Almost There: John Lone in "The Last Emperor"
Monday, February 17, 2020 at 11:00AM 
Parasite made history by becoming the first non-English-language production to win the Best Picture Oscar. Its many victories marked a series of firsts for the Academy, but there's a couple of feats that Bong Joon-ho's masterpiece shares with other winners. As it happens, Parasite is the third film with a majority Asian cast to conquer Best Picture. The Last Emperor and Slumdog Millionaire are the other two. Another thing they share is a glaring lack of acting nominations, which is rare for Best Picture champions. It's difficult to peruse the data and not smell a whiff of systematic racism.
John Lone's absence from the Oscar line-up for his starring role in The Last Emperor is particularly odd…
Regarding 1987's Oscar race, Michael Douglas (Wall Street), Jack Nicholson (Ironweed) and William Hurt (Broadcast News) were probably givens considering the performances and/or Oscar's history with those men. Robin Williams (Good Morning Vietnam), in pursuit of his first nomination, and Marcello Mastroianni (Dark Eyes), in pursuit of his last, weren't so set in stone. The Italian thespian feels like a particularly bizarre inclusion. Nikita Mikhalkov's Dark Eyes is an Italian-Soviet coproduction based on a Chekhov story, an eccentric opus with an equally eccentric performance at its center. Painted in shades of clownishness and melancholic sorrow, Mastroianni's work is admirable, but the nomination is a strange one nonetheless.
Apart from a Cannes prize, he got no attention from precursors and, considering the film received only one nomination, it isn't as if the Academy was in love with Dark Eyes. Certainly not to the extent they were enamored by The Last Emperor with its clean sweep of victories (9 nominations & 9 wins). What's more Lone had nabbed a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination and the role of Emperor Pu Yi is the juiciest sort of Oscar bait imaginable. He's the leading man of a lavish biopic whose story weaves through some of the most important chapters of 20th-century history, including World War II. Even better, the film's narrative demanded that Lone play the deposed monarch across decades, wearing extensive makeup to transform him into the aging Pu Yi.
For his part, John Lone tackles the challenge of such a role with gusto.
When we meet him, Lone's disgraced ruler is a middle-aged prisoner of the Communist regime. Sullen faced and grim, he's a lost soul trying to kill himself to avoid the indignities of a life imprisoned. Not that he wasn't familiar with the feeling, one must say. If there's a single through-line to the portrait of Pu Yi, it's his almost pathological pursuit of freedom. Since he was taken from his mother's arms at the age of two and enclosed in the Forbidden City, crowned China's Emperor, he was a man incarcerated by obscene privilege.
As a child, Pu Yi was taught to see himself a God on Earth, a supposedly all-powerful being with total control over hordes of eunuch slaves. Despite this, he was also chained by protocol and the demands of the Dragon Throne, growing deprived of discipline or familial warmth. His identity was quickly denied, for he had to be a symbol existing above our mortal plane. That is until he was deposed at the age of six, a fact that was hidden from him for many years. Living a life so misshapen by ancient traditions and the violent tides of History, he evolved into a cold man, prone to bouts of cruelty, ambition, and blind to the needs of others and desperate to assert himself.
These dimensions aren’t made explicit by the screenplay. For all its epic proportions, The Last Emperor functions as a character study marked by conflicted feelings towards its main subject. It's Lone's job to fill in the blanks, building a character made out of masks and repressed feelings without contradicting the narrative's built-in ambivalence. The actor does this with formidable tonal plasticity, jumping from register to register as a veteran of the social theatre. He can go from detached to charming, from expressionless authority to tightly-wound impotent rage in the blink of an eye. Give him a speech and he'll shine like a good political puppet, give him a song and he's a matinée idol worthy of the silver screen.
It's when nobody is looking that Pu Yi must improvise being himself. Then, a brittle sort of emptiness overcomes him. Lone illustrates this with a disciplined control over his face and dominion over the expressiveness of his body. Even in prisoner garb and sallow, there's a glimmer of arrogance in his eye and nobility to the way he carries himself. In wide shots, filmed from the back amidst a crowd, Pu Yi is always identifiable thanks to the way John Lone delineates his characteristic physicality. As the years pass, the actor lets this glacial presence melt away, loosening up as the body deteriorates and the emperor finds himself reduced to an anonymous gardener.
In his last moments, the actor still manages to surprise us one more time. It's with a flash of giddiness and the smile of a kid showing another child a secret treasure. Such wonders were certainly worthy of an Oscar nomination.
Previously in this series
- Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful (1955)
- Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger (2000)
- Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008)
- Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
- Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks (2013)
- Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers (2019)
Reader Comments (29)
Mastroianni was clearly the 5th but he won in Cannes, the movie was an art-house hit and he was a previous nominee/acting legend. I don't see what is so suprising about his nomination.
I think Lone is too distant, too cold. he's more an audience surrogate in the China history panorama than a character we care about.
He's just like Ryan O'Neal in Barry Lyndon - he's the title character, but we know that the whole thing is not really about him.
