Sweeney: Welcome back to our Oscar preparation, Traumateers. We skipped last weekend because we were busy with life and other such things. Mostly I was getting my hair curled by patient bridesmaids for all of forever last Saturday. MY BEST FRIEND GOT MARRIED, GUYS. THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING, BUT I’M STILL EXCITED.
Lor: LEGIT.
Sweeney: AND YOU USED A LESLIE/BEN GIF? I LOVE YOU.
Anyway, today we are going to go through the nominees for Best Actress in leading and supporting roles. (We’ll do the actors next week.) We say this a lot, but seriously seriously, much of the fun of this for us is in hearing your thoughts, so while this is partially us doing the “Watching shit so you don’t have to” thing, it’s also an invitation for you to share your thoughts and feels if you have seen anything below, or just like to speculate about this stuff because that’s fun too.
Also, most of these movies were given summaries in the Best Picture/Best Director post, so we won’t go over basic plot summaries again, except for the three movies that weren’t on that post.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain / Zero Dark Thirty
Sweeney: A month ago, this award was entirely Chastain’s to lose. I’d still say that the safer bet is on her, but Jennifer Lawrence is a viable contender. Jessica Chastain was awesome in this movie. I mentioned this in the Best Picture post, but one of the things that I loved about this movie was that beyond the larger political plot is the story of Maya (Chastain) who dedicates ten years — basically her entire adult life — to this hunt and if you didn’t already know the successful payout was coming in the end, it gets the feel of becoming an obsession in the latter half of the film, when this is truly the only thing she has in her life. Speaking less cynically, though, that’s also a fantastic thing: she’s a kickass leading woman whose storyline has no romantic element. I love me some JLaw, but if she’s got to lose this, I’m glad it will be to Chastain.
Lor: In case you didn’t know already, we’re kind of big on kickass leading women around here. (S: WHO? US? NO.) And while Chastain wouldn’t be a “fun” win (not the pop-culture princess, or the oldest nominee or the youngest nominee), it would certainly be a deserving win.
Jennifer Lawrence / Silver Linings Playbook
Sweeney: But really, I love Jennifer Lawrence and want her to be my best friend. I actually really wish she’d have won for Winter’s Bone. Did you see that? The big ending scene on the boat that I’m speaking cryptically about because it’s a fucking spoiler and a half, but AAAAHHH THAT GIRL. THAT GIRL. Anyway. Silver Linings Playbook. I am a little fascinated by the INSANE level of Oscar love this movie has gotten, but this is one of the awards I’d actually like to see it win. I know, I just gushed about Jessica Chastain. I WANT THEM BOTH TO WIN. I was annoyed by this casting choice for a hot minute because even though the book is stupid and I give zero fucks about a faithful adaptation, this character is supposed to be a few years older than Bradley Cooper’s character and I HATE that they did the Hollywood thing and put a 21-year-old in a 40-year-old woman’s role. HOWEVER, it’s Jennifer Fucking Lawrence, and she did a fantastic job of balancing the crazy with the endearing and even as she played this mentally unstable character I still couldn’t help but want her to be my best friend which may or may not actually mean much for how she played this role. I can’t decide.
tl;dr — Jenniver Lawrence is a BAMF, and I loved her. The scene where she loses her shit on Bradley Cooper outside the theater killed me. (Actually, that entire sequence, starting in the diner, killed me.)
Lor: I feel like we probably could’ve just could’ve stuffed about like 80 gifs of Jennifer being awesome in this space. What? This award is about her performance and not how much I love her? Oh.
Sweeney: BUT WE CAN DO THAT TOO:
Lor: Even so, her odds are decent in this category. As Sweeney mentioned, the Oscars have lavished a lot of love on Silver Linings. Jennifer and Jessica split the SAG and Golden Globe awards so it’s hard to say who will emerge triumphant, but at least our girl has a chance here.
