The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg has some interesting analysis of this year’s Academy Awards and how the two biggest shocks happened. Those shocks? Green Book winning Best Picture and Olivia Colman winning Best Actress. In Colman’s defense – as I said on Oscar night – she was legitimately brilliant in The Favourite and she would have been the favorite in any other year where she wasn’t competing against a living legend of stage and screen, Glenn Close, who has yet to ever win an Oscar. Basically, Feinberg’s explanation for how Colman pulled off that coup is that Fox Searchlight ran a brilliant Oscar campaign and that people actually SAW The Favourite and they didn’t see The Wife:
The biggest shocker of the night, which will be remembered as one of the biggest shockers of all time, was the best actress upset of The Wife’s Glenn Close by The Favourite’s Olivia Colman, even after Close won Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe and SAG awards. No other actress — and only two actors, Russell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind and Eddie Murphy for 2006’s Dreamgirls — has ever won all three of those precursors and then lost at the Oscars. Going into the night, the 71-year-old was already the most Oscar-nominated living performer, male or female, without a win, and now extends that undesirable record by losing for the seventh time.
How did this happen? It’s impossible to say for sure, of course, but it likely has to do with the number of Academy members who actually saw Close’s film versus Colman’s. Colman’s The Favourite, which was distributed by Fox Searchlight (which never gets enough credit for its campaign prowess), was nominated for 10 Oscars (tied with Roma for most), including best picture. That meant most voters made it a priority to check it out — and, indeed, Colman is extraordinary in it. The Wife, on the other hand, was a much lower-profile film; it received no nominations other than Close’s, and therefore was a lower priority for voters as they budgeted their time.
I understand that The Wife didn’t get a big splashy wide release, but… neither did The Favourite. The Favourite was pretty much art-house fare in most places in America and around the world. Besides that, all of the Oscar voters GET SCREENERS. They literally just have to pop in the DVD or attend one of a million Oscar screenings throughout the season. There’s no excuse for arguing “well, I just didn’t see it” from Oscar voters. Also: Glenn is legitimately wonderful in The Wife. I compared her performance to Julianne Moore’s (ultimately Oscar-winning) turn in Still Alice too. I thought that would be the model for Glenn’s Oscar campaign.
As for “why Green Book won,” Feinberg really doesn’t have any answers other than “Oscar voters don’t pay attention to Film Twitter” and this theory about how votes are cast for Best Picture:
At the post-show Governors Ball, the win for Green Book — which premiered and won the audience award at September’s Toronto International Film Festival, and breaks the Telluride Film Festival’s eight-year streak of screening the eventual best picture winner — was heavily debated. In particular, the impact of the divisive “preferential ballot” that the Academy employs only for the best picture category was a focus of conversation. Did Green Book win because it was most voters’ second- or third-favorite nominee, or would it have won on a popular ballot, too? One studio chief who asked to remain nameless told me that he is totally convinced it would have prevailed under either format.
But supporters of Roma, the Netflix film that was the odds-on favorite to win best picture, tended to feel differently. They point to the fact that in five of the 10 years since the preferential ballot was implemented (concurrent with the expansion of the best picture Oscar category beyond a cap of five nominees), the best picture and best director Oscars have gone to different films, a far higher rate than ever before. If one agrees with the widespread assumption that most people vote for the same film for best picture and best director, then one can see why it would be frustrating that a plurality is enough to win best director, but an outright majority is required to win best picture, something that can only be achieved, in a year without a runaway frontrunner, when lower-ranked films then come into play.
So maybe it’s just about the ballot and the WAY people vote for Best Picture and how those votes are counted? Eh. I think the answer to the “why did Green Book win” conundrum is a lot simpler: older white Oscar voters were comforted by the white savior narrative and the cheeseball performance of the n-word spouting Viggo Mortsensen. I’m also okay with the theory that The Favorite, Black Panther, Roma and BlacKkKlansman ended up splitting a lot of votes – there wasn’t one consensus “woke” choice, there were several, and that’s how Green Book snuck in.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Entertainment Weekly surveys anonymous film industry people each year for who they think will win various Oscars, and the overall agreement was Olivia Coleman for best actress. Interestingly, no one chose the same movie for best picture.
I mean, who cares. The only BP winners I remember are Crash, for being awful, Moonlight, because they got it right that one time, and Green Book, because I just read about it.
I think a lot of people watch the acting awards and just tune out. I do, at least.
