NOVEMBER 1 2008
AMERICANWAY 47
emy Award and just about ev-
ery other acting trophy (and a
few music ones) to boot. Foxx
knows firsthand what success
feels like, smells like, tastes like
— and all the perks and privi-
leges that implies. But he could
goback to adiet of nothingbut
Terrell chili and be perfectly
happy. And it’s that relaxed at-
titude that has kept him from
worrying too much about the
fleeting nature of fame — and
theOscar curse.
Ah, the dreAded OscAr
curse: the all-too-familiar fall-
out that comes after landing an
Academy Award. It isn’t pre-
dictable, but it is very real. It
doesn’thappen toeveryone, but
when it does — as RobinWil-
liams, Cuba Gooding Jr., and
the patron saint, Kevin Spacey,
can attest — it hits hard. It’s a
sword of Damocles that hangs
over the head of some actors as
soon as they’re finished thank-
ing the Academy and their
agent and the drama teacher
who believed in them in high
school. All the years of work
have finally culminated in the
ultimate reward; where does
one go for an encore? The ex-
was easier for a woman to get a slot at the
competitiveL.A. comedy clubs, andFoxxas
a tribute to comedianReddFoxx.)
Hewasn’t a dramatic actor.He never re-
ally thought he would be. And his résumé
—which includeda stinton
InLivingColor
and roles in a string of raucous comedies
such as
Booty Call
,
The Players Club
, and
Woo
— didn’t hint that he would become
oneanytime soon.Thencamea role in1999
as hotshot quarterback Steamin’ Willie
Beamen in Oliver Stone’s
Any Given Sun-
day
. The film received mixed reviews, but
Foxx’s surprising dramatic turn got almost
uniformly highmarks. That led to his role
asDrew “Bundini”Brown in
Ali
,whichwas
followedbyback-to-back successeswith the
2004films
Collateral
(forwhichhewasalso
nominated, forasupporting-actorAcademy
Award) andhis showcase role in
Ray
.
Cut to February 2005, with double-
nominee Foxx standing on the stage of the
Kodak Theater, emotionally thanking Ray
Charles and his managers and his beloved
grandmother, agleamingOscar inhand.
After that,hefigured,hewasmoreor less
playingwithhousemoney.
“You just have to embrace it,” he says.
“You just keepworking as hard as you can,
working even harder tomaintain a certain
caliber of work, just maintain your integ-
rity as far as the thing that you’re working
on. It’s harder to pick
[
a project after win-
ning such an award
]
because you have to
make sure that you stay within that frame
of greatwork. It’s harder topick things be-
cause you get offered a lot, but everything
isn’t thebest.”
That’s generally where the Oscar curse
comes into play. For a time, actors chase
the golden-statue glory, trying to return to
thatpodium.Then, they run in theopposite
direction, as if to prove they are beholden
to no one. And after that, they’re not sure
where to go. For amoment, it appeared as
though itmighthappen toFoxx too.He fol-
lowed up his breakthrough in 2004 with
Stealth
, which tanked both critically and
commercially. But almost everyone’s first
post-Oscar film is adud; it’s like a rebound
relationship for actors.
The films got better after
Stealth
, and
his performances in them never failed to
thrill. But 2004 kept looking more and
more like lightning in a bottle. He took on
a supporting roleasa tough-guy sergeant in
SamMendes’s
Jarhead
,whichdidn’t liveup
to expectations at the box office or during
award season. Michael Mann’s big-screen
redo of
Miami Vice
, with Foxx as Ricardo
Tubbs, was handicapped by constant re-
portsof turmoil on the set,whichovershad-
owedwhatmightbeFoxx’smostunderrated
movie. A remakeof themusical
Dreamgirls
went smoother, but it failed to fully connect
with audiences, and what attention was
paid to the filmmostly centered on Foxx’s
costars.
TheKingdom
, an action thriller set
inSaudiArabia, fell victim towar fatigue.
There are no outright flops on that list,
but there aren’t any huge scores either. The
curse looms. Foxx could have — maybe
should have — chosen to play it safe after
last year’s
TheKingdom
and found an easy,
marketablecomedy tokeephisnameon the
A-list.AnOscar isn’t a lifetime freepass, af-
terall (just lookatMarisaTomei).ButFoxx
isphilosophical about it, cut throughwitha
fair amount of pragmatism.
“You want to win,” he says. “You don’t
want to lose. So youdodwell on it. You say,
‘What does it take toget the right formula?’
Anda lot of times, for
[
actors
]
, it’sbeen just
greatwork.As longaswemaintain thegreat
work, thenwe’regood.Now, if it’sbadat the
box office and a badmovie, that’s when it’s
really time toworry.
“I followwhatWillSmith says: ‘We’renot
in the movie business; we’re in the movie-
trailer business.’” He laughs a little and
then says, “
Miami Vice
was amovie we all
thought had great potential, but it didn’t
panout. I thoughtweshouldhavehadmore
funwith the film. Sometimes it’s strokes of
luck, youknowwhat Imean?Becausemov-
ies areahard thing to capture.”
ternal weight that comes with having to
show that thewinning performancewasn’t
aflukeand the internal pressure they feel to
live up to a sudden change in status some-
timesproves tobe toomuch.
Soon, badfilm choices beget worse ones,
and then come even worse decisions that
make thebaddecisions look like the
goodol’ days.Next thing youknow,
theactorsaremugging for thecam-
erawhilehawkingboxerbriefswith
Michael Jordan. These people get
to the top of themountain and fall
right off. They can’t handle it.
Foxx’s Academy Award for his
note-perfect performance as the
late Ray Charles in 2004’s
Ray
was, on the other hand, something he nev-
er expected. He arrived in Los Angeles in
1989with dreams of being amusician and
a stand-up comedian. (His experience as a
comic iswherehismonikercomes from:He
chose gender-ambiguous Jamie because it
On winning An OscAr:
“It’s harder topick[aproject
afterwinning such an award]because youhave tomake sure that
you staywithin that frame of greatwork. It’s harder topick things
because youget offered a lot, but everything isn’t thebest.”
