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There's a growing chorus that seems to be saying that if Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't win an Oscar this year it will prove that everything is wrong with the Oscars. But let's look closer at the notion of Leonardo DiCaprio: Oscar reject.
Earlier this month, Marlow Stern at The Daily Beast wrote that DiCaprio's loss for The Aviator "set off a string of Academy Awards injustices aimed at the former teen idol, who at this point has been screwed over by the Academy more than a surgically-enhanced extra on the set of Entourage." Today, Salon's Dan D'Addario argues that the reason DiCaprio doesn't win is that he doesn't take on the roles that typically win Oscars, "playing a famous person, or undergoing some notable transformation." And then there's the Twitter chorus that simply wants Leo to win.
The chorus of frustration over Leo's lack of Oscar success has been going on for some time now, but there have always certain caveats to the argument.
DiCaprio's turn in The Aviator is certainly the stuff that Oscar voters love—it's a biopic with physical transformation from a big deal director. But while you may not be a fan of Jamie Foxx's winning performance in Ray, DiCaprio's Howard Hughes wasn't exactly iconic at the time, nor has it become so in the decade since.