Mr. Man, the Number One Authority on Male Celebrity Nudity, goes under the hood to lay bare the correlation between an actor’s (full-frontal) onscreen performance and his chances of a Best Actor Oscar win in a new editorial blog post for Mr Man.
On the heels of a recent Variety article, ‘Oscar’s Penis Problem’, Mr. Man is delving further into the matter in ‘How Many Oscar Nominees Have Showed Their Dick? More Than You Think!’. As many of this year’s crop of best acting performances happen to feature their fair share of male nudity, it begs the question: will the Academy take a more liberal stance when voting or steer clear?
“Men who go nude ARE nominated… it’s just that Hollywood, in general, has not been keen on male nudity,” the article states. “That’s something we’ve been talking about Mr. Man for the last few years. It is undeniable that male nudity has only gotten better.”
Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Eastern Promises in 2008 and Captain Fantastic in 2017, Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl in 2016, Jon Voight for Midnight Cowboy in 1970, Robin Williams for The Fisher King in 1992, Heath ledger for Brokeback Mountain in 2006, Edward Norton for American History X in 1999 and Javier Bardem & Geoffrey Rush in 2001 for Before Night Falls and Quills, respectively.
Mr. Man also noted that Best Supporting Actor nominees didn’t fare much better: Peter Firth received a Best Supporting Actor nod in 1978 for Equus, as did Jude Law in 2000 for The Talented Mr. Ripley and Jaye Davidson in 1993 for The Crying Game. Cuba Gooding Jr., who went fully nude in Jerry Maguire, finally broke the mold in 1998 by winning the Oscar that year.
“While the Academy may reward female nudity with Oscar trophies, men have historically not been rewarded in the same manner, but times are definitely changing,” said a Mr. Man company rep. “We continue to support inspiring performances from the film industry’s most compelling stars… they’re all BIG winners in our book!”
