The Apology Nomination
Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 10:00AM 
Sometimes, even the Academy thinks they messed up. That's how you get what I like to call "apology nominations," crucially different from "career nominations" because they come in response to one or more specific slights in the recent past. They are the honors that resound with an echoing sorry if you ring them just right, and there's no better example than Paul Giamatti's 2005 Best Supporting Actor nomination for Cinderella Man. After his shocking Sideways snub, one feels he would have been included for anything remotely Oscar-friendly.
It doesn't mean this reliable character actor didn't deserve it, of course, but there's a narrative quirk to how he got there, a faint sense that AMPAS was making up for a mistake. Now that Giamatti's back in the race with The Holdovers, it got me thinking about other cases of the phenomenon in the years since Cinderella Man…
Consider Angelina Jolie in 2008. Coming off a season when she was expected to be nominated for A Mighty Heart, the actress was in voters' minds when Clint Eastwood's Changeling came about, offering the Academy a chance to right a perceived wrong in near instantaneous fashion. Maggie Gyllenhaal's fate in 2009 is less obvious, though I'd argue her Crazy Heart Supporting Actress nomination depended upon a decade of stellar work regularly getting awards notices. It's a thankless part elevated by memories of Secretary and Sherrybaby, even Happy Endings to some extent.
As a supporting player in a well-reviewed Woody Allen film, Sally Hawkins was well-positioned to be nominated for Blue Jasmine, regardless of the Academy's remorse. However, it's hard to imagine her getting there without the groundswell of support that started in 2008 when she failed to secure a nod for her Golden Globe-winning turn in Happy-Go-Lucky. Similarly, Marion Cotillard was very close to a nomination in 2012 for Rust & Bone, making her 2014 Two Days, One Night shocker success more understandable. The quality of performance matters, but, in Oscar-land, narrative's essential too, and one would be naïve to suppose otherwise.
In 2016, two cases come to mind. There's Andrew Garfield, who'd been chasing that little golden man since The Social Network and had finally landed the "right" kind of vehicle with Hacksaw Ridge. One of the year's big surprises, Michael Shannon can also attribute part of his Nocturnal Animals recognition to the excellent press amassed with 99 Homes. Curiously enough, that 2016-7 season also planted the seeds of future apologies. Think about Amy Adams' easy sail to a Vice nod after her Arrival snub or how Denzel Washington rode the wave of a near-victory for Fences straight into an unexpected nomination for the underseen Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Yes, that last one brings about a different kind of "we're sorry" from AMPAS. It happens when someone's well-positioned to win but finishes in a likely, if not self-evident, second place. It happened with Washington, but one can follow a similar logic to Willem Dafoe's At Eternity's Gate nomination. After all, in 2017, he was the Best Supporting Actor frontrunner right until the televised awards threw the season in disarray. The Florida Project actor lost to Sam Rockwell, but the goodwill was still there, ready to flower into a fourth career nomination. Taking this logic to extremes, it's possible to argue that Jessica Chastain's win stemmed partly from a desire to make up for all those Almost Theres over the 2010s.
But of course, this is Oscar obsessive silliness, not meant to take credit away from the artists or even the voters. It's just a fun thought exercise you can continue in the comments. Sound off, dear reader - do you have more names and nominations to add to this lot?
Reader Comments (22)
Then of course there’s the sorry, welcome back, you’re forgiven, we missed you nomination club! (Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole) ha.
I feel like Maggie Smith should have had a couple of these nominations by now for her almost there in The Best Exotic and Lady in the Van but I’m still waiting!
It’s a curious thing to think about really - there are so many factors, the environment, the appetite for the film, who they’re acting with and the narrative that year.
There is also the oh we know you exist now nomination. One that always stands out for me is Jacki Weaver in Silver Lining’s Playbook - was that just a box ticking exercise, overwhelming love for the movie or a sorry we should have given you the win for Animal Kingdom!
Would love Nat’s take on this - where is he?
I will be watching to see if Viola Davis picks up an apology nomination for Air to compensate for Oscar voters snubbing her glorious work in The Woman King in favor of the histrionics of Andrea Riseborough in the most recent Best Actress race.
They owe Jennifer Lopez an apology nomination for snubbing her when she was the best in her category that season and should've been WINNING.
I feel like ScarJo sailed to a double nod combo as a make up to never being nominated before, especially for 2003.
Hmm...I'm sure I can think of some more!
Definitely agree on Willem Dafoe ... That was his first nomination in the leading category too. Still think he should've won the Oscar for The Florida Project tho.
Hmm, I don't know... while I get that this is a thought exercise, it feels like a way to rationalize or explain away nominations we don't agree with, as if there would have to be an explanation for why a group of people nominate a performance we either don't like or find just okay. I'm also uncomfortable with this idea that the Academy "owes" someone a nomination.
