Oh the Oscars LOVE subtitles! If the movie seems serious, and your acting looks pretty good, even if we can’t understand what you’re saying, then Hollywood is ready to celebrate you! Witness last year’s Best Actress winner, Marion Cotillard, for “La Vie En Rose”. Well, at least her singing in French made a change from just reading subtitles for the duration of the performance. In recent years, Roberto Benigni took Best Actor in 1997 for “Life Is Beautiful”, and Fernanda Montenegro was nominated for her leading Actress role in the Brazilian film “Central Station” in 1998. Ken Watanabe’s Supporting nomination for “The Last Samurai”, alongside Tom Cruise, was in Japanese. Catalina Sandino Moreno for “Maria Full of Grace”, and Penelope Cruz for “Volver”, were both Best Actress nominees for their performances given in Spanish. Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi were nominated for their Supporting Actress roles in the multi-lingual “Babel” in 2006. Spanish actor Javier Bardem won his recent Supporting Actor Oscar for “No Country for Old Men”, although his performance was in English. Here are the prominent “foreign” stars who have a good chance at getting Oscar recognition in the future, either for roles in English, or in their native tongues.
1. Gael Garcia Bernal – a superb Mexican actor noted for his roles in “The Motorcycle Diaries”, “Amores Perros”, “Babel”, “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, and Almodovar’s “Bad Education”.
2. Daniel Brühl – this German actor is best-known for “The Edukators”, “Joyeux Noel”, and “Goodbye Lenin!”, in addition to small roles in “The Bourne Ultimatum” and Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in Paris”.
3. Mathieu Amalric – he has really come to Hollywood’s attention in the past few years, having been prolific in French cinema for several decades. His stunning performance as Jean-Do Bauby in Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” followed on from a key role in Spielberg’s “Munich”. Look for him in the new Bond movie, “Quantum of Solace”.
4. Mads Mikkelsen – best-known as the weeping eyed poker opponent of Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale”, this Danish actor should have been nominated for the beautiful Best Foreign Language Oscar nominated “After the Wedding”.
5. Vincent Cassel – one half of European cinema’s golden couple (with the Italian beauty, Monica Belluci – see no. 9!) and son of the late Jean-Pierre Cassel, Frenchman Vincent has been seen in “Ocean’s Thirteen”, “Eastern Promises”, “Derailed”, and “Birthday Girl”. His notable French roles include “Irreversible”, “L’Appartement”, and the celebrated black and white tale of Parisian urban youth, “La Haine”.
6. Audrey Tautou – she may always be known as the delightful “Amelie”, but look out for her in the forthcoming biopic about Coco Chanel. Will this role do for her what Edith Piaf did for Oscar winner Marion Cotillard? Audrey has also been in “The Da Vinci Code”, “Dirty Pretty Things”, and “A Very Long Engagement”.
7. Thomas Kretschmann – in Adrien Brody’s Oscar-winning “The Pianist”, German Kretschmann played the Nazi officer who showed compassion to the Pole in hiding. He has also been in “Downfall”, “King Kong”, and will be seen in Tom Cruise’s World War Two drama “Valkyrie”.
8. Franka Potente – another German, she came to prominence in “Run Lola Run”, but was Matt Damon’s captive love interest in the Bourne movies. Her profile should rise again as she is in Soderbergh’s pair of Che Guevara films, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla”.
9. Monica Belluci – Italian Belluci could have been nominated for her lead role in “Malena” back in 2000. Hollywood came calling with roles in both of the Matrix sequels, as well as Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”.
10. Antonio Banderas – Spaniard Banderas probably suffered from being cast as a pretty boy, but he’s respected as a decent actor. “Philadelphia”, “Evita”, a couple of Zorro movies, and voicing Puss in Boots for the “Shrek” franchise have kept him busy. Will Richard Eyre’s “The Other Man” get him noticed during awards season?
Honourable Mention:
Virginie Ledoyen (France)
Emmanuelle Beart (France)
Charlotte Gainsbourg (France)
Julie Delpy (France)
Zineb Oukach (France)
Stellan Skarsgard (Sweden)
Paz Vega (Spain)
Diane Kruger (Germany)
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