DONALD SUTHERLAND - SUTHERLAND FRUSTRATED BY THE LACK OF AN OSCAR NOD

SUTHERLAND FRUSTRATED BY THE LACK OF AN OSCAR NOD

Movie great DONALD SUTHERLAND is hoping his new role as a Parkinson's Disease sufferer will earn him an Oscar nomination because he's sick of being ignored by the Academy. The M*A*S*H star's lack of acting gold is beginning to cost him film roles and now he's desperate to at least get a mention when the Academy Awards nominations are announced. He explains, "Right before my new film (AURORA BOREALIS) I was depressed about a film that I didn't get. The producer said he wanted somebody with an Academy Award. "They couldn't actually find someone so they came back and said, 'OK you can do it,' and then five hours later they found someone with an Academy Award and so they gave it to them. "Something about that just depressed me and depression can feed upon itself and accelerate itself and I indulged myself in it." Playing Parkinson's Disease sufferer RONALD SHORTER in Aurora Borealis was a stretch for the 71-year-old actor, but he had his own father's battle with the illness as a research tool. Sutherland admits recalling his father's struggle, which came as the actor's mother battle with dementia, was tough. He states, "I remember my wife was nursing my son Angus at the time - he is now 23 - and my father was muttering in the corner somewhere. "We were talking to him and my mother was just in a chair and she turned to my wife's breast, so she had really returned to some kind of infancy. I think my wife would've nursed her if my father hadn't been there."