Everybody–especially Oscar–loves portrayals of people who wage David and Goliath fights, taking on the big, bad corporate wrongdoer.
Friday, Charlize Theron stars in “North Country” as Josey Aimes, a mine worker who fights back against sexual harassment. “Inspired by a true story,” as the ads say, “North Country” follows the journey to a landmark class-action 1984 lawsuit.
Odds are Theron will be rewarded with an Oscar nomination and a very good shot at taking home the statue in March. Why? Because when a big-name actor or actress takes on a true (or plausibly true) story of a person fighting the odds, the result is almost always a chance to prepare a thank-you speech.
Julia Roberts
“Erin Brockovich” (2000)
Role: Title character, single mother and legal assistant.
Cause: Discovers Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is contaminating a small California town with illegal dumping; leads fight in one of the biggest class-action suits in U.S. history.
Oscar night: Won her first Oscar, 10 years after being nominated for “Pretty Woman.”
Tom Hanks
“Philadelphia” (1993)
Role: Corporate attorney Andrew Beckett.
Cause: Fired for being homosexual and having AIDS, he fights back with a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.
Oscar night: Won his first of back-to-back Oscars.
Sally Field
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“Norma Rae” (1979)
Role: Single mom and textile worker.
Cause: Trying to improve the deplorable conditions in a Southern mill by forming a union; based on a true story.
Oscar night: Won first of her two Oscars.
Russell Crowe
“The Insider” (1999)
Role: Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, real-life researcher for tobacco firm Brown & Williamson.
Cause: Based on a “60 Minutes” story that wasn’t aired by CBS about Wigand’s attempt to publicize the fact that tobacco companies not only knew cigarettes are addictive and harmful but also deliberately worked on making them more addictive.
Oscar night: Lost to Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty”).
Meryl Streep
“Silkwood” (1983)
Role: Karen Silkwood, a nuclear power plant employee who died in a mysterious car accident.
Cause: Silkwood died Nov. 13, 1974, on the way to a meeting with a New York Times reporter in which the whistle-blower was going to detail safety violations at the plant.
Oscar night: Lost to Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”).
Paul Newman
“The Verdict” (1982)
Role: Frank Galvin, a failed, alcoholic attorney.
Cause: Takes on a high-priced law firm, the Catholic Church, a top-notch doctor and a hospital in a medical malpractice suit in this Sidney Lumet-directed drama.
Oscar night: Lost to Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi”).
Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon
“The China Syndrome” (1979)
Role: Fonda is TV reporter Kimberly Wells, and Lemmon is Jack Godell, a foreman at a nuclear power plant.
Cause: In this fictional story, released weeks before the real disaster at Three Mile Island, Godell tries to blow the whistle after the plant tries to cover up a near meltdown. Wells tries to help despite overwhelming pressure from the power company and her network.
Oscar night: Both were nominated and lost, Fonda to Field for “Norma Rae” and Lemmon to Dustin Hoffman for “Kramer vs. Kramer.”