The Academy has officially launched “a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated.” In other words, they want to see if Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar nomination was merited legally.
The gist of the argument for a review has to do with it being against the rules to directly contact any voter about who to vote for, and some believe that's exactly what happened.
It’s quite preposterous, if you think about it. Every year, studios spend millions of dollars showering Academy members with gift baskets and sending screeners of their movies directly to their homes in hopes of lobbying for votes. Not to mention they host Oscar luncheons to lure these same voters.
However, when an indie movie, with barely any budget for advertising, finds a more cost effective way of marketing their film to voters, everyone loses their shit. Remember this is the same industry where a certain Harvey Weinstein bragged about hiring the same PR firm that ran Obama's campaign to nab Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar statuette.
Just to recap, some Academy members are mad that Andrea Riseborough won a nomination by word-of-mouth instead of the studio spending millions of dollars to kiss their asses. You can’t make this stuff up.
Of course, the Academy could easily use this same energy to investigate every other studio that conducted major campaigns to sway nominations. Weinstein was well-known as the man who would buy Oscar wins and there are plenty more guilty of this same exact conduct. But the Academy won’t investigate any of them. Because they answer to the big studios.
I’ve also noticed that publications like Variety and THR, just to name a few, are absolutely driving this narrative that Riseborough stole a nomination. Are they terrified that their days are numbered as awards season vehicles for studios? Hmm …
Here’s Christina Ricci blasting Variety’s hit-piece:
