Now it's time for Best Supporting Actress! Just let me point how hard it is to predict these categories, when there are a lot of contenders emerging from Fall film festivals these days. So, let's start:
First, the eternal nominee Glenn Close, for her role as a strong-minded and stubborn grandmother in Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy. Those who read the novel say it is a juicy role up to the level of Close's talents, so it feels like a natural contender. I'm truly convinced she has a seat waiting for her in the Best Supporting Actress nominees lineup, although I've a hunch Hillbilly Elegy will underperform both critically and awards-wise - Ron Howards can flirt with both cinematic brilliance and cinematic blandness, but the performances in his movies are mostly above average, so... And huess who's back competing against Glenn Close? Olivia Colman, who plays the daughter of a man with dementia and suffers with his loss of memory and insight. In case you missed it, there was a trailer online a couple of years ago (possibly a leak) for The Father - and Colman looked fantastic! Plus, she got rave reviews for her performance during Sundance Film Festival, so keep her in your predictions! Have you ever seen System Crasher? You should, because that movie's star, the young Helena Zengel, proves she's a one to watch and she has a major career opportunity this year: playing opposite Tom Hanks in Paul Greengrass' News of the World. It's a meaty part: she plays a wild girl who was raised by "savages" and lost her sense of appropriate behavior. And we all now the AMPAS nominates child performances in the supporting categories once in a while (specially in Best Supporting ACTRESS). Next, I'm predicting Amy Adams to be campaigned for Best Supporting Actress instead of Best Actress for Hillbilly Elegy. Right now, GoldDerby has her in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category, but I believe Netflix will prefer to have 2 acting nods for Hillbilly Elegy than just 1 - since Close has this one in the bag in case the movie gets decent reviews and Adams is unlikely to win in such a crowded Best Actress in a Leading Role year. Adams' character has the most interesting arc and might well be a borderline role (leading/supporting?), but Best Supporting Actress seems far more volatile than Best Actress and the only time Adams made to Best Actress in a Leading Role, she was a coattail nomination for American Hustle (all her amazing starring vehicles like Enchanted, Big Eyes or Arrival failed her a Best Actress nom). In my opinion, she's "just" a Best Supporting Actress at Academy members' eyes.For the fifth Best Supporting Actress seat, I'm predicting a fresh face: Ariana DeBose, the new Anita in Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story. The role itself is full of electricity and Anita has some of the movie's most iconic moments, but DeBose also has big shoes to fill, since Rita Moreno delivered an astonishing Oscar-winning performance with this role back in the 1961's version! But DeBose is a Broadway star on the rise and an amazing dancer, so I believe she'll be able to fill the screen with charisma and amaze us (plus, West Side Story's Best Picture buzz doesn't hurt at all).
Then, the legendary Ellen Burstyn seems to have quite a juicy role in Venice Film Festival's sensation Pieces of a Woman. It seems the movie belongs to Vanessa Kirby, but Burstyn plays her "monster mom" and she has quite a monologue/Oscar clip that earned her rave reviews - and sometimes it's nice to have such a big name back in the awards talk. A24 seems to keep Minari as its sole Oscar player this season (with no news on Stephen Karam's The Humans, I'm assuming it will get a 2021 release for the next Oscar season), I believe the veteran Youn Yhu-jung might have a nice chance in getting a Best Supporting Actress nomination - not only she got raves as the scene-stealing gradma of an immigrant family, but the Best Supporting Actress field looks kinda empty so... Minari is in the "coming soon" section of A24 website (unlike The Humans), so I'm expecting some news soon! Best Picture frontrunners and Best Supporting Actor/Actress are often correlated and that's why I'm considering Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies for Mank, David Fincher's buzzy movie about the creative process and legal issues of making Citizen Kane. I'm not a big fan of Seyfried, but I must say I was impressed by her in First Reformed and maybe it's all about her getting the right part to suit her talents and acting style. She is very charismatic and she's quite a beauty, which fits the Marion Davies impersonation for sure... I'm curious to see what will she bring to this role! Next Goal Wins isn't being taken that seriously (a sports comedy never is), but I believe we might have a surprise in Kaimana, since she will portray Jaiyah Saelua, a non-binary soccer player in Taika Waititi's upcoming comedy - it will be a statement about inclusion and respect, which creates an interesting narrative for her. Last but not least, In second place, the current Academy darling, Saoirse Ronan for her role as a married young woman suffering from melancholia who starts a love affair with an older woman in Ammonite. It's a drama, it's a period piece and it might be the role that marks her departure from the coming-of-age dramas - but critics are not very enthusiastic about Ronan's performance and it seems she's overshadowed by Kate Winslet (in a movie that was expected to be received with more critical acclaim but it hasn't).
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