I think Green Book won because of both reasons mentioned – older white voters liked it, and the other movies split the votes.
I was surprised at Olivia Coleman winning but she was really good. She won the golden globe too, right? So its not like her win came out of nowhere. I just think many people assume Glenn Close was “due,” since the Academy does tend to reward careers sometimes, and not a particular performance.
And she won the Bafta as well.
I saw The Favourite in the theater (excellent, amazing film), but I still need to see The Wife. I love both Close and Colman, but the Oscar probably should have gone to Close. Colman is so amazing and has such a long career ahead of her.
I need to add something: the reason I saw The Favourite is because I adore historical fiction and it was centered around women. I LOVE Glen Close (and always have), but a film called The Wife didn’t exactly appeal to me, no matter how pro-wife (woman) it was. But I’m still going to see it. Eventually.
****Very light spoilers for The Wife below*****
@Anastasia: Your reasoning resonates with me. I saw The Favourite in the theaters on opening weekend, because it is my jam (historical film about women, great cinematography, by an auteur director who usually puts a lot of humorous and bizarre elements in his films). Colman, Stone, Weisz were all fantastic, Colman was the standout.
Then, when Close started getting all this press for The Wife, I saw it b/c I *love* Close and want her to win an Oscar. Close was stunning, brilliant, amazing. But The Wife was a difficult movie to love. It was excellent, but it harkens back to a time when women had to disguise their own agency and excellence to prop up their men. It is so far from third-wave and even second-wave feminism that it made me ragey.
The Favourite, for all its exorbitant comedy, is also a sad film at its heart and it was also about a time when women could scarcely have any power, but it was about three women who did wield a LOT of political power though they had to seize it and hold onto it with all the subterfuge and strategy at their disposal. The Wife was about someone who had a natural genius and had to (and arguably, wanted to) deny, deny, deny it at every turn. Very different films. The Favourite was more on the side of women’s rights politics today. I actually think that might have contributed to Colman’s win.
*More spoilers*
Interesting take @Dee. I’ve seen both films as well. One reason I liked “The Wife” is because it was a complex and realistic feminist film. Joan is both a victim of sexism and complicit in her own victimization. She is a victim in that she wants to be a successful author in the 1950s, a world where female authors are ignored. It’s white men who are the arbiters of what gets published and what is considered important writing. Joan finds herself in a situation where she can write, be published and BE READ. The problem of course, is she has to do it through a front: Her husband. So she’s complicit. She’s not totally innocent. Anyway I really liked that her story wasn’t totally black and white.
To be honest I felt the same way about The Favourite. That is, their stories weren’t black and white either. Maybe the difference is that the women in The Favourite had fewer choices. Joan could have elected to write under her own name and face the very real risk she would never be published, she would never be read and her husband would definitely not become a world renowned author. But I don’t think that makes “The Wife” a lesser film. For me at least it makes the story in ‘The Wife’ more interesting and human. I’m not totally sure what you mean by “The Favourite” being more on the side of women’s rights politics today than “The Wife.”
OT, but did you guys know Olivia plays the stepmother in Fleabag? I thought she looked familiar (haven’t seen the Favourite)…omg, she is amazing, I love her!!!
The woman is a freaking chameleon. She also played a cop in Hot Fuzz and a different type of cop in Broadchurch. I am very happy she won. I saw and loved the Favourite and she was great in it. I wish the academy would start awarding people (women particularly) for their work and not their careers. I haven’t seen the Wife but Glenn should have won for Dangerous Liaisons or even Fatal Attraction and Olivia should, and did win, for the Favourite.
THIS. I feel like Glen should have won an Oscar a LOOONG time ago.
I saw both films and if I had to vote, it’d be a hard choice.
Glenn in The Wife has one of those scenes where she just sits and looks and you can see in her expression (a subtle one) how her emotions change. It’s spectacular.
Olivia was superb in The Favourite, too.
While I was rooting for Glenn, I’m not mad that Olivia won. Like somebody above said, it’s ridiculous that Glenn should be chosen above other actresses only because she’s been nominated 7 times and is an amazing actress in general. It’s just not fair to the other four nominees. Most actresses don’t get any nominations in their life, of those who do, most only get that one chance. Even Olivia said “this won’t happen again”, although I hope it will.
Olivia was positively brilliant in Broadchurch. I can’t wait to see her in The Crown.
I LOVED Fleabag and I love her in it. If you have not watched it, it’s a must. It’s on Prime.
When she got her Oscar, all I could think of was Fleabag wanting to steal it.
