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I share your concern but I think some people may be overstating the similarity between the two movies, and how they will be perceived. Women Talking concerns Mennonite women in Bolivia coming together after more than hundred women and girls in their colony had repeatedly been drugged and raped in the night by the men of their colony who told them they were demons coming to punish them for their sins. She Said appears to be a journalism procedural which largely, but not exclusively, focuses on the investigation of Weinstein’s abuses in Hollywood by NY Times reporters. I suspect that a lot of AMPAS voters who want to “bury” the Weinstein story and are “sympathetic to some abusers” won’t be particularly sensitive to or troubled by Women Talking because in their minds its subject matter doesn’t directly or even indirectly concern them.
women talking has the critics trifecta hype in screenplay and director
Sony Pictures Classics will release The Son in October.
I’m compelled to say there’s truth in your analysis and it makes me fucking want to PUKE. Plus, there’s Weinstein fatigue and his enablers won’t want to go there again. Of the two Women Talking is clearly the more Oscar palatable. And a story that needs to be told. Btw have you seen Polley’s Stories We Tell?
I HAVE seen Polley’s “Stories We Tell,” and think it’s an extraordinary documentary about uncovering elusive and sometimes painful truths that in my mind make her particularly well-suited to direct “Women Talking.”
BTW, I’m not at all ruling out the possibility that “She Said” could win multiple above-the-line Oscar nominations but since this is the Best Actress thread, I’ll note here that I’m extremely concerned about not only “Weinstein fatigue,” but possibly, among a limited number of people, “Mulligan fatigue.” I’m rooting hard for her; I think she is one of our greatest living actresses and is someone who has already given multiple Oscar worthy performances. Nonetheless, while I VERY MUCH hope I’m wrong, I currently believe she’s unlikely to win an Academy Award any time soon, if ever. I strongly suspect there are some who feel Mulligan was shoved down their throats for PYW by film Twitter, some (like Clayton Davis) who will never forgive her for (allegedly) not only “stealing” a role from a Latina in “Drive” but doing it AGAIN in “Maestro” (a position I strongly disagree with in regard to “Maestro”), some who view her as yet another privileged, posh white girl who gets offer after offer despite never demonstrating any box office appeal, and some whom she has annoyed by her extreme selectivity in choosing roles, creating the (undeserved) impression that she thinks she’s “too good to ever do it for the money” like the rest of us. I love Mulligan but fear that she’ll never again get as compelling, complex and iconic a role as Cassandra Thomas; I think if she couldn’t win for PYW, and voters instead chose to give McDormand a THIRD Oscar, that while she might get some more nominations, it’s unlikely it’s ever going to happen for her in the Best Actress category. She’s just not well liked enough.
I say this as an aside but personally I don’t think industry voters really notice Film Twitter as much as we often think they do. Sure I’m sure a lot of promeint people have heard of Marc Malkin and Clayton Davis because they work for Variety and are aware of prognosticating sites like Gold Derby (Andrew Garfield alluded to surfing on here during the Tonys and Oscars during his interview with Kimmel a few months ago) but I don’t think they follow it so actively to the point that they get fatigued by frontrunners pushed by Twitter. A lot of pundits and prognosticators were pushing the incumbent best actress winner hard for most of last season.
FYC:
"The Good Fight", "The Other Two" and "Station Eleven" in all categories, Sarah Lancashire ("Julia"), William Jackson Harper ("Love Life") and Luke Kirby ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel")
I say this as an aside but personally I don’t think industry voters really notice Film Twitter as much as we often think they do. Sure I’m sure a lot of promeint people have heard of Marc Malkin and Clayton Davis because they work for Variety and are aware of prognosticating sites like Gold Derby (Andrew Garfield alluded to surfing on here during the Tonys and Oscars during his interview with Kimmel a few months ago) but I don’t think they follow it so actively to the point that they get fatigued by frontrunners pushed by Twitter. A lot of pundits and prognosticators were pushing the incumbent best actress winner hard for most of last season.
Reminds me of this tweet from Anne Thompson from January:
When it comes to the Oscar race, Film Twitter is irrelevant. More fans and media track the race here than actual Oscar voters, who read the trades and media like @latimesmovies, @nytimesarts, @vulture, and @VanityFair. And like SAG, the Academy actors branch adores BIG.
— Anne Thompson (@akstanwyck) January 29, 2022
As to the impact or lack of impact of Film Twitter, it’s unquestionably true that “most” industry votes don’t rely on it when voting, but I think it’s naïve to think it doesn’t (currently) play a role in narrowing down the list of potential nominees. It’s like many forms of advertising— nobody thinks they are actually influenced by it but study after study shows that to a lesser or greater extent, we all are. And even if Film Twitter only affects a very small percentage of voters, in close races, that might make a marginal difference.
I also think Film Twitter is a little bit like the gift boxes critics and voters receive in the mail and sometimes by hand from film distributors and promoters—- nobody thinks they are influenced by them but there’s a reason millions and millions of dollars are spent to send them out each year during awards season.
As to the impact or lack of impact of Film Twitter, it’s unquestionably true that “most” industry votes don’t rely on it when voting, but I think it’s naïve to think it doesn’t (currently) play a role in narrowing down the list of potential nominees. It’s like many forms of advertising— nobody thinks they are actually influenced by it but study after study shows that to a lesser or greater extent, we all are. And even if Film Twitter only affects a very small percentage of voters, in close races, that might make a marginal difference. I also think Film Twitter is a little bit like the gift boxes critics and voters receive in the mail and sometimes by hand from film distributors and promoters—- nobody thinks they are influenced by them but there’s a reason millions and millions of dollars are spent to send them out each year during awards season.
Fair enough.
FYC:
"The Good Fight", "The Other Two" and "Station Eleven" in all categories, Sarah Lancashire ("Julia"), William Jackson Harper ("Love Life") and Luke Kirby ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel")
I think Naomi ackie is super talented (I really wanted her to get the nomination and be win competitive for master of none… alas) but I just don’t like her casting for Whitney. For one, she doesn’t look anything like her, which i don’t think is absolutely necessary for an actor to be in a biopic, but it certainly does help. But secondly, she’s not singing which I suppose is because she’s not Whitney level? That right there is enough for me to be displeased. It’s just so inauthentic. When acting you are supposed to inhabit a character, not lip sync… When you don’t have the actor portraying the singer sing, it loses something. I actually love Rami Malek’s performance unlike most people on here, but I still concede that it wasn’t as good as it could have been, with one reason being the lack of singing. I really wish they had cast Brandy, Zendaya, or a McClain (or Amandla Stenberg, Yara Shahidi, or especially Keke Palmer if any of them can sing). Oh well. She’ll probably give a great performance, but I am absolutely sure it will feel slightly like a mimic.
Angela Bassett looked nothing like Tina Turner…nor did do her own singing…yet she gave one of the best performances I have ever seen.
Naomi Ackie looks more like Whitney than Zendaya, Brandy, Yara. and NO ONE is on Whitney’s level vocally so why would anyone try to sing her songs?
Not the insipid lip sync argument again. Even if a professional singer were hired to portray Whitney, they more than likely would’ve mimed along to her voice as well. She was known as “The Voice” for a reason. No one can duplicate her vocal instrument. It should be about the overall dramatic weight of the performance itself rather than going in on minute issues that feel nit picky and petty.
exactly
Not the insipid lip sync argument again. Even if a professional singer were hired to portray Whitney, they more than likely would’ve mimed along to her voice as well. She was known as “The Voice” for a reason. No one can duplicate her vocal instrument. It should be about the overall dramatic weight of the performance itself rather than going in on minute issues that feel nit picky and petty.
Exactly! Can you imagine any actress attempting to cover something like ‘I Will Always Love You‘? Not many actual singers could do it justice, so it would be VERY hard to find a singer that not only could keep the fantasy of her real voice going but would also be a capable actor, with enough acting chops to portray the very heavy themes of Whitney’s life. And all I have to say to the lip syncing arguments is: Marion Cotillard in La Vie en rose.
For all intents and purposes, Naomi Ackie is coming. Interesting to see two Hollywood studio heavyweights that have been on the Oscar sidelines recently, Sony/Columbia and Paramount (Babylon‘s Margot Robbie), set to rumble for Best Actress this season. Get the popcorn ready.
FYC
Best Picture: "Showing Up" (A24); “Bones & All” (MGM/UA)
Best Director: Kelly Reichardt; Luca Guadagnino
Best Actress: Michelle Williams; Taylor Russell
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet
Best Supporting Actress: Hong Chau, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer; Chloe Sevigny
Best Supporting Actor: Judd Hirsch, Andre Benjamin, John Magaro; Mark Rylance, Andre Holland, Michael Stuhlbarg
Best Original Screenplay: Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond
Best Adapted Screenplay: David KajganichFor all intents and purposes, Naomi Ackie is coming. Interesting to see two Hollywood studio heavyweights that have been on the sidelines recently, Sony/Columbia and Paramount (Babylon‘s Margot Robbie) ready to rumble for Best Actress this season. Get the popcorn ready.
Margot please serve us a strong performance! I just have a feeling it’s her time and she will be stomping next season, hopefully it will actually be deserved.
My current predictions (but not preferences, which I don’t have yet, especially since so far, I’ve only seen one of these performances):
1. Naomi Ackie
2. Margot Robbie
3. Michelle Yeoh
4. Olivia Colman
5. Danielle DeadwylerI think it’s possible to think that Naomi Ackie could win and DESERVE an Oscar and still think that she would be even more impressive and more deserving if she did her own singing. These aren’t contradictory views.
Viola Davis’ warrior epic ‘Woman King’ promises ‘real-life Black Panther’
Davis was on hand at Caesars Palace to present the trailer to an ecstatic audience of movie theater owners, who greeted her with a standing ovation. The actress is the first-ever recipient of the annual convention’s Trailblazer of the Year award.
“The five words I don’t want to take to my grave would be ‘I was not brave enough,’ ” Davis said. Throughout her career, the actress/producer explained, she has made it her mission to “play characters that had never been seen before in a body like mine.”
“When ‘The Woman King’ was brought to me, I knew it was divine intervention,” Davis continued. “It was my magnum opus,” and for moviegoers, it will “really rock your world.”
FYC
Best Picture: "Showing Up" (A24); “Bones & All” (MGM/UA)
Best Director: Kelly Reichardt; Luca Guadagnino
Best Actress: Michelle Williams; Taylor Russell
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet
Best Supporting Actress: Hong Chau, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer; Chloe Sevigny
Best Supporting Actor: Judd Hirsch, Andre Benjamin, John Magaro; Mark Rylance, Andre Holland, Michael Stuhlbarg
Best Original Screenplay: Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond
Best Adapted Screenplay: David KajganichMargot please serve us a strong performance! I just have a feeling it’s her time and she will be stomping next season, hopefully it will actually be deserved.
I feel the same, the script looks promising. Her character has the strongest lines and scenes, but the whole movie is really interesting and well written. My second favorite character is Anna May Wong, it’s a supporting one, but has the potential to drag a lot of attention (I don’t know the actress portraying her but fingers crossed for her too)
The topic ‘2023 Oscars: Best Actress (Part 1)’ is closed to new replies.
