My favorite time of the year is here! I’m so lame, I know, but I absolutely love the Hollywood Reporter’s annual Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot series. It’s very popular within the industry too, because so many other media outlets have copied the general structure: speak to a voting member of the Academy with the assurance that the voter’s name will never come out, and just let the voter talk as they’re filling out their ballot. The first THR ballot is from a female member of the Actors Branch of the Academy. And whew, this lady is incredibly shady. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
She hated Little Women: “Little Women was badly acted and confusing, and I have no idea why they cast four British actresses to play American girls. [Emma Watson and Florence Pugh are British, but Saoirse Ronan is Irish-American, and Eliza Scanlen is Australian.] And every time they said they were poor, I gagged — they’re living in a beautiful two-story house, and they have a cook.
Other films didn’t work: “Jojo Rabbit was cute, but I found myself unable to laugh about Hitler — I don’t think that’s funny. Marriage Story was phony: You don’t have an off-Broadway director and an off-Broadway actress living in a nice house with no day job — if an off-Broadway actor makes $150 a week, that’s a lot. If someone besides Martin Scorsese had directed The Irishman, it wouldn’t have all the accolades; it does because of his years in the business. It was too long and too repetitive, and the reverse-aging did not work — they erased the lines in their faces, but they still walked like old men.
This is a weird thing to say: “Parasite is beautifully done, but it didn’t hold up the second time, and I don’t think foreign films should be nominated with the regular films.”
Why she’s voting for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for Best Picture: “I loved 1917, but Quentin Tarantino’s film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was even better the second time than the first. I was in L.A. in the ’60s, and I thought he captured that era perfectly. 1917 was a very good but pretty straight-on story about the horrors of war; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was more complicated and stayed with me longer.
Her pick for Best Director is Tarantino: “I can’t vote for Marty [Scorsese, of The Irishman] — nobody wants to say it, but it’s just not that good. Todd Phillips did an incredible job on Joker, as did Bong Joon Ho on Parasite, but not the best. I liked 1917 and Sam Mendes’ direction, but I thought Quentin did a great job, and I want an American director to win. The Oscars is an American thing; English things win BAFTAs and the French vote for the French, and Quentin Tarantino should be honored for a great American movie.
She’s voting for Joaquin Phoenix: “I wasn’t particularly impressed by [Marriage Story’s] Adam Driver. [Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s] Leonardo DiCaprio has won already. I loved [The Two Popes’] Jonathan Pryce, but I don’t know if I want to give it to the pope. So for me, it was between [Pain and Glory’s] Antonio Banderas and [Joker’s] Joaquin Phoenix, and I had to go with Joaquin because that is a performance that sticks in your mind. Antonio’s was much more subtle and poignant; Joaquin hit it out of the park.
She’s voting for Renee Zellweger: “Saoirse Ronan is wonderful, and I’ve liked her in so many things, but not [Little Women]. I can’t vote for [Marriage Story’s] Scarlett Johansson for a story I thought was not truthful. I won’t vote for [Harriet’s] Cynthia Erivo because I think that they should have gotten an American actress to play Harriet [Tubman], not an English actress. [Bombshell’s] Charlize Theron did a good imitation [of Megyn Kelly], but I find the real Megyn irritating, so I found her irritating, too. Renée [Zellweger, of Judy] was just wonderful in the movie — her singing and everything, she’s just great.
Why she’s voting for ScarJo for Best Supporting Actress: “I was irritated by Florence Pugh [Little Women]; she is so much older than her character is supposed to be that it was laughable. “You’re, like, 30 years old [Pugh is actually 24], why aren’t you a grown-up?” [Marriage Story’s] Laura Dern was annoyingly over-the-top. If I was her client in a divorce case, I would have walked out five minutes into her rant and hired Ray Liotta. I usually love Margot Robbie, but I didn’t really like her in [Bombshell]; it was just a caricature. She was better in Quentin’s movie [Once Upon a Time in Hollywood]. Kathy [Bates, of Richard Jewell] is always good, but she didn’t really do anything that memorable. So I voted for Scarlett Johansson, even though I didn’t like Jojo Rabbit very much, because she did something kind of different than I’ve ever seen her do before.
Finally some hard truths about my nemesis Laura Dern!! Guess what Dern fam? My nemesis is “annoyingly over-the-top” in everything she does. I actually agree with her that Antonio Banderas is the only real challenger to Joaquin’s victory, the work Antonio did in Pain and Glory was so subtle and amazing. But Joaquin is still going to win. I found her misguided nationalism weird though – Parasite is an excellent movie and a great introduction to Korean filmmakers and Bong Joon-ho deserves more than to be put aside just because he’s not American. Now, that being said, I’m also very, very annoyed by all of the British actors getting cast in very specifically American roles. Very few of those actors are even getting the American accent right. Anyway!
Photos courtesy of IMDB.
