NEW YORK — Nothing — not Tom Cruise’s snub nor Austin Butler’s lingering Elvis Presley inflections — has caused quite as much a stir around this year’s Oscars as the best-actress nomination for British actress Andrea Riseborough, according to AP.
Riseborough was unexpectedly nominated for her performance as an alcoholic Texas single mother in the scantly seen indie drama “To Leslie,” a pick that shocked Oscar pundits and has since brought scrutiny from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. For a movie that has grossed $27,322 at the box office, “To Leslie” and Riseborough have made a lot of noise.
At issue is the way Riseborough’s candidacy was promoted. Though many awards contenders are backed by orchestrated campaigns paid for by their film’s studio, Riseborough rose into the Oscar ranks thanks largely to the grassroots efforts of “To Leslie” director Michael Morris and his wife, actor Mary McCormack. They urged stars to see the film and either host a screening or praise Riseborough’s performance on social media. And a whole lot of them did.
So what’s the big deal? Cronyism in Hollywood isn’t exactly news; it’s more or less the modus operandi. But Riseborough’s nomination — and the strong response it’s engendered — has disrupted this year’s Oscar season, with potential repercussions for the Academy Awards in March and the bids of all future Oscar hopefuls.
For about 15 years, the 41-year-old Riseborough has been a regular presence in film, television and London theatre, but she’s sometimes hard to register because of her chameleonic performances. She appeared in Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky” (2008). She made an impression as Riggan’s girlfriend in “Birdman” (2014). She played Stalin’s daughter in “The Death of Stalin” (2017).
In “Mandy” (2018), alongside Nicolas Cage, she played his character’s kidnapped girlfriend. Riseborough had several other notable credits in 2022, including David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” and as Mrs. Wormwood in “Matilda the Musical.” She’s been doing acclaimed work in adventurous independent film for long enough that an Oscar vote for her may have also been partly for her unassuming body of work.
Almost no one expected Riseborough’s late-breaking campaign to actually land her a nomination. It wasn’t totally out of left field, though. Riseborough’s performance in “To Leslie” had been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
But she wasn’t expected to be in the mix in what was generally considered the hardest category to break into this year. Riseborough was nominated along with Cate Blachett (“Tár”), Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”), Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) and Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).
“I’m astounded,” Riseborough told Deadline shortly after the nominations were announced. “It was so hard to believe it might ever happen because we really hadn’t been in the running for anything else. Even though we had a lot of support, the idea it might actually happen seemed so far away.”
Two highly regarded performances were left out: Viola Davis in “The Woman King” and Danielle Deadwyler in “Till.” That the category’s most glaring snubs were both Black women has been a point of discussion.
“Till” director Chinonye Chukwu, in a post on Instagram, suggested the system had failed. “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.”
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