Haha yes. Great mental image.
And the producers of the Crown are celebrating – hiring an actress to play the Queen just before she wins an Oscar for playing another Queen is brilliant publicity.
If there is any way to do it, you all need to watch Tyrannosaur. She should have won her first Oscar for that film.
She and Hugh Laurie were the only good things about the otherwise tiresome The Night Manager. I watched it for both of them. She was also great in Broadchurch (the first). Her “revelation” scene with David Tennant was absolutely gutting.
“The Favorite” picked up considerable critical favor in the past few months (seriously, people are even talking about it on TUMBLR of all places), and most people seemed to be in agreement about Coleman’s portrayal as the best of the films. On the other hand, “The Wife” had no wide release and lacked the star-studded and flashier casting. While I’m sad for Glenn, I didn’t find it THAT much of an upset.
Green Book is the one that’s just baffling. The PR fumbles alone should have sank it, and it speaks volumes about Academy voters that it didn’t.
Not surprised about tumblr-Olivia Coleman is beloved in the UK and tumblr abounds with UK fandom; she’s also worked with David Tennent and he’s a Tumblr prince.
That historical chic is very in now too-there’s a renewed sense of interest in UK monarchy and European history in general among younger generations thanks to the young princes, Meghan Markle, Hamilton, and basically streaming television:, Another Period, Drunk History, Downton Abbey, Victoria, the docs on Netflix, etc. It’s going to have a blow back soon-people are already talking about this Founding Fathers fetishism ignores the basic atrocities these people committed and it will likely pour into euro history soon.
That’s a fair point. I think a lot of it is superficial, to be honest – the dress and quarters of historical nobility make for a visual feast in film. It’s easy to make cinematography look beautiful when the setting is already colorful and intricate. That’s part of why I wasn’t sad to see Cuaron take the Oscar for “Roma” – what he was working with asked for far more precision and skill to bring beauty to the mundane.
Wait. Wait wait wait. Hold the phone. Glenn Close hasn’t won an Oscar???
Yep. Despite the Internet’s histrionics over DiCaprio’s numbers, Close is actually seven for seven for Oscar losses, which puts her two ahead of where he was when he won. I’m happy for Coleman, but it’s outrageous that Glenn Close hasn’t won something yet.
Amy Adams is also now 6 for 6 on Oscar losses and beating our Dicaprio’s numbers!
Oh yes, I did forget Adams is on six now! I always feel like Adams has the problem of turning in fantastic performances that are remarkable for their quiet nuance – IMO, *she* was the standout in “American Heist,” and it’s a shame all the discussion was about Lawrence (not that I mind Jennifer, but her role was easy to make interesting). She tends to be fairly low-key on the red carpet, too, so it doesn’t pick up as much camera interest.
Anything with Glenn Close in it, for me is a guarantee of quality. I’d prefer her in many roles instead of let’s say, Jodie Foster and even some Meryl Streep roles.
I really hope she wins, I was bummed when she lost for that film where she played a character that had to dress like man to get work. Meryl won that year.
Glen has lost to good actresses in great performances, but Meryl could have done without one oscar , tho.
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About Olivia Colman, Many, many princesses and queen lost so many pregnancies and children, and so many died in childbirth it is atrocious. Maybe the poorer women were luckier or a bit healthier in that respect because they exercised more and got more fresh air, but then their children had to grow with less fortunate conditions and many died in infancy. Still, losing all 17 of your children! One at an older age, but still. Some were claiming that maybe she had lupus or something in the gene combination happened that made her children unable to survive, then she let herself go.
I just saw excerpts of the film and they somehow focus more on the favourites, but her character is so juicy.
entine – Aye! The film made me read up on her, and I was shocked to read about her fertility struggles. My God, just imagine how traumatizing that must have been. It’s not something we think about in modern society, but eighteen children. EIGHTEEN. And not at all miscarriages and stillbirths – some of them lived to juvenile age before she lost them. It’s not only a reflection of the quiet sociopathy of patriarchal cultures (women’s bodies as reproductive vehicles) but the sheer cruelty of nature at times. The Favorite, at its heart, is a story of the unimaginable forces against women in that era, and the anger and bitterness that channels itself into intrigue because of it. They’re all fighting for control and happiness and finding so little of it.
I think the ranked voting is why Green Book won.
