Tuesday
Jan192016
Rachel McAdams is Flawless
Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 1:15PM Chris here, to curb your naysaying. I've heard plenty of "she doesn't even go here" comments about Rachel McAdams's Best Supporting Actress nomination, from even my delightful Team Experience colleagues. So here's a quick reminder (with help from this year's nominees)...
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Congrats to the entire Best Supporting Actress lineup, but especially to this still undervalued actress. For an actress who has worked with major directors from Terrence Malick to Woody Allen to Ira Sachs and is always the best part of lesser films, it's exciting to see her get her due!
(epilogue: yes this post inspired the #OscarMeanGirls meme now playing on Twitter)
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Reader Comments (51)
This post is one of my most favorite things!
Happy we finally have Oscar nominee Rachel McAdams.
LMAO... this post is brilliant.... I just keep pretending this nomination is for MEAN GIRLS and I'm totally ok with it :)
Rooney Mara's expression with that quote. I died. (typing from heaven.)
To beat our lord and master to it:
Best Supporting Actress lineup? You mean "Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Or Large Supporting Role".
Married Life, people.
"Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading, Large or Only Female Non-Cameo Role in a Motion Picture."
Genius.
I'm not into her but this post is everything!
J'ADORE this post. The nomination, not so much, but still. Rachel McAdams continues to be SO fetch (and can we just admit that "fetch" has definitely happened at this point?).
Nominations sometimes really help careers, and this nomination is proof of that. Rachel McAdams is so nice and so much fun in person, I hope good scripts and good things follow from this.
"Best lone female actress in a male ensemble" award. Last year's winner Keira Knightley to do the presentation.
^ LOL. Can we also call it the Kim Basinger Award?
I heard she grabbed a default Oscar nomination out of the hands of a real-life dame!
Despite all the category fraud, this lineup is nice and all these actresses are worthy contenders so I m happy they got in. I mean there was a time we were all praying for a nomination for Jennifer Jason Leigh on a yearly basis. And this is first nomination and everyone is very quiet about it. I think the Carol/Haynes snub and the lack the diversity has unfortunately overshadowed the fact that we have a lot of deserving actors getting their first noms.
That last one is kinda fucked up, lol
Am I the only one that isn't a Rachel McAdams fan? I honestly don't think she's that great of an actress...flawless in Mean Girls, obviously. Or maybe she just doesn't do the best projects. Idk lol. I've actually seen a lot more support for her after she got nominated.
Allie and Noah are both Oscar nominees now!
She falls into the Naommi Watts/RachelWiesz camp.No real star quality but competent in some things.
Don't laugh, but I really think McAdams as the edge to win!
Absolutely fabulous! AND HILARIOUS!
Rachel for years has been consistently carrying dubious projects on her back, and amid a year of particular disasters that were none of her fault (Aloha, True Detective), she gets this terrific recognition. Good on her.
I haven't seen The Danish Girl and probably never will based on the trailer, but if you look at those roles, all of them are replaceable. The level of difficulty being not very high, except for Leigh. Many other actresses could have played those other roles to similar or better results.
Leigh plays a character that has never been done before and does so better than anyone could ever do. She really creates art there. Unfortunately, the PC flood everywhere and the need to dissect everything on the net steers the attention elsewhere when it comes to The Hateful Eight.
McAdams and Mara both play introverts, the easiest, least challenging type of role. Winslet is very solid in her intentions beat by beat but the accent really takes away points for overall success and Vikander, while I haven't seen the movie, does not reinvent the wheel here, does she? Haven't we seen this character before? Maybe last year?
I don't think JJL will win the Oscar for obvious reasons. However, that is irrelevant to the contribution she has made to the canon of movie characters.
Mr. Goodbar, Vikander is exceptional in The Danish Girl, a film I otherwise did not like. She displays an astounding range with sublime naturalism. Were it not for category fraud, I would be rooting for her to win.
I am totally obsessed with Rachel being a newly minted Oscar nominee. I was sure at first, but the more I reflect on it the more I like it.
of course we can pretend it's a nomination for "Regina George" but I have been really impressed with the way she has handled herself. she's very classy.
I do think that being in a best pic nominee will help her win the award. Vikander and Mara, I think may suffer from category fraud, JJL is fantastic in a bad movie, and Winslet although deserving has won already. I think McAdams should have a speech prepared!
@brookesboy: I do believe Vikander is operating on a much higher level than the style of movie in which she's been inserted allows her to. I was actually very impressed with her restraint and technique in Ex-Machina, whose character also belongs to the list I was talking about. That was an original piece of acting.
I hear she does car commercials. In Japan.
Mr. Goodbat, what exactly about JJL's role has never been done before? I ask having not yet seen the film and finding it hard to believe anything in a QT film could be not a rehash of something from a past film or genre.
This post is the my favorite ever on this site!!!!! ha ha ha ha
Sooo funny!
"I know, right?"
Next time tell Alan Turin, the character Benedict Cumberbatch played in The Imitation Game, that math is social suicide
JJL is nothing special in TH8.
(Sorry about that typo, Mr.Goodbar.)
@Paul:
She plays a female character who is unapologetically vile, without any vanity, never victimizing herself when everyone around her does so, has a sense of humor, can spit better than Winslet, does a great one-nostril blowing of her nose, plays the guitar, is never ever sexualized for the whole duration of the story, even being surround solely by men, and does a nice little dance.
She presents so many different personas within the character. She is quiet, manipulative, aggressive, funny and smart, all in one. I do believe the ability to enjoy the experience of watching The Hateful Eight comes down to whether one connects with Daisy or not.
Rachel McAdams is this year's Maggie Gyllenhaal. Fans who be happy their favorite was recognized for once. Because it may not happen again.