Emmanuelle Riva / Amour
Sweeney: My heart absolutely broke for her as we watch her crumble. As her health declines, the movie is really more about the way her husband tries to keep her mentally and emotionally present, because she pretty much checks out early on. She can’t handle the indignity of watching her body fall apart ahead of her mind. There’s a scene where she wakes up to discover she’s wet the bed and her reaction is just so intense. Honestly, though, I find an individual acting award for this film a hard thing to take, because what was brilliant about this movie was the relationship between her and her husband and I can’t really separate the two.
Lor: This is the other actress I’ll put any odds on winning. I mean, if enough of the voters actually watched the film. There is a sentimental element that could play with voters, as Riva is the oldest woman ever nominated in this category. She turns 86 on Oscar night. Walking away with win on her birthday for her heartbreaking portrayal would be pretty shiny.
Sweeney: Best birthday present ever.
Quvenzhané Wallis / Beasts of the Southern Wild
Sweeney: I think we made it clear in our Best Picture post that we loved this movie. I can’t get over how much I love this movie and much of that love goes to this little girl. She was awesome as Hushpuppy, and it was a legitimate performance above and beyond just being a cute little kid. (But also OMG SUCH A CUTE KID.)
Lor: She’ll get to go around knowing that she made history as the youngest nominated actress to date. Though she won’t walk away with a win, she will at least have that double honor, and truly her turn as Hushpuppy coolest kid ever, deserves that. In my head, J.Law and Quvenzhané BOTH WIN. Quvenzhané walks the entire way to the stage beating her chest screaming, “I”m the man!”
In my head, the Oscars are so much fun.
Sweeney: #oscarheadcanon
Naomi Watts / The Impossible
Sweeney: This is the only nomination this film secured, and while there are a few other actresses who could have nabbed this nomination, Naomi Watts is not undeserving. The Impossible is about a family the goes on holiday in Thailand when a Tsunami hits. Naomi Watts and her eldest son find each other shortly after the water settles, though it takes a long while before we learned what happened to her two youngest sons. Watts actually spends much of the film in a hospital bed (2/5 best actress nominees are bed-ridden with illness! Interesting.), but she’s compelling the whole time. I wonder if the focusing-on-well-off-Europeans aspect had anything to do with this movie being largely passed over. She has legit no chance of winning, so it’s more, “We see that you did a good thing there!” And she did.
Lor: This is the one I didn’t watch, so maybe my addition to her odds of winning are, “this is the one I didn’t watch.” I’ve followed that statement with a knowing head nod.
Predicted/Preferred Winners:
Sweeney: Like I said, this is really just between Chastain and Lawrence, and it’s kind of a toss-up for me on both the predicted and preferred sides. If I had to choose, though, I’ll predict Jessica Chastain and say I narrowly prefer Jennifer Lawrence for the win.
Lor: I think Lawrence may have it, though I’m not overly confident. Lawrence and Chastain are the front runners with Riva as a dark horse.
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams / The Master
Sweeney: SO. THIS MOVIE. I’ll be honest and admit that I was only half paying attention. It secured 3/4 of the acting nominations, but nothing else, which seems about right to me, because while the three actors in question gave wonderful performances, I wasn’t hugely into the movie as a whole. Short version is that Joaquin Phoenix returns from war with some serious PTSD and alcoholism and falls under the spell of a cult leader played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, because who wouldn’t.
Amy Adams is with our dear cult leader, so although she doesn’t show up until a third of the way through the movie, she’s a big part from that point on. She has an awesomely insane little monologue in the middle of the movie after someone calls out Philip Seymour Hoffman for being a cult-leader (obviously as we follow the actual cult, the word cult is used more times in this paragraph than in the movie) and she rages the fuck out about the fact that they, the totes amazing people, have to be put on the defensive. It’s loony and and fantastic. She’s a brilliant actress, and I’d never be sad to see her win things, but I doubt this will be her win and I won’t feel too bummed about it. I would really like to hear thoughts from other people who saw this movie, though, so please, let’s discuss.