“ I don’t think foreign films should be nominated with the regular films”
Regular?!? 😒
Ummm nationalist or outright racist? Both? Yeah let’s go with both.
Definitely both
Yeah, there were waaaaay too many comments in there like that to just wave them away. This lady seems ignorant (Florence Pugh and age), racist (“regular films”), AND hateful (“give it to the pope”).
Yeah exactly. The whole thing was a literal yuck. I felt disgusted reading this. This person is very problematic.
yes, precisely. i didn’t care for the parasite at all but this voter’s reasoning for not even giving it consideration is deplorable. holy trump supporter if i ever heard of one….
Yea this caused me to legit say WTF. Also the brits gave the BAFTAs, the French vote for the French so I’m goi g to vote for American film?
This person sounds kind of xenophobic.
Xenophobic and not too bright.
Yeah, that voter really told on herself there.
Also, “…and I want an American director to win.” Voting with nationality outweighing quality? Wow. Just wow.
Another vote for both, here. Halfway through reading I stopped and said aloud, “well, she definitely voted for Donald Trump.”
That’s what I said! I wanted to know who it was so I can stop supporting their “America first“-ass.
+1. I got the Drumph vibe, too.
They are emboldened these days and it ain’t pretty.
She sure does only have petty “annoyances” with women and non-whites…classic sexist handmaiden. Of course she loves OUATIW…
Racist, sexist, ageist, xenophobic…
… but hey, they love America and can’t laugh at Hitler. I weep.
Ha, your comment is spot on.
Yes – the whole thing made me very uncomfortable, all the “everyone must be American!” nonsense. I’d be REEEAAAALLLY curious to know who this is.
Also, Laura Dern is one of my favorite actresses, and I think she’s great.
Maybe both. Most certainly old. If she was on the scene (in her 20s or older) in Hollywood in the 60s, that makes her every bit of 70 — at least.
Oh My!!!!
I might be a SJW of the worst kind, but I can’t get past my disgust that Tarantino used a brutal murder as a cheap PR stunt for a movie about two middleaged twats. If you are ripping up a trauma like that, you should at least have some respect for the subjectmatter to depict it truthfully. Not that Tarantino have the ability to show any kind of respect, but you know….maybe at the very least don’t announce that you will release the movie on the anniversary of the murders. Absolute muppets. The lot of them.
I honestly think the movie would’ve been better if Sharon was completely removed and it was never alluded the murder was supposed to happen to her.
SPOILER
It seemed like the only reason Sharon was even written on the story was for Tarantino to “justify” the ammount of violence directed at the female murderers at the end of the film. Yes, they were murderers; yes, Tarantino’s always been violent; but the dude’s (who was just as much a murderer as the 2 women) death was just that as opposed to the outrageous torture porn the women’s deaths were.
That whole project gave me the creeps so I haven’t seen it, but from what I’ve read about it, it feels like the Tate story is completely unnecessary.
@Biff: I agree Tate’s story line was completely unnecessary. But, thanks to Margot Robbie’s performance, she ended up being the most compelling character in the film, imho.
@Biff
She adds absolutely nothing to the story, just that morbid expectation she’s supposed to die at the end. You could literally edit out all of her scenes and the movie would still be perfectly cohesive. Hell that would’ve been a great idea because that movie was definitely too long.
That was an enthralling film, but the nightmare of what truly happened just wouldn’t go away. I came out of it feeling so sad because Sharon Tate did not escape that fate. She, her child, and her friends died horribly.
Sharon Tate’s plotline was compelling if you want to see shots of Margot Robbie’s feet (completely bare, propped up, in a movie theatre… gross, who does that…?). That’s it. I find QT’s constant need to force his actresses to “bare their soles” kind of exploitive. I read somewhere that Margaret Qualley really wasn’t comfortable with the extended, unnecessary, and unnatural foot shot while she’s in the car with Brad Pitt’s character, but QT made her do it. It’s all just a little uncomfortable for me. You see Leo’s feet a lot in the movie, but he’s floating in a pool so it just doesn’t seem as forced. I don’t know, this just bugs me about QT’s movies so much.
Yes to the description of the violence against the 2 Manson girls at the end as “torture porn.” An older woman (80-plus) told me how much she enjoyed those women “getting it” in the end. One reviewer reported that his auditorium applauded when the women were getting brutally killed. And I am someone who still grieves the Manson gang’s victims and hates what they did to Tate, the La Biancas, and all the other victims. But this cinematic vengeance that asked us to celebrate the violent killings of the Manson girls, and revere the saintly Sharon Tate, reeked of a Madonna/whore complex and felt misogynistic. Maybe I’m too forgiving of earlier QT films but the misogyny felt all the way ramped up in OUATIH to me.
