New York Times Oscars 2006

Tue, 21 February 2006

Around this time of year, acting in movies starts to feel like a kind of athletic event, with prizes awarded to the winners while the losers are reduced to being glamorous extras on televised award show after televised award show. By the time of the Academy Awards, which this year will take place on March 5, the spirit of the contest seems to take precedence over artistic achievement. This year, as in the previous two, The New York Times Magazine has tried to eschew this notion of competition by saluting the performances that moved, surprised and thrilled us, regardless of whether they were nominated for awards… Once again, the photography team of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin has beautifully composed and captured the variety of characters who resonated with us this year and distilled the essence of what makes great movie acting great.

These are the portraits of 26 actors who made the films of 2005 so memorable including George Clooney (Syriana), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Amy Adams (Junebug), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Deep Roy (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Eric Bana (Munich), Shirley MacLaine (In Her Shoes), Ziyi Zhang (2046), William Hurt (A History of Violence), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli (Head-On), Charlize Theron (North Country), Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence), Vera Farmiga (Down to the Bone), Bill Murray (Broken Flowers), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin), Natalie Press and Emily Blunt (My Summer of Love), Penélope Cruz (Don’t Move), Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale), Daniel Day-Lewis (The Ballad of Jack and Rose).  Check out the gallery!