I don’t get this thing about Mo’Nique hurting her Oscar chances by not upping her profile. I really don’t like the negativity floating around about her — based on what? She supposedly only shows up if she gets paid? She appeared recently on CBS’ Sunday Morning in a segment about weight (she’s lost 40 pounds). I think she’s pretty cool.
Anne Thompson lays it out very nicely in her latest Thompson on Hollywood article but I am not quite buying it with Mo’Nique and here’s why. Mo’Nique is very much out there. She might not be front and center in the Academy’s face but she is out there and she is well known. What is going to happen to her street cred if she starts kissing AMPAS’ ass? We all know, as Thompson points out, that talent should win the day and that no one should have to play the game to win. We also know that if you want the Oscar you have to:
1. Let everyone know you want the Oscar, like Kate Winslet did.
2. Present yourself well in the run up to Oscar (no messy divorces, breakups, sex tapes or public displays of aggression)
3. Show up for everything.
4. Give a great pre-Oscars acceptance speech (something tells me Mo’Nique will have the chance to do this) – cry, act as though you can’t believe this is happening, even if everyone expected it.
5. Don’t appear to desperate to win.
Number 5 is the hardest of all. How do you let everyone know you want to win without appearing desperate? You must show everywhere, do numbers 2 through 4 and always say either someone else is going to win or someone else deserves to win. Kate Winslet performed this perfectly. She put it out there that she wanted to win at the beginning of the race. But then she simply shut up about it the entire run-up to the voting, even as she kept winning and winning.
Given all of this, one might understand why some people simply opt out Рand in so doing, fail to win Oscars.  I guess now would be the time to consider the value of winning an Oscar anymore.
