Melissa Leo, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2011 for The Fighter, said in a Q&A with the Guardian that her career before winning the award was “much better”.
“Winning an Oscar was not good for me or my career,” Leo said. “I never dreamed of it, I never hoped for it, and I had a much better career before winning.”
Leo’s comment was in response to a question about what “goes through your mind” when your name is called at the Oscars ceremony.
Reminiscing about the night he won, Leo said: “I had won a bunch of prestigious awards for ‘The Fighter’ that season, and I was sitting in that huge theater thinking, ‘Sure, it’s possible.’ Kirk Douglas came out to present the Best Supporting Actress award, opened the envelope, and called my name. I was so happy to see him. That’s all I could think about.”
He added, “I turned toward home. In most theaters, you can tell by looking a little above your field of vision. In the Dolby Theater, you have to hold your chin up like you’re climbing Mount Everest. All the actors and directors and producers you know are staring in your face. Then I cursed, and I still regret cursing.”
Leo famously said the f-word during his acceptance speech. When Kate Winslet won Best Actress for The Reader in 2009, she said that Kate Winslet made it look “so easy.”
She said of the gaffe, “I swear all the time, but you can’t swear on network television. Thank God for the 10 second delay that was put in place for idiots like me.”
