Supporting Actress (and Mothers & Sons)

It occurred to me when completing the Best Supporting Actress page -- now with "How'd they get nominated?" theorizing, Polls and Trivia -- that "The Wisdom of Crowds" might be in order for this category in terms of predictions. It's the only category that seems ripe for an upset, given both the nature of the category (the most frequently upsettable as it were) and the unfortunate turning of the tide against Melissa Leo. I say unfortunate because I think that Melissa Leo is absolute aces in The Fighter and far less deserving performances win Oscars every year! She'd be my personal winner in a year that didn't contain something as untoppable as Jacki Weaver's "Smurf" my first pencilled in candidate for Best of the Decade in 2020 when we pretend that the Oscars are only held once a decade.

So humor me by voting on this poll and explain yourself in the comments. Who IS going to win? Also make sure to vote on each of the categories for your "should win" on the Oscar pages

poll by twiigs.com

You know you want to.

It feels like a nailbiter as we just discussed on the podcast. I'm still leaning towards thinking that Leo is going to pull off the win, given that I think her competitors are probably too strong across the board to steal all the NOT LEO votes for themselves.

But while researching this category, I realized that if Bale and Leo both win for The Fighter, it'll be the first time since Holly Hunter & Anna Paquin in The Piano (1993) that actors playing immediate blood relatives have both won. But what of Mothers & Sons? It turns out there aren't very many of them that are ever nominated.

Ordinary People (1980) and My Left Foot (1989)

Past 50 Years of Mother & Son Oscar Combos - wins?
Melissa Leo and Christian Bale in The Fighter (2010) -we shall see
Julianne Moore and Ed Harris in The Hours (2002) -neither won
Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999) - neither won
Kate Nelligan & Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides (1991) - neither won
Brenda Ficker and Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989) -WINNERS!
Jessica Tandy and Dan Ackroyd in Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - only the mom
Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980) -only the son
Meryl Streep and Justin Henry in Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) -only the mom
Gladys Cooper and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964) - only the son
Thelma Ritter and Burt Lancaster in The Bird Man of Alcatraz (1962) -neither won

I think I've accounted for all of them. Are you fond of these pairings? Do you think we'll have another (fictional) mother & son set on Sunday night?

p.s. the SUPPORTING ACTOR Page is also updated

Links Episode 14,000,000,000

Film "How classicaly trained are this year's acting nominees?" Cool topic, don't you think?
Austin Translation. Cuteness. Pixar was laying down new cement and they let their employees leave a permanent personalized mark.
The Wrap explains Oscar's weighted ballot again. It's much less complicated than people think. And voting a movie #10 doesn't hurt it.
Awards Daily is disgusted by a recent comment by an Academy member who is not voting for Melissa Leo.
Scott Feinberg makes a passionate defense of Melissa Leo, who he considers a friend. Honestly she sounds very cool from the personal anecdotes therein. I've met her only once so I have no stories.
Amiresque a dozen movies to look forward to in 2011. God, I still haven't even though of this.

Bring Mad Men Back sign an online petition. AMC is still jerking fans around. Why on earth are they letting their best show gather dust. This kind of thing can really turn viewers against a network and less committed viewers away from a show. I'm feeling the anger.
Cinema Blend Rosamund Pike is in talks for a Clash of the Titans sequel. Ugh. I want some meaty roles from her.
A Socialite's Life apparently Jude Law and Sienna Miller have broken up... AGAIN. Those crazy kids. Maybe they should star in a remake of Same Time Next Year because obvs they're fond of repetition.
Carpetbagger a disobedient anecdote on the scoring of The Social Network

Finally, you know that AMC is still doing that Best Picture Showcase/Marathon thingy they do each year, right? Even with 10 nominees, they're tackling it. Will you?  Have you ever gone before? I'd try it one year except for that I'm always burnt out on the Best Pictures by the time Oscar night arrives having obsessed over them for five months.

Podcast: Now With Three Dream Layers

Actually it's just a reg'lar ol' podcast. But Nick, Joe and Katey are three and they're dreamy so that counts. My blog pals are back to discuss the Oscar race with me (if you're new I'm Nathaniel). Topics covered include...

• "Best of Sundance"
• Katey's interview with James Marsh
• Melissa Leo's personal FYC ads (see below -via)
• Just how many Oscars can The King's Speech win?
• Banksy for Exit Through The Gift Shop and other Docs
  
• The Social Network's editing
• David Fincher's frankness
• The Color Purple reunion on Oprah
• Toy Story 3 and the over-arching Pixar narrative
• Chris Nolan and Inception's Oscar hopes
• And more silliness...

Listen to podcast located at the end of this post. Join in the dreamy conversation in the comments.

wake me up. wake me uppppppppp

Melissa Leo's personal FYC ads

Podcast: The King's Kick

Best Supporting Actress. My Ballot

I'm so tardy with my own awards. I generally get all the major stuff up before Oscar nominations but no such luck this year. I'll try to throw up at least one category per day now so we can finish this month. The actress categories were TORTURE this year because there were definitely more than 5 award-worthy performances per. In fact, the performances were so good this year that it's really too bad they couldn't have been spread out over the past few years when the pickings were slimmer. I'm not finished with lead actress but Supporting Actress was easier. As is the tradition, I only list 12 women as nominees, finalists, and semi-finalists. I could've gone to 20. These are the dozen best in my estimation for the Film Bitch Awards...

Amy & Melissa, Acting Heavyweights for "The Fighter"

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone
• Anne Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
• Kirsten Dunst, All Good Things
• Kimberly Elise, For Colored Girls
• Ann Guilbert, Please Give
• Barbara Hershey, Black Swan
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
• Rosamund Pike, Made in Dagenham
• Mia Wasikowska, The Kids Are All Right
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
• Olivia Williams, The Ghost Writer

And even then I had no room for fine work from two of my favorite actresses: Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy). Apologies! Awardage is a hair-tearing teeth-gnashing business when you love too many too much and too often.

MY ACTING NOMINEES

Who made your list? Do you share the love of these performances?

Link Shop

Fandor Sheila O'Malley on Melissa Leo's career and her ship coming in.
Movie|Line 5 Ways The Social Network can reclaim its Oscar mojo.
Observations on Film Art Facial acting "less with the eyebrows" in The Social Network.
Playbill Actress Jane Lynch releasing a memoir in the fall. Fun.Vulture Harvey Weinstein's canny talking points to win The King's Speech votes. Not to be an ass but should anyone really hold up John Travolta as a taste-maker with a straight face? Yes, that filmography sure shows hisimpeccable taste in movies!
Movie | Line Sundance 11's Most Likely to Succeed

Self-Styled Siren "For the Love of Film Noir" blog-a-thon and restoration fundraiser in mid February
AV Club asks if they'd ever really give Banksy the doc Oscar for a heavily fictional oddity like Exit Through the Gift Shop
Pop Matters - Interesting piece on the fallible businees of naming "bests" and awardage in general.

We don’t sort art, it sorts us. Which piece of art tops the list says less about the quality of the art than who made the list. The shiny statuettes are shaped like human beings, because they signify the very human process by which they are awarded.

Finally, JA at MY NEW PLAID PANTS has begun to announce his annual Golden Trousers honors which includes "moments of awesomeness" like this one from Sofia Coppola's Somewhere...

My favorite part of SOMEWHERE

They're always good wacky fun to be had peering into JA's inimitable fever-addled brain.