First Predictions: Best Supporting Actress

by Nathaniel R

Can Daisy & Esmé pull an Emma & Kate in the new version of SENSE & SENSIBILITY?

With such a banner Best Supporting Actress season in the rearview mirror, how can the next race even dream of topping it? Who will be our next Madigan... our Wunmi or Teyana? Will we get another Inga & Elle twofer? Sight unseen the films of 2026 don't appear to be offering us a wealth of contenders. And yet, who can really know in the spring or summertime?  Promos and buzz and rumors of greatness for forthcoming films almost always center around movie star leads and auteurs. Supporting characters, and the actors who play them, only (usually) turn heads / gather momentum during actual screenings and the reviews / media discourse that follows. Which is a long way of saying I don't feel even remotely confident in this first round of Oscar predictions for the 99th Oscars.

Consider the following possibilities...

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My Oscar Completism Project: A Diane Keaton Double Feature

by Cláudio Alves

Should Diane Keaton have been double-nominated, in 1977, for ANNIE HALL and LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR?

With their new rules, the Academy has upturned quite a number of Oscar traditions and stats. For example, actors can now fill more than one slot in each category, receiving nominations for multiple performances in a race. Looking back, it’s fun to speculate about what performers might have achieved this. Indeed, I might write something on that matter later on. Immediately, though, one case stands out. Part of it is that Be Kind Rewind’s video essay is still fresh in the memory. Part of it is that the loss of such a star still stings. Regardless, upon reading the news, I immediately latched onto the idea that Diane Keaton would have gotten two Best Actress nominations in 1977. She won for Annie Hall, but was just as tremendous and lauded for her work in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. 

This all serves as a preamble for another announcement. My Oscar completism project is back on track, as I try to watch every single Academy Award-nominated performance. And since Keaton’s on the mind, especially Keaton in Mr. Goodbar, let’s explore Tuesday Weld’s Best Supporting Actress nomination for that New York drama. Also, Lovers and Other Strangers, which earned Richard S. Castellano a Best Supporting Actor nomination and got Keaton on Francis Ford Coppola's radar, effectively won her the role of Kay in The Godfather…

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Almost There: Barbara Hershey in “Black Swan”

by Cláudio Alves

You may have noticed that, for the past couple of weeks, The Film Experience has been overtaken by one persistent question: Who should be the next Amy Madigan? We’ve done a team-wide vote and two readers’ polls, highlighting both men and women. At this point, you might be a tad tired of this business. On the other hand, your picks were a nice clue into what performers the readership might be thinking of and harkening for, write-up-wise. With that in mind, it feels like a good opportunity to revive the long-dormant Almost There series, where I go over performances that garnered some significant precursor support before fizzling out on Oscar nomination morning. They were close, but no cigar.

Case in point: Barbara Hershey, who scored high in both the Team Experience and The Film Experience readers' vote, and might have come close to a second Academy Award nomination for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan…

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Pt 3 Reader's Ranking: Who should be the next Amy Madigan?

Pt 1 - Team Experience Votes 
Pt 2 - Team Experience Winners 
Pt 3 - AT LONG LAST THE RESULTS OF THE READERS POLL...

WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT AMY MADIGAN?

ELISABETH SHUE in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). What would it take to get her a comeback role?

We've spent the last couple of weeks bsessing over a question from a reader (thanks, Brian!) and we got so into discussing it at TFE HQ that we asked all of you to vote on the same question. The Team and Readers were unaware of each others vote totals during voting so nobody was influencing anyone. We've poured over the ballots that came in to suss out your passions and determine rankings.  In honor of this new film year, 2026, we'll share the  twenty-six actresses you're collectively rooting hardest for in terms of an Oscar comeback after just one nomination twenty or more years ago. We've included some quotes from your ballots too and hope you enjoy and continue the discussion. After the list, some fun stats. God, we love actresses!

YOUR TOP TWENTY-SIX

just-missed: Lena Olin & Candice Bergen were on as many or more ballots than Elisabeth Shue but weren't as highly ranked on the ballots they did appear on. They almost made it.

And a reader quote I just love to kick things off...

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Justice for Jeannie Berlin!

by Cláudio Alves

THE BRIDE!, Maggie Gyllenhaal | © Warner Bros.

The Team Experience had a lot of fun voting on that “Who should be the Next Amy Madigan?” poll, but, lovely as the final results might be, there will always be something to gripe about. For me, the major complaint is that I was the only fellow to pick Jeannie Berlin for their top ten, a grave injustice that warrants a write-up all by itself. If you don’t buy that excuse, then there’s The Bride!’s VOD release, where this erstwhile Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee dons a Sandy Powell-designed maid outfit to play Frankenstein’s Igor as reinvented by Maggie Gyllenhaal at her looniest. As Greta, Berlin makes for a delightful, if small, presence, hinting at a soft-spoken oddness that strikes an even weirder note than the movie’s other, more extravagant, grotesqueries. 

Fans of the actress shouldn’t be too surprised by this gentle scene-stealing, as Berlin has been doing this sort of thing for a good fifty years…

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