I also agree with the explanation of Olivia’s win. People seem to forget that she was the favored one to win before nominations came out, and then Glenn won an award (I forget which one) and people started putting her name into the race and suddenly she became the favored one to win. But people were watching The Favourite because it was nominated for a variety of awards. If you were watching The Wife, you were only watching it for Glenn’s performance. Even if you got screeners of all of the movies, there’s going to be some you don’t get around to watching, unfortunately. One of the people for the THR Honest Ballot thing even alluded to that.
(I mean, if it were me and I got screeners of everything and the opportunity to vote, I’d like to think I’d watch them all, but I also tried to watch Roma and only made it thirty minutes in, so who knows.)
Yeah, my theory is The Favourite and Roma split the vote and so ‘I Don’t See Colour’ Book snuck through the middle. That still means a lot of these crusty old dudes must have had it in their top choices though.
That’s a lousy excuse. They all get sent screeners, just watch the movies. How many categories do the members vote in? There’s generally only 5 nominees in each category.
Voters vote in their categories, and everyone can vote for best picture.
We got all the screeners, and it is not hard to pop one in each evening and watch. I was really disappointed that The Favourite didn’t take the prize; it was so good! I was shocked that *my* favorite “The Hate U Give” didn’t get ANY nods!
The Hate U Give was brilliantly cast and well-done but the book was far better, imo. Especially the last quarter, when the action really builds over the course of a day and night.
I also read that these upsets happen because of the voting method — voters are asked to rank their favorites in order of preference. So, for instance, if Roma got a lot of #1s but also got a bunch of low ranks, and Green Book solidly took #2, Green Book had the advantage, apparently.
Yeah split voting is my theory on the weird Green Book win. I was able to see all the noms this year, and The Favourite and Roma were miles ahead of the other movies in my opinion. I was happy Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t take home the win though.
I love Glenn and was expecting her to win, but I was thrillled for Olivia Coleman – she 100% deserved it – seriously she was amazing in the Favourite. Her acceptance speech was the highlight of the night for me.
Agree, the vote was split on BP.
Colman’s win was really more of a surprise, IMO.
That’s not true about The Favourite, it played a lot near me. And I saw trailers for it on TV and streaming but never saw a single trailer for the Wife, nor even heard of it until it was up for nom. I’m not in the industry at all but all my friends went to see the Favourite. It stands to chance that it would have been a popular film for Academy voters because they likely even saw it before they got a screener.
My theory for Best Actress was this-most of the voters cast for Coleman but figured everyone else was voting for Close. Most of the anonymous Oscar ballot articles I read were like “They’ll give it to the Wife, but I really liked the Favourite. She won’t win but Coleman deserves a vote.” I haven’t seen the Wife yet and maybe Close gives a really technically good performance and maybe theoretically “better” than Coleman but presumably Coleman in the Favourite is just more enjoyable.
“The Wife” played here (in LA) for a week; I went opening night because Glenn Close’s daughter Annie (who plays Glenn’s role as a young woman in the film) was giving a talk afterwards. Then the film seemed to disappear.
We did get the screener, but I would assume as it didn’t have a big push, it would be at the bottom of the screeners’ pile in someone’s home. There were a LOT of movies to watch this year!
wtf is a DVD. lol. also I loved Crash. Especially the scene where Ludacris frees the trafficked Chinese. I cried.
I only heard of The Wife when it was nominated for Oscars. I saw lots of ads for The Favorite, both in theaters and on tv. So there was definitely a different marketing strategy early on. I’m always surprised by how many Oscar voters don’t see many of the movies, even though the Academy makes them available.
I always think it’s a bad idea to feel like someone “is due”, whether it be for an Academy Award (Glenn Close) or an election (Hillary Clinton). The notion of “being due” can really put a negative spin on it. Glenn Close is fabulous and has been fabulous for decades but when her performance in The Wife was judged in and of itself it was not judged to be as good as Olivia Coleman’s performance. All in all, both ladies did a magnificent job, they are all masters of their craft, and they all should feel proud to have received Oscar nominations. I’m looking forward to more powerhouse performances by both Glenn Close and Coleman!
The Favourite was pretty much art-house fare in most places in America and around the world. ”
It was pretty widely distributed in Europe. Like it was the main movie to go see on most screens for several weeks. What seems to be seen as artsy and confidential in the US is usually much more widely accessible to viewers in Europe.
My theory on Colman is that older Academy voters who live all those British dramas have been watching Colman’s excellence for years and long ago concluded they like her. When she turned in a great performance that was that. Wonder if Glen is considered unlikeable? Don’t know. Likeability sucks but matters.
