Being the best actor never to win a Best Actor Oscar is the Hollywood equivalent to being the best quarterback to never win a Super Bowl. No matter how illustrious an actor or athlete’s career, winning the proverbial “big one” is a hump you just need to get over before you’re considered one of the all-time greats.
Once upon a time, it was Paul Newman who couldn’t get the Best Oscar monkey off his back, and now it’s Leonardo DiCaprio who can’t seem to hoist the all-important statue. Luckily, if you’re a Leo fan, The Line Animation has just provided you with a way to help get him over the hump.
As reported by ScreenCrush, a new 16-bit, side-scrolling video game called Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage puts you in the shoes of the esteemed actor, as you sprint down the red carpet towards a floating Oscar statuette. Along the way, the player is forced to hurdle photographers, dodge Lady Gaga, and race Eddie Redmayne as The Danish Girl, Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, Bryan Cranston as Trumbo, and Matt Damon as The Martian.
Along the way, there are a host of hilarious mini-games, one of which tasks you with writing your acceptance speech, and another in which you mash the G and H keys in effort to “act harder.”
Try as we might, we were unable to snag the elusive Oscar and, eventually, we realized that it was actually impossible to do so. It seems that 16-bit Leo is actually stuck inside some sort of morbid Twilight Zone-esque purgatory in which the exclamation mark he so wants to put on his incredible career is perpetually dangling just out of his reach.
With all the momentum behind his candidacy, if DiCaprio doesn’t win this year, he’d be forgiven for wondering if Red Carpet Rampage is destined to be his real-life fate. On the other hand, if he does get his hands on that statue, he may — a la Rose from Titanic — never let go.
We’ll find out soon as the 2016 Oscars are set to air on February 28, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. EST. Chris Rock will host the festivities, which will take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
You can play Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage here.