Oscars 2018: The Leading Actress/Supporting Actress Contenders
As we count down to the 90th Academy Awards, I’m going to be taking a closer look at the major categories and exploring who I feel does, and doesn’t, deserve to be rewarded for their work. Next up, I’m discussing the female actors in both leading and supporting roles.
LEADING ACTRESS
- Saoirse Ronan
- Frances McDormand
- Meryl Streep
- Sally Hawkins
- Margot Robbie
If you’d told me 4 months ago that I’d ever, EVER, root for Saoirse Ronan over Frances McDormand — the finest actress of her generation — I’d have thought you were mad. But the fact is, while I love Three Billboards, McDormand is the least impressive actor in it, she essentially plays herself and does very little we haven’t seen before. In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan achieved the seemingly impossible: she made me enjoy a Saoirse Ronan performance. It’s hard to put value on transformation like that, warming me to one of the most annoying actors on the planet with a really brilliant performance. I thought Meryl was better than usual in The Post, but that film just doesn’t really deserve any Oscars. Sally Hawkins is just about tolerable in Shape of Water — she should’ve won Supporting for Blue Jasmine. But the inclusion of Margot Robbie really gets on my nerves — short of Gary Oldman, hers is the worst performance nominated this year. I, Tonya is a profoundly jarring film, and she is borderline insufferable in it. Painfully self-conscious and impossible to buy into.
Snubs: Haley Lu Richardson for Columbus, Brooklynn Prince for The Florida Project, Jessica Chastain for Molly’s Game, maybe even Jennifer Lawrence in mother! if it’d get Robbie off this list
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Laurie Metcalf
- Allison Janney
- Octavia Spencer
- Lesley Manville
- Mary J. Blige
A pretty weak year for this category: only Metcalf would’ve made my personal shortlist. She’s wonderful in Lady Bird (everyone is wonderful in Lady Bird). However, Allison Janney has been breaking my heart for 20 years, so if we’re using the “Oscar For A Whole Career” logic, she’d be my choice — even though I think she’s pretty bad in I, Tonya (everyone is pretty bad in I, Tonya). I love Octavia Spencer; she has no place in The Shape of Water. Lesley Manville sent me to sleep in Phantom Thread; I don’t understand why she, and not Vicky Krieps, got nominated. And I haven’t seen Mudbound yet.
Snubs: Beanie Feldstein for Lady Bird, Bria Vinai for The Florida Project, Millicent Simmonds for Wonderstruck, Elizabeth Marvel for The Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected)
