Nate Parker’s Rape Case Offers Unprecedented Awards-Season Challenge

Nate Parker’s Rape Case Offers Unprecedented Awards-Season Challenge

Most awards voters have learned of Parker’s sexual assault charge before they’ve had a chance to see his movie, “The Birth of a Nation”

“How will Nate Parker’s 17-year-old rape case affect the awards chances for ‘The Birth of a Nation’?” is not a question that should be asked at this point.

[...] it is being asked, because in some circles in Hollywood (and yes, in this column) everything is viewed through the lens of movie awards, as trivial as that undoubtedly is when you’re talking about serious real-life issues.

The decision on the part of Parker and Fox Searchlight to speak publicly about the charges right now to Hollywood trade papers was itself a clear campaign stratagem: an attempt to deal with the issue before the heat of awards season, to try to put it behind them before Parker takes his movie to the Toronto International Film Festival next month, meets the press and then wades into the long slog of awards season.

Fox Searchlight Stands Behind Nate Parker As Rape Case Resurfaces

[...] it’s not working; Going public, despite the fact that Parker was acquitted of rape charges and his Facebook apology was a model of how to face rather than sidestep difficult questions, only fanned the flames.

[...] Polanski won the Academy Award for Best Director in 2003, some 30 years after his rape conviction.

Allen is consistently nominated for Oscars, and was given a hero’s welcome when he appeared at the show in 2002.

The difference is that Polanski and Allen were celebrated artists before the controversies surrounding them arose; Nate Parker is largely unknown.

With only a splashy Sundance debut under Parker’s belt, the fact is that most people — including most voters — have learned that he was once accused of rape before they’ve had a chance to see his movie.

Nate Parker 'Devastated' After Resurfacing of Sexual Assault Case

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[...] without having seen the movie, I have no idea if the film is good enough to make the controversy irrelevant, though that’s a tall order indeed.

Sasha Stone at Awards Daily considered the issue recently, and had this to say:

[Y]es, if you choose, you’re allowed to be angry that anyone would dare to worry about Nate Parker’s awards prospects when an incident like this continues to cast its awful shadow after 17 years.

[...] I’m going to say that Nate Parker is allowed to be concerned about those awards prospects and to worry how this will affect his career going forward.

Any African-American filmmaker would be.

If Sean Penn and Woody Allen and Roman Polanski are all Oscar winners, how can anyone say with a straight face that awards voters should withhold honors from filmmakers who have a checkered past?

Woody Allen has been nominated 12 times since the Soon-Yi story broke.

Yes, outrage culture has pitchforked Woody Allen into near exile, yet the Academy is still A-OK with the movies he makes.

Roman Polanski won the Best Directing Oscar long after his own rape conviction.

Nate Parker was not even convicted, but do you really think these Academy voters will forget about what he did the way they forgot and forgave Polanski?

The reason this story is being discussed now is because people are beginning to see that the movie might not get a fair shake, which is perhaps why Parker has chosen to talk about it this week, before awards season gets underway.

The problem for him is that he’s presenting his feelings to a culture that feeds on outrage…

[...] if you’re asking the question whether or not this case will impact Nate Parker and Jean Celestin’s awards prospects the answer to that is absolutely.

[...] yes, Hollywood will ask the question, and I’ll reluctantly try to answer it and will come up short.

[...] Parker and Fox Searchlight will have a tough road ahead of them.

TheWrap picks the movies you need to see before the year's end, from superhero films to critically acclaimed indies.

What it's about: A lighthouse keeper (Fassbender) and his wife (Vikander) rescue a baby girl who washes up in a rowboat and unofficially adopt her.

When the girl grows older, an encounter with a certain woman on the mainland threatens to break up their happy life.

What it's about: A remake of the classic Western about seven outlaws as they help a town under siege by an industrialist villain. 

[...] Antoine Fuqua directed "Training Day," in which Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

What it's about: A biographical drama about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan chess prodigy who earned Woman Candidate Master at the World Chess Olympiads.

Rarely do we get to see feel-good stories about Africa on the big screen.

The story follows a recently divorced woman (Blunt) who fantasizes during her daily commute about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until she sees something shocking and becomes entangled in a mystery.

Universal Pictures

Parker stars as the 19th-century slave Nat Turner, who was taught to read the Bible to preach to fellow slaves but wound up leading a famous rebellion in 1831.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

What it's about: A stand-up comedy film that features his performance from the recently concluded "What Now?" tour.

