies. Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep can play with the boys but there just aren’t that many tour-de-force roles out there for women.

I guess if we were to put what Sorky is saying into perspective, it would be that this year’s Oscar buzz for Best Actor is Michael Keaton’s portrayal of a washed-up Hollywood actor haunted by his past and grappling with his future, while the buzz for Best Actress is Jennifer Aniston playing a sad lady who wears cardigans and cries. Or Reese Witherspoon playing a sad lady who goes on a hike.

Regardless of what he said to Amy Pascal, Aaron is pissed that his words were published and that his name has been thrown around this week (Sorkin is the one who wrote that Steve Jobs biopic), and he appeared on TODAY this morning to talk about the New York Times op-ed he wrote about the Sony email leak and take a swipe at those in the media who are publishing the emails. He also went on to compare the Sony email hacks to The Fappening.

But I think I know why there aren’t many “tour-de-force” roles for women in Hollywood: the second any screenwriter watches Showgirls, they crumple up everything they’ve written and throw it in the trash because they know they’ll never write a character better than Nomi Malone.

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