Movies - TV
Matthew Modine Thinks Lou Gossett Jr. Cost R. Lee Ermey His Oscar For Full Metal Jacket
By DEVIN MEENAN
R. Lee Ermey's performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" is a legendary one, but it was totally unrecognized by the Academy Awards. Matthew Modine, who played the movie's protagonist Private/Sergeant "Joker," has a theory as to why Ermey was snubbed by the Oscars, and it has to do with timing.
Five years earlier at the 55th Academy Awards, Louis Gossett Jr. had won Best Supporting Actor for playing a similar character to Hartman, Sgt. Emil Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman." Since the characters were so similar, Modine felt that left no room for Ermey to be honored.
Ermey may have been snubbed by the Academy, but his performance remains one of the most memorable cinematic performances of the ‘80s. This is pretty impressive for a performer who was not a trained actor and was acting in his first major film role.