Kathleen Turner's nomination was maybe a double apology for her snubs for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor.
Richter -- As Claudio said in the article, "But of course, this is Oscar obsessive silliness, not meant to take credit away from the artists or even the voters" -- It's not that deep. :)
Of course that's all it is, a way to make sense of nominations lol. But I do think, as Claudio mentioned, narrative is an essential piece to the Oscar puzzle.
Glenn Close's nod for Hillbilly Elegy feels like an apology nod. Sure, she was there all season, but it definitely felt like a makeup to her big loss. She was far better than the film, and had real moments of depth, but I don't think anyone really loved that film or movie.
Naomi Watts' nomination for 21 Grams always felt like both a "welcome to the club" nomination as much as it did feel like an apology for her Mullholland Drive snub
Deborah Kerr's Separate Tables nominations has always felt like an apology for her King and I and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison loses. She'd won the Globe and the NYFCC for those performances (respectivley), but lost.
And, though a bit different, Ingrid Bergman's win for Anastasia is its own kind of apology from the Academy. While she didn't have anything specifically that would have recieved Oscar buzz in the late 40s and early 50s, she also wasn't allowed to be in anything with buzz.
After snubbing Charles Durning for so long he got back to back nods in 82 for the wrong film and 83.
They've never made it up to Donald Sutherland or Meg Ryan..
If Emily Blunt gets nominated it’s definitely a makeup for a decade of almost getting in.
Patricia Clarkson’s nomination is a makeup for being passed over for Far From Heaven.
One could even argue that all of last year’s winners are apology wins. For Curtis and Yeoh- sorry we haven’t noticed your brilliance before. For Quan and Fraser- sorry the industry turned its back on you.
I do think all the people I’ve mentioned are talented and probably would have gotten nominated/won anyway but having s narrative or momentum helps. Sometimes that can be the difference.
Thankfully Jolie was nominated for Changelling instead of her brownface turn in A Mighty Heart. I can see this more as “sorry girl, that other movie was problematic but, hey, we still love you” than a mere “sorry for the undeserved snub”.
Last season, reading about Michelle Yeoh as a criminally overlooked titan of screen acting, I thought: Hmm, I should track down some of her Oscar-worthy work. Turns out I’d seen it all, she’s given (at most) three performances that would merit Oscar consideration. And she got Oscar attention (if not a nomination/win) for all three of them!
She’s a fabulous star and a talented entertainer but the “we owe this tremendously overdue woman” narrative was a lot of...narrative.
The "histrionics" of Riseborough in To Leslie...oh. that must mean giving one of the best performances of this decade so far?
Whoopi Goldberg’s Oscar for Ghost always felt like an apology for not winning for the Color Purple (because they gave Best Actress to Geraldine Page as a career Oscar for a lesser performance).
And Bette Midler’s For The Boys nomination must have been an apology for something.
Someone said Stanley Tucci?
"And Bette Midler’s For The Boys nomination must have been an apology for something."
LOL. This feels like an unintentional diss so it's hilarious. I mean, if it was, it's the same reason as everyone else. "Sorry we didn't give it to you for The Rose."
I always thought she should've won for The Rose.
Norma Rae, I get it, but...when you know that just a few years later they were going to hand Sally Field a second Oscar... But oh well. I legitimately love Bette in The Rose and would hand her the win.
For the Boys is not perfect, but she and her charisma got the job done. Maybe her Globes speech got her the nod.
These make-up nominations are almost as old as the Oscars themselves. Bette Davis admits herself that her win in 1935 was an apology for not nominating her in 1934 for Of Human Bondage. And one obvious case is James Stewart winning for a totally mediocre performance in The Philadelphia Story (over Henry Fonda for Grapes of Wrath!) after losing for his far, far better performance the year before in Mr Smith Goes to Washington.
I'd add Hong Chau just this past year for The Whale as an apology to her just missing out for Downsizing. Michael Fassbender broke through for 12 Years a Slave after a lot of hype for Shame. And Tom Hanks got in for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood after almost making it in for Captain Phillips and getting buzz again for The Post.
2001: Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind after the 2000 Requiem for a Dream snub.
And of course Argo wins best picture as an apology for Ben Affleck not getting best director nomination- despite it being a competitive year and already having won an award.
Disagree with all the answers here.
Forgot to mention Jeremy Irons' nomination (and win?) for Reversal of Fortune, because he was snubbed two years before for Dead Ringers. He thanked David Cronenberg in his acceptance speech, perhaps alluding to the snub being a factor to winning for Reversal of Fortune.
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