12 Actors Who Won Oscars For Completely The Wrong Role

Won For... The Blind Side

Should Have Won For... Gravity

While Sandra Bullock's performance in The Blind Side absolutely deserves credit, it is the kind of charitably written, consciously Oscar-baiting material that you can't help but feel a little cynical about. Sure, her transformation into Leigh Anne Tuohy was impressive, but it wasn't nearly as artful as her work in Gravity, which is essentially a one woman show and a masterclass in claustrophobic, lonely acting.

You get the sense that The Blind Side wouldn't have challenged Bullock in the slightest: the hair was easy to change, the accent was no real stretch and it's not hard to appear so good when you're working with a mostly silent monolith of an actor in Quinton Aaron.

But in Gravity, she had to capture the entire audience: the entire success of the film depends wholly on her performance, which is so raw and believable that the tragedy of Dr Ryan Stone's situation unfolds with monumental horror. She channelled the lonely experience of filming into a performance that is breath-taking and absolutely deserved recognition.