by Nathaniel R
Glenn Close is "The Wife"
Happy news to share or remind you of if you've already known (this is not a 'breaking news' specific post, just newsy). Sony Pictures Classic is NOT waiting until the dread last weekend of the year to release the new Glenn Close vehicle The Wife. (Post Christmas releases in Los Angeles and New York rarely work for Oscar hopefuls but studios have been loathe to give them up, hoping that Oscar fever will rescue their commercial prospects despite not putting the effort in of releasing them before Christmas). The post Christmas pray-for-a-midnight-miracle attempt is what doomed Annette Bening's chances two years in a row for Best Actress nominations (20th Century Women and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool were released on December 28th and December 29th respectively in 2016 and 2017).
No, The Wife is trying the summer player / Best Actress momentum game (which works out more often than New Years Eve hopefuls). The film hits theaters in limited release on August 3rd and will platform from there. I think it's the best work she's done in a couple of decades so I'm hoping y'all like it too. Whether or not her perpetual "overdue" status paired with what we're assuming will be strong reviews (at least for her if not necessarily the film) will lead to a nomination or win will depend a lot on her as yet unknown competition; it's not the undeniable kind of ferocious big star turn but more of a finely calibrated character study. But who will that competition be...
Here's my preliminary list before the April Foolish predictions in alpha order but the research has just begun. Obviously some of them might go supporting. Is there anyone else you can think of?
2018 Leading Ladies
- Amy Adams, Backseat
- Cate Blanchett, Where'd You Go Bernadette?
- Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place
- Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
- Sandra Bullock, Bird Box
- Glenn Close, The Wife
- Toni Collette, Hereditary
- Penelope Cruz, Everybody Knows
- Viola Davis, Widows
- Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
- Claire Foy, The Girl in the Spider's Web
- Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Kindergarten Teacher
- Kiki Layne, If Beale Street Could Talk
- Rooney Mara, Mary Magdalene
- Rachel McAdams, Disobedience
- Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Julianne Moore, Gloria
- Julianne Moore, Bel Canto
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Where is Kyra?
- Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots
- Saoirse Ronan, On Chesil Beach
- Saoirse Ronan, Mary Queen of Scots
- Charlize Theron, Tully
- Emma Thompson, The Children's Act
- Rachel Weisz, Disobedience
- Olivia Wilde, Life Itself
Probably 2019 but you never know
- Jessica Chastain, George & Tammy (playing Tammy Wynette!)
- Rooney Mara, A House in the Sky (reuniting with director Garth Davis of Lion fame)
- Rachel Weisz, Untitled Miranda Barry Biopic (though being finished in time seems unlikely)