Universal Pictures

What it's about: A young boy deals with a terminally ill mother and bullies at school with the help of an ancient monster tree (voiced by Liam Neeson).

Patrick Ness' fantastical children's novel, based on an idea from a woman with terminal cancer, was adapted for the screen by Ness himself.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) is an egotistical but brilliant surgeon whose career is destroyed after a car accident ruins his hands.

Searching the globe to repair them, he encounters the Ancient One (Swinton), a sorcerer who trains Strange to defend the world from evil.

Doctor Strange is one of Marvel’s more eccentric (and lesser known) heroes and the trailers have promised plenty some seriously trippy, magical mayhem.

Walt Disney Studios

Doss refused to kill anybody or bear arms, becoming the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman.

The story sounds fascinating, and this is Mel Gibson’s first film as a director since 2006’s “Apocalypto.”

An interracial couple wages a legal fight against imprisonment in the mid-20th-century South, leading to the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia.

The film has been building buzz since its debut at Cannes, particularly for co-star Ruth Negga. 

What it's about: A biopic on Tupac Shaku's rise to fame all the way to his death during a drive-by in Las Vegas.

Open Road Films

The film has a strong pedigree, Adams has been nominated for five Oscars and the director's last film, "Sicario," received three Oscar nominations.

Paramount Pictures

Based on a novel of the same name, the film follows an Iraq war hero whose victory tour back in the U.S. is interrupted by jarring flashbacks.

Great source material, and Ang Lee's first film since another eye-catching literary adaptation, "The Life of Pi."

The wizard -- and future author of a textbook  mainstay at Hogwarts — visits the Magical Congress of the United States in 1926, but loses control of a special briefcase containing a number of dangerous beasts.

In an adaptation of Austin Wright's 1933 novel “Tony and Susan,” Adams stars as an art gallery owner who begins receiving the manuscript of her ex-husband’s violent thriller novel.

The dynamic cast is sure to make this thriller a memorable one.

An uncle (Affleck) must take care of his teenage nephew (Hedge) and return to his hometown after the death of the boy’s father.

The film received high praise when it premiered at Sundance and Lucas Hedge delivers a breakout performance as the nephew, Patrick.

What it’s about: A young woman, Moana (Cravalho), sets sail for a fabled island and is joined by demigod Maui (Johnson) along the way.

The animated musical is Disney’s first story about a Polynesian princess and will feature original music by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Stone and Gosling star as an aspiring actress and a jazz pianist, respectively, in modern-day L.A. The two meet and soon fall in love, but as each begins to find success in their dream careers, their relationship threatens to tear apart.

What's it about: A once-promising baseball player ends up working as a garbageman in 1950s Pittsburgh.

August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play with two amazing actors -- who won Tonys in 2010 for playing these very roles on Broadway.

Essentially a prequel to “Star Wars: A New Hope,” the film follows a group of Rebel spies as they attempt to steal plans for the Death Star.

Not only is it the first standalone film in the "Star Wars" franchise, but the trailer promises a badass female lead and plenty of fight scenes.

An advertising executive in New York faces a downward spiral after a tragic event, prompting his colleagues to seek a plan to get him out his funk.

Why we’re excited to see it: “The Devil Wears Prada” director returns to New York City with an all-star cast.

Getty Images

The biographical film follows Ray Kroc (Keaton) meeting Mac and Dick McDonald and developing the first  McDonald’s franchise.

Aren’t you curious to hear how McDonald’s started?

Lawrence and Pratt play two passengers aboard a spacecraft that’s on a 120-year journey to a distant planet.

Due to a malfunction, two passengers are prematurely woken up with 90 years left to go on the voyage.

Two of Hollywood's biggest stars team for a sci-fi romance that seemed very promising from the first footage shown at CinemaCon in April.

Getty Images

What it’s about: A father (Cranston) meets his daughter’s wealthy and eccentric boyfriend (Franco) and immediately dislikes him -- and resists all of Franco's attempts to win him over. 

An older father (Simonischek) tries to reconnect with his adult daughter (Hüller) by playing pranks on her.

The comedic film, a hit at Cannes, boasts a 91 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

TheWrap’s Steve Pond described it as a “hysterically funny but deeply touching father-daughter story that ... doesn’t waste a moment.”

TheWrap picks the movies you need to see before the year's end, from superhero films to critically acclaimed indies.

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