by Nathaniel R
Kudos to Paramount to beating the Rocketman drums again with a screening and performance in Los Angeles yesterday. Early releases require this sort of care and attention from their home studios, come awards season. Rocketman emerged in the giant shadow of Bohemian Rhapsody this past May, and though it is vastly superior to the Queen picture in every way, shadows are shadows and sometimes they obscure the light...
We've been curious to see if Paramount would make a concerted effort and if the Academy would embrace it. The first point is settled -- Paramount is behind it, bringing it back to Los Angeles life with a live performance by Taron Egerton and Elton John -- but the latter remains to be seen. Can Taron Egerton croon his way into one of the most overstuffed Best Actor categories that we've seen in years ? There are at least 10 viable contenders and a few more loveable longshots to boot.
The Globes, at least, will be there for him. Apart from maybe Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, and Eddie Murphy for Dolemite is My Name (if they're classified as comedy), competition is scarce in the Comedy/Musical category. In fact, who else is there? With most of the funny dramas or music-related biopics aside from Rocketman (which actually is a musical) aiming for the drama category where will they fill out the category? Will they look to... Good Boys? Yesterday? The Dead Don't Die? Beach Bum?
Rocketman could also contend in Best Original Song "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" but it's Oscar hopes are mostly pinned to a strong campaign and a Picture/Actor/Song triple-threat at the Golden Globes to revive interest in time for Oscar nominations.
How do you think it will fare?