@Dee Kay
I agree. For me what really destroyed that scene and made me feel uncomfortable was that that the man had it so easy compared to the women. If he had only had it just as bad, I’d brush this off as Tarantino’s juvenile need to add outrageous violence in everything he does. But the choice of reserving that just for the women was uncomfortable. Especially if you take in mind his reputation working with women, the feet, the Uma Thurman incident, and that in Hateful Eight he did the same thing reserving the most brutal violence for the woman only. It ruined the whole movie for me, it was like those entire 2 and a half hours of film only existed so he could brutally murder 2 women at the end and make it feel just.
Also, wasn’t it disturbing that Pitt’s character had “allegedly” killed his wife, and that the only moment we ever saw of this dead wife was her nagging her husband and being annoying? The actor who in real life is an alcoholic going through one of the most public divorces ever after what seems like a case of domestic violence?
Tarantino has lost his touch long ago in my opinion and his movies have only gotten more juvenile and morbidly misogynist.
I though Tarantino was doing just that, using a tragedy to sell movie tickets, but when I saw the film I understood him – it was like a dream of how it all could have been different, he squashed and torched the horrid gang like in a comic book. It really is a fairytale, I think it’s an excellent movie.
Pitt is always solid great and I think he was really good, but I feel like Taron Egerton as Elton John had a much more demanding role and I don’t know why he was not nominated.
I agree with you. I didn’t expect to like the movie, but I did. We got to see Sharon Tate as a person who had the good heart to ask if her washed up actor neighbor was okay. The movie gave her a chance to be more than just a victim of senseless murder. The way it was filmed, I felt at times I was riding along in the backseat of the car, dashing around 1960s Hollywood. You saw the veneer and you saw the underbelly, a goodbye to an era. Maybe it was just nice to see how it was and how it could have been.
I’d like to add, I saw it as a celebration of life. He gave the story the happy ending the people deserved, like coloring soft pink sunset over the bad “real” of the world.
This made me think of a fiction book based on a true, horrific tragedy where a mentally ill nanny killed two children. That book made me livid furious, that someone thought it was a good idea to make entertainment about the sadness of it all – disgusting. This is not the case with Tarantino’s movie, in my opinion.
It was gross, lazy storytelling. He could have told that EXACT same story without using the murders as a plot device.
Mr. Rice wanted to see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. We both fell asleep after 15 minutes. On a Saturday night. BEFORE our wine glasses were half empty.
@Kelly
IA and in addition to the Pitt character being so cavalierly violent and justified in every single thing he ever did (including whatever may have happened with his wife off-screen), he got to beat up Bruce Lee, which did not sit well with me at all. So on top of the misogynism there was this whiff of racist desire for a white character to “cut down to size” the first Asian global action superstar. Bruce Lee died tragically early, too, so it didn’t feel fair or right that Tate got to be a mythical perfect woman while Lee had to be reduced to a weak, sniveling caricature.
That scene is actually based on a true story, a “fight” between real life stuntman Gene LeBell and Lee on the set of The Green Hornet.
Mike Moh was great by the way.
At least 10 of you have convinced me not to bother with this film. As someone who lived in the area at the time, I would hate the rewriting of history not to mention the gratuitous violence and forced exposure to Tarantino’s foot fetish. Ew. I was actually all prepared to see it but No.
It doesnt matter that the scene happened irl, what matters is his decision to put it in the film. He’s going full incel.
That comment about Megyn Kelly,I legit laughed my ass off.Pettiness on a whole different level
Ugh. I just- ugh.
I love this series because it demonstrates how off base many members of the academy are in their thought process. Like, I think most people would assume that the Best Picture Oscar would go to the BEST PICTURE released that year. But no, this individual thinks it has to be the best AMERICAN film. Her selections are very personalized based on her life and point of view. Obviously LA in the 60s was meaningful for her so it made her selections less than objective. In some categories she seems a bit more unbiased, but man, that nationalist streak is pretty ugly. I wonder how often that line of thinking comes up when a British film is in contention for best picture? (I am sure not a lot, because racism. So sad.)
Viewing art is a very subjective thing. We are moved by different music, different visual art, some movies touch some people emotions, where some people really don’t see what’s great in them. Thats why comparing movies is like comparing apples and oranges. All these awards don’t really make sense and people should not get all worked out about them.
I don’t disagree with you, Sarar. That’s why I like reading these as it gives insight into the point of view from the voters. (Early in my career as an actress I feel like I heard many times that “you might remind the producer of his ex, Or mother-in-law, or whatever, so don’t take casting decisions personally”. Biases play into decisions and that’s human nature). So that part of my observation was separate from noting that this individual really doesn’t want to vote for anything unAmerican unless it’s in a special category like Foreign Film.
I think it’s more xenophobia than racism. I doubt she would treat an European movie from a non-English speaking country the same as a British movie. Actors and directors from the UK, Ireland amd Australia have a huge advantage in Hollywood beceause of the language.
