An enormous shock. Andrea Riseborough scored an Oscar nomination in January 2023 for her efficiency in To Leslie — and her sudden Finest Actress in a Main Position nod rapidly led to an investigation.
“It’s the Academy’s purpose to make sure that the Awards competitors is performed in a good and moral method, and we’re dedicated to making sure an inclusive awards course of,” the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences stated in an announcement on Friday, January 27. “We’re conducting a assessment of the marketing campaign procedures round this yr’s nominees, to make sure that no pointers had been violated, and to tell us whether or not adjustments to the rules could also be wanted in a brand new period of social media and digital communication.”
The group concluded: “We’ve confidence within the integrity of our nomination and voting procedures, and help real grassroots campaigns for excellent performances.”
Although in a roundabout way named, it’s believed that the investigation questions the marketing campaign for Riseborough’s nomination. To Leslie, an indie drama about an alcoholic, as launched in October to little fanfare and solely made about $27,000 on the field workplace. There was minimal promotion, however director Michael Morris and his spouse, actress Mary McCormack, pushed to get their A-list buddies — together with Edward Norton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron and extra — to assist unfold the phrase in regards to the movie.
Kate Winslet referred to as Riseborough’s efficiency “the best feminine efficiency on display I’ve ever seen in my life” throughout a digital Q&A. Nevertheless, many shared social media reward for the movie with very comparable wording, calling To Leslie “a small movie with a large coronary heart,” Vainness Honest experiences, sparking questions on how real these endorsements had been.
Riseborough’s supervisor Jason Weinberg and McCormack, 53, each helped push for awards season consideration, media publication Puck reported whereas quoting one of many West Wing alum’s emails. “When you’re keen to put up every single day between now and Jan seventeenth, that might be wonderful! However something is useful, so please do no matter makes you snug. And what’s extra snug than posting a few film every single day!” McCormack’s e mail allegedly reads.
The Academy has strict guidelines about campaigning. Movie corporations aren’t allowed to ship a couple of e mail and one bodily mailing per week, and there are content material pointers to observe. Mailings aren’t supposed to incorporate “Private signature, private regards, or pleas to observe the movie” nor can they “[extoll] the deserves of a movie, an achievement or a person.”
Per the official guidelines, “Contacting Academy members instantly and in a fashion exterior of the scope of those guidelines to advertise a movie or achievement for Academy Award consideration is expressly forbidden.”
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