It’s the fairytale tale of every Oscars – the complete misfit who comes out of nowhere to challenge the big studios and stars and show that talent can win money and power in Hollywood.
And it became possible again this year when British actress Andrea Riseborough was unexpectedly nominated for her critically acclaimed but little-seen performance in To Leslie, an independent film about a single mother who becomes addicted to alcohol and drugs after she gambled away a huge lottery win.
But instead of basking in her remarkable success, Riseborough has been thrust into the spotlight in America’s increasingly acrimonious race debate.
Because Riseborough – the child of working-class Thatcher supporters from the town of Wallsend, Tyneside – is unfortunately shortlisted for this year’s Best Actress Oscar.
Controversy: Andrea Riseborough walks the red carpet at the 76th Venice Film Festival in 2019
And notably, neither Viola Davis, star of controversial historical drama The Woman King, nor Danielle Deadwyler, who plays the mother of 1950s lynched victim Emmett Till in the film Till, made the nominations.
It has led to accusations that the Oscars “snubbed” two prominent African American films and their stars.
An embarrassed academy has since launched an investigation into how a low-budget film company could have possibly fought so successfully to get its leading lady on the shortlist.
To Leslie – set in West Texas but filmed in LA in just 19 days during the pandemic – was directed by British filmmaker Michael Morris.
As the mail went to press, the academy was set to discuss the film over allegations that they may have broken their campaign rules.
The film grossed just $27,000 (around £21,800) when it was released last October and has so far garnered little recognition from Riseborough. It was ignored at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards, both of which are usually taken as reliable predictors of the films that will make it big at the Oscars.
In contrast to Till and The Woman King, who were supported by the financially strong Hollywood studios United Artists and Sony respectively, To Leslie lacked millions for Oscar advertising campaigns. Michael Morris and his wife, well-connected US actress Mary McCormack, instead relied on high-profile word of mouth.
They showed the film to their friend, “Shock-Jock” radio DJ Howard Stern, who liked it and promoted it on his show.
Snub: Danielle Deadwyler as the mother of 1950s lynched victim Emmett Till in the film Till
A “celebrity-backed campaign” to promote the film then went into high gear, with Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Courteney Cox and Edward Norton hosting all screenings.
Kate Winslet and Amy Adams hosted virtual Q&A with Riseborough, while Cate Blanchett credited her performance in her Critics’ Choice Awards acceptance speech.
After McCormack emailed friends to support the film on social media, stars including Jane Fonda, Liam Neeson, Sally Field and Geena Davis were among those who pledged.
“It just threw me aside,” Paltrow gushed. “Andrea should win every award there is.”
Academy membership is divided into 17 branches, each selecting the nominees in their area of expertise. With around 1,300 members in the acting industry, a nominee needs just over 200 votes to be shortlisted.
The endorsement of high-profile white stars for Riseborough, 41, has done little to endear the Oscars process to critics, who say the saga is further proof that the Academy’s commitment to racial diversity is just a sign. Ominously, the hashtag “OscarsSoWhite” has reappeared on Twitter.
For others, however, the expectation that black stars should be among the nominees raises troubling questions about what an entirely subjective artistic judgment should be.
Race has become a touchstone theme for awards shows across the United States.
The Academy’s membership – whose legitimacy is based on its presence in feature films – has grown dramatically over the past five years, largely in response to criticism that it is too white, male and old.
Overlooked: Viola Davis stars in controversial historical drama The Woman King
White stars and Oscar judges can rally behind other white actors in the nomination process, but since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, they risk having their motives questioned.
Angry Nigerian-American director Chinonye Chukwu did so this week after the star of her film Till, which won both Bafta and Screen Actors Guild nominations, was ignored by the Oscars.
‘We . . . Work in industries so aggressively committed to perpetuating whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards black women,” she said in an Instagram post. ‘And yet. I am forever grateful for the greatest lesson of my life – regardless of any challenges or obstacles, I will always have the power to cultivate my own joy, and that joy will continue to be one of my greatest forms of resilience. ‘
Her cause was quickly picked up by others. In the Los Angeles Times, Robert Daniels, a black film critic, contrasted the “surprise” nomination of a white British actress in a “little-seen” film with the film industry’s “problem” in acknowledging black women.
“What does it say that the black women who have done everything the institution asks of them – luxurious dinners, private academy performances, meet-and-greets, splashy TV spots and magazine profiles – are being ignored when someone who does everything outside of the system has done is ignored? rewarded?’
Daniels — like the director of Till — doesn’t seem to have considered the possibility that the judges didn’t consider Viola Davis (who won an Academy Award for period drama Fences in 2016 and was nominated three times) and Danielle Deadwyler to be unworthy of Oscars nods.
In the case of Davis, her performance was marred by another racial controversy, this time over The Woman King’s failure — despite being billed as “based on powerful true events” — to address the fact that the African kingdom of Dahomey was a slaver as well was obliged like the European invaders.
Raised reviews: Riseborough plays motel owner Sweeney in To Leslie, which is based on a true story of a West Texas woman who wins the lottery and squanders her fortune
Others said it was ironic that when this year for the first time an Asian woman – Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh – was nominated for best actress, critics complained about racial representation.
Some observers believe that if some now expect black candidates to be nominated in the major categories each year, it is the academy bosses’ own fault.
Organizers collapsed over the OscarsSoWhite campaign in 2015, when all 20 nominations in the acting categories were white. Activists claimed the winners were overwhelmingly white because the judges were too.
Though studies indicated that wasn’t the case, Hollywood went full throttle on “diversity.”
In 2020, the Academy unveiled its Representation And Inclusion Standards Entry (RAISE) policy, which insists producers must meet two of its four diversity standards for a film to qualify for Best Picture.
These aim to ensure that ethnic minorities, women and the disabled are involved in the film-making process, from the performers on screen to the creators behind the camera.
The film world has until next year’s Oscars to conform to these strict new rules, which some have attacked as “Orwellian”.
That an immensely talented but underappreciated British actress should actually suffer for having the wrong skin color also seems deeply Orwellian.