Sally Field / Lincoln
Sweeney: Sally Field! The farther I get down this post, the more I realize that we’re The Snark Squad and we talk about magical brooding and I don’t know who the fuck I think I am trying to talk about Sally Field. While SLP did the Hollywood thing and cast the younger actress, Sally Field is a few years Daniel Day-Lewis’s senior, so snaps for that. Also snaps for being Sally Field. She did a fantastic job as Mary Todd Lincoln, being both likable and also crazy. She and DDL had a fantastic dynamic and supported his performance so well. I would love to see her take this.
Lor: And if anyone has an outside chance, I think it’s Sally Field. By virtue of being nominated, we know all these performances are good. When you consider how voters are likely to vote, you must also consider what little prejudices slip in, just outside of performance. And being Sally “You Like Me” Field will probably help you get some votes.
Anne Hathaway / Les Misérables
Sweeney: The probable victor. I had problems with this movie, and Anne Hathaway was downright shameless and disgusting at The Golden Globes (SHE TOOK UP SOME OF THE VERY LIMITED BEST PICTURE SPEECH-MAKING TIME TO FINISH HER ACCEPTANCE WHEN SHE’S ONLY IN LIKE 15 MINUTES OF THE DAMN MOVIE!), but bitch gave an AMAZING performance. She killed this role, so even though I don’t want to hear another speech filled with Anne Hathaway’s false humility, I’ll just drink a lot and know that she actually deserves it even though she annoys the shit out of me.
Lor: YEP. I used to really like Anne Hathaway but she’s slowly chipped away at that with what Sweeney pinned exactly: false humility. There’s a reason, though, that she’s basically a shoe in: she gave a heartbreaking performance in a movie that is unlikely to win many other accolades. Plus, she sang her entire role. It really is Anne’s to lose and regardless of what we think of her boring ass acceptance speeches, she’s talented and stuff.
Helen Hunt / The Sessions
Sweeney: The last movie I saw on this list. After I saw The Master I thought I was done and then I was all, NOPE! I liked this movie a lot, but it seems odd to me that it’s lone nomination is an actress nod for Helen Hunt. Based on a true story, The Sessions is about a man (played by John Hawkes) who gets polio as a kid and vastly exceeds his life expectancy, though he is functionally paralyzed (not technically, as he points out during the film, as the issue his his muscles basically don’t work but I don’t wholly understand the difference). He’s 38 years old and devoutly Catholic (William H. Macy’s portrayal of his priest was my favorite part) and has never masturbated, let alone had sex. The Sessions are his sessions with a sex therapist, played by Helen Hunt. The movie is a little rom-com-esque but also deals pretty seriously with this aspect of his experience with disability (somewhere between Silver Linings Playbook and Amour, I guess). I find it nearly impossible to expect that Helen Hunt will take this award home, but it’s cool that this movie secured at least one nomination.
Lor: Helen Hunt is just one of those completely distinct actresses for me. That is, she has a distinct voice and style that make it hard to see anything other than Helen Hunt on the screen no matter what role she plays. Not that it matters much, though, as the honor of the nomination will probably suffice for her on this one. She gets and Imaginary Props award from me, though, for getting naked on screen at 49 years old. HIGH FIVE.
Jacki Weaver / Silver Linings Playbook
Sweeney: I’m sorry, but she doesn’t deserve this nomination. Her character was one of the few that didn’t improve in the transition from book to screen (the other big one is the therapist). I don’t think that Weaver did a bad job — I think she did well with what she had to work with, but that wasn’t a whole lot. She pretty much flittered around the background doing housewifey shit without much depth.
Lor: Agreed. With nominations in all four acting categories, you’d think SLP has to win one, right? It’s math or something. I hope it isn’t this one, though. The awards look to honor the best and this just wasn’t it.
Predicted/Preferred Winners:
Sweeney: I predict Anne Hathaway but I’d much prefer to see Sally Field win it.
Lor: I predict Anne Hathaway and shit ton of booze for the Snark Ladies.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
NOTE: We received compensation for some content in this post, though all thoughts and opinions are our own.
