The Envelope‘s Tom O’Neil is reporting that Miramax strategists yesterday decided to not submit Venus star Peter O’Toole in the Golden Globe competition for a Best Actor in a Comedy category, apparently out of concern that Sacha Baron Cohen‘s Borat performance might ace him out. So they’ve entered O’Toole into the Best Actor in a Drama category instead.
To which I can only wonder why Miramaxers thought O’Toole should have been in the Best Actor in a Comedy slot in the first place. Venus is amusing here and there — arch, whimsical, spirited — but there’s no way anyone in a sober state of mind would call O’Toole’s performance even somewhat comedic. Venus is a drama with fizz and bittersweet spritz, but O’Toole’s playing a withered actor who’s getting closer and closer to death, and yet is clinging to life all he can through his feelings of lust and affection for a young girl. A touching situation but hardly a “funny” one.
O’Neil mentions that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s eligibility committee might not agree with the switch and move O’Toole back to comedy, although it usually defers to the preference of the contender. This is insane.