MMC, that’s racism because she doesn’t view UK, Ireland, Aussie, etc as foreigners. Only the Asian people.
She lost me when she said the “Greta Whatever” comment for Best Documentary Feature
What. An. Asshole. Comment. WOW SMMFH
She seems like an absolute nationalist treat. Ugh. I found her comments on American Factory the weirdest. She’s annoyed with a documentary for documenting people’s reaction? Ugh.
I actually agree with what she said except about Parasite – if a foreign language film is seen as the best film of the year it should win no matter the language. I also was bugged about Greta G hiring all non Americans for such American roles except the one American who was miscast. The only two I haven’t seen are JoJo Rabbit and joker and I hope to remedy that today.
I finally saw Little Women last weekend and found myself distracted because I was paying too much attention to the March sisters’ varying versions of an American accent.
I hated this version of Little Women. All the way from the odd “American” accents to Florence Pugh’s two-packs-a-day-and-a-shot-of-whiskey voice while trying and failing to convince me she was a young Amy. Ugh
The accents were very distracting, laughable at times.
I mean she was a jerk about Pugh’s age, but I agreed with her point that she was way too old for the part. It felt she was playing someone with a cognitive delay, not a child. It was really distracting.
I agree with her JoJo Rabbit statement. I don’t think anything about Hitler’s Germany is funny.
The Producers is the obvious exception. JoJo was different, though.
Why would The Producers be an obvious exception? It does literally the exact same thing. As have many other films before.
Because it didn’t take place in Nazi Germany and Hitler looks ridiculous.
Audrey, have you seen Jojo? There is nothing “funny” about Hitler’s Germany in that movie. There are ridiculous people, there are ridiculous circumstances and mishaps but Taika is respectful as ever. I watched it on Sunday, as a German in a German theatre (in English because frankly I don’t see how you could translate some of the jokes). The room was roaring with laughter and crying ten minutes later. Truely one of the best movies I’ve seen in years.
(My generation does make fun of Hitler, because we know enough about our history to understand that these people were *just* people. That’s scary enough, there’s no need to demonise them. Although this discussion happens every few years. Personally I will always fall on the side of laughing about ridiculous, dumb people because sometimes that’s all we have left. It can happen again, it seems to have started already…)
great comment.
I saw it and I’m not sure what generation you are, but I did not think it was “funny” that a Jewish girl was hiding in a closet. You can laugh all you want, I choose not to.
Audrey… that wasn’t the joke.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The film was casting the Nazi ideology in a ridiculous light (because they are ridiculous sentiments), not poking fun at the plight of the Jews or the atrocities of the war. If you didn’t walk away from that movie thinking it portrayed World War II and the Nazis in a horrifying way, then you missed something major.
She really hate the British huh.
And like the blogger doesn’t see the difference between British, Irish, Australian…
This person sounds like an absolute see you next Tuesday and the academy will be so much better when her ilk are no longer memebers.
I have disliked Laura Dern quite intensely for decades now. I can’t really explain why, other than that she’s so very very very annoying.
She plays the same character right?
I don’t hate her or anything but I’ve never quite understood the hype around her. I think her flamboyancy can be fun to watch in certain movies, but sometimes she does that character in serious films and looks very out of place and obnoxious. Every role I’ve seen her in is some variation of her Renata character from Big Little Lies.
This voter clearly knows very little about domestic help/work in the 18th and 18th centuries.
Most households employed domestic help, even poor ones. The keeping of a house was exhaustive, unrelenting work, and it did not cost very much comparatively speaking to employ household help. It was more a pooling of resources than true employment as we think of it now.
The Alcotts would have had room for another body and could afford another mouth to feed. The cook would spend her time tending to meals, cleanup, shopping, gardening, tending the fire etc in exchange for room and board and a small salary that didn’t pay for much and likely was thought of as not needing much.
And while it’s been ages since I read it and it may not even mention it, it’s likely grandma with the coins was paying the cook. It’s probably akin to paying your daughter’s cell phone bill.
The Alcotts were poor by the standards of the society in which they lived due to Bronson Alcott’s schemes but their mother had some inherited wealth, not a lot, to keep them going. They did live in a 2 story house and did have a housekeeper but their meals were simple, mostly vegan or vegetarian with lots of apples from their orchard unless the father was away, then they ate meat. Louisa and May were working at young ages to support the family.
Right. Note the Dashwoods, who severely economized their budget by cutting meat and looking for a lower rent cottage but keep some of their servants.
Or the Bennetts who made sure to let people know that though they had little, they could still keep a few servants.
Having at least one servant to tend to food prep and other daily tasks left more time for other cost saving labor like gardening, canning, mending, and other small jobs.
