UPDATE: In the "who should win the Best Supporting Actress?" poll @ the main site, you gave Jennifer Hudson your vote for the Oscar by a comfortable margin. In an interesting twist though, Little Miss Sunshine herself and Babel's careless nanny tied despite nearly a thousand votes cast. Little Miss Blanchett took up the rear. Perhaps no one has seen her dust up with Judi Dench? Is it playing in your neck of the woods yet?I've finished the updates to the SUPPORTING ACTRESS page with my theories on how each contestant got nominated, who deserves to win, who will nab the trophy, who is friends with Dakota Fanning, who is about to start repeating themselves and more ...
Your thoughts on the supporting actress race (and I use the term "race" lightly of course. There's no race) in the comments
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39 comments:
I just noticed... Leo & Kate are nominated in the same year for the second time :) Interesting.
now all we need is to get them to co-star in a movie again.
hopefully they'll get some photo ops at the oscars.
Hee at the 1499 films for Blanchett. You do realize that when she inevitably stops making so many movies and goes into a Pfeiffer-like hiatus, you'll be begging for her to come back, right?
Nothing but love, Nathaniel.
-PoliVamp
To think, Cate Blanchett was originally scheduled to star in Miss Potter, but had to drop out. :( lol
Out of these five (I haven't seen Blanchett), Hudson is my favourite, but I'm still debating with myself whether she's a lead or supporting for my own awards. I'm tilting towards lead. If she's supporting then so is everyone else, really.
With Dreamgirls i think it's either Beyonce and Hudson are the leads or they're all support but i don't see any other arguments besides one of those two.
i'd rank 'em -
1. breslin - for acting her age
2. barraza - for being the only person in babble i was interested in
3. kikuchi - keep it in your pants, rinko
4. hudson - give the girl a grammy
yet to see blanchett, but if she cost emily her nomination then she is dead to me
I'd seen all five, but simply didn't vote for Blanchett b/c is not a supporting performance.
While Hudson is one of my favorite living people (was a HUGE fan of her on AI), I can't in good conscience vote for her simply based on the fact that she's got the voice of a Goddess. A fine performance otherwise, but not award worthy.
Voted for Breslin. Just. can't. get. enough. of. those. characters. Love that movie.
I'm yet to see Blanchett or Hudson (neither have opened in the UK yet), but I really love the other 3 (if not quite as much as Carmen Maura or Emily Blunt!)
My favourite moment from Breslin was when the creepy pageant host was singing, and she threw him a look of bemused ambivalence. That's the moment I knew I was watching a good performance, rather than something adorably cutesy.
Still, my pick so far is Kikuchi. I loved loved LOVED Kikuchi's section of the film in a way that I didn't with Barraza's (too much set up before the great payoff). Both were superb. But as much as Barraza blew me away, I was hypnotised by Kikuchi and loved her quietly internal performance.
Rob
Give it to Hudson. The supporting Actress oscar has been known to be cursed (over come by Meryl and Maggie plus a few others). She will be a good winner, and likey never have the same film success. All the other will work again, and already are.
Besides, I never liked Fantasia........bet girlfriend will be pissed!
I'm pretty much with anonymous 1:35 on Hudson vs. Breslin.
I loved Hudson's singing, but constantly felt that she was "working" to portray Effie, and in a one-note way at that. So I'm kind of annoyed that she's sweeping everything; it's like people are willfully blinding themselves to the fact that Jennifer has never acted before, is NOT really an actress by trade or incination, and is not giving an award worthy turn here. As Par says, give girlfriend a grammy.
Breslin on the other hand... I love Rob's moment about the "look of bemused ambivalence," but there are similarly wonderful details all throughout Breslin's performance. My favorite is the look she gives the waitress when asking about "a-la-modee." She's so grossed out and confused, it's amazing. What an unexpectedly perfect choice.
The miracle of Breslin is that you think watching Olive that she's this cute little girl who doesn't care about acting and couldn't do it to save her life, but if you've seen Breslin in interviews, etc, you realize that she is NOT Olive and was acting her ass off the whole time - you just couldn't tell. Wonderful.
And Blanchett did totally steal Blunt's spot with her category fraud, and it's a shame. Oscar voters seem to be over their indifference toward her work (or maybe it's just that she's making better films finally). Seems like they're realizing how great she's been in everything and want to give her some more nods while they can. Who cares if she's deserving now and in which category.
But swap Blanchett for Blunt and this is a pretty sweet lineup. Oscar did well with the girls this year.
Alright, I'll shut up now.
Also, hey, did anyone notice that, Blanchett's 4,799 films aside (hee), no other nominee has done more than a dozen films? What a rookie-friendly group. It's kind of cool.
