Gold Derby’s top five in the Best Actress category is currently composed of Cate Blanchett (TÁR), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans).
However, watch out, Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie), who was not even in the top 30 last week, has climbed up to #8 thanks to the Blitzkrieg “grassroots” campaign that has been happening for her since Oscar voting began last week.
I’m really pulling for this Riseborough nomination to happen. I truly believe that what we need right now is to shake up the way we define an “Oscar contender.” You’re giving too much power to pundits, and to a certain extent critics, in setting up who and what will be in contention.
It wasn’t always like that. Oscar punditry is a very recent phenomenon and it’s metastasized into a full-blown industry. The Oscar pundit has way too much power now and the fact that their yearly predictions are gathered up via hive-mind mentality makes the process incredibly skewed.
The Riseborough campaign has shaken things up for the better, but don’t proclaim victory just yet, for it to be fully successful, and influential in the future. this needs to end with a Riseborough nomination.
These are the people, that we know of, who are probably voting Riseborough on their ballots:
Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, 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, Judd Apatow, Lindsay Lohan, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Clarkson, Mia Farrow, Sarah Paulson, Helen Hunt, Kim Basinger, Marisa Tomei, Melaine Griffith, Sally Field, Amy Ryan, 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, Ellen Barkin, Allan Cumming, Joe Mantegna