I just visited the Alcott House a few months ago, and the tourguide said that the Alcotts were poor because Louisa’s father was so terrible at managing money, and because of this, Louisa was obsessed with making money from a young age. And Louisa’s father had some radical ideas about diet (beyond vegetarianism/veganism, he objected to eating anything that had grown underground) so that their family’s diet was primarily graham, bread, and apples.
Plus wasn’t the father off at war for a good chunk of the story? That would put a strain on most households too.
You’re right. It did. Also, the girls were poor compared to their aunt, who had plenty. When your relatives are wealthy, you are the poor cousins. It’s also implied that the family is generous in sharing what they have, so there’s less.
Laura Dern has always gotten on my nerves. LD and Goopy both have hollywood careers built on their parents talents and connections, without that they’d be serving up fries at McDonalds for a living. There.I.Said.It.
Unpopular opinion, but I just re-watched Shakespeare in Love and I thought Goop did a really excellent job… She’s never lived up to that performance though.
Wow. This woman is an a**hole.
So American and British actors can play every nationality under the sun, but not eachother. I find if so annoying when people complain about that, but it was a ok for Keira Knightley to play Ana Karenjina? And let’s not get into accent. I have yet to hear a proper Eastern European accent in a Hollywood movie.
This! It’s ridiculous for americans to complain about British or any other nationality playing an American when they keep playing all existent nationalities or mixing them without any concern (Spanish speaking as if it would be Portuguese, “Germans” with funky accent…). If Scarlett can play Asian, robots and trees, anyone can play an American and be less offensive.
As a lawyer I agree with this statement “If I was her client in a divorce case, I would have walked out five minutes into her rant and hired Ray Liotta.” Laura’s character bothered me sooo much. I could never take my jacket off at the court like she did in Marriage Story.
OMG the jacket scene killed me! That is NOT done!
From what Hollywood types have said, Laura was channeling Laura Wasser who acts like a star herself.
Laura Dern’s character in Marriage Story is based on Noah Baumbach’s exwife’s Jennifer Jason Leigh’s divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser. She’s known for being a high powered divorce attorney for HW ppl.
LD’s character was SUPPOSED to be a caricature of a high powered LA lawyer. I believe she was intentionally written as ridiculous and a little too showy and you weren’t necessarily supposed to love her.
Yes, this. I’m indifferent toward Dern and her performance here (I thought it was fine but nothing special), but just because the character is showy and over the top doesn’t mean it was a poor performance on her part.
“I don’t think foreign films should be nominated with regular ones” it’s amazing how when they’re anonymous the racism JUMPS OUT.
This woman sounds like a f*cking idiot. Which explains why the nomination process is garbage.
It explains why she likes Scar Jo too.
YUP.
That isn’t racism. She’s nationalistic and xenophobic but not racist. Too many people throw that word around and use it improperly.
I know what racism and xenophobia are hun. I also know the difference. And the fact that she is referring specifically to an Asian film and essentially “othering it” actually reeks of BOTH. Now please take the condescending tone elsewhere.
Agree with the comment that this is not necessarily racism.
She also criticized the British casting of Cynthia Erivo to play Harriet Tubmam over a black American actress. This seems to be a trend in many films.
I just watched Pain and Glory the other day and loved it. I found it a little slow to begin with but it’s a film that sneaks up on you and by the end I was mesmerized.
Margot was better in OUTIH?! How is that possible? She said all of 10 words. She was there to look pretty. She didn’t even have to act. I disagree with a lot of this commentary.
Margot is not American, so I assume this awful voter didn’t want her to speak!
Of the movies I’ve seen, the only thing I agreed with her is that Florence Pugh was too old to play the 12/13 year old version of Amy. I have no idea why they didn’t cast a younger actor in the role for the earlier years. There’s a scene when she is in school surrounded by little girls talking to her, and she looks like the muscular, deep voiced, 20 something she is. It was almost comical, but mostly disconcerting and my only complaint about an otherwise lovely movie.
(Laura Dern was even good in it)
Yes. I was so confused by Florence Pugh as Amy. It was laughable. She looked HUGE in the schoolyard and sitting at her tiny desk at school, and she looked like she could have been the eldest sister, not the youngest. I was also confused by Emma Watson as Meg because I thought Meg was blonde or had very light brown hair. I also pictured Meg as looking more “womanly,” I guess, and Emma Watson is just so thin and petite.
Honestly, I walked out half way through little women. I didn’t like how it jumped around. I couldn’t believe any of the characters except Jo. I didn’t feel invested in them or like I had spent enough time with any of them to really care about their struggles or even care about Beth being sick and dying. We just didn’t spend enough time with them. I feel like little women is a story that needs to be told in chronological order from beginning to end, because the story is very much about them all growing up and each event in their lives leads to the next and shapes their character.
When you jump around so much, the story loses its continuity and you also don’t get to see how their characters developed and change. You also don’t get to see how their various relationships with each other and with Laurie and with the other characters developed.