Would you pleasepleaseplease do an Almost There: Double-nominees-in-one-year post? This is my favourite TFE's serie.
The Last Emperor has been on my rewatch list for a long time. I remember liking it and really liking Lone's performance as well. As to why actors from this and Slumdog and this year's Parasite never got so much as a nomination, I do indeed think it's a form of systemic racism. And it's a real shame.
Peggy Sue -- Despite that, I think it was still a surprising outcome. The Cannes Best Actor prize isn't that much of a precursor for the Oscar. I think, overall, less than 20 Cannes victors managed to be nominated by the Academy over 72 years of the festival's existence. Not that I begrudge Mastroianni the nomination. He and Jack Nicholson are the only actors in that line-up I'd consider nominating for the Oscar that year.
1987 was a great year for leading actors, female and male. The Best Actress line-up is one of the strongest ever and there are many great actors who failed to get an Oscar nod but would have still been wonderful additions to the Oscar race. I'm thinking of Lone, of course, but also James Wilby in Maurice and the trio of children suffering through World War II - Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun, Gaspard Manesse in Au revoir les enfants and Aleksey Kravchenko in Come and See.
cal roth -- I don't think he's too distant or too cold, but some critics from the time certainly attributed those qualities to the overall film. Perhaps that's one of the explanations for his absence from the Oscar five. Regarding, O'Neal, I like his work in Barry Lyndon too, so maybe I just enjoy that type of performance and/or role.
Mark -- Thank you for enjoying this series and saying so. You're support is very much appreciated.
Regarding your request, are you referring to actors that got one Oscar nomination but got close to nabbing two or actors who seemed like they were going for two nods and ended up with zero? The next three entries in this series are already planned out, but, after those, I could try to explore this topic. It'll require some research but it sounds like a fun prospect. Thanks for the suggestion.
claudio, great post as always. i'm sad that Lone retired...he had such a great run in the 80s/90s and was so talented.
i would argue, though, that the acting in Slumdog Millionaire is pretty bad...very amateurish and certainly not worthy of nominations.
As I recall, the absence of acting nominations of all principal players (Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole) was an eye opener at the announcement.
There was consternation that veteran seven time (then) nominee O'Toole was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Reginald Johnston. This seemed a shoo in for a prize in recognition for his distinguished career. The PR campaign to give a career prize to the never nominated Sean Connery was stronger. Connery received the veteran slot on the ballot and ultimately won the Oscar.
I feel like at the time there was also buzz for Joan Chen in Supporting Actress.
I love this series,actors like Lone are never heard of much now but he had that hot streak 85 - 88 and was wonderful in the TLE,I find 87 a set of typical nominees by the Academy,what is it with them and asian actors
Claudio who would be your 87 B Actor line up,mine are
Douglas in Fatal Attraction
Lone in The Last Emperor
Woods in Best Seller
Nicholson in Ironweed
Oldman in Prick up your Ears
The racism of the academy, and Hollywood, is pretty obvious when it comes to Asian actors and it’s self-reinforcing.
On the one hand, brilliant performances constantly get viewed as being too “cold” or too “technical,” leaning into long-held western stereotypes of Asian folks. All the while, the academy
Endlessly nominated biopic performances by white actors that are fairly technical.
At the same time, a big part of getting an Oscar nomination is a hat tip, especially for the young, that they’re going to be a future star (thing Florence, Anne Hathaway, Angelina, even young Denzel). By omitting Asian actors, Hollywood, I think, is tacitly admitting that even if an actor wows for one performance, there really isn’t an industry ready to embrace them. And without a nomination, the industry doesn’t every focus on their performance, but the achievement of the film.
Lone gave a really great performance. His miss seems especially odd since he’s essentially playing the lead goal in an epic - typically a shoo-in nominations, especially in the 80s.
Here’s hoping more actors of Asian descent break through in the 2020s than did the 2010s (2).
Even if I’m not a Michalkov’s fan I think Mastroianni is adorable in Dark Eyes and here in Italy his perf was widely acclaimed. I was very young in 1987 but I remember his nom was received with warm acclaim. For me Lone is very good in The Last Emperor and in The Moderns by Rudolph which opened a year after. Pity those two perfs were quite overlooked.
I agree that, besides Lone, beautiful Joan Chen and O’Toole deserved attention, especially Chen who should have easily found a place in a not so strong best supporting actress line-up (or was she considered lead? I don’t think so but I could be wrong)
Banderas followed Mastroianni steps this year. I wish they would always leave room for a foreign performer.
While I appreciate John Lone in the film - his last scene is really lovely - he doesn't have much going on in the middle half of the film - as in, the story veers away from him. But not nominate-able. IMHO, Joan Chen deserved a supporting nomination. The scene where she eats the flower petals ... devastating.
If they were going to nominate a foreigner and/or a child in 1987, I would have preferred Anton Glanzelius for My Life as a Dog. He would have fulfilled both criteria - and would have deserved to win!
markgordonuk -- My nominees would have been...
