The New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan is reporting that Universal will campaign Michelle Williams as a Lead Actress and NOT Supporting.
This is a major twist in the Oscar race. Williams was basically the frontrunner to win Supporting Actress as it is being seen as a very weak field and she’s excellent in “The Fabelmans.”
Now, she has to go up against the mighty Cate Blanchett whose performance in “TAR” is getting raves all across the board. Someone at Universal needs to reevaluate this. Maybe the TIFF reception ‘Fabelmans’ received pumped a little too much confidence in them.
Universal are essentially throwing away a locked Oscar win.
As I wrote on September 16th, the Lead Actress field is very crowed this year. You basically have Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, Danielle Deadwyler, Margot Robbie,
Olivia Colman, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Ana de Armas, Taylor Russell and Naomi Ackie all fighting for five spots.
Who is actually contending in the Supporting Actress category? That’s one of the mysteries pundits have been trying to crack. I guess, Jean Smart (Babylon), Jessie Buckley (Women Talking), Nina Hoss (TAR), Janelle Monae (Glass Onion), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) …
I actually find that number optimistic. Tickets for “Digger” go on sale next Tuesday, and presales will give us a better picture of how bad it’s looking.