And I found Marmee to be nothing like the Marmee in the book. Book Marmee was cool and calm, she was organized, she was a constant source of the wisdom that comes with maturity. Movie Marmee was flighty and scattered and definitely not the one stable and constant character in her girls’ lives.
Cynthia Erivo was wonderful as Harriet Tubman. Renee Zellweger was awful as Judy Garland. F**k this woman’s “only Americans can play Americans” rah rah blah blah shit.
Harriet was awful and the role should have gone to a black American actress.
I agree. And Cynthia Erivo has said some problematic things that she can’t easily explain away.
@Guest2.0 exactly. I was going to mention this but didnt want to spend the energy on it lol. But yes, Erivo has said some really ignorant things about black Americans and black American history and I dont think she “gets” it and therefore shouldnt have been playing such an iconic black American like Tubman. Not to mention that she’s simply not that great in the role.
I wasn’t aware of Miss Erivo’s comments. Sorry.
Had I been aware I’m sure that would have affected the way I viewed her performance.
I was SO excited for the film. “Harriet” should have been the American movie of the decade. It wasn’t, sadly, and Harriet’s casting was part of that. Disclosure: I’m a pasty white American, so my perspective is not by any stretch the most important one to read, but here’s how I received the casting of Harriet Tubman:
As a history major who went into my education not much caring about American history at all, I was converted to a love of my own nation’s history through the life stories of John Adams and Harriet Tubman. They are my iconic images of what being an American should look like. I think Harriet is on that list for a lot of Americans. She is ours, and more importantly, she belongs to black Americans and their stories in this nation. The prospect of Harriet’s life and achievements finally getting some proper cinematic attention excited me. I sat and anticipated the announcement of which of our talented black actresses would get launched by this career-making role. I thought, “this is gonna be huge.”
And then they cast a British woman to play her.
I generally don’t mind this. There are many, MANY American stories that can be told with non-American actors. There are many American stories that could be told BEST with a non-American actor. But not Harriet. Her story is a defining story, and it belongs to the people of the U.S.A., the people her life changed and the people her life continues to inform. She is a real and tangible human being who lived on this earth and, in defiance of every power against her, demonstrated everything beautiful, everything hopeful, and everything worth emulating about America. She battled against the worst demons and resurrected the finest angels of our nation’s origins. Her life was all of it, and her spirit of righteous rebellion and defiance and selfless love embody the foundational ideals of American culture as well as any historical figure who ever lived here. The fact that nothing I just said is an exaggeration or romantic overstatement should blow people’s minds. She was uniquely a real-life superhero, an Avenger even Marvel couldn’t make up. The person chosen to play Harriet Tubman was an important decision.
We have black actors in this country who could have loved Harriet and embodied her from a much deeper, more respectful, and more authentic place. Harriet didn’t need to be “protected.” She needed to be unleashed in an authentic way, a truthful way. Frankly, black American actors were owed the opportunity to take that on. I think the role’s importance, black Americans in general, and Harriet’s memory in particular…deserved that much.
We all understood why casting in Harry Potter was closed to American actors. It made total sense. So why-oh-why is it frowned upon for Americans to point toward Harriet Tubman and say, “Nope. Gotta be one of us.” It should have been obvious, and it makes me very sad that it wasn’t.
I did not know that she was British until very recently. And I am stunned that they didn’t find one of our talented actors to play this iconic and important figure in our history. What a waste of an opportunity.
@Marigold I appreciate your passionate fandom for Harriet Tubman! I too grew up as a devoted Tubman fan and was shocked that an African American actress wasn’t cast. That said, I think Erivo did a good job. BUT still, the part should absolutely have gone to a Black American performer.
Wrong. Renee was outstanding as the manic, nervous Judy Garland in the months before her death. Renee’s job was to capture Judy, and she did that in spades. You may not like the character she portrayed, but her acting was on point.
I liked the character fine. I’ve been a JG fan for at least 65 years. I’m well aware of her last years. I never for a moment thought I was seeing anything other than RZ employing RZ’s tics doing a poor job of playing JG. You’re welcome to your view and I stand by mine.
I haven’t seen every nominated film, but of those I have, I thought Jojo Rabbit was far and away the best. A touching, nuanced, intelligent film. It wasn’t trying to “make Hitler funny,” it was trying to poke fun at the absurdity of such hatred that still exists in our world today. I thought it was kinda perfect.
Yes. I’m all for any type of content that makes fun of Nazism.
+1000000000.
People, go watch that movie!
Finally saw JoJo rabbit. LOVED it! Completely original with a great anti- hate message. Certainly deserves to win over that tired Oscar bait war movie 1917.
Okay but WHO IS SHE???!!! I know it’s kinda the point that we never find out but I need to know who this person is, lol!! Thoughts, anyone?
She was in Hollywood at the time of OUATIH(1969), so probably 70+ if that helps.
And white and american, she has made sure to make that clear.