Apart from Blanchett, they all can be considered "breaktrough", in fact :D
I agree with you about Abigail Breslin. I also liked the very first scenes of the movie and obviously "I won, I won, I won, I won!"
Well, I'm actually in Blanchett's corner this year. I thought she was breathtaking in Notes - I don't have Nathaniel's reservation, that Sheba should not have been so 'strongly' portrayed. I read the book years ago (and loved it) and thought Blanchett pretty much flawlessly fit the bill (as well as adding layers more).
Now if only they could take back Blanchett's '04 Oscar, give it to its rightful owner, Virginia Madsen, then award her this year instead. Then we wouldn't be having any of this Hudson crap.
Or the academy could do as they did in '00 - when being told to award another Hudson, they ignored it and actually give it to the rightful recipient instead.
Eh. The difference is that the other Hudson didn't have the critics, BFCA, likely SAG, and endless goodwill from that "lost American Idol only to win an oscar" hook. KHud was more of an "ooh, nepotism" kind of thing. Easy to root against.
OMG can we all call her KHud from now on? I love that. Except wait, where's her career? She merits no real talk anymore anyway.
Oh yeah, and it wasn't Blanchett who knocked Blunt out of the category - Blanchett's firmly in 3rd place in this race, I feel.
It was Barazza - who deserves the nom waaaaay more than Blunt anyway. I'm not saying Blunt is bad, it's just she only had one-note to hit (even if she did do it well). Caricatures do not a supporting performance make.
Maybe that's why I'm not feeling 'J-Hud' as much as the Americans - don't have any of that American Idol Season whatever-she-was-on residual goodwill, seeing as I'm British.
OMG I just noticed the "best supporting actress in a leading role" headline. For a second I thought it was a typo, but then I realized "no, of course not, clearly."
Amir, I'm hoping Emily Blunt will win the BAFTA for that very reason. Instead of American Idol goodwill, BAFTA has British home-team bias. And if it means Blunt wins something, I'll take it.
Hey Adam, I'm sure Blunt will win the Supporting Actress BAFTA - I mean if Thandie 'uneven' Newton could do it last year with Crash over Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener and Frances McDormand, I'm sure Blunt will walk it this year.
Not that Blunt deserves it either, imo. Wait a few more years and I'm sure she'll wow us in a tour-de-force of some sort that will actually merit accolades.
"Best Supporting Actress in a Leading Role"
"4,799 Films"
Love the subtle jabs, Nat.
Adam, It could just be that most of these people don't care that she's never acted before. Am I willfully ignoring that she's not actually an actress?
I personally thought Jennifer acted great and that her singing was supurb and was just icing on the cake. One thing JHud did that neither of the Babel girls did at least was captivate me. Even if the technical side of her acting wasn't up there with the best of the best I was sitting there looking at that big screen and couldn't take my eyes off her. I couldn't turn my ears off from her. I wanted her to be on screen for the entire film. When she was on screen the film felt electric. So, her not having acted before/not being an actress by trade is a moot point. So many people have about as much life on screen as a corpse, and Jennifer was bursting with energy and personality.
Much like Nathaniel has said he'd prefer more movies like The Black Dahlia (imperfect, but fascinating) I too would prefer more performances that were perhaps not 100% of the craft but that were captivating and fascinating and constantly interesting and entertaining.
Obviously, if you didn't think Hudson was any of these things then there's no point arguing, but I think she's more than worthy of the Oscar.
I could just as easily make a statement that people who like Abigail Breslin are being blinded by her cuteness. It's all subjective.
kamikaze, i hear you on the craft not being all...
this is why i have issues with Blanchett personally. I loved her at first like everyone else but it's for this very reason. it's exactly why I think it was Pauline Kael (?) hated Streep (though i don't agree in that case) the technique is perfect but are you living and breathing a human soul for me to see...
so I hear you on Hudson. I just don't agree ;) but that said. she's the only AI person on any season that i ever called and voted for every week and literally the only one I was sad not to see again after the season ended so Im thrilled this is making her a big star.
i know i keep repeating myself in re: to Hudson but I just really love her. and so I feel a teensy bit guily about not loving the acting part. ;)
I agree with Barazza being the best in this line-up though Breslin would be fine too. For the record, none of these five are in my final ballot.
so what's your final ballot Sid?
hahah, same. None of the Oscar five are on my top five. And I haven't even seen all the oscary films. I haven't seen Blanchett yet though, but I doubt she'd make my list. So far for me it's
Claire-Hope Ashitey
Seema Biswas
Emily Blunt
Fiona Shaw
Deborra-Lee Furness
God, what a great list.
I get the Streep/Blanchett thing. After a while, with certain actors, it just becomes very "Oh look, there's so-and-so with a new accent in a different time period. Impressive, I guess" That's why Streep this year was so wonderful and Blanchett, I suppose, was not.
