The 95th Academy Awards

[Derek Metaltron]

I think if you distinguish a best non binary actor role for all film that is likely to just increase the number of individuals who ‘come out’ as gender neutral just because it gets them a better shot at awards and attention. I’m not saying that every single person would do so for that reason but we can be certain there would be a percentage that would, especially younger actors where the concept is more in vogue, so to speak.

The whole concept of the Oscars is a tricky one these days what with the constant drama, and one could make the argument that since it’s not really for our benefit there’s no point televising it anyway…

[AndrewCrossett]

I have a feeling that awards like this are heading in the direction of Nice Things We Can't Have Anymore.

[Mister Mets]

Ben Dreyfuss, a political commentator and son of Academy Award winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, thinks the investigation into Andrea Riseborough's nomination, and the claims that it was racist by denying a slot to Viola Davis or Danielle Deadwyler, is BS.

Andrea Riseborough’s shock nomination meant that someone who was expected to get nominated necessarily didn’t. In this case, the prognosticators had assumed that the fifth nomination would go to either Viola Davis (The Woman King) or Dannielle Deadwyler (Till). Both of these actresses are Black and were the subject of massive multi-million dollar Oscar campaigns to score them nominations. Andrea Riseborough is a British white lady who did not receive an extensive campaign backing her. Because Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler were not nominated for Best Actress, it means that no Black women were nominated in that category. (Angela Basset was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and is the favorite to win that award.)

So, last week outrage at the apparent snubs boiled over on social media from a lot of armchair Twitter users and some people in Hollywood, including the director of Till. This criticism was based on the idea that the Oscars are racist.

“We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women,” Till director Chinonye Chukwu wrote on Instagram.

A few days after the nominations were revealed, the Academy announced that it was investigating the campaigns that led to the nominations and though they didn’t call out To Leslie specifically, it was reported that it was because people had complained that the organic efforts to get people in the acting branch to see the film may have run afoul of some Academy rules that prohibit “lobbying” members directly. None of the rules are very clear, and in the run-up to the nominations every year, every Oscar campaign comes as close to breaking the rules as possible.

Did these concerns come from people on Twitter who tweet #OscarsSoWhite and don’t know anything about the Academy Awards voting policies? Probably not! They probably came from a second group of people miffed at Riseborough’s nomination: publicists.

Oscar season for Hollywood publicists is like a new iPhone reveal for tech journalists: you will make most of your business for the entire year during this one season. The idea that you can just come out of nowhere and score a nomination over these well-funded campaigns threatens the business model of expensive Oscar campaigns.

Is it possible that the To Leslie grassroots campaign somehow violated the rules in a way that the other campaigns didn’t by virtue of being done organically over email and not involving massive ad campaigns? I don’t care. And neither does anyone else. They are being used as a cudgel by people who break the rules all the time!

These two forces joined: the insider publicist campaign using the #OscarsSoWhite Twitter stuff as cover to raise a stink about someone getting nominated for a major award without spending millions on paid media.

The angle of the #OscarsSoWhite complaint is that Andrea Riseborough benefited from a “boy’s club” of Hollywood people who all know each other and used that to steal a nomination from a Black woman who deserved it but—the implication goes—doesn’t have such an extensive Rolodex. This is patently ridiculous. Viola Davis has been nominated for four Academy Awards. She has won one. She is a beloved A-lister in Hollywood, and I’m sure she knows a lot more people than Mary McCormack, whose most famous role is playing the third female lead in the post-Sorkin seasons of the West Wing.

The underlying implication of the #OscarsSoWhite complaint also seems to be built around the false idea that nominations are decided by all the actors and actresses in Hollywood getting in a room behind closed doors and deciding the five best performances in each category. But that’s wrong. It’s 1,500 blind ballots. So a lot of people who voted for Andrea Riseborough had no idea who the other four nominees would be but probably assumed, like everyone else, that Viola Davis or Danielle Deadwyler would be one of them since they had these massive campaigns behind them. They didn’t all get together and say, “no Black women this year.”

This is a problem that comes with investing in every Oscar race a question of “what does this say about the state of racism in Hollywood?” Blind ballots are funny! Sometimes wonderful performances don’t crack the top 5! The difference between scoring the fifth nomination and not getting nominated could be as few as 20 people voting one way or another.

It is incredibly unlikely that Riseborough’s nomination will be rescinded. But it is now tainted.

You can imagine a situation where this shock nomination led to a torrent of good press that got people to watch this film, creating a sort of Cinderella story that catapulted Riseborough to winning the award. Indeed, I had not even heard of To Leslie but was sufficiently curious to rent it, and it’s amazing! And she is astoundingly good in it! If I were a member of the Academy, I would vote for her to win Best Actress.

But that didn’t happen. And the reason it didn’t happen is because of a third force complaining about it: the publicists and agents who work for the other nominees.

It’s not hard to see how the Cinderella storyline could have snowballed, so to prevent that, they napalmed the press with stories about how the nomination was maybe illegal and racist.

