Here we go again.
Last year, at the very last minute, a group of actresses went into high gear and got an Oscar nomination for Andrea Riseborough in a movie called “To Leslie.” No one had ever heard of the movie. It made no money and had no distribution.
The way it worked was a last minute screening in Hollywood hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow and Demi Moore. Frances Fisher jumped in on social media. They overturned the nomination process and angered a lot of people.
Now it’s happening again. This time it’s for Ava DuVernay’s “Origin.” The film was dumped by little Neon studios, has made no money, has little distribution, and wasn’t part of the awards race.
But a few days ago, Angelina Jolie hosted a screening a la “To Leslie.” It’s the same blueprint. Deadline.com ran a whole story about the screening just as they did with the first movie. I’m not sure who’s behind it, but it’s not happening by itself. Some Oscar PR specialist has jumped into the fray. Frances Fisher is even back on the case. Can they do it again with the movie, the director, and star Aunjanue Ellis? And who would all these nominations replace?
I admired “Origin” but it’s a lecture, a history lesson, a class. Its audience is about what “To Leslie”‘s was; very niche. The resentment about Riseborough last year came from the abrupt last minute effort to overturn the hard work of the casts of the movies that were already in the mix. Ellis is a terrific actress, but it’s implausible to think she could supersede the five or six actresses already lined up for this year.
Can the Academy members be manipulated twice in the same way? You bet.
See below a Tweet with actresses Catherine Keener, Mimi Rogers, and Rosanna Arquette.
Not her roping in ANDREA RISEBOROUGH for the Origin campaign… She said “You owe me a BIIIG favour!” pic.twitter.com/kfQKkThGHX
— Patrick Brady (@ThePatrickk) January 12, 2024