I I think a lot of what the secret voter said was ridiculous but she was spot on about 2 things- laura dern in marriage story was over the tip, even when considerating the caricature dialogue she was working with. I can’t believe that’s really the best supporting actress role that year. Also I went to see Little Women in the theater wanting to love it. But it was really poorly directed- like a budget BBC miniseries from the 80s, and the script was uneven and did no favors to the source material. It was just a poorly constructed movie and the only unreason it seemed to get so much attention was because it had top rate actors and an it girl director. That didn’t make it a well written or directed movie, though. Full disclosure, I loved the 94 version
She wants an American film set in the 60s but says nothing about Ford v Ferrari.
Read the complement article,she likes Ferrari VS Ford.
What is funny is that she likes Bale usually whereas he acts an American character in every movie for 20 years and he is British
She probably doesn’t even realise he’s British given how she also didn’t realise that 2 out of the 4 “British” girls in Little Women are not in fact British. Also the book clearly explains Hannah’s presence in the house… and why they have a nice house in the first place
Ford vs Ferrari is really good and would deserve to win.
Tarrentino definitely knows how to point a camera.
And he delights in doing so in ways that allows the camera to creatively linger over women getting the cr@p kicked out of them in long, violent, bloody ways.
Hey, that guy Brad Pitt played? The performance that will win him an Oscar? That character’s wife *deserved* to die! She wasn’t hot & she made fun of his masculinity!
It’s really frustrating to read that this voter (and surely others) vote for people by process of elimination. Megyn Kelly annoys her and so Charlize also annoyed her, so she’s not voting for her? For being annoying playing someone she admits is annoying IRL? Doesn’t that mean… Charlize played her well?
And not voting for people because they’re English, not American? Not voting for films because they’re foreign? What on earth? This logic is wild.
I also just have to say Adam Driver was great in Marriage Story and deserves more love for it. That whole theatrical fight scene wasn’t my favorite (because of the writing, not the actors), but I thought he was just brilliant in those quiet moments.
I got to the inane xenophobic garbage about “The Oscars are an AMERICAN thing” and had to stop reading before my eyes crossed themselves from being rolled too hard. So I didn’t get to see what was said about Dern. Dern it.
ETA wow this idiot is really…patriotic huh? Ugh.
Ugh, she voted the movie from my country – “Honeyland” in the best documentary category :/
The movie is lovely and wonderful, and I really really hope they win, but I don’t want this assholes vote.
I mean in this day and age to be shamelessly xenophobic, racist and ageist, lady wtf???
This reads like that crazy interview Angelica Houston did a while ago.
*cough* renee zellweger as bridget jones *cough*
There are plenty of Brits, Americans, Australians and actors of other nationalities being cast as American, British, Irish, etc characters. If people can do the job, why be salty about it?
Because Harriet Tubman was not Bridget Jones.
Parasite should win over OUATIH. For best director and best picture. Every aspect of it is brilliant in my opinion. And why shouldn’t a foreign film win? Because there’s a separate category for best foreign film? Many actors and directors who are not American have won the big awards in the past….seems like a dumb reason not to vote for the better movie/performance. If the movie had a global impact, which Parasite definitely has, it should definitely be up for all the big awards.
These voters are often awful but I also love this THR series. One of my favorite parts of the award season!
I completely agree about The Irishman. It was boring and slow. Scorscese should have cut an hour. Plus, I couldn’t get past DeNiro playing Irish. I mean, sure he is a brilliant actor, but since they had to magnify the fact that he was Irish, I didn’t buy it.
Agree, not Scorsese’s best movie at all. Also DeNiro’s young digital face was so distracting.
“Siri, show me an American actress who lost a Best Supporting Actress Oscar to a British woman 30+ years ago and absolutely never got over it.”
Her rampant xenophobia and racism is shameful not ‘brutally honest’
I feel like this voter is textbook old school Hollywood. The only thing they like better than a white savior slavery movie is one that focuses on the lives and struggles of actors. Add in Hollywood nostalgia and “American film rules them all” attitude and you’ve got this woman.
I love reading this feature every year. Read the whole article. This person sounds a bit obnoxious but I actually agreed with some ( not all)of her insights. Yes she’s definitely pro American so don’t think we’ll be voting for the same candidates, but like the candor. Don’t have much else to add, but regarding Little Women, most adaptations the actresses always
look too old. Saoirse Ronan visually just does not look like Jo to me. Just doesn’t. And kind of agree about Cynthia Erivo. She’s a good actress but her Harriet casting got a lot of people pressed. I get sick of all these war movies, mostly because they have this false heroic narrative about a nobler time. Anyway, at least she admits she doesn’t watch everything. You know she’s some old school type who spends half her time golfing in a Palm Springs and talking about how great it was back in the day.
