Internal Conflict & Streep's Third Oscar
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 8:19PM My own personal history with the Oscar stretches back to the early 80s but there's so much self-mythologizing about it that I sometimes get confused about when I finally figured out What It Was. I know with certainty that the first ceremony I was aware of was in Spring 1983 because I had seen Gandhi, Tootsie and E.T. with my parents. But if I watched I remember nothing from that ceremony. My first sure Oscar ceremony memory was watching Shirley Maclaine win Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (which I hadn't seen). I remember being excited for Maclaine who I already loved but I don't remember why (probably TV airings of musicals?) and I remember being super excited by Meryl's Silkwood clip. Before I ever knew Meryl Streep as an actress -- her movies were always rated R and I wasn't allowed to see them -- I knew her as The Great Oscar Winning Actress. I think my first Meryl movie in the theater was Out of Africa (1985) and I desperately wanted her to win her third Oscar now that we were well acquainted.
Meryl finally wins her third
When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going 'OH nooooo, oh come on. why Her? Again?' You know? But whatever.
First, I'm going to thank Don because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you've given me. And now secondly, my other partner, 37 years ago my first play in NYC i met the great hairstylist and makeup artist Roy Helland and we worked together pretty continuously since the day we clapped eyes on each other. His first film with me was Sophie's Choice and all the way up to tonight when he won for his beautiful work on The Iron Lady thirty years later EVERY SINGLE MOVIE IN BETWEEN. And I just want to thank Roy but also I want to thank -- because I really understand I'll never be up here again -- I really want to thank all my colleagues, all my friends. I look out here and I see my life before my eyes. My old friends. My new friends.
Really this is such a great honor but the thing that counts the most with me is the friendship and the love and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together. My friends thank you, all of you, departed and here for this, you know, inexplicably wonderful career. Thank you so much. Thank you.
I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. I waited through backlashes, box office poison, comebacks, astounding technical biopic work (Cry in the Dark), and mysteriously moving original creations (The Hours), through thrilling musical/comedy (Postcards from the Edge), improbable rebirth as box office mega-sensation (Devil Wears Prada), less thrilling musical/comedy (Mamma Mia!). I wasn't always rooting for her but I was always rooting for her if you know what I mean.
My heart danced a bit when she spoke, just a bit since I was upset. And I laughed at her psychic opening (you know that's true!) and teared up at what sounded like a lifetime achievement speech which is what it essentially was. Meryl finally won her third.
Be careful what you wish for.
Two great actresses. Only one statue.
Though I've desperately wanted Meryl Streep to have a third Oscar -- who deserved a third more? -- it became suddenly tied up with my single biggest Oscar pet peeve (the Academy's relentless all-devouring soul-crushing belief that biopic mimicry is the highest form of acting) and tied up with the defeat of a new(ish) actress who I genuinely think is one of the greats... just without the roles to continue proving it.
Though I find roughly half of the regular charges of racism levelled at the Academy tiresome and ill thought out (it has to be about the movies that are released and the performances inside of them or it holds no water -- that's all Oscar has to choose from!) it's hard not to look at Viola's loss and bemoan Oscar's (and Hollywood's) resistance to women of color.
Here we had a great actress headlining a major blockbuster hit, giving an astoundingly deep, moving performance and singlehandedly elevating her movie into the substantive kind that gets nominated for Best Picture (we can argue all we like about how "substantive" The Help is and how much other actresses contributed but it's Viola that gave the movie its only sharp edges and its soul and made it however substantive that it is). She also managed to win a few key awards and stay in the press for months and months and months on end.
It's hard to imagine all those plusses and still coming up empty-handed on Oscar night, especially in favor of a previous winner in a movie that no one likes. It's also hard to imagine a year like Viola had not being followed by major offers for major roles but so far... crickets. And this last is more anger-making than an Oscar loss, and something we'd all hoped an Oscar win might've helped to overcome... though this is perhaps wishful thinking; Hollywood is as resistant to great black actresses as the Oscars which reflect them.
In some ways you can argue that it's just the luck of the draw. Meryl was always going to win a third. It was just a question of when. But it's hard to look at the way Meryl's third was shoved aside for a Movie Star Queen doing her best but hardly statue-worthy work just two years ago, and it's hard to look at other performers who've sailed to Oscars with ease that aren't anything like Viola Davis's caliber.
In Halle Berry's Monster's Ball Oscar-winning speech she spoke movingly of her historic moment as the first Best Actress of color.
