Almost There: Emma Stone in "Battle of the Sexes"

by Cláudio Alves

Our most recent two-time Best Actress champion is back in theaters with Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, a black-hearted tryptic that allows Emma Stone to experiment with three distinctly realized characters. To mark the occasion and the success of another tennis-related movie – Guadagnino's Challengers – let's think back to one of the few times this Academy favorite was in the race but didn't land a nomination. In 2017, right after her first Oscar win, Stone played Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the biopic was made in parallel with a Presidential election that saw a very different outcome than its titular match. Looking back, Battle of the Sexes reached for the zeitgeist yet failed to predict where the world was headed.

As for Stone, the project signaled her most outward flirtation with traditional prestige before her career went into another direction altogether…

Click to read more ...

Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2022

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

“WHO IS SHE?”, a philosopher named RuPaul once asked.

As with that question, character introductions are vital in storytelling. First impressions are usually given importance right from the page, as those will establish our relationship with said characters. Screenwriters strategize on how they describe a character when they enter the story. Likewise, directors pay attention to how characters enter the story for the first time. Whether those entrances become consistent with the rest of the character or are ultimately subverted as the narrative unfolds even further, they matter a lot. 

Since it is a truth universally acknowledged that Best Actress is perhaps the single most important category in the long history of the Academy Awards, particularly in the lives of its (mostly gay) fans who worship actresses to the ends of the earth, this new series will be focusing on how each of the five Best Actress-nominated performances were introduced in their respective films. Narrative functions, filmmaking decisions, emotional implications, and stray observations included...

Click to read more ...

What's next for the recently Oscar-nominated: Pt 2- Actresses

With the 95th Academy Awards wrapped, it's time to look to the future. We already talked about what's next for last season's most honored directors so let's turn to our favourite subject: Actresses. What's in store for the recently nominated? Read on...

Click to read more ...

Nathaniel's Best Actress & Supporting Actress Ballots

by Nathaniel R

How is it Friday before the Oscars already? So much to do before then including Final Predictions, my own top ten list, two more Oscar volleys, and ten more categories at the annual film bitch awards (my own long-running party of "best" this & that). Sorry to rush through the duet of the categories we live for: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. But they're up. Among the 10 selected actresses there are six current Oscar nominees but only five overlaps; Hong Chau is stronger in The Menu than in The Whale. In both cases, and as always in her career, she's totally elevating her material. "These are tortillas" is among the very best line-readings of the year. Somehow she's calm, polite, and dripping with condescension at the same time. She's just a magical actress and it's so satisfying to see her finally get her mainstream due via that Oscar nod.

And you surely foresaw that I couldn't have a Best Actress list this year without the great Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You Leo Grande (doing her most revelatory work in two decades) and Danielle Deadwyler, so operatically moving in Till. 

P.S. Though we can't do the medal ceremony until all categories are posted, I think I've made it clear over and over again that Dolly de Leon will be my gold medalist for Best Supporting Actress. While it's abundantly clear that she was an 'almost there' in 6th place for Oscar's shortlist, given how well Triangle of Sadness did overall, it's still a damn shame she was passed over. I'd boot any of the current nominees -- even the ones I myself nominated -- just to have her in that lineup.

Vote on Best Actress. (Plus 'How'd they get nominated?')

The Best Actress chart is fully updated for your viewing pleasure with details, stats, and trivia. Here's one curio trivia bit. We believe that this is only the second time in history when all five Best Actress nominees are from different countries! (Usually it's some combo of Americans, Brits, and Aussies). All that plus our semi-annual "How'd They Get Nominated?" breakdown. Before anyone takes offense at the guesstimate percentages (it's all in good fun) please note that these are NOT performance critiques. A truth: You can give the most brilliant performance of all time and still be nominated for other reasons entirely. Awards races, Oscar and otherwise, are meritocracies only in the utopian ideal sense; People are people (including, thus, all voting bodies be they fans, high brow critics, or Academy members) and their reasons for voting in any given way are multiple and varied and heavily influenced by all sorts of things. Plus, it's all subjective too!

Adrien Brody & Ana de Armas in "Blonde" (Netflix)

Let's start with Ana de Armas in Blonde for an example. How'd she get nominated?

67% Role. Awards bodies have always loved Marilyn portrayals which have led to Emmy, Oscar, and Tony nods for various actresses across multiple decades (though not wins curiously enough).
20% Performance. Even people who didn't love the movie admired her work in it.
6% Globe nomination / ceremony shout-outs revived interest in a crowded race.
5% Knives Out + No Time To Die = rapidly ascending stardom (Big stars have a built in advantage in popularity contests) 
2% Early traction! That September release struck while the iron was hot from Venice festival buzz. Blonde was widely seen (via Netflix) before all but one of the major competitors for the nomination arrived (Michelle Yeoh was the exception).

The other four breakdowns are on the Best Actress page where you can vote daily in the "Who SHOULD win?" poll.