Also I thought it was weird that Glen never thanked her Swedish director for the movie ever. Bad blood? Did people not like that? The Wife was okay, but a little predictable. Close’s simmering rage was well performed, but I bet it made a lot of men uncomfortable as too close to home. They’d rather vote for the jolly romp about the lesbian Queen, even though the real Anne was not.
I hadn’t heard of The Wife until it Glenn started getting nominations. The Favourite had a good marketing campaign on social media and I saw it at my local AMC, where it was showing several times a day. It wasn’t really an art house flick, even though it was a bit stranger than what the average filmgoer might enjoy.
I really don’t think either win was shocking. Olivia and Glenn Close were splitting major award wins all season. And Green Book picked some major awards earlier on the season. It won the PGA which is a pretty accurate precursor to Oscar Glory. It also won The National Board of review, golden globe, and it won the people choice at TIFF (which is also a pretty good indicator of what audiences like).
I was hoping Roma or BlacKKKlansman would win, but I figured it would be Green Book. The Academy always goes with the safe choice, always. They were never going to give BP to Black Panther; it doesn’t matter how badly people want to it to be true. Even now I see a lot of comments about how BP and BK split votes; I would wager my last dollar that most of the voters actually voted for The Favorite, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, and Vice – and we all know why. The biggest indicator of future behavior is past behavior.
Agree that the balloting mechanisms could have played a role in Green Book winning Best Picture, but mostly just what Kaiser said: “older white Oscar voters were comforted by the white savior narrative and the cheeseball performance of the n-word spouting Viggo Mortsensen. ” Ugh. Enough already.
I really don’t understand why people keep calling Colmans win “shocking” or an “upset.” She won a GG, Critics Choice and Bafta. She didn’t come out of left field, she had been winning awards consistently for weeks.
Yea, a lot of people don’t understand the preferential ballot for best picture. Oscar voters are asked to rank the best picture candidates according to their preference. For example, If I were voting I would have ranked 1. Roma 2. The Favourite 3. BlacKkKlansman 4. A Star Is Born 5. Black Panther 6. Green Book 7. Vice 8. Bohemian Rhapsody.
The preferential ballot is quite complicated, but basically it awards a consensus choice rather than a straight-up popular vote, which means that:
1. In order to win, Green Book had to get a substantial amount of No. 1 votes (probably from all those old white dudes you guys are talking about)
2. In order to win, Green Book also had to get a substantial amount of No. 2 and No. 3 votes from voters who had other films at the top of their ballot. Roma and Black Panther won a lot of Oscars on Sunday night so I suspect those films got No. 1 votes from Academy members who then ranked Green Book at No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4
3. The preferential ballot also allows for strategic voting, which means that you can make sure a film you despise doesn’t win best picture by ranking it low on your ballot. All those old white dudes who hate Netflix, comic books movies, and diversity, could have placed Roma or Black Panther at No. 8 on their ballot just to make sure they didn’t win best picture.
I would have put The Favourite at number 1 for myself personally, but I hoped Black Panther would win. Black Panther was wonderful at everything (visuals, sound, costumes, lead and supporting acting, world building, story arc, character development) PLUS it touched and inspired so many non-white *and* white moviegoers who saw it. I don’t think Black Panther will end racism all by itself but it will do some work towards that!!! Tbh, I thought BlacKKKlansman, though it was more directly about systemic racism, copped out a little (pardon the pun) by having the vast majority of the white cops be 100% on the main character’s (the lone Black detective in the police force, Ron Stallman) side with absolutely zero hesitation. Black Panther, to me, was about the politics of respectability and the trope of “talented tenth” and Black excellence being challenged by the Killmonger character — whose political analogies are less clear since he is ex-U.S. military, Oakland-born-and-raised orphan, and global criminal advocating for an unpopular war, all at the same time — but I think he stood in for the ppl who criticize Black people who are economically and socially elite for not doing enough uplift of the entire Black community. In a way, if you read Black Panther metaphorically, I think it gave the more serious and interesting depiction of racial politics in the U.S.
I agree with what you are saying. However, as a 58 year old white female (yes, almost an old white dude except different parts LOL), I think it unfair to say that what an old white dude likes should not matter. Movies might be made with an intended audience (hence preference in general), but everyone keeps saying it is the old white dudes who pushed Green Book to the top. Well, what they like should matter just as much as what everyone else likes. No more, no less. Perhaps young people and other viewers should take a step back and understand that not all subject matter that appeals to them appeals to everyone else. Also, a movie is just a movie – escapism for two hours (roughly) in its purest form.