This moment is for Dorothy Dandrige, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women who stand beside me Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox, and it's for every nameless faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
Did the door quietly swing closed again?
Reader Comments (246)
It's kinda funny, 'cause, at the same time, people say the Oscar win will \"open doors to Viola Davis\" and also think \"she should win because she probably won't have another chance\". These two informations sound very contradictory to me.
It's weird that anyone's surprised at the Oscar win of an Actress who had a good campaign (unusual, by the way), Drama Golden Globe (not since 1982), BAFTA (not since 1981), NYFCC, TIME magazine mention, Vogue cover, Harvey Weinstein as the fairy godfather. Seriously people, TOO MUCH NAIVENESS to believe all those things meant NOTHING.
As for Kris Tapley, I don't take him into account anymore. I remember he went against virtually everyone at one point in 2007 predicting No Country for Old Men would not be a Best Picture nominee, for the simple fact that he disliked it.
As a black woman I'm all for championing more interesting roles and projects of racial miniorities.
But the condescension that has revolved around the Viola Davis campaign as championed by Oscar bloggers has been incredibly offputting. I respect Nathaniel because he's championed her performance all along. But the rest of the blogosphere have been embarassing.
I'm fine with people taking sides because they like one more than the other. But this has been a case of many Oscar writers cointinuously patting themselves on the back for rooting for Davis, talking about how much they like and respect her. All the while, barely mentioning her performance. I have respect for those who say they are a fan of someone and root for them, so by all means, if you're a big Davis fan I understand the dissapointment. It's the constant patting oneself on the back by oscar writers that's been quite offensive.
No. I'm just shocked this is a conversation happening now and people didn't complain this much when Sandra Bullock won for a glorified Lifetime movie.
Thank you. It's about time someone could say it.
Two years ago I was quite vocal against Bullock's nomination/win, but all I could find was silence or all you could hear was \"she's so lovely\", \"she's so adorable\", \"she gives such good speeches.\" \"I know she doesn't deserve it, but I won't mind her winning.\" \"She's paid her dues.\" Whenever I said something about her it made me feel as if I was stealing candy from children. People even defended her win theorizing how many quality projects she could do after her Oscar (still waiting, I guess) as if her entire career had been just a bad (really bad) dream Oscar would help us wake up from. And that was the general consensus, not only the media, blogs just like this one included. 98% of people supported her win either actively or by not opposing to it.
I'm no pundit, not even amateur oscarologist, but we all know every Oscar bad decission has unpredictable consequences in that kind of domino effect that has been ruling AMPAS for decades: Oscars for the wrong reasons, Oscars as a make up for previous year snub, which at the same time creates another snub that will trigger the \"overdue\" status in a third candidate, unworthy nominations as a way to say sorry, etc...
So, yes, people who supported in one way or another Bullock's win are in a small part responsible for Viola Davis not (ever) winning an Oscar. Congratulations.
Streep losing to Bullock was the last straw for many, and if you add the role tailor made for Oscar and the (incredibly disgusting) bit of racism, then there you are. Now Margaret Thatcher is an Oscar winning role. Great. Jesus, people even questioned Davis for playing a maid and they didn't question Streep for playing Thatcher.
I love Streep acting as much as anyone else, but the whole thing around her need of a 3rd Oscar, plus some fans, have really made me want anyone else win. At least, now we that we have finished with Davis' chances of a good career ahead, we can end with that madness about the third Oscar. Or not. Maybe some fans won't have enough and in a few months when Osage County happens, they'll begin to say this 3rd Oscar wasn't good enough because the movie wasn't worthy (?) I just hope not. I hope I'll never hear again Winslet whored for her Oscar while Streep stayed classy. If this year campaign wasn't desperately looking for it, I don't know what it is. Actually, the whole movie is the desperate (and succesful) attempt to get it. Which is sad, because it's probably what will last, that to win a 3rd, she not only needed to wait for 30 years, but go as low as she had never gone.
Glad Meryl won, her performance was the best in that category. Davis was good but it wasn't a commanding lead role. It's a shame the issue of race dominates. Why people can't judge on the acting alone I'll never know.
