After being snubbed by SAG, many people believed that Kristen Stewart‘s shot at a Best Actress nomination was DOA. Then came yesterday morning’s nominations announcement and K-Stew was very much part of the final five.
As you might imagine, given the amount I’ve written on the topic, I find the Best Actress category to be the most fascinating one of this year’s Oscar race. There is absolutely no frontrunner. The trusts and turns have been aplenty, and for a moment there, I thought maybe Lady Gaga could win the damn thing. I was proven wrong this morning.
Now I’m thinking it’s not such a far-fetched opinion to believe that Stewart can pull off the win. Yes, “Spencer” is not that well-liked by the Academy voters, but the 31-year-old actress has been a joy to watch campaigning this year. A very humbled and down-to-earth persona she exuded in interviews.
Sure, it could be Kidman or Colman or Cruz or Chastain, but it could also be Stewart. As far as I’m concerned, all five of the nominees have the same odds of winning right now. It’s just that tight. Of course, if it were up to me, I’d give the trophy to Chastain, who primarily deserves the Oscar for the astonishing body of work she’s given us these last 10 years, but also because her performance in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” elevated a very mediocre script.
As for Gaga —the once-seemingly-unstoppable actress frontrunner — I believe she torpedoed herself while campaigning these past few months. Maybe the one appearance that truly did her in was the L.A. Times actress roundtable, where she came off as smug, condescending and very full of herself. Just watch the video below, the crime scene so to speak. The facial expressions from her peers say a thousand words:
“You could say Lady Gaga is the [Best Actress] front-runner, but I refuse to believe that. In interviews she tries to convince you that she’s giving you the real Gaga, but she’s totally fake.” — Anne Thompson