Melissa Leo Changes Story On Oscar Ad

By: Kara Gilmour
02/23/2011 11:33 AM ET

Melissa Leo Changes Story On Oscar Ad. Melissa Leo suddenly changes her story on an embarrassing Oscar Ad by launching a campaign. The actress was once a frontrunner in the race for supporting actress.

The campaign shows a few ads that feature a glammed-up Leo asking the Academy to “consider” her decidedly dressed-down performance as the hardscrabble mom of a Boston boxing underdog. They were panned and may have ruined her chances at winning.

Leo, 50, previously told Deadline that the campaign was her idea, a deliberate attempt to break through ageism in Hollywood:

“I took matters into my own hands,” she said. “I knew what I was doing and told my representation how earnest I was about this idea. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot.”

Academy members reacted with criticism to the campaign, and now Leo tells the Daily Beast a different story–that she just went along with Paramount’s agenda.

“I’ve been busting my a–, trying to get the movie sold and seen, and now I show up where they ask, get put into hair and makeup that they pay for, so I can promote this thing [and campaign]. So I’m a little confused. I thought this is what we’re doing. This is what all the girls are doing.”

She also talked about the indignity of having to play the mother of Mark Wahlberg, who at 39 is only 11 years her junior.

“It didn’t feel appropriate at all,” she said.