No matter what Rachel McAdams does in the rest of her life/career, she'll always be known as Regina George. And I don't think that's a bad thing :)
Mr. Goodbar:
As a fan of Deadwood, that makes me think about some of the women in that ensemble, as well as Khandi Alexander in The Corner, Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden, Melissa Leo in The Fighter, Mo'Nique in Precious, Charlize Theron in Monster (hm, four Oscar winners) and Young Adult...but I guess I'll have to ::shudder:: see H8-8 (preferably before the Oscars) to see how JJL's characterization is unique as compared to these and some others.
Lets talk about Rooney Mara's hat.
Oh Mary, you're breaking my heart! Rachel Weisz has oodles of star quality. I could look at her face for days (I'm also a Watts fan for what it's worth, but I'm 'meh' on McAdams).
I can't believe how anyone can be "meh" towards McAdams, if having seen her brilliant work on True Detective and Southpaw. I used to think she was "meh" too --- even hated her in The Notebook, Midnight in Paris, The vow and the Sherlock Holmes movies.
But those two performances (True Detective and Southpaw) really impressed me.
Oscars + Mean Girls = Happiness
TFE fans, having Rachel McAdams as an Oscar nominee means that Nathaniel has 2 of his favourite things merged. Surely this is reason enough to get behind this nomination.
Rachel McAdams is like the Glen Coco of nominees, and "You Go Glen Coco"
and "None for you Gretchen Weiner " (aka Alicia Vikander).
Jeremy -- well Carol Aird likes it (*imitates swirling hand gesture*) but let's not. It's hideous!
Ulrich -- hmmm. while i love every single word of this post i admit i'm in the "meh" realm with Rachel McAdams apart from Mean Girls. I mean I've liked her in some things (agree she was strong in True Detective... but didn't see anything special in the Southpaw performance) but i find myself often wishing for a more distinctive actress when she's in something. Nevertheless, since she's here to stay I will keep giving her chances :) i think she's good in Spotlight but i don't really get the nomination (apart from "the lone woman in a guy movie"
This is so fetch.
Yet, I'm still rooting for Rooney to win the Oscar,
Or Kate Winslet, if she wins the BAFTA too.
Paul:
I've never seen Deadwood, so I wouldn't know. But as far as cinematic characters, a mix of Dale Dickey in Winter's Bone and Aileen Wuornos in Monster would be closer references. However, Jennifer keeps it so subtle, almost invisible until she REALLY doesn't. Because of the nature of the story and her character, there is not a lot of backstory, but that to me adds to the enigma Daisy is. We don't learn much about who she is, but we sure know what she is capable of by the end of the movie.
Ulrich, I haven't seen southpaw or true detective... So maybe I need to watch these before casually throwing 'mehs' around :)
Glad I could give you guys some giggles! I've long thought Rachel McAdams is just waiting for the right match of director and material to harness her understated gifts. She's certainly getting closer to delivering that, but I do think she delivers a lot of quiet passion in Spotlight. It's tricky for that performance to stand out when she spends so much time listening to others.
Choog:
sometimes, all it takes to warm up to an actor, is one or two good performances from them. I just saw "Red Eye" - and I have to say, really liked her in it! And I distinctly remember not liking her in that movie the first I saw it.
But it's not like I'm her biggest fan all of a sudden. For that, too much hate has gone down!
But I am slowly but surely warming up to her, and True Detective and Southpaw paved the way.
Nathaniel:
you weren't impressed with her in Southpaw?! I really responded to her - I thought she NAILED it; privileged with white trash background, wife of a boxer, tough with her man and kid but also supporting and tender, simple-minded but street smart, has helped Jake to get where he is - she gave a stock character nuance and had the difficult task of doing it in very few scenes.
The only McAdams performance I don't care for is in Midnight in Paris. Other than that she's been pretty consistent/dependable, though rarely stellar (Mean Girls, duh). I always thought she was capable of more and I'm happy for her nomination. I've only grown more fond of her work in Spotlight as time goes on, and I was already pretty high on it after seeing the film.
Paul already mentioned Married Life, but she's also great fun in Brian De Palma's Passion. It's the closest she's come to reprising Regina George.
I liked what she was doing in Southpaw, I just wanted more of her.
Mr. G: Dale Dickey (not just in that movie) occurred to me, too.
@Tony T. -- Amen brother! I completely agree that this year's nominees are all solid. there is no groaner in the bunch. and I do think McAdams has a good chance of winning. This is the least predictable category. If Mara and Vikander split, and no one likes/sees Hateful 8, that leaves her and Winslet, who has just won. McAdams hasn't won yet and is the only nominee in a best pic nominee.
Mary - What???? No. I can't comprehend what you just said lol. Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts have both had moments of star quality. The Deep Blue Sea/Constant Gardener, and Mulholland Dr, respectively. Rachel McAdams has never had WOW performances like those, save maybe Mean Girls. Rachel Weisz may be a little too arthouse to be a huge movie star, but she did carry The Mummy franchise as the female lead really well.
tom: if there's a vote to split (I don't always buy the concept of vote-splitting), it would be Vikander/Mara/McAdams splitting the "hot actresses under 40" vote, leaving Winslet and JJL in very different movies and roles. Of the two, Winslet wins on past Academy love (if they ignore the accent in Act I) and JJL wins on overdue love (if they ignore their past indifference to her).
The Rooney Mara picture/quote-- perfect combination!
in a perfect world, she would have been nominated for best supporting actress for her Mean Girls turn and then she would never have made Spotlight, a podcast of a movie that doesn't have any award worthy performances.
I think this nomination is ultimately proof that Rachel is a good person who people in the industry like. She's not consistent, but it's a nice little boost for someone who isn't drama and is a valuable supporting player.
Did anyone see DePalma's Passion with her and Noomi Rapace? It's so trashy and amazing.