All’s fair in love and war; Hollywood awards are war, and that’s life. Publicists make a lot of money. Some of them aren’t worth it. Some of them are! These ones are earning their money.

But it would have been much harder to do this if #OscarsSoWhite activists on Twitter hadn’t given them cover by saying the whole thing was racist.

They are being taken for a ride to ensure that Cate Blanchett or some other frontrunner wins Best Actress.

There are real diversity issues in Hollywood. The studios, award shows, and every element of the industry have been making progress in remedying them over the last few years. It doesn’t mean they are remedied. Many of these issues are systemic, and you have to look at them from 30,000 feet to understand what’s going on and tell if progress I being made. But you know virtually nothing by focusing on any one individual Oscar race. It’s a tiny number of people making subjective decisions with imperfect knowledge of how everyone else is voting.

Share

It is tempting in all sorts of situations to take huge overwhelming conclusions away from any sort of vote.

If 100,000 people in 2016 had voted differently, a glass ceiling is broken, and America is a vision of progressivism on the road to tomorrow. But they didn’t, so instead, America was an unforgivable hellhole filled with Klan members.

In reality, what 100,000 people in a country of 300 million do is not some meaningful statement about the nation’s soul.

Either takeaway would have been wrong. A lot of this comes down to bad weather and luck. It comes down to coin flips.

This is even more true in a situation like Oscar nominations where you aren’t voting between two choices with competing politics. You’re just voting for your favorite performance. And it should go without saying that, ultimately, Oscar nominations shouldn’t even matter to people outside of Hollywood!

Quick, who were the nominees for Best Actor in 2013 who didn’t win? I have no idea, either.

All of which is to say: Andrea Riseborough’s nomination is cool! I wouldn’t have heard about this film if not for this grassroots campaign to get her nominated. And I’m really glad I did because the film is great! I strongly encourage you to watch it!

I think there may be a need to kick some people out of the Academy. But it's not Riseborough.

[Frobisher]

It's nice that they were able to hide their disgust at someone getting in from outside the system with a faux racism smokescreen. Don't hear anyone saying Blanchett or Michelle Williams somehow stole a nomination from Viola Davis.

[Jim Kelly]

Sometimes outsider roles in small budget movies do break through. I was trying to remember when this happened before in very similar circumstances and I believe it was Sally Kirkland in the movie ANNA (1987), which was an independent movie. I recall that she ran her own campaign to get nominated and it was the talk of the town. She did win many other awards, but she didn't win the Oscar in the end. Although, just being nominated was a victory. However, back then there were fewer good roles for women, so they had to look further afield to find someone to nominate.

[Scott Taylor]

Seems like back in the old days, the main benefit to an Oscar nomination was marketing. Not sure that counts for as much today. The actual award still does.

[Mister Mets]

It's nice that they were able to hide their disgust at someone getting in from outside the system with a faux racism smokescreen. Don't hear anyone saying Blanchett or Michelle Williams somehow stole a nomination from Viola Davis.

The problem for Davis and Deadwyler is that their performances were admired but there weren't that many people saying it was the best of the year. Riseborough had that kind of push.

[Reviresco]

And interesting article on EW on how some voters vote on the Oscars.

4 anonymous Oscars voters reveal secret ballot picks:

EW's brutally honest Academy panel calls The Whale 'grotesque,' says Top Gun: Maverick 'looks like a big beer commercial,' 'The Fabelmans is one of the worst movies', and one hopes he'll 'never have to watch Cate Blanchett act again.'

https://ew.com/awards/oscars/2023-os...e6b0000148f8e1

[Reviresco]

Last chance to make your predictions!

Watching the Red Carpet and seeing all the gorgeous people.

[Reviresco]

Better get mine in.


Best Picture

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers


But wouldn't be surprised:
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer


Best Director

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)


But wouldn't be surprised:
Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)


Best Lead Actor

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)


But wouldn't be surprised:
Austin Butler (“Elvis”)



Best Lead Actress

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)


I will riot and be most unhappy if:
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)



Best Supporting Actor

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)


Surprise darkhorse:
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)



Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)



Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell


Surprise darkhorse:
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Written by Rian Johnson



Best Original Screenplay

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

But wouldn't be surprised:
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Written by Martin McDonagh


Best Cinematography

“All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend

Wouldn't be surprised:
“Elvis,” Mandy Walker



Best International Feature Film

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany)


Best Visual Effects


“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett


Best Animated Feature Film

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

[Reviresco]

Nooooo! The only one I REALLY wanted just lost.

You'll always be a winner to me, Queen Ramonda!

[Reviresco]

Okay, I feel a little better. Ruth Carter won Costume Design for Wakanda Forever!

[80sbaby]

I didn't expect Angela to win but I did expect them to take the costuming award.

[Kirby101]

Good for RRR and Bollywood.

[Robotman]

Congratulations Cliff Steele!