British actress Andrea Riseborough, who just had her performance nominated for the small budget indie “To Leslie,” has a lot of passionate admirers in the industry.
Her film made $23,000 at the box-office, but received a last minute push from powerhouse agency CAA. Over 50 noteworthy actors and actresses vouched for her on social media in a grassroots campaign like no other.
These are some of the names that pushed Riseborough into that Oscar nomination: Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Laura Dern, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liam Neeson, Jane Fonda, Demi Moore, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Garner, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Clarkson, Mia Farrow, Sarah Paulson, Helen Hunt, Kim Basinger, Marisa Tomei, Melaine Griffith, Sally Field, Amy Ryan, Judd Apatow, Lindsay Lohan, Ellen Barkin, Allan Cumming, Joe Mantegna, Mary Louise Parker, Debra Winger, Geena Davis, Brookie Shields, Juliette Lewis, Minnie Driver, Mira Sorvino, Courtney Cox, Richard E. Grant, Rosana Arquette, Anne Archer, Frances Fisher, Demián Bichir
In fact, Cate Blanchett mentioned Riseborough’s work in her speech at the Critics Choice Awards. That might have been what pushed her over the edge and into an Oscar nomination yesterday morning.
Of course, some will call this unfair, others will keep hammering the message that she stole a nomination from a black actress, but that’s foolishly misguided. If it were a fair world then you would have also had grassroots campaigning for Mia Goth (Pearl) and Rebecca Hall (Resurrection), who delivered two of the great performances, male or female, of 2022.
Now, every voter will be watching “To Leslie,” a movie they knew nothing about until a week ago. And it’s intensely brilliant work at that. The “discovery” has now given Riseborough a shot at winning the Oscar. Yes, you heard me right, if enough voters watch this performance then Riseborough can WIN.
“To Leslie” was made in 19 days with a budget of under a million dollars. There was no marketing budget, and the distributor messed up award submissions. The grassroots campaign to push for an Oscar nomination has changed the game. Now, maybe every year we’ll be seeing campaigning like this. That’s a good thing. Take the power of a narrative away from the pundits and critics and right into the hands of the Oscar voter.
The Oscars ceremony is on March 12th and, given that Riseborough has the arsenal of a full Hollywood backing, Blanchett and Yeoh better watch their backs now. Riseborough is for real and it’s the quite the story.
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.