My rankings are as follows:
1. Hudson for the reasons that Kamikaze stated.
2. Barazza for being one of the few aspects of the film that made it worth watching.
The last three are neither here nor there to me. Watching "Notes on a Scandal," I perceived Blanchett's character to be much more of a flower child -- a naive wanderer who would easily fall pray to Judi Dench's machinations. Unfortunately, I did not get that from the actress, as she was much to composed for most of the film and seemed to be somewhat suspicious of Dench from the beginning. I commend Breslin for avoiding the typical precocious kid trappings to give a believable portrayal of a normal child, but that doesn't necessarily translate to great acting for me. Kikuchi was fine but ultimately got here for portraying someone with a handicap in a film a very ardent yet small contigent loves.
troy --that's exactly it. i've read the book so that's obviously getting in the way but I just didn't buy Blanchett's interpretation of the role at all. Why on earth would someone that strong and wary end up in such a careless mess?
good individual scene work but the character construction itself i have major issues with.
i thought she was great in The Aviator though so there's always that to look back on fondly.
Jennifer Hudson was excellent in "Dreamgirls" and fully deserves to win the Oscar. She is a "real" actress now, and deserves the recognition as much as anyone else does. That's who I voted for in the poll as well.
And she's gonna win a Grammy too down the road.
I would think regarding Dreamgirls if there really is a "lead" it would be Jamie Foxx.
For some reason I am fine with seeing Hudson in the Supporting Category.
And I didn't even read the book, Nate.
Nat: Final five for me --
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson (WINNER)
Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia
Carmen Maura, Volver
Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion
It's a toss-up between Barazza and Kirshner so I would've been happy to see Barazza win, which won't be happening. But Hudson was terrific in her... lead... performance, so that's ok.
For Barazza...the scene where they are at the border...
For Breslin....the scene at the hotel, but then what to use for Arkin?
I have to defend Blanchett here... it's as if she's made a film with Clint Eastwood or something....
1. I think it's easy to label any serious dramatic actress with half a brain as too cold because they actually think about their roles. Meryl Streep had that label for a long time in the eighties: Katharine Hepburn alluded to that in her biography; she was too technical, too precise. I don't think she was ever able to disgard that label until the early 21st century, with Adaptation and Angels in America back to back like they were.
So how do actresses deal with it then? Kate Winslet takes on spontaneous characters and it works for her. For the most part, you would never describe her performances as calculated (up to Little Children anyway). Nicole Kidman, on the other hand... as soon as she tried romantic comedy, she nose dives (Bewitched?). Julianne Moore (seemingly) avoids the label by starring in numerous crap films - can't be too cold when you have other more immediate problems to deal with. I don't think Blanchett has really nailed how to work around that. At this point, she remains a highly watchable actress.
2. I actually did buy her as Sheba, but be glad to note that she actually had a lot of problems with that role - her biggie being that she couldn't imagine being in that situation (she said she was more likely to be attracted to a man 20 years older as opposed to five years younger), so that could easily color her performance (I didn't think it did, but apparently, I'm in the minority on this board).
3. That said, I hate this supporting category. I think Blanchett gives the only good performance of the bunch, and she's lead. Barazza and Kikuchi were both sabatoged by their characters (oh, how I loathe Innaritu's filmmaking. I would rather Ron Howard win another oscar as opposed to giving Innaritu a nomination), Hudson has problems when she isn't singing, and Breslin is more cute than anything. And Blanchett is leading!
My nominees (at this point)
Lindsay Beamish, Shortbus
Megan Goode, Brick
Eva Green, asino Royale
Carmen Maura, Volver
Phyllis Sommerville, Little Children
Norah Zehetner, Brick
That's Casino Royale, obviously...
Another thing that's pisses me off is when people complain that Hudson is going to win an Oscar, yet her future on screen may be limited. Like, what evidence is there that child actors have futures paved with gold and fairy floss and ribbon candy?
TIME Magazine picks for this year's Oscars...
Who Will! Who Should! Who Was Robbed!
.......
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who Will Win: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Who Should Win: Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Who Was Robbed: Maribel Verdu, Pan's Labyrinth
.......
Oh, and Nathaniel...
Cate has 2 more projects...
Cancer Vixen and Julia project...
You will be very happy...
arkaan
you got six nominees there. who ya gonna dump?
" arkaan
you got six nominees there. who ya gonna dump?"
I cheat. I'm like the Golden Globes but make more sense (there are way more supporting performances than leading, so why limit them to the same number). If forced to, probably Phyllis Sommerville or Eva Green (who admittedly gets nodded for that great great train sequence, and the fact that she's an awesome Bond Girl).
That said, I have seven nominees for leading men this year and six for leading women (hence the "I cheat" comment).
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