Almost There: Nathan Lane in "The Birdcage"

by Cláudio Alves

For as long as queer narratives have attracted prestige and awards buzz, straight actors have earned praise for playing LGBTQ+ characters. They're often complimented for being brave, risky, for putting their careers on the line in pursuit of some grand artistic merit. Even in 2020, once you move away from the festival circuit and regard more mainstream productions, it's hard to find actual queer actors portraying these roles. Ammonite and Supernova are just the latest examples of this trend. This isn't to say that cishet actors can't be great at playing queer roles, but we'd like some variety, especially in the context of Oscars.

Back in 1996, AMPAS had a good opportunity to honor a gay actor playing a gay role. Nathan Lane, who admittedly wasn't out yet, was in contention for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in Mike Nichols' The Birdcage…

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Almost There: Reese Witherspoon in "Election"

by Cláudio Alves

A few weeks ago, we asked you to vote on what performances should be analyzed on the Almost There series. While Myrna Loy in Test Pilot won the poll of 1938 specific titles, John Cazale's supporting turn in Dog Day Afternoon was your pick from a selection of new to streaming titles. But your runner-up choices will also get their chance to shine. Cazale won, but Reese Witherspoon's iconic performance as Tracy Flick in Election was close behind…

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Almost There: Myrna Loy in "Test Pilot"

by Cláudio Alves

Myrna Loy's an interesting case as far as the Oscars are concerned. She was a great star, a charming performer with a magnetic screen presence, and even appeared in more than one Best Picture winner. It's easy to imagine that such a person would be a shoo-in for an Academy Award nomination at some point in their career, but Loy was never that lucky. Of the many times she came close, we're here to discuss Test Pilot. This Victor Fleming-directed romantic drama nabbed three nods back in 1938. Among them was a Best Picture citation, though no love was shown to the movie's actors…

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Almost There: John Cazale in "Dog Day Afternoon"

by Cláudio Alves

On March 13th, 1978, John Cazale died of lung cancer at the age of 42. Before his untimely end, the Massachusetts-born actor had amassed an impressive list of credits, both on stage and onscreen. His filmography, as far as features are concerned, is of particular interest and amazement. He appeared in five films, six if you count The Godfather Part III, all of which were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (a record!). Not only that, but his quintet from the 70s (The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter) represents a list of era-defining classics.

Of them, 1975's Dog Day Afternoon was surely the closest the actor ever came to a much-deserved Oscar nomination…

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Almost There: Let's vote again!

by Cláudio Alves

Last month, we asked you to choose what performances should be analyzed in the Almost There series which concerns itself with acting achievements that came close to the Oscar but failed to secure the nomination. You came through with more than 800 votes on each of our polls and the feedback seemed quite positive. Your choices were the against-type star turn of Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich and Joan Allen's incandescent fury in 2005's The Upside of Anger. Not only that, but the runners-up of the new to streaming poll, Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler, were also written about.

Because of such good results, we're repeating that experiment. This time, we'll be focusing on movies that are newly available to stream in September as well as flicks from 1938, our sidebar theme thanks to the Supporting Actress Smackdown. 

First up, here are some possibilities from different streaming services:

survey tools

Secondly, here's a selection of 1938 performances. While it's difficult to discern who had awards buzz on those early Oscar races, we believe all of these folks were in the conversation: 

survey services

You can vote on each poll, once a day, until Saturday, September 5th. We can't wait to see who you choose!