Amanda Seyfried questions Oscars’ importance as expert likens awards show to ‘the tire industry’
· Fox News
The 98th Academy Awards are here.
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Year after year, Hollywood's biggest stars gather at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to acknowledge the best in their industry for their work that year.
While many actors consider winning an Oscar the highest honor of their career, others have said it isn't something they are particularly interested in achieving.
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, who hosts "Arroyo Grande with Raymond Arroyo," agrees with those who say winning an award no longer boosts your relevancy, blaming certain decisions made by the academy.
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"Over the years due to streaming and terrible choices made by the Academy, the Oscars and its influence have waned," Arroyo explained. "Time was an Oscar guaranteed you work forever. That’s no longer the case, just ask Mira Sorvino and Cuba Gooding Jr! And they won them 20+ years ago. The Oscar just doesn’t have the power even within the industry that it once had."
Overall, when it comes to the future of the awards show, Arroyo says: "Young people don’t care. The Oscars mean nothing to them.
"Like the Grammys and the Emmys, ‘when the product itself no longer touches the lives of a wide audience, the adjacent awards become meaningless,'" he said.
Here is a look back at what some stars have said about the Oscars.
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In a recent interview on the "Out of Order" podcast, actor Dennis Quaid looked back at his decades-long career in Hollywood.
During the conversation, Quaid discussed some of his iconic movies from the early 2000s, with the podcast host praising him for continuing to be a big movie star with many films in the works for this year. When it comes to how he feels making movies today, Quaid said he is "enjoying it a lot even more than I did back then,"
"Because I'm just doing the stuff that I… I'm not trying to get anywhere," he explained. "I'm not trying to push, you know, get an Oscar because who cares about that? Says the guy who never won an Oscar. I'm not trying to be anything. I'm just doing the stuff that I love to do, and I really enjoy it."
Despite "not trying to get anywhere," Quaid starred in "The Substance," one of the biggest movies of 2024, alongside Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, who received an Academy Award nomination for her work in the film.
When the nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards were announced in January, many fans were enraged that Amanda Seyfried was not nominated for her leading role in "The Testaments of Anne Lee," However, in an interview with The New Yorker conducted before nominations were announced, Seyfried said winning one "isn't necessary."
"Do you remember who won in the past 10 years? It's not the win that's important. It's the nomination. It does thrust you forward. That's a fact. Now, do I need one in a week or two or whenever? No, of course, I don't," she said. "Would it be great? Of course it would, for every reason... but it isn't necessary."
Arroyo agrees with Seyfried, admitting "the term Academy Award winner still has some cultural resonance," but it is not the same as in the past.
"It no longer has the mystique or power that it once had," he told Fox News Digital. "Hollywood insiders still fight over the golden statue, but it’s more of a status symbol within the industry than outside of it. Here’s a question: what movie won best picture this year and last year? I’ll bet you don’t know. Neither do most people."
Seyfried received a nomination in 2021 for her supporting role in "Mank" and argued that "longevity in an actor's career is designed," and has more to do with the roles they choose than the awards they have won.
She explained that in her eyes she has proven herself in the industry and although her career has had highs and lows, she has stayed "consistent in my choices and I'm consistent in my values and my needs."
"Every single choice I made in that movie was as artful as the choices I made in Ann Lee," she said in reference to her popular movie, "The Housemaid." "I finally was able to marry the two in my heart and in my head, and I realized that is what I want for the rest of my career. I'm going to jump between genres as much as I can, and jump between indies and studios. So I've gotten this far without an Oscar. Why would I need one now?"
Denzel Washington has two Academy Awards to his name, but during an interview with "Jake's Takes" in August 2025 said he doesn't base his career on awards, adding, "I don’t care about that kind of stuff."
"I’ve been at this a long time, and there’s time when I won and shouldn’t have won and then didn’t win and should’ve won," he said. "Man gives the award. God gives the reward."
"I’m not that interested in Oscars. People ask me, ‘Where do I keep it?’ Well, next to the other one. I’m not bragging! Just telling you how I feel about it," he added. "On my last day, [Oscars] aren’t going to do me a bit of good."
The actor's two Oscar wins were for his supporting role in the 1989 movie "Glory," and for his leading role in the 2001 movie "Training Day."
Matt Damon won an Academy Award in 1998 for writing the screenplay for "Good Will Hunting," but he has since been turned off by the culture surrounding the award show.
During an appearance on Netflix's "Skip Intro" podcast, he said awards season is his least favorite part of the industry.
"What I don’t like is this idea of campaigning," he said. "It seems completely backwards to me and odd. Maybe it’s good for movies, just having it all out there and gets the culture thinking and talking about movies. I hope that’s the case."
Aside from his 1998 win for screenwriting, Damon has been nominated for an Academy Award three times for his work as an actor, including in "Good Will Hunting," "Invictus" and "The Martian."
