Marc Maron did not mince words when talking about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s decision to review campaign procedures. Many have speculated that this review is targeted at his To Leslie co-star, Andrea Risenborough, after her left-field nomination for Best Actress.
While Risenborough did receive praise for her performance as Leslie Rowlands, an alcoholic lottery winner, the film was not widely seen, raising suspicions about how such an under-the-radar performance was nominated in a hotly-contested field.
People are alleging that Mary McCormick, the spouse of director Michael Morris, got her friends in the industry to promote Risenborough’s performance in hopes of notching a nomination. Many A-list celebrities followