BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The category of the "supportive wives" and "suffering/brave mothers", Best Supporting Actress race this year doesn't go "outside the box", offering contenders that fit the "supportive wife" or "suffering mom" role. Let's begin with Amy Adams in Backseat, who portrays Lynne Cheney (wife of the 46th Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney), a former talk-show host and author, in Adam McKay's upcoming movie - and while she missed a Best Actress nomination for her great performance in 2016's Arrival, she was Oscar-nominated 5 times already. Cate Blanchett is also back to Oscar talk this year and while I don't really know if she's going to be campaigned "leading" or "supporting"... truth is her character looks like a supporting one on paper (she plays a mothers who suffers from a nervous breakdown and disappears and the main plot is about her daughter looking for her), but no matter what, I bet she'll slay! Then, there's Claire Foy who's in ascension thanks to The Crown TV series, but also thanks to the upcoming The Girl in the Spider's Web and Damien Chazelle's Oscar contender First Man, playing the wife of Neil Armstrong and judging by the trailer, she has a big couple of "Oscar clips" that may turn her into the categories frontrunner! Early word on Boy Erased describes it as "an acting gem", making the pavement for a 5th Nicole Kidman Academy Award nomination, since she's one of the best actresses ever and she can be at her most "tearjerker mode" by playing the mom of a young man sent to a gay conversion therapy (for playing suffering moms, she earned her last two Oscar nods - Rabbit Hole and Lion). And finally, we have Emmy-winning Regina King as the mother of the leading lady of Barry Jenkin's successor to Best Picture winner Moonlight - If Beale Street Could Talk... I don't know the novel, but people say it is a juicy role and considering her acting talent, it can turn into an Oscar-worthy acting turn (and she seems to be the only major black contender in this category and I believe the AMPAS doesn't want another #OscarSoWhite).
- Olivia Colman, The Favourite - She plays Queen Anne and the AMPAS has a crush on English royalty, but they already have Academy Award nominee Margot Robbie playing a much more iconic queen (Elizabeth I)... But Olivia Colman is a gifted actress (Remember her in Tyrannosaur back in 2011? Or her scene-stealing turn as Elizabeth II in Hyde Park on Hudson?) and Yorgos Lanthimos often pulls outstanding performances from his actors. Maybe she can become a major contender if The Favourite seduces more than "just" the art-house circuit. Plus, Queen Anne's life is full of drama!
- Elizabeth Debicki, Widows - While most people are all into Viola Davis, I must confess Debicki was the major stand-out in Widows movie trailer. She plays the fragile woman, the real victim and Oscar voters might feel truly sympathetic to her. She was great in Baz Lhurman's The Great Gatsby, now she deserves a major award vehicle - and while Widows doesn't look like the traditional Oscar player, let's not forget it is a Steve McQueen project.
- Natalie Portman, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan - Just a guess. No big details about Xavier Dolan's latest, but he assembled an amazing cast! Portman is one of the best actresses working this days when it comes to "drama, drama, drama!" department and since it is said to be a tale of grief... Her previous AMPAS recognitions don't hurt her chances at all - let's wait for the reviews.
- Susan Saradon, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan - Just a guess, once again. The role of the title character's mother. She was a major star during the 80's and 90's, but she has gotten no Academy Award recognition since her Oscar-winning performance in Dead Man Walking (1995). The AMPAS loves moms and if Dolan's manages to write another love letter to a motherly figure, Saradon might win some hearts.
- Sissy Spacek, The Old Man and the Gun - She's just a luminous screen presence, so no wonder she was one of the AMPAS' darlings back in the 80's. She was terrific in In the Bedroom (2001) for which she was Oscar nominated (and should have won) and she got a nice chance to shine in Get Low (2009), but a 7th Academy Award nod never materialized. This year, she shares the screen with Robert Redford and while the movie might be too focused on the leading man, if she has enough (and relevant) scenes, I believe she will enter the conversation.
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