From The Birth of a Nation's Nate Parker and Manchester by the Sea star Casey Affleck to Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson and American Honey's Shia LaBeouf, it seems everyone is asking for forgiveness and seeking to redeem themselves through their art.*
The question is, will troublesome pasts play a significant part in awards futures?
The ghosts of loathsome behavior didn't seem to haunt the careers of Roman Polanski or Woody Allen, who both won Oscars this millennium with The Pianist and Midnight in Paris. And who would k**w better than the Academy — more than 6,000 of Hollywood's most elite players — that most people in this town have a skeleton or two in their closet, to put it lightly? Read more...