Among the celebrations and surprises at the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees last Tuesday (24th), Hollywood in particular provided a nomination for conversation.
The presence of Andrea Riseborough in the Best Actress category, known for her work in the film To Leslie, sparked accusations of violating the rules of the award. The case, being discussed by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, concerns the artist’s campaign, which they say is responsible for the lack of black actresses in the category this year. The organization said Friday it was investigating the case.
Introduced at last year’s American South by Southwest Festival, To Leslie is an independent production by Michael Morris, a director who has worked on episodes of wellknown series such as Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why and House of Cards.
The production follows Riseborough as a woman struggling to rebuild her life after spending an expired lottery win, struggling with alcohol addiction and a troubled relationship with her son.
In theory, being a smallbudget feature film distributed by a smaller company in the country’s market, Momentum Pictures, the work would not have the financial resources to fund a publicity campaign to reach award voters .
Actor Marc Maron even complained about the producer’s lack of effort to sell the film in December, calling Momentum’s work a “gross incompetence.”
What happened from then on was that the campaign was taken over by the actress of British origin and the agency she represents, CAA, one of the most important artistic representation agencies in Hollywood. That same December, anchored by an actress nomination at the Spirit Awards, Riseborough organized screenings and paid vehicle advertising to sell her work to voters.
More surprisingly, celebrities in the field began posting praise for his performance on social media, a maneuver that intensified around the time of the Oscar voting.
Artists including Cate Blanchett, Edward Norton, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Demi Moore, Mia Farrow and Charlize Theron posted messages of support for the actress, and Kate Winslet and Amy Adams moderated debates with Riseborough during the final stages of nominee selection.
The campaign didn’t go unnoticed by social media, which turned the volume of praise for the actress and her performance into a joke. Especially after Gwyneth Paltrow shared a photo with actors Morris and Cox on her Instagram, which highlighted that Riseborough should win “every prize there is and any that haven’t been invented yet.”
Confirming To Leslie’s nomination, however, split the industry primarily from confirming who voters passed in favor of the film. Until then, veterans Viola Davis for The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler for Till The Quest for Justice, both black actresses and anchored in major studio campaigns, were considered favorites to enter this year’s award in the category, which also features Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas, Michelle Williams and favorite Michelle Yeoh the first selfproclaimed Asian woman to be nominated for the award.
Chinonye Chukwu, director of “Till”, commented on the case on her Instagram account. “We live in a world and work in industries that are aggressively committed to promoting whiteness and upholding bold, targeted misogyny towards women of color.”
In addition to the diversity issue, the campaign also encountered internal criticism, accusing those involved of violating Academy rules. Attention is drawn to the attitude of Riseborough’s agent Jason Weinberg, who would have tirelessly harassed individuals to show his support for the actress.
He even wrote emails urging people to post about the film on social media daily, which violates the awards show’s lobbying rules. The organization prohibits contacting members directly to post candidatures.
Another “activist” in the film who caused trouble in the industry was actress Frances Fisher. In a nowdeleted posting on her Instagram, the artist wrote that Riseborough can guarantee a nomination “if 218 (out of 1,302) actors in the category’s voting arm nominate them for first place,” and also commented that Davis, Deadwyler, Yeoh, and Blanchett “would be sure of her phenomenal work”.
Allusion to the names of the participants is another maneuver that violates the award rules.
In an official statement, the academy says its aim is to ensure the competition is run in a fair and ethical manner, and is also committed to enabling an inclusive award. “We are conducting an investigation into the campaign procedures for this year’s nominees, ensuring no guidelines have been violated and determining whether changes are needed in this new era of social media and digital communications.”
A meeting between the directors of each branch of the organization is scheduled for next Tuesday, January 31, at which the campaign issue is expected to be discussed.
The last time the Oscars disqualified a nomination was in 2014, when Bruce Broughton’s “Alone Yet Not Alone” was removed from the award even after appearing in the category. At the time, the academy claimed the composer had improper contacts with constituents, a problem compounded by the fact that he was previously the organization’s director.
The Oscars will be held on March 12th at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.