The Andrea Riseborough Oscars 2023 campaign scandal exposes ...

31 Jan 2023
Andrea Riseborough

Andrea Riseborough’s first-ever Oscar nomination should be something to celebrate. The chameleonic actress has long been one of the most talented performers across film and TV through roles in ZeroZeroZero, Mandy and even Matilda: The Musical which showcase an extraordinary range. This should be a moment of triumph for a proper actor who has eschewed stardom in exchange for quality work and getting that recognition for her performance in little-seen indie drama To Leslie would ordinarily be a feel-good underdog story of success against the odds.

But this is Hollywood, where nothing is ever simple and where nobody likes surprises. So Riseborough’s nomination is currently being investigated and she could see it rescinded (though that is very unlikely and has never happened to an acting nominee). 

The Oscars are a very big deal in the US, particularly to the industry trade magazines (Variety, The Hollywood Reporter etc) that cover them all year round and make a fortune from distributors advertising their films. They have reporters dedicated to the awards beat who cover the rigmarole all year who essentially act similar to sports betting tipsters and stake their reputations on calling the nominees from as far out as possible. Quite literally nobody saw Riseborough’s nomination coming.

To Leslie, which is available to rent online in the UK and grossed less than $30,000 on its US release had its only previous awards season nomination was at the Independent Spirit Awards – again for Best Actress. Usually, the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild nominations are a very accurate indicator as to who has a shot at Oscar success but Riseborough was shut out of everyone. But then the tweets started.

As with most batshit happenings in Hollywood, Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar controversy can be traced back to Gwyneth Paltrow. In early January, the actor and wellness entrepreneur posted on Instagram about seeing a “masterpiece” of a film. That film was To Leslie. Paltrow also posted a picture of her with Riseborough, To Leslie director Michael Morris and Demi Moore. Other stars were also bigging up the film, particularly focussing on Riseborough’s performance. 

Charlize Theron, Edward Norton and Jennifer Aniston all hosted screenings of the film, Kate Winslet (who knows a thing or two about winning Oscars) publicly praised Riseborough’s performance and Cate Blanchett gave a special shout-out to the Wallsend actor while receiving the Best Actress prize at the Critics Choice Award. The team behind the film also hired publicists to boost Riseborough’s chances of an Oscar nom after To Leslie essentially bombed on release.

Everything above sounds exactly what you would expect an awards publicity campaign to sound like. But that isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. As mentioned, the Oscars are an industry where a lot of money can be made, access granted, backs slapped – the kind of queasy stuff that thrives off pitting art and artists against each other.

Oscars campaigning makes political campaigning look like girl guides going door to door trying to sell cookies. It’s a gladiatorial battle to the death and a dirty old business that involves salacious whispers and usually some more heavyhanded bludgeoning to get voters to become enamoured with a film. Harvey Weinstein was the dark-hearted master of it. Voters would be lobbied with lush parties, elaborate screenings and some good old-fashioned hobnobbing with the stars. As streaming companies have looked to make their mark on Hollywood and with that the Oscars, campaigning has got even more absurd with Netflix creating ‘Roma Experience Days’ in support of Alfonso Cuaron’s 2019 film. Everyone got invited and everyone was happy. All of this takes a lot of work and money. Many millions are spent by distributors on adverts in the trade magazines (the same trade magazines now casting doubt on Riseborough's nomination). Publicists and advisors are brought in to consult on how to best push a film come Oscar season and the whole thing becomes something of a farcical arms race which ends with Green Book being decorated as the best film of the year.

The Academy also has lots of rules which seem to actually prohibit much of what is commonplace and there are allegations that the team behind To Leslie’s unexpected Oscar nomination broke a few of them. Emails are not allowed to be sent to Oscar voters directly and must go through an Academy messaging service. Food and drink must be “reasonable” (is lobster reasonable?) and at the same location as the screening. Any championing of one particular nominee should not cast a negative light on any of the other nominees – which Riseborough's campaign may be deemed to have done. According to the BBC, the To Leslie Instagram account shared a post that quoted Richard Roper of the Chicago Sun-Times. "As much as I admired [Cate] Blanchett's work in Tár, my favourite performance by a woman this year was delivered by the chameleonlike Andrea Riseborough."

While it is all very, very silly given the kind of panhandling that goes on every year, it is also against the rules to directly contact any of the actual voters personally, which seems to be what the Academy fears has happened here. Of course, the only reason anybody cares is that it’s a film nobody has seen or heard of that has usurped the status quo. 

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