It’s virtually certain that our long national nightmare will end on Sunday night — with Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning a Best Actor Oscar for “The Revenant.’’
Leo’s four previous acting losses have so unnerved his legion of fans that Russian women have reportedly been melting down their jewelry so they can present him with their own faux Oscar this year in case the academy doesn’t come through.
One of Leo’s problems in closing the deal has been that he’s seemed too desperate for the little gold man.
“He’s everywhere,’’ I wrote in 2014 of DiCaprio’s quixotic quest to win for his performance in “The Wolf of Wall Street.’’ “He talked about getting married on ‘CBS This Morning’ and re-enacted the flying scene from ‘Titanic’ with Jonah Hill on ‘Saturday Night Live.’’’
Of course, he came up empty again, just like he had for “Blood Diamond’’ (at 2007’s Awards), “The Aviator’’ (2005) and his first nomination, as a teenager for Best Supporting Actor in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’’ (1994). He wasn’t even nominated for “Titanic’’ (1998), “Gangs of New York’’ (2003), “Catch Me If You Can’’ (2003), “The Departed’’ (2007) or “Django Unchained’’ (2013) — though other cast members were.
A year after his most recent loss, a bereft Leo whined to veteran Oscar consultant Peggy Siegal at a party: “When am I going to win? I’ve had four [acting] nominations!’’ She told the New York Times that he didn’t respond well when she joked, “When you’re in a wheelchair, you’ll get the Irving Thalberg Award.’’
His campaign for “The Revenant’’ did not start out promisingly, even if everyone was predicting that this was Leo’s race to lose as far back as a year ago.
Leo spent most of the fall telling interviewers how grueling the winter location shoots in remote parts of Canada and Argentina were, and what it was like to eat bison liver, until we were sick of it.
But he did swear off “Saturday Night Live’’ and supermodels after reportedly breaking up with his latest squeeze in November (a new girlfriend surfaced the day after Oscar polls closed). So rather than talking about marriage, he hung out with Pope Francis, meeting with him at the Vatican in late January.
Probably the luckiest break for Leo came when Internet aggregator Matt Drudge breathlessly reported that Leo’s character in “The Revenant,’’ trapper Hugh Glass, gets “raped by a bear.’’
Never mind that he’s actually mauled by a mama bear protecting her cubs — it became an amusing meme that swept the Internet and somehow made Leo seem less off-puttingly desperate.
Though his Oscar mania was mocked just this month in the online video game “Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage,’’ the actor actually seems considerably calmer this time around. Maybe it’s partly because his supportive “Titanic” co-star Kate Winslet is also on the circuit for “Steve Jobs.’’
When he won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy for “The Wolf of Wall Street’’ two years ago, Leo recited a long list of thank yous. His acceptance of his Golden Globe in January was very different, tapping right into Oscar’s diversity crisis:
“I want to share this award with all the First Nations people represented in this film, and all the indigenous communities around the world,” DiCaprio said as the orchestra attempted to play him off the stage. “It is time that we recognize your history, and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests and people that are out there to exploit them.”
And that’s how you win an Oscar. Probably.