The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik has a recent piece about how small the pool is this year for Best Actress.
He talks about how the top three potential nominees are Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), with other contenders being Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Penelope Cruz (Broken Embraces), Hilary Swank (Amelia) and god forbid Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side). Bullock’s potential inclusion to Zeitchik is indicative of the shallow pool. (Let’s remember that Julia Roberts had never done anything remotely like Erin Brockovich before she hit that one out of the park.)
The piece goes on to say that there are many men jostling for those top five slots and if there were 10 nominations some would still be left out.
No shit. Most movies, even the awards movies are made by guys for guys.
Here’s Zeitchik’s reasoning as to why women are so woefully underrepresented:
It’s axiomatic that older actresses who want to play strong lead roles often have to abandon features for venues like cable TV. Awards season has a way of reinforcing the point. During the 1980s, three women older than 50 won the best actress Oscar, while a fourth (Shirley MacLaine) was about to turn 50.
During the past 20 years, on the other hand, exactly one fiftysomething woman has taken the prize (Helen Mirren, for “The Queen”).
That’s far from a comment on this generation’s talent or even on the preferences of voters. But it does say plenty about the roles women are offered.
But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.
Yes, this is a good year for women directors as I have written about many times, but I don’t want the conversation to be that, just because we have several potential contenders for year-end awards, our work is done. Women directors have a harder time getting traction. Let’s remember that.
But what this story reminded me of is all the strong female Oscar-worthy performances that don’t ever make it onto the Oscar radar screen because they don’t have wide enough distribution or get killed by the mostly male critical establishment. Movies that star guys get distributed more widely than movies by and about women. That said, it makes sense to look beyond all the films getting the buzz to some films whose distributors can’t afford to mount Oscar campaigns or maybe even send out screeners.
Just because a film or a performance doesn’t get included in the “buzz” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be.
Here are some performances worthy of being considered:
Amy Adams- Sunshine Cleaning
Michelle Pfeiffer- Cheri
Nicole Beharie – American Violet
Shohreh Aghdashloo – The Stoning of Soraya M.
Tilda Swinton- Julia
Audrey Tatou- Coco Before Chanel
Michelle Monaghan- Trucker
Yolande Moreau- Seraphine
Catalina Saavedra- The Maid
Sophie Okondeo- Skin
Robin Wright- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Charlize Theron – The Burning Plain
Update: Forgot One: Kerry Fox- Storm
Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders (Hollywood Reporter)
Ooh. Thanks for reminding me to watch The Burning Plain. I’ve had it on my computer for a while.
would love to see gabourey Sibide get a nod, though she is still wet behind the ears. Loved Sophie Okenedo in Skin. I am still not convinced of Sandra Bullock’s dramatic acting ability, but haven’t seen ‘The Blind Side’ yet. Meryl Streep, though a greta actress, is just okay in Julie & Julia (nto undertsand what all the hoopla is behind her performance). As far Amy Adams, she was good in Sunshien Cleaning but we really need to give her a rest as far as all these nominations. Her roles are frankly starting to looks the same, as if she was playing the same character over and over again. I like MIchelle Pfeiffer, but I’m nto sure that Oscar is in the cards for her. I haven’t ever relaly been impressed iwth her work. I’m all for Saoirse Ronan, Penelope Cruz and Hilary Swank .I just would rather not seen female actresses getting rewarded for predictable female roles. I’d rather the meatier roles, like perhaps Robin Wright. Just because females may be everywhere at the box office or in movies, doesn’t make the roles good, but predictable.
I don’t like how many of these actresses are so young.
I like your list, Melissa, but please add Rene Zellweger in MY ONE & ONLY:
http://www.films42.com/Results.asp?id=1798
Thanks!
Jan
You are absolutely right. There are loads of good performances to choose from…and personally…I think Michelle Pfeiffer epsecially and Abbie Cornish [though I haven't seen it yet] should still be in the race. Not because a film isn’t getting buzzed means it’s unworthy.
“I am still not convinced of Sandra Bullock’s dramatic acting ability”
Have you seen Crash? 28 Days? Infamous? Hope Floats?
Catalina Saavedra for The Maid… just a spectacular performance…