Yeah, this lady is a racist Trump voter. I started to suspect her age and demographic before she got to the misplaced nostalgia for OUATH, and the subtle jabs at women. Just goes to show the average racist academy voter I guess.
She’s is xenophobic BUT I do get annoyed at all the opportunities British (white) people get over POC Americans and from other nationalities.
I think it comes down to training and work ethic. A lot of current famous American actors were either child stars or else they are related to someone in the industry.
Most famous British actors are theatre trained and have come up through British theatre combined with British TV work. The training shows.
Similarly there are two main kinds of Aussie actor that get a lot of work in the US: 1. Theatre-trainer / went to prestigious acting schools, 2. Came up through Home & Away or Neighbours. Sometimes a combination of both.
The actors who come from the second category (Margot Robbie, the Hemsworths, Isla Fisher, etc etc) are apparently in demand in Hollywood because the work schedule in those shows is so intense. They shoot every day on crazy schedules and get scripts about half an hour out, do 1-2 takes and then on to the next scene. It means they work hard and fast and are used to quickly memorising lines and adapting in scenes. Hollywood realised they liked that kind of training.
I think the US needs to foster more of a British system of training actors theatrically and at schools and then hiring actors from those backgrounds for tv and movies more often. Currently US actors seem to get hired due to looks or connections more often than not and theatre and film are extremely siloed unless you’re a big star. If that happens then I think those British and Aussie actors might be less appealing.
Quentin Tarantino is gross, he’s addicted to gratuitous violence and I never watch his movies, ever. I hope he doesn’t win. I wish he would go away.
Ugh. Well, when one opinion is right and everything else one says is a total disaster and prejudicial trash then the one right opinion is a coincidence right? Sue sounds like some America first Trumper. She is irritated by story about sexual harassment, she thinks americans should play every and any role in the entire world like acting is not actually pretending to be someone else. Her only argument is I did not like it. She probably is not very smart as well because she completely missed the point of Jojo rabbit, cute is weirdest description one can come up with for it. And please, OUATIH the best film? Give me an effing break!
Parasite is the best movie I’ve seen in a few years. It was totally unexpected and I was drawn into the movie right away. It was so compelling, the fact that I was reading subtitles didn’t bother me at all. It was a movie that makes you gasp out loud. I said. ” I didn’t see THAT coming a few times.” It deserves all the awards.
In the clips (haven’t seen film) she looks over the top in her acting. Didn’t like her in The Last Jedi but she was excellent in Jurassic Park. Directors need to rein her in.
Every year there is a surprise at the academy awards and most often it comes from the supporting actress category. There’s hope!
Well her opinions had an oddly nationalistic flavour to them…
About Laura Dern – I thought she was great in Marriage Story – really captured a particular type of person. Then I saw her as Marmee in Little Women and she was really terrible. Hard to believe she gave one great performance and then a completely inept one.
As a Black woman I wasn’t offended by Harriet because Cynthia Erick is British( WHO CARES?), I was offended that the worst person in the movie was a Black.man and for some reason a White slave owner and his “redemption” had to become part of her story. Uhhh, why can’t a Foreign film be Best Picture?? I suspect that this person has issues….
Agreed. Subtle racists like her _always_ find fault with non-white performers and projects. And they love raising the goalposts.
On casting non-American actors: sometimes funding from outside of America stipulates that a certain number of roles must be given to certain citizens. I have no idea if Gerwig or Lemmons got that type of funding but I watched an interview where David Cronenberg once explained why he cast Julianne Moore and Mia W. in his last movie, Maputo the Stars.
She was as you point out ignorant in calling Saoirse British. But the British media quite often does that too. It gets tedious 99 years after independence. Maybe the penny will drop after another century. I’d also dispute her characterisation as an Irish American. That’s usually used to describe an American of Irish descent, often several generations removed. She has lived in Ireland since she was very young, and I think she’s Irish. I think she does too.
I loved Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and couldn’t get too indignant about the violence at the end, given they were homicidal maniacs. It’s sad that it didn’t end like that in real life.
This woman seems incredibly ignorant.
But on your comment about being annoyed at Brits playing Americans. You may not know this but Americans have been playing ‘non-Americans’ since forever, and it’s always been insulting as American actors do the worst English /Irish /Australian accents,as in laughable. It’s about time it went the other way.
They will pull QT in for the best picture upset. This is why they printed this article. Watch and see!
And people still want to believe Oscars have no race issues.
Major eye roll
Oscar voters are, by and large, petty and irrational in their reasoning. Yes, it’s all subjective but few make informed, impartial, intelligent decisions. It’s no wonder the winners are often ridiculous (or worse, deeply mediocre). In the end, the Oscars – and indeed all awards – have almost no bearing on how a film will be remembered. Time sorts that out; usually making a mockery of their choices. All the Oscars are is a peg to hang conversation on, and a time capsule of what a particular bunch of people thought at certain moment in time.