On the controversial nomination of Andrea Riseborough at the Oscars 2023 – MONDO MODA

The announcement of her name surprised everyone, since she was not on any list of awards from the critics associations, the Golden Globe, the SAG Awards and the Critics Choice. The expected names were Viola Davis (The Woman King) or Danielle Deadwyler (Till). The most she got was being nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Understand: Oscar is a mathematician! There are betting sites, which publish daily lists signed by specialized journalists, critics and film fans (this editor here also has the right to vote on Goldberby.com). That is, it is a race with marked cards!

Therefore, his nomination seemed to be a breach of the norms imposed by the Academy.

However, unlike other times when this has already happened, this time, the subject was on the agenda of a meeting at the Academy Council that took place on Tuesday, January 31, to decide whether or not to remove the actress’s name from the list of indicated. If that happened, it would be the first time in the Oscar’s 95-year history that four actresses would compete for the award. However, the decision was to keep the nomination of the actress.

But what happened?

Here we go: Andrea Riseborough starred in “To Leslie,” an independent film about an alcoholic mother who squanders her paycheck on the lottery. Few people watched it, but those who did loved her performance.

The production did not have any resources to enter the fierce advertising campaign in Awards Season. So actress Mary McCormack, who is married to the film’s director Michael Morris, sent an email to friends in the industry asking for help in promoting the work and Riseborough’s performance in the Oscar campaign.

In the message, she asked people to make posts on Instagram about the film and even suggested hashtags.

Sally Field, Liam Neeson, Jane Fonda, Laura Dern, Catherine Keener, Geena Davis and Mira Sorvino were some who used their social networks to help her. Kate Winslet wrote that “I think this is the greatest female performance on-screen I have ever seen in my life”. Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Courteney Cox and Edward Norton were involved in special screenings for Academy voters, calling on Oscar voters.

In winning the Critics Choice as Best Actress, in Cate Blanchett’s controversial speech, Andrea’s name was mentioned.

The film’s official profile shared a post highlighting a critical sentence published in the Chicago Sun Times newspaper. In addition to praising Riseborough, the excerpt quoted a competitor: “As much as I admired (Cate) Blanchett’s work in ‘Tár’, my favorite performance by a female was delivered by Andrea Riseborough”, said the highlighted text, written by respected critic Richard Roeper. The post has been deleted.

The Academy prohibits campaigns that promote competition between names and titles, such as mentioning other competing actors and films in promotional materials. It allows generic communication – which is expensive – with email shots by the entity’s own servers and via advertisements in paid media.

Faced with the threat of rescinding the nomination, several artists have come out in support of the actress, noting that independent productions have much more difficulty in promoting their talents, given the millionaire campaigns of the big studios, and the only way to have a minimum of balance are tactics of guerrilla.

One of the most incisive was Christina Ricci, who wrote on her Instagram about the elitism of the Academy, which, in practice, would be suggesting that only millionaire productions would have a chance of reaching the Oscars, while an independent film little seen, like “To Leslie” , could never be accepted into the nominations club for not being able to pay for his place.

She’s not wrong, but not quite.

Spontaneous media

Between the end of November and the beginning of December, associations of film critics from practically the 50 states of the USA publish their lists of the best of the year. It is very common to find films and performances (among others) awarded by independent films with little resources. Some names make it and some don’t in the Oscar race.

This season’s differential was the explicit campaign orchestrated by actress Mary McCormack that almost violated the rules imposed by the Academy and had the support of the actors involved (coincidence or not, they are all white). However, this is not new.

In the 80s, Sally Kirkland was practically an extra, until she managed to star in an independent film called “Anna”. The production had no advertising money. Therefore, the actress herself decided to pay for the promotion. At the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, meeting critic Rex Reed in an elevator, she begged him to see the film. He watched it, liked it and began to praise her acting.

She sent letters to the critics of the Los Angeles association, asking them to see the film. It worked so well that she tied with Holly Hunter (Backstage of the News) for Best Actress at the awards.

She called in a favor for her godmother, Shelley Winters (two-time Oscar winner), who spread her name among Academy voters.

She was nominated and won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. She also managed to be nominated for an Oscar, competing with Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction), Holly Hunter, Meryl Streep (Ironweed) and the winner, Cher (Moonstruck).

At one of the post-Oscar parties, Sally said that Gena Rowlands, muse of independent cinema, who knew very well the difficulties of making a film with few resources, revealed: “I voted for you, Sally, but I have to confess that I haven’t seen the movie. I really wanted you to win because of your campaign.”

It’s also impossible to forget the ‘Harvey Weinstein years’, the powerful producer who brought terror to Hollywood for nearly three decades. He is under arrest for convictions of sexual violence, harassment, bribery, blackmail, etc. All to guarantee Oscar nominations or awards for your films and contracted actresses.

Remember that Gwyneth Paltrow won an unbelievable Best Actress award for a ridiculous performance in “Shakespeare in Love” in 1991, produced by Harvey. She defeated favorites Fernanda Montenegro (Central do Brasil) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth). Years later, Gwyneth herself revealed that, post-victory, she struggled with ‘Imposter Syndrome’ (her performances of her post-this film answer whether she was right or wrong… shall we say…).

Finally… Andrea is still on the list of nominees. Hardly win. The dispute of the night will be between Cate Blanchett (TA) and Michelle Yeoh (Everything and Everywhere at the Same Time). However, the name Andrea Riseborough has just gone down in history as one of the greatest dramas in the Oscar race.