Monday
Feb192018
Saoirse Preps Her Oscar Loss Face
Monday, February 19, 2018 at 11:58PM Chris here, finding ways to cope wherever I can with the increasingly likelihood Lady Bird lands no Oscars in two weeks. And it looks like Saoirse Ronan is preparing herself as well, but with much more good humor. Granted she has lost twice before and has to be one of the cheeriest good sports among this year's acting lineup, so we suspect she (and team Lady Bird) will fare just fine. Have a laugh with Saoirse as she shows off her "Oscar Loser Face" and ponder if I might be wrong: does Lady Bird have a shot at winning any of its five Oscar nominations?
Reader Comments (24)
Yes, if the voters come to their good sense! 😂
C'mon voters, McDormand doesn't need ano doorstop!! Give it to someone more deserving!! Ronan n Hawkins r right thr!!
I am by no means a Three Billboards hater and think the rampant online animosity to it is a bit silly, but, IMO, all four of the other best actress nominees give much more nuanced, complex characters - especially Saoirse Ronan who makes it all look so easy and effortless when in fact Lady Bird is an extremely complicated character. McDormand gives by no means a bad performance at all, but I don't think it was a particular stretch for her, and I'm not sure the win will really age that well (much like other best actress winners' second wins - Hilary Swank, Sally Field, Meryl Streep - after killing it with their first wins (like McDormand in Fargo), their second win is just a bit 'meh').
Of all the younger actresses who have reached multiple Oscar nominations, she is the most compelling to watch onscreen. An incredible talent
I'll be dead by then, but she'll probably end up winning two or three Oscars.
I love Saoirse, I wish she was the one winning this year.
On one hand, I think Original Screenplay is its best chance at a win, but the fact that McDonagh didn’t get a Best Director nomination makes me think he’s even more of a frontrunner to win Screenplay since there’s no longer the concern of him possibly hogging both categories. And even if there’s an upset in that category, Get Out seems like the one that will emerge as the spoiler.
So Saiorse might actually be the movie’s best chance at a win, but that’s not saying much with McDormand looking like a lock at this point. I will say, however, that of the four presumed acting winners, she feels the most vulnerable.
She is so charming. The great Millennial actresses give me hope for the next generation, and Saoirse is my favorite.
I am ok with Frances winning. At least this time there is not a best performance of all time top 10er like Watson in Breaking the Waves. The first time Watson was so above the other contenders that every other actress would be forever under the shadow of that performance. This time thay all belong to the same league.
I am rooting for Ronan, anyway.
I mean, if nothing else, it SHOULD be winning supporting actress. I know Janney has worked with everyone and they all love her and the performance is so easily impressive (in a cheap way: the hair! the glasses! the fur! the bird!), but Metcalf should be walking away with every award.
Who would've thought five years ago, post-The Lovely Bones and -The Host, that Saorise Ronan would be on such a roll? Very happy for her success and excited to see what more she has in store. That said, as darling as she is (#TeamRonan), the constant haranguing, re: Frances McDormand, online is tedious.
McDormand is a great actor—one of the best—and, like it or not, she is doing high-caliber acting in Three Billboards and not going through the motions as many have suggested (dismissively). (I guess it's the Fargo-Olive Kitteredge conflation of her playing Middle American women with moxie that convinces people this is all just more of the same?)
But I digress... Please don't shut out Lady Bird, AMPAS.
I would probably vote for Frowny McDormand last.
Made my peace with the inevitable. Since Frances is a 90s Best Actress winner I'll take solace that the choices they made with the exception of Swank (bitter Bening fan here) are worthier than sometimes remembered. The 90s was a stronger slate of actress winners than the 80s (Spacek was most deserving).
I'm team Ronan and it's inexcusable no one but the Globes fought for her.
I agree that McDormand is a very good actress (I fully believe she should have won the Oscar for Fargo, despite the stiff competition that year) and was rooting for her to win a second Oscar before I saw Three Billboards. Further, I live in Middle America, so I am capable of distinguishing among her performances of Middle American women.
However, I was very disappointed to see her draw from her familiar bag of tricks in her performance in that film. Part of the issue with the performance is that the character herself is poorly rendered, and it's difficult for an actress to give a great performance with such dreadful material.
It also wouldn't hurt McDormand to depart from the familiar and play a role that is very different from what we are accustomed to. I'm not sure you can call her "one of the best" actresses when she basically sticks to one lane in terms of the characters she portrays. I never thought Emma Stone could credibly play Billie Jean King, but she shocked me with her terrific performance in Battle of the Sexes last fall. McDormand has never taken those kinds of risks with her career.
It's Laurie Metcalf I'm rooting for, which sort of surprises me. Allison Janney is great of course, and a nomination is a well deserved prize, but it just isn't a completely full performance for me with different flavors of pain and happiness, harshness and kindness, you know, like Metcalf.
And for me McDormand and Janney are playing in the same lane. Angry, swearing, showy anti-vanity, etc. I guess I just want a little variety.
Like I said in a previous post, I truly believe Greta Gerwig can win Best Original Screenplay. Remember both Jane Campion ("The Piano") and Sofia Coppola ("Lost in Translation") managed to get a Best Director nomination and a Best Original Screenplay win for the same movie. And in a year about female empowerment, gender equality and feminist values in general, I see a Best Original Screenplay surprise win for "Lady Bird".
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Ronan can beat McDormand, yeah, for sure! But I see a Hawkins' win more likely to happen given the possible "The Shape of Water" Best Picture favorite status
Screenplay is possible. Supporting Actress is also possible, despite all of Janney's momentum. I think the academy would feel better about awarding Lady Bird over I, Tonya if it came down to that category. I truly doubt LB will go empty handed this year.
Saoirse is a joy to watch as she's just humble and doesn't take herself seriously nor does she make an arse of herself like J-Law.
I love Frances McDormand, but I feel she was just used by her director. He knew she was great, and just used that, but didn't appreciate her or build a satisfactory story for her.
I feel he pulled a "bait and switch", baiting us in with Frances' story, then switching to Sam Rockwell. He let Rockwell do all of his acting tricks, including his worst habits.
He just let Frances' storyline hang, didn't think of how her character arc should go, or what should happen in the story. It was only the first half of her story, then he became entranced with his fav, Rockwell.
Now that there's a backlash, he's backpedalling and trying to get us to focus on the "bait" again. Sloppy indulgent writer, irresponsible director.
Oh, I sound madder than I meant. And I've been trying to be so tactful.
@adri - yep, totally agree
I love her, I love her accent, I love her attitude, and I love her talent.
Doesn't matter whether she wins now or in the future, she's a class act. Her performance for Brooklyn is for all-time.
I hope Ronan wins.
No wins for Greta i guess.
And definitely Janney is winning.
Saoirse in Lady Bird is easily my favorite performance of the 5 nominees this year w/ McDormand in 3BB my least fave. That's just the way it goes some (most) years, eh? But awards come and go. I totally believe that people will still be watching and enjoying Lady Bird and Ronan (& Metcalf's!) performance for years to come. It's such a delightful movie.
I always root for older, more experienced actors. Like in latest Oscar ceremonies, I rooted for Rampling and Huppert. They never won. For once I root for the younger actress in the Bunch, who's made an impressive career so far, she gets to lose to McDormand, who already won.
Saoirse's probably the biggest celebrity crush I've had in my life!
Regardless of that, she is flat out fantastic in LB and I do believe that people will look back at that performance in awe for a very long time - like Nathaniel said, like our time's Annie Hall!
@adri: I couldn´t have put it better myself regarding 3BB's limitations!