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This seemed to be another weird year for this category. Just a recap:
Kate Hudson won most of the early critic awards, including the Golden Globe.
Judi Dench won the SAG.
Julie Walters won the BAFTA.
Marcia Gay Harden won the NY Film Critics, then did not win a single critic award (and only went on to be nominated for 2 more), before being nominated and winning the Oscar.So, what happened? Was Harden expected to win that night? Was it as wide-open as it looked on paper?
ReplyFrom what I remember Hudson was the clear frontrunner until SAG Awards which Dench got it. It became more of an open race but still with Hudson as a soft frontrunner. Gay Harden was a surprise win even though there was a rumour circulating that if she got the nom she could posibly get the win.
She really was the most deserving, even though she was borderline lead in Pollock. My ranking:
Marcia Gay Harden – Pollock
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Julie Walters – Billy Elliot
Frances McDormand – Almost Famous
Kate Hudson – Almost Famous
Judi Dench – ChocolatMcDormand was great in Almost Famous, but she should’ve been nominated for Wonder Boys instead. Hudson was also really good. Possibly a career best for her. Harden deserved the win. She was fantastic ii Pollock. I know that she was basically a co-lead in the film, but Roberts was unbeatable. Walters was great as well. Dench was good, but the weakest of the bunch IMO.
ReplyCopy URLThe crazy thing is that if Ellen Burstyn went supporting for Requiem for a Dream, she might have been an easy winner. IIRC the distributor thought that a Best Actress win would generate more profits than a Supporting win. Too bad because no one was beating Julia that year.
Burstyn in supporting would have been category fraud. She was the lead in Requiem From a Dream with Jared Leto. Jennifer Connelly should have been nominated instead of half the actual nominees.
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This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.Keep in mind, Harden was initially pushed Lead for Pollock, that is until her NYFCC win in Supporting, at which point SPC moved her down into that category (and all but did away with their initial Supporting campaign for Amy Madigan).
Hudson was indeed the front-runner, albeit a soft one. The Dench SAG victory was widely seen as a makeup win. Walters was the Brit who looked like the greater threat to Hudson but the Jamie Bell snub made that seem less likely. McDormand, while not completely out, never looked like a real threat.
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ReplyCopy URLHudson was the favorite, but the race was not a slam dunk for her at the time. I think she was the winner in many people’s eyes because of lack of competition: Dench won SAG, sure, but she had never won there before and just won the Oscar for Shakespeare In Love two years earlier and Chocolat was not liked enough by the Academy to warrant a “spread the wealth win” by giving her the Oscar(I.E Tilda Swinton’s win seven years later). Walters won BAFTA, but she really didn’t have enough buzz to take home the award. McDormand had just won for Fargo, so there was a perception that there was no rush to reward her again. And then with Harden, people did not think the film was widely seen enough and underestimated her chances due to the film not being a strong Oscar contender, especially compared with these films. I think what swung it in Harden’s favor was the largeness of the role(an asset in winning this category) and the dramatic, meaty nature of it especially because she was playing “the long suffering wife”, a role that’s almost always an Awards magnet. At the age of 21, Hudson was extremely young at the time and the Academy thought that they’d have other chances to honor her in the future(although it’s hard to see why today with what we’ve seen of Hudson’s career since then). I also think McDormand stole some votes from her by fans of Almost Famous given how good she is in the role and her performance in Wonder Boys that year. If McDormand was not in the picture, Hudson would have likely won.
ReplyCopy URLRankings of performances nominated..
1. Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
2. Julie Walters, Billy Elliot
3. Frances McDormand, Almost Famous
4. Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
5. Judi Dench, ChocolatMy personal nominations..
1. Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream
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2. Samantha Morton, Jesus’ Son
3. Kirsten Dunst, The Virgin Suicides
4. Amanda Peet, The Whole Nine Yards
5. Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
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