I wouldn’t say harshly received films have never received above the line nominations. Just not recently. There was a time when it was pretty common, especially in the supporting categories.

My 2 cents on the subject:

Anyone know the story of Jessica Lange’s placement in supporting for Tootsie?

From what I heard the New York Film Critics came up with the idea of giving her the supporting award first as a makeup for losing for Frances. Then it caught on and spread to other awards.

I did find out from an expert that Lange was never advertised as lead anywhere.…[Read more]

Too many awards in too short a time span. (three golden globes) Bound to create some backlash.

She was pretty well known to New York Theater audiences though, a lot of whom are probably in the Academy.

Linda Hunt (I don’t think she even got much attention after the film came out. It was only when critics remembered her in their year end awards that she suddenly became famous and people were curious about seeing a woman play a man. Then the Oscar.)

That same year in the same category you had Alfre Woodard. She barely had any credits and the…[Read more]

Frances Fisher (Kate Winslet’s mom in Titanic) did a TV movie years ago playing Lucy. It’s not online but I found this intro. Just seeing Fisher here helps me picture Kidman in the role. Remember Lucy’s voice got raspy as she got older and I Love Lucy only started when she was about 40. Her last years were supposed to be really traumatic. I saw a…[Read more]

I don’t know if comic chops is really what is needed here. If it is going to be about their lives and not really just remakes of the TV episodes you’d need dramatic actors.

Lucy and Desi had rough lives off screen.

I don’t think Whoopi would have won for Ghost had she won for The Color Purple. I think Lorraine Bracco would have won for Goodfellas.

As to Halle it is hard to say. Not sure if being the second winner would be a strong enough narrative for a film that people had mixed feelings about and Halle had never done any film prior that really gave her…[Read more]

If Jessica Lange had lost for Tootsie she’d have won two years later as Best Actress for Country.

(that makeup award for Tootsie actually turned out to be a hindrance)

Has it ever been disclosed who made the decision to put The Favourite actresses in which category? Did the women have say or was it a studio decision? Did Emma Stone get to choose first being the biggest star?

Stone’s category fraud really bugs me. She was the title character and the most well known of the three. She should have been in…[Read more]

Odd how Viola could have a supporting actress Oscar that people think should have been lead and vice versa. She could switch the plaques I guess.

Probably studio politics. In those early years people voted for the studio they worked for not really the performances.

Stapleton got very strong reviews though. Page’s were somewhat mixed. Some people found her mannered and twitchy.

Stapleton was thought to have been a breath of fresh air for the film.

But I guess Page could have played the overdue card to a win. (still think Smith was just to fun a winner for them to pass up.)

Who were the two women?

Maybe. But she might have vote split with Maureen Stapleton assuming she was still nominated.

I think Maggie Smith winning for playing an Oscar loser in a film that satirized the whole process so well was just too much for voters to pass up. (Stapleton with an overdue narrative couldn’t beat Smith so Page may not have been able to either.)

Sidibe also had the advantage of Monique getting so much buzz. Had Monique’s performance not been so heralded I don’t think as many people would have bothered to watch Precious and therefore vote for Sidibe.

I read Faye Dunaway’s bio and she said they were all being told that Chinatown could do really well and take home some of the top awards. I guess Godfather 2 wasn’t thought of as a sure thing.

What did he do?

Plus Day will undoubtedly be compared to Diana Ross and Audra McDonald who played Billie Holliday to great acclaim in the past.

I’d say she will have to really hold her own and do a great job to be competitive with both the current crop of nominees and the past performances.