Arroyo agreed with Damon, arguing that the campaigning ultimately diminishes the value of the award itself.
"When people are spending millions of dollars to lobby for their actor, or screenplay, or film, it’s an acquired prize, not necessarily an earned one," he explained. "So, of course, the true value is diminished."
Ethan Hawke is nominated at the Academy Awards this year for his leading role in the film "Blue Moon," but once called the award show "asinine."
"People want to turn everything in this country (America) into a competition," he told Gotham magazine in February 2013. "So it's clear who the winner is and who the loser is... It's why they like to announce the grosses of movies, because it's a way of saying, 'This one is Number One.' It's so asinine."
He went on to point out "how many forgettable, stupid movies have won Oscars" and, in his opinion, "how many mediocre performers have Oscars above their fireplace," adding that making "chasing these fake carrots" the "priority" of actors is "really destructive."
Following his takedown of the award show, he released a statement clarifying his comments.
"I think the Oscars do a very good job in representing much of the great work in a given year," he said. "Inevitably though, many great films and performances are not recognized and can be overlooked due to the mass marketing and PR machines that march through the awards season. I don't mean to take anything away from the genuine and deserved excitement that every nominee should feel."
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During an interview with The Huffington Post in November 2012, Anthony Hopkins shared his least favorite part about award season.
When discussing the Oscar buzz surrounding his new film at the time, "Hitchcock," the actor said he was "sort of relieved" his work schedule was keeping him from the campaigning process, explaining that "(a) I can't do it, and (b) it makes no difference."
"You know, I've been around — I've got the Oscar myself for ‘Silence of the Lambs’ – and having to be nice to people and to be charming and flirting with them... oh, come on!" he explained. "People go out of their way to flatter the nominating body and I think it's kind of disgusting. That's always been against my nature."
He explained that he finds it "nauseating to watch and disgusting to behold" people sucking up to others in order to win the award.
"People groveling around and kissing the backsides of famous producers and all that. It makes me want to throw up, it really does," he said. "It's sick-making. I've seen it so many times. I saw it fairly recently, last year. Some great producer-mogul and everyone kisses this guy's backside. I think, 'What are they doing? Don't they have any self-respect?' I wanted to say, 'F--- off.'"
Hopkins has two Academy Award wins under his belt, including one for his lead role in "Silence of the Lambs" and another for his lead role in "The Father." He also has an additional four nominations.
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Joaquin Phoenix is an Academy Award-winning actor, but in a conversation with Interview magazine in October 2012, he admitted he thinks award shows are "the stupidest thing in the whole world."
"I’m just saying that I think it’s bulls---. I think it’s total, utter bulls---, and I don’t want to be a part of it," he said. "I don’t believe in it."
He referred to the awards as "a carrot" being dangled in front of an actor, but called it "the worst-tasting carrot" he's ever had in his life, before adding, "I don't want this carrot."
"Pitting people against each other... It’s the stupidest thing in the whole world," he said. "It was one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life when 'Walk the Line' was going through all the awards stuff and all that. I never want to have that experience again. I don’t know how to explain it—and it’s not like I’m in this place where I think I’m just above it—but I just don’t ever want to get comfortable with that part of things."
His statement came prior to his 2020 win at the Academy Awards for his leading role in "Joker." He was previously nominated for "The Master," "Walk the Line" and "Gladiator."
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During a conversation with his "A Star Is Born" co-star, Anthony Ramos for Interview Magazine, Bradley Cooper discussed awards season and how they can mess with someone's mind.
Ramos began by saying that once you start getting invited to these types of events, "it can be very easy for you, meaning me, to think, 'It’s about me. I’m the only one here from my cast, so it’s only me,'" with Cooper adding that awards season can be "a real test."
"It’s set up to foster that mentality. It’s quite a thing to work through, and it’s completely devoid of artistic creation," Cooper said. "It’s not why you sacrifice everything to create art, and yet you spend so much time being a part of it if you’re, in quotes, ‘lucky enough to be a part of it.’ It’s ultimately a great thing because it really does make you face ego, vanity, and insecurity. It’s very interesting and utterly meaningless."
Ramos then added that while it can be easy to make it about yourself, "we forget is that we’re a representation of the story" that 150 to 200 people came together to create, and it should be about the team.
Cooper has never won an Academy Award, but has been nominated 12 times in various categories, including acting, screenwriting and producing, for films such as "Maestro," "Nightmare Alley," "Joker" and "Silver Linings Playbook."
"You have to remember this was always Hollywood granting awards to Hollywood. It’s an insider industry award, granted by those within the industry. It’s really no different than the tire industry awarding best tire salesman of the year," Arroyo said.
He continued: "The Oscars only had power because we all loved movies and it was a point of unity for Americans and the world. But those days are long behind us. The films often chosen for best picture do not reflect popular appetites or excellence in cinema. There are a lot of arthouse movies and foreign films that no one saw or will see."