Kravchenko in Come and See
Lone in The Last Emperor
Manesse in Aíu revoir les enfants
Nicholson in Ironweed
Wilby in Maurice
My winner would probably be Manesse.
Fantastic piece and series! It’s almost worth shelving any other article on her for the rest of the day, this topic is so delicious to mull over and written to a degree the other great contributors cannot currently match. The O’Toole omission is extremely strange, but then I’m strange and think he should have been able to sneak the win for Venus.
Here in Asia, The Last Emperor din really age well n the reviews r actually mixed back then. Most Asian reviewers find TLE too pandering to the western taste n thr is many liberties taken w the actual history. Most Asian watch it w an amusing eyes, seeing how the west like to twist our ancient history w an exotic len! 😂
I dun tink both Lone or Joan Chen r a shoo-in at tt time. Even w/o Mastroanni, The academy will probably find ano white or black actor to fill up the rooster. Asian actors is at the lowest rung o hierarchy then, n probably maybe still is now 😕
I tink the outrage is more on the lack o nom for Peter O'Toole, who was an academy nomination darling then.
Emperor Puyi n Empress Wan Rong r the subjects o numerous biopics filmed in China n HK even before TLE releases in 1987, n a young Tony Leung Kar Fa even won the Golden Horse for his much heralded n in many Asian opinions, much betta portrayal o Puyi.
John Lone is actually betta acclaimed in Asia for his slinky n sublime performance in M. Butterfly
Claran -- Thank you for the perspective and the recommendation. I believe you're talking about 1986's Huo long. I'll try to watch that film if and when I can find it.
I do like John Lone in M. Butterfly, though I have many issues with that production apart from Mr. Lone's singular performance. Jeremy Irons is completely overshadowed by his costar, that's for sure.
@Claudio
Yes u r rite! Its Huo Long or Fire Dragon in literal translation.
Leung was blacklisted for many yrs in China bcos o his participation in the movie, cos it was deemed to portray the Ch govt in v dim light.
M. Butterfly will alws b a controversial play n problematic movie to start w, considering the topic n the source o the story. Alotsa pple couldn't believe tt it was based on a true story, when it was 1st released
thanks for doing this one Claudio. I loved John Lone at the time (i remember thinking he was great in this weird 80s movies called Ice Man too) and wish he was still around. I dont understand what happened to him. He hasn't been in a movie in over a decade.
i also thought Joan Chen would have made a good nominee that year in supporting actress.
I really liked this article. I love The Last Emperor and I agree that Lone would have made a worthy nominee - as would O'Toole and Chen. The Academy seemed so enthusiastic for The Last Emperor - it was so warmly received throughout the ceremony (e.g. I remember the audience reaction to the Best Picture clip, followed by Lone and Chen coming onstage together to present an award) - that it's odd that no actors from it got nominated.
Mastroianni is a worthy Best Actor nominee - indeed, I think it's a strong group that year 9Douglas would have deserved two nominations if such things were allowed, as besides his winning performance in Wall Street he's also excellent in Fatal Atrraction) and it's hard to see who could have been swapped out for Lone. Maybe William Hurt?
Was Come and See eligible in 1987? It's a 1985 film in Russia. Whatever its eligibility year, I think it's amazing, and it would have deserved any nomination it got. Alexei Kravchenko is wonderful in it. And with Christian Bale, Gaspard Manesse, Sebastian Rice-Edwards in Hope and Glory and Seth Green in Radio Days, 1987 was quite a year for boys experiencing the Second World War!
Re: Parasite's lack of acting nominations, I can't help feeling that it's two things: 1) the Academy's odd difficulty in nominating Asian actors and 2) category confusion: I can imagine a few of the actors receiving votes in both lead and support.
Between Marcello and him, of course they would have chosen the white guy.
Here's a challenge the next time an Asian actor is in the running: actually say their proper name!
How many times this season did we hear about how great the "Parasite" actors were. But it was always "you know who was really good? Um... umm... the rich wife, you know, that one". They had names! It's just that non-Asians are not familiar with pronouncing them, so they don't bother to learn them. What if instead of saying "the rich wife" you said "Yeo-Jeong Cho" or instead of saying "the poor father" you said "Song Kang Ho"?
(This was not directed at Claudio; but while we're on the subject of why foreign performances rarely get nominated, this is why.)
@Guestguestguest. Point well taken! I have been guilty of this myself.
Bale/Empire of the Sun
Brooks/Broadcast News (because yes, he was co-lead)
Glanzelius/My Life as a Dog
Manesse/Aíu revoir les enfants
Wilby/Maurice
Such a stellar year. And the child performances this year are just top notch.
I like the scene in the Last Emperor, on the evening of 13th November 1908, without any advance notice, a procession of eunuchs and guardsmen led by the palace chamberlain left the Forbidden City for Pu Yi's home to inform his father that they were taking away his three-year-old son Pu Yi to be the new emperor.
I tried to write a blog about Pu Yi, see whether you like it:
https://stenote.blogspot.com/2018/09/an-interview-with-pu-yi.html