The always fun annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon happened this afternoon. It was a mix of veterans and awards-season newbies. Even Tom Cruise, who’s been totally absent this awards season, showed up. Of course, all the nominees got together for the much-anticipated class photo, but there was one notable absentee: Andrea Riseborough.
Some people presume that she was too embarrassed by the “scandal” to show up, bullied out of this joyous moment of being Oscar-nomination. Who knows. No excuse was given as to the reason for her absence. She is supposed to shoot “The Palace” with Kate Winslet, so maybe that conflicted with the luncheon.
Over here at World of Reel there has been 100% support for the Andrea Riseborough campaign, all the way back to when her word-of-mouth campaign started in January.
We immediately jumped into the “Riseborough for Oscar” movement. The backlash against her nomination, albeit from a minority, but very vocal group of people, hasn’t deterred us from continuing on with our support.
You see, it has shaken things up for the better. What we need right now is to shake up the way we define an “Oscar contender.” Way too much power is being given 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 a hive-mind mentality makes the process incredibly skewed.
As a reader called Myk so eloquently pointed out a few weeks ago, “Her performance getting the nod is the textbook definition of meritocracy and respect from your peers. This is the exact spirit of what the AMPAS should strive for. Goddamn.”
Riseborough is maybe the most criminally underrated actress working today in American film. When I saw the film as part of my SXSW coverage back in March, it felt like some kind of career breakthrough for her. Sadly, the film has come and gone without much attention. That seems to be a given now with every Riseborough film. Why? She deserves better than this. This Oscar nomination is just what her career needed.