Welcome to Beyond The Trailer’s coverage of the 2015 Academy Awards, giving you an
in-depth look at the top categories.
And of course, you’re also invited to vote in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll
for who YOU think deserves to win!
Right now we turn our attention to one category that is, unfortunately, pretty hard to fill
almost every year.
And in fact this year the pickins are so slim, there isn’t even any real contest as Julianne
Moore is expected to win the gold hands down.
But that doesn’t mean these nominations don’t mean anything, so let’s take a look
at whose career has just gotten a major boost...
Man, this nomination is perfect timing for Marion Cotillard, as the momentum from her
last nomination and WIN - seven years ago for La Vie En Rose - was just beginning to
peter out.
Yes after her win in 2008, Cotillard became a hot Hollywood commodity, appearing in Michael
Mann’s Public Enemies, Rob Marshall’s Nine, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Steven
Soderbergh’s Contagion, and - perhaps most famously - Christopher Nolan’s Inception
and The Dark Knight Rises.
To Cotillard’s credit, she’s always kept one foot in the world of indie and foreign
film - you’ll notice she didn’t have a lead role in any of those big Hollywood movies
- yet the big Hollywood offers seem to be fewer and farther between - largely because
mainstream audiences don’t seem to have sparked to her.
Now a strong career needs to balance out the box office hits with the critical hits, while
a lucky few can manage both simultaneously.
So with this nomination, Cotillard is reminding Hollywood how strong she is in the critical
category, and trying to leverage that for a role in big Hollywood blockbuster which
could use said credibility.
And it’s already worked!
With this nomination in the bag, Cotillard has just signed on to play what could be a
multi-movie role in Michael Fassbender’s Assassin’s Creed movie.
Sure it reunites her with Fassbender and director Justin Kurzel who are all involved in a new
adaptation of Macbeth, and heck isn’t Cotillard just a great actress that any production would
be lucky to have?!
Yet Kurzel signed onto Assassin’s Creed last SPRING...
So, think of Felicity Jones as a junior Marion Cotillard.
While comedy is quickly becoming an even playing field at this point, there’s still a considerable
lack of established dramatic female talent in Hollywood.
Both in terms of actresses that are pretty much guaranteed good reviews, and those that
can sell movie tickets.
Jennifer Lawrence can’t play EVERY role.
And since Hollywood craves SOME kind of stamp of approval - instead of discovering new talent
- Oscar nominations will have to do.
So while Cotillard joins video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed, Felicity Jones has just
landed one of the lead roles in the first Star Wars spin-off movie.
That’s a step up from her non-role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, potentially playing
Black Cat, which she landed because of turn in Like Crazy which landed her plenty of awards
nominations - but not an Oscar nomination.
Perhaps if it had, she’d have had some lines in Spidey 2!
Jones IS very good in The Theory of Everything, playing the ying to Stephen Hawking’s yang
- but she’s hardly given as challenging a role as co-star Redmayne.
Yep, this is the kind of category where you’re rewarded for not being over-shadowed in film,
rather than for casting your own shadow...
And when you get right down to it, perhaps that’s why Julianne Moore has such a lock
in this category.
She’s not only the lead of her film, where she is able to portray both the professional
and personal life of a successful modern day woman, but she’s the one who gets to actually
deal with the disease rather than react to a male character’s suffering.
But there’s more at work here than just her performance.
This is Moore’s FIFTH Oscar nomination and she has never won - while two of her fellow
nominees already have.
Wouldn’t The Academy rather make her another Streep than Lucci?!
And at the end of the day, even Lucci finally won!
This would also be an opportunity for Academy voters to check the box next to Moore, so
to speak, making sure that one of the finest - and most prolific - actresses of her generation
is appropriately honored.
It is kind of embarrassing when legends slip through the cracks...
The only potential hiccup is that Seventh Son is playing in theaters right now, and
some whisper it could have the Norbit effect - where voters say “Hell, no!
I’m not giving an Oscar to THAT!”
But while Eddie Murphy had more Norbits than Dreamgirls on his resume, Seventh Son is definitely
a rarity on Moore’s resume.
Heck if you’re going to focus on one of her rare paycheck gigs, focus on her role
in the highest grossing film of year domestically!
Now I’m sure many of you are thinking “Wait a minute, Rosamund Pike’s role in Gone Girl
is just as unique as Julianne Moore’s in Still Alice - maybe even more so!”
And you’re right, which is exactly the point.
The Academy is pretty old-fashioned, so even to nominate Pike’s work is a big step!
Academy voters haven’t recognized a role this salacious - and mainstream - since Glenn
Close in Fatal Attraction waaay back in 1988, and even Close didn’t win!
Yes, Gone Girl was a mainstream hit, a modern day Hitchcock if you will - and he never won
an Oscar either.
Instead he got an honorary one in 1968.
But Pike doesn’t need to win either, as this nomination alone is HUGE for her.
After making a big splash in Die Another Day back in 2002, Pike has been working steadily
with a mix of big roles in small films and small roles in big films - and sometimes even
moderate roles in moderate films.
Yet very few moviegoers could tell you her name even if they recognized her face.
Well Amy Dunne is a role - and a performance - that simply can’t be ignored, even by
The Academy.
Or...can it?
Pike won’t win here, and the Gone Girl team of David Fincher, Gillian Flynn and Ben Affleck
are RE-teaming to remake Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train - without her.
Plus while she has been pregnant with her second child - born just in December - she
really ought to decide on her next film before her agent’s phone stops ringing.
Just ask Cotillard and Jones - you gotta grab that next role before they DON’T read your
name on Oscar night!
Just like with Cotillard, the importance of this nomination is to remind Hollywood that
Reese Witherspoon has still got it.
She was nominated, and won, for Walk the Line back in 2006 - the culmination of her meteoric
rise which began with her breakout role in Legally Blonde.
But little did Witherspoon know that she was peaking, as she found herself starring in
a string of box office flops for the next few years.
In fact, she STILL hasn’t been able to climb out of her box office slump.
So again, like Cotillard, at least she can still hang onto her artistic reputation with
this nomination.
But one thing that is different this time around - and from Cotillard - is that this
nomination also helps give Witherspoon some credibility as a producer.
Wild actually has TWO Oscar nominations - also Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress - plus
what’s more Witherspoon produced Gone Girl for which Pike is nominated!
So while Witherspoon isn’t going to win this year as an actress, it is perhaps the
year Hollywood starts taking her seriously as a producer who can get a film into the
end zone both in terms of the box office - with Gone Girl - and awards season...
And those the Best Actress nominees!
Do you agree Julianne Moore should definitely win?
If not, be sure to express your opinion in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll via
the link in the video description!
I’m Grace Randolph, and I hope you’ll check out the rest of BTT’s Oscar coverage
- right now!