Al Pacino won his Oscar with his 8th nomination. Kate Winslet with her 6th.
Peter O’Toole never won one either. Anette Benning hasn’t won.
Hilary Swank has won two from her only two watchable movies.
These are not always fair. People have different way of choosing the winner.
For example The Beautiful Mind was Russell Crowes to loose. He attacked a BBC producre at the Bafta’s during the height of the campagin, it gave people a reason not to wote for him.
P.S. Sylvester Stallone has been nominated for best actor…I am not kidding!
I think Green Book’s win is more reflective of the fact that the Academy is more diverse now (and by that I mean more voters from outside the US). In international markets the whole layer of “white savior” wasn’t perceived the same way, and there wasn’t the undertone of racism that was perceived in the more liberal circles in the United States, quite the opposite, I’d say.
Green Book benefited from the same preferential balloting that gave us Moonlight and the Shape of Water so I really can’t complain despite how much I dislike the movie. More people who preferred other films liked Green Book more than Roma which while shocking, is better than threshold for a BP winner being 1/(number of nominees) + 1 percent. I’d rather have a consensus choice over a 20% ~ 10% choice that existed prior to the switch to preferential.
As for Colman, the Favorite was the bigger film with a ton of critical support and love. Glenn had a fantastic performance, but it’s really hard to win an oscar for a film that small if you have a stacked category. As for her being overdue, so was Spike Lee, Amy Adams, Paul Scrahder, B. Cooper etc. It’s hard to run that campaign in a year when so many people are also overdue. That and I’d argue the voters/academy that “owed” Glenn is dying out and being diluted by people who don’t owe her a thing. If you weren’t a member during her critical sweep in the 80s, where she was snubbed, I’m not sure you’d feel compelled to award her over Colman.
Bradley Coop is not and was not overdue.
B. Coop has been active for 20 years (10 in film prominence, but Alias was early in his career), has 7 nominations (4 for acting, 2 for picture, 1 for screenplay w/ a noticeable snub in the mix as well) and is one of the most in demand/highest grossing actors in his generation. Sure, he’s no Glenn Close, in terms of career longevity, but he’s overdue in terms of nominations/awards. I’d argue that like Julienne Moore or Kate Winslet, B. Cooper or Amy Adams stand likely to benefit more from an overdue campaign than Glenn Close because the bulk of their losses weren’t 30 years ago. The members of Close’s academy generation, that didn’t award her, are dying off and I don’t think enough newer members feel any responsibility to remedy that in the way they may a Cooper/Adams who they personally nominated and didn’t award.
Colman winning wasn’t really an upset. People just got sucked into the Glenn Close narrative and ignored all the signs. Colman won The Globe, The BAFTA, a ton of critics awards and the Volpi Cup at Venice. The only big award she lost was the SAG.
I disagree with you it was almost an even split with a lot of the bigger named award going to Close. Plus you are a bit wrong about the Globes. Colman won the Globe for actress musical or comedy and Close won for drama, which for whatever reason is the more prestigious category generally. (Although not this year as Bale didn’t win either.) Colman and Close didn’t compete against each other in a few other awards too. The biggest one Colman won before the Oscars was Bafta, but she’s British so I think people thought it was a bit of that. Close also won SAG, Critics Choice- tie with Lady Gaga, Hollywood Film Award and Independent Film Award. I like Close’s performance better, but they both were excellent. It’s a crime Close hasn’t won one yet. Plus her chance of really good roles diminishes with age, especially when Meryl Streep is in your age group. That’s why it is kind of sad, cause they both deserved it. My feeling is just like it’s impossible for Spike to break through, for whatever reason British and period pieces always have an edge. I’m not sure what the academy has against American type films since it is Hollywood, but they really have a thing about it. Kind of surprised The Favorite didn’t win Best Picture, but you know that was basically 3 women making up the movie, we couldn’t have that now could we. The Academy is still predominately a big old snotty white bunch of guys.
Glenn Close’s portrayal as Patty Hewes in Damages was phenomenal and still gives me chills when I see it.
What happened to Glenn Close should have happened to Gary Oldman last year. Timothee chalamet was outstanding in call me by your name and should have won the Oscar, but didn’t. Olivia Colman deserved her win hands down because her performance was better. Sometimes the Oscar gets it right, sometimes no.