Let's be honest, the Academy Awards are often about politics. If they gave it to the best performance every year then Meryl Streep would have 11 oscars. If they wanted to give her three then why did it have to be on the night when Viola Davis was nominated for best actress? Was Sandra Bullock in \"The Blind Side\" really better than Streep in \"Julie & Julia\"? No, no one believes that but they gave it to Bullock anyway basically as a lifetime achievement award. A few years back, was Jeff Bridges in \"Crazy Heart\" actually better than Colin Firth in \"A Single Man\"? No, no one believes that either, they too gave it to Bridges as a liftetime achievement award. The reason why it's important to give these awards to black actresses when they do great work is because of Hollywood. In a world where black, Asian and middle eastern actors are given a fair shot at major roles there would be no rush but this is America, where all the good roles are written for and given to white Actors. Does anyone really believe that another great role is going to come along for Mo'Nique? She's a great actress but no one will write for her or cast her in a major motion picture because of the strong racial bias in the entertainment industry. There are only so many times Davis can play a maid. I love Streep and I believe that she's probably one of the five best actors of all time but the oscars really messed up two nights ago. But what should we expect when the Academy voters are 94% white and 77% male with a median age of 62?
Great reading as usual
I respect both of them...Meryl deserved a third oscar (the problem was THE IRON LADY for me) but I also think Davis was better...let's hope she could have another golden occasion soon...pity that the FENCES project hasn't materialized so far
If only Merly had campaigned this aggresively last time, I doubt we'd be having this discussion now. She's been snubbed so many times that basically the year that she finally won, it became anti-climax. I saw a clip on ET or something and she said she's been reading all these blogs and expected it to be Viola's year (she proll reads this blog too since you feature her very often lol). So, I think it's probably a mixed emotion for her as well.
I feel bad for Viola because she's campaigned very very hard too, knowingly that this opportunity might never come again.
Milla, I love your comment.
I was also put off by Viola's fan club of Oscar pundits, almost disgusted. I love Viola honestly, I would have given her the Oscar for Doubt but for me this was Meryl's time in every way (INCLUDING the performance). A win for Viola would have been a total curse and it would have given her a free ticket to \"the back of the bus\", only getting Aibileen roles. This way, senitment's already started growing for her, and next time when she gets to the point of another Oscar nod, she will get the award and her win will be even more glorious. Put your hand on your heart and try to swear if this role was worthy of Viola. She was, naturally fantastic, but that role was a second rate, minor co-lead role and a cliché of a character (the black community should have been offended by that movie, IMO). It worked because of Viola's fantastic, God-given talent. She deserves better. As a real breakthrough (everybody seems to have forgotten her nod for Doubt) it worked and I hope it will bring roles to her more worthy of her talent. If she gets to do Fences on the big screen, she will win (that would be so glorious!)
Nathaniel, I admired that you kept praising her performance, but I didn't like that door swinging close comment. This loss had absoloutely NOTHING to do with race whatsoever. For instance, there's Jane Fonda: I'm 10000% certain she voted for Meryl (after championing her so many times recently) and just try to say she did out of racial bias. Same goes for other stars praising and rooting for Meryl (Bullock, Goldie, TILDA SWINTON etc.)
Another thing is that I'm very PISSED about that everybody keeps boohooing for Viola when Great Glenn is a six time loser. If there's someone we should be worried about, it's her. I just hope this nod will bring her back to the big screen big time. Love her. Or Michelle, who's a 3 time loser.
Anyway, viva Meryl! We all waited for this beautiful, glorious moment. HISTORY WAS MADE IN FRONT OF OUR EYES! Let's be grateful.
I was so sure BTW that after many people will be bashing Meryl's third win. It just had to happen. :/ People love nothing more than trying to push somebody off the pedestal.
Blame the academy voters for Streep's win, not Streep! What exactly were these lead roles Viola was going to get offered for winning an Oscar ???? They are either there or not. Her winning an Oscar does not immediately bring them into fruition. Halle won and her biggest role was what... Cat woman.
What is unfair and heartbreaking is losing 14 times.... And everyone still thinking you still do not deserve it. Let' s all talk in 10 years.... We will still be talking about streep!
Now I am going to go be happy about Streep's win somewhere else.
I just hope the next time Viola is getting good ink for her next performance, the critics rally behind her performance. To me they are just as bad as the Academy voters.
Just curious. Please don't bite my head off because I do not live in the US and I have absolutely no idea on the issue of racism.
Had Viola won, wouldn't there be a backlash against her since she won in a role which is a stereotype of what white people see of people of color?
Why do people think Streep should have won for Julie and Julia? Gabourey Sidibe was wronged that year, not ham bone.
- A win for Julie and Julia would be a very bad mistake too. You know, against Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe? No way.
- Viola said her very first true leading role is gonne be in Won't Back Down. I think we should calm down. (But if she gets nominated she'll be the first black woman to get a third nomination, Am I right? Very tough task)
- What's up with these /// \\\\\\\\\\?
@iggy
Many, many (pundits included) criticized Streep for portraying the awful Maragret Thatcher. I think that is why many disliked the film, and even Streep's performance. It was about political beliefs rather than the best performance. I grew up during the Reagan/Thatcher years and hated every minute of it. But to drag ones political views into judging an acting performance is just plain riduclous. Streep's performance was towering. I think peoples judgements were clouded (especially liberal pundits and bloggers) because Streep had the courage to play a despised political figure. How dare she! I say, good for her, and she knocks it out of the park. I wonder how people will judge Julianne Moore in her upcoming role as the riduculously foolish Sarah Palin???
@iggy
Many, many (pundits included) criticized Streep for portraying the awful Maragret Thatcher. I think that is why many disliked the film, and even Streep's performance. It was about political beliefs rather than the best performance. I grew up during the Reagan/Thatcher years and hated every minute of it. But to drag ones political views into judging an acting performance is just plain riduclous. Streep's performance was towering. I think peoples judgements were clouded (especially liberal pundits and bloggers) because Streep had the courage to play a despised political figure. How dare she! I say, good for her, and she knocks it out of the park. I wonder how people will judge Julianne Moore in her upcoming role as the riduculously foolish Sarah Palin???
@Yavor
Penelope Cruz being Spanish with a thick accent having dark features will never be seen in America as white. She's non-white in America. Hence being referred to as a woman of color. Women of color aren't just black. They are any women who isn't white (by the American standards of whiteness).
Supporting Actress don't mean shit. I was glad the best performer nominated for Supporting Actress didn't win (Jessica Chastain) because it's a trap to win it. Let older women and sassy overweight black character actresses make their home in it.
The whole 3rd Oscar for Streep business is behind the trap of winning Supporting Actress first.
I always miss the good topics! And now I'm saddled on page 3. Oh wells.
If Viola Davis had been front and center and truly lead in \"The Help,\" I think she would have won over Meryl Streep. The RACISM! charges upset me, b/c they did honor Octavia Spencer by the way (who shouldn't have sailed to this Oscar so easily for an average performance, but that's for another time). You do have to wonder where this abidng love for Streep was in the \"Julie & Julia\" year vs. Sandra Bullock in \"The Blind Side.\" I know Sandy is America's Sweetheart and headlined two gigantic hits (\"TBS\" and \"The Proposal\"), but Streep was on nod #16 then, right? 17 is somehow more glaring of a loss than 16, Academy? I don't get that. Streep wasn't as front and center there as she was in \"The Iron Lady\" for sure (sharing duties with Amy Adams), so that might have been it. Same affection for the performances, same expert level of mimicry, same nomination. But this time around, there was an Oscar win at the end. I was truly thrilled that Streep won and that she gave a killer acceptance speech. It's too bad that \"The Iron Lady is such a crap film, but we can't have it all, baby. I'm sad for Viola, but I have to think that there's more in store for her down the road. Maybe she will be the one that \"opens doors\" like Halle thought she did ten years ago and didn't do. The world knows who she is now. That has to count for something. Make me a believer, Hollywood!
^^^ I didn't add all of those slash marks there. That's some quirk this system did that I didn't do! And I do know that Streep has won twice already before anyone catches my nods error there.
I was really thinking about that \"Won't Back Down\" movie. I think Viola has a good shot for it. I hope, at least. My time to say what I've been painfully hearing all these years: She has next year!
I can't read anymore of this fuck the Streep fans. Fuck the dummies who post here who understanding nothing about racism in America. Fuck Harvey Weinstein for stealing a dream.
thank you nathaniel, for an emotionally and intellectually fine-tuned piece.
the intensity of streep fans is quite astounding. reading in these comments the ferocity of fans' desire to see streep win \"her\" third oscar feels like i'm reading rah-rahs for a football team or something. for myself, i think streep is a good actress but certainly not \"the greatest living actress\" or whatever hyperbolized accolade. if that makes me a hater, i'll gladly accept it because watching her performance onstage the other night, swathed in oscar-gold metallic dress and making smug cutesy grandiose gestures made me certainly hate her: she seems to have morphed unironically into her ditzy actress character from \"death becomes her\" (a film performance that i love btw). the sense of entitlement is mind-boggling.
i'm a lifelong actressexual and have watched the oscars since childhood. i've always known that the oscar is an industry award, not necessarily one of merit. but this year confirms for me a sad realization that has been coming for a long time now: \"oscar\" signifies nothing.
Boo Hoo
I love that Oscar is only significant when it is convenient. I have been on this blog all awards season with people saying the Oscar was the only award that truly mattered... But what? Only if it goes to Viola????
@joony schecter, I understand being disappointed by an Oscar loss, particularly a couple days after the ceremony ... I'm still disappointed by Annette Bening's loss for American Beauty, 12 years later.
But honestly, if you've been watching the Oscars since childhood and THIS is the award that makes you decide the Oscars mean nothing, either: (a) you're young, and your childhood wasn't that long ago, or (b) your taste is remarkably similar to the Academy's. Truly, in a world where Renee Zellweger and Sandra Bullock have Oscars, Crash beat Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture, Hitchcock and Altman died without Best Director Oscars, Scorsese had to wait 30 years to be honored (and was then honored for sub-par work), etc., this is a comparatively minor slight.
What does Meryl's gold dress have to do with anything? SMH. I saw an overwhelmed and humbled woman accepting an industry award to an audience that was captivated by her every word and genuinely appreciative of her massive talent. I saw none of the smugness and entitlement from Streep's speech that you apparantly saw, joony.
1. I will never feel sorry for any actor as rewarded as Meryl Streep is for not winning anything -- EVER -- especially when there are amazing actors still working who have never won anything and, even worse, never been nominated.
2. Having said that, I also don't begrudge her for wanting to win whenever she's nominated because, quite frankly, who doesn't? No matter how much admiration and respect one has for his or her colleagues, he or she doesn't participate in such an ongoing pageant as that of awards season in the genuine hope that someone else's name is called.
3. While a third victory for Streep does nothing for anyone except Streep (which is fine, of course), the Academy could have made such a significant statement by bestowing the honor on Viola Davis (heck, even Glenn Close for that matter) that would have held just as much if not more weight than even Halle Berry's historic win (at least in my opinion). The fact that they squandered the opportunity is disheartening but on par with their other dubious decisions, so I can't say I'm terribly surprised.
4. I love that we have so much faith in the Hollywood machine to do right by Davis in the near future, but unfortunately history has taught me not to be so optimistic. The sentiment that her prospects will increase and her time will come again does not fall in line with the pattern that we've come to see time and time again with actresses of color.
And for those who think Streep is now done... Forget it! She has August Osage coming up again with Weinstein... And she will have to screw that role up royally NOT to get an 18 th nomination.... And now Disney wants her for Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks directed by Hancock who directed The Blind Side. And both aiming for 2013 awards season.
Meryl wanted the third... Bit I think in her speech she laid down a good groundwork for the 4th in the line ..\" I understand I will never be back up here again\" I bet the Academy proves her wrong. And sooner than we think.
And let us not slight Streep for finally campaigning for herself. Viola did and had the help of pundits and bloggers.
Its not just Viola's career that suffers because of our irrational worship of Meryl. Where is Susan Sarandon? I recently saw her doing Law & Order: SVU, which is an extremely well-written and well-acted show, but she can do more than one-episode guest arcs on tv shows (marcia gay harden, robin williams and jeremy irons were also recently on SVU. They have to do something right to attract talent of such calibre). Glenn Close herself was recently doing tv, and so was Sally Field- who has two oscars, while Glenn has none. Zero. Lost six times. Sissy Spacek had one of the smallest roles in The Help. Mia Farrow doesnt have an Oscar and may as well have been abducted by aliens because we dont hear about her no more. Sigourney Weaver is Oscar-less. So is Michelle-Pfeiffer. So is Laura Linney, who is a goddess. Where is Marcia Gay Harden? Frances McDormand?? Julianne Moore has lost what, five times??? and is doing made for tv movies. Maybe Julianne and Laura are younger, but all the other actresses mentioned above are watching their careers struggle because of the simple fact that they are not named Meryl Streep.
And Meryl had two and was considered overdue???? Peter O'Toole lost eight times. EIGHT.Debora Kerr lost seven. Kate Winslet won after losing five times. Brando himself-BRANDO- only got two. De Niro and Dustin Hoffman have two. Vivein Leigh had two. Pacino only has one. Morgan Freeman only has one. Cicely Tyson has none. The ladies mentioned above have none. So she was far from overdue.
Its not just Viola's career that suffers because of our irrational worship of Meryl.
Nathan talks about the unfair treatment of Streep's peers all the time. Nick Davis in his write-up of Emma Thompson talks about the Streepless Oscar period where Thompson, Lange and Sarandon could be free to be appreciated.
I hate this conversation. I really do.
That being said, it's a classic Academy decision. This was, as Nathatniel has eloquently written about before, simply the right time to reward Viola Davis. Good part, great performance, and the exact right point in her career. It's a win I don't think many people would have fought or begrudged her. (The issue of hers being a supporting performance has been rendered moot months ago. To summarize: She may not be THE lead, but she is A lead - she opens the film, she closes the film, she has the most dramatic arc, it's really Aibileen's story)
When you're an actress of Meryl's talent and stature, winning a THIRD Oscar should not mean a damn thing. This is a woman who is already at the top of the list for every meaty part in Hollywood, regardless of age, and she's pretty much the only person in that position, despite numerous actresses who are just as talented. The performance WAS good, but Harvey cannily tapped into the \"MERYL HASN'T WON SINCE THE 80S!\" furor, and THAT'S what really won her the Oscar. But, pardon my bluntness, so she hasn't won in decades - SO WHAT?!?! Everyone KNOWS Meryl is great, even people who don't really watch movies or care about the Oscars. The idea of her needing an award to somehow prove this is ridiculous, especially when she already has two. But that is exactly the sort of thing that the Academy does on a yearly basis. A great Meryl performance is never a sure thing (Mamma Mia, anyone?), so we can't guarantee she'll be back, even though the material (August: Osage County in particular) suggests she will, but this win all but guarantees that the next time she gives a truly great performance, she won't win. She's won her third. There won't be cries of \"MERYL NEEDS A FOURTH!\" until she's on her deathbed.
Meanwhile, mark my words: In forty years, Viola Davis will score her next Oscar nomination for a performance like Ruby Dee's in American Gangster, because that's how the industry works. And she won't win.
I am DYING to find out what the doyenne of Best Actress, Nick Davis, has to say about all this!
No the \"Help\" is really Skeeter's story, or at least the way the film set it up. It's not \"moot\" at all that Davis is just lead and that's it. And that's why she lost the Oscar too.
@Amanda
Streep simply doesn't get all the best roles. If she did she would have been nominated 30+ times by now, maybe more if we count lead and supporting. You make it sound as though everything is sifted through Streep first and her rejects go to the others. It's simply not true. Please get real.
And did we criticize Jack Nicholson so harshly for winning a third Oscar? He didn't need to win either and his status and reputation in Hollywood and elsewhere would have been just fine.
@Amanda
So why is it fair for Viola to have an Oscar before the women you have mentioned like Close or Weaver?
I'm sure many actresses celebrated Meryl (and Jessica)'s several pregnancies over the 80s!
She has always been the first choice in pretty much almost every single project out there, maybe except for Basic Instinct.
100% with Hayden W. I've tried to make that basic point here, that someone with a great career, two oscars and tons of awards already plus extreme adulation, almost worship (and been soundly ignored) but Hayden, you said it much better, much more eloquently and throughly, and in context of her total career.
I'm just glad the Oscars are done this year. The conversation, the over-heated passion and HATRED in all directions for anyone else but one's favorite, has made this Oscar year, for me, the least enjoyable, soul-curdling one in recent memory (aside from the Brokeback loss, which I don't recall being at such a screaming pitch.) Again, I say this as someone who admires BOTH women and their talents very very much. I'm a fan of the women, not a fan of the nonsense.
And I don't begrudge your disappointment, Nat. I felt a little of it, too. (Also for Glenn, whose chances evaporated long ago, for Vanessa Redgrave - ditto; for Ewan McGregor - not even in the conversation, why not? - etc.) There is the comfort that Oscar does not equal greatness; and also, that Oscar does not equal improved career traction (see Berry - but again, there's the problem of limited roles for women of color, even at the top). But I think your point about opportunities is a legitimate one, the issue of color entirely aside from that. (Hayden makes that point as well.) I too would like the see more women \"of a certain age\" getting lead roles.
I would have loved for any of the women I mentioned to have Oscars, it wouldnt really matter who got it first! Its just that viola was nominated this year and the others werent! Well glenn was and I would have LOVED to ser her win, but she had zero chances from day one.
Sally Field is playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Spielberg's upcoming Lincoln biopic - unless something goes terribly wrong, she'll likely be an Oscar nominee next year.
Frances McDormand is a star of Wes Anderson's upcoming film (Moonrise Kingdom, opening in May - the previews are all over the place) and is working on Gus Van Sant's next movie.
Yeah, Glenn starred in a tv show, but it was a fabulous tv show, her role was terrific and she probably had a ball playing it, she won every award in the book for it, and (like Sally Field) she's probably a lot more visible as a result.
Julianne is doing \"tv movies\"? I guess, but \"Game Change\" is probably the second most buzzed about movie this spring, after \"The Hunger Games,\" and she looks extremely busy, per IMDB. I agree, she should have an Oscar by now.
Sarandon seemed to be taking a break for awhile, but she is in Robert Redford's upcoming movie as well as a few others.
Spacek works regularly and has appeared in a lot of high-quality films over the past few years - The Help is just one. Get Low was probably my favorite.
I agree that Marcia Gay Harden should have a bigger career. It's a shame that there wasn't more of an outcry over Polanski handing over her Tony-winning part in God of Carnage to Jodi Foster (who was miscast IMO), but no one seemed to care. In addition, Weaver, Pfeiffer, etc. do not seem to be doing so well, but something could change for them (e.g., Dark Shadows could help revive Pfeiffer's career).
As for Streep, I think she has gotten so many high-profile parts because she delivers at the box office. No one expected The Iron Lady to be a huge hit (in fact, it probably earned more than anyone thought it would earn, worldwide), but Prada, Mamma Mia, Julie and Julia, It's Complicated, etc. all did very well largely on the strength of her star power. A lot of people - women over 25 especially - will go to see a movie simply because of her name.
If you want to see more of these women in films, then support their films while they're in theaters.
It may Be hyped and buzzed but its still a tv movie. Whenever people want to badmouth a picture, they say its nothing but a glorified tv movie. Tv is still a lesser medium for many. And she should Be more high profile, it it were to match her acting abilities
Oh no! I guess the \"give her a 4th to compensate the bad taste in mouth of the 3rd\" buzz has officially started.
Not really Peggy Sue..... The 4th oscar win is just so she has 4 oscars. I have no qualms about how she won her third and what for....
- What's up with these /// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\?
@Cal, thank you, exactly. I hope this isn't the next new trend, I can't make sense of half the comments here - they look like patchwork quilts.
@Orien - I assume that Cal is talking about all the comments full of / / marks, not at you in particular. (Forgive me for speaking for you, Cal.) I don't know where they came from (are quotation marks now going by the wayside?)
Oh, please, why Davis was robbed? She lost Globe, she lost BAFTA - it was pretty obvious that she MIGHT lose Oscar too. And IMO it was good decision. Streep gave better performance and Davis WAS supporting in "The Help" (so this was "category fraud" that you dislike so much, Nathaniel, as we all know). Streep might have won previously - for example for "The Adaptation" but she lost to Zeta-Jones that was as great as Streep. She might have won for "Doubt" - but she lost to Winslet - also a good decision. She might have won for "Julie & Julia" - but she should not have - yeah, Bullock did not deserve this also but the best role nominated that year was Helen Mirren in "The Last Station". And now, FINALLY - she is the best of the bunch (and only Close was her true competition - if we talk about the greatness of the performance, not the buzz and not about political corectness) and all people in the USA whine that she won - because she's not black. I haven't heard anyone whining in Europe. If Davis is SO GREAT - than she will win next time. Academy got it RIGHT for once - all roles rewarded this year are really good (what is not the case almost every year) and you can't be happy...
Pardon the slash marks on my post above btw - and please pardon andignore my snarkiness regarding same. The system added those to mine as well where I had quote marks (and I certainly did not type them).
Sorry about that, folks. (Perhaps there is a punctuation conspiracy?)
In the words of Justin Timberlake:
\"Cry me a river! Go on and just . . .\"
Streep haters to the left! She won fair and square. If you don't like it, go find a cliff to jump off of. Nothing's gonna change Oscar history now, and Davis didn't deserve to win.
//If Davis is SO GREAT - than she will win next time. //
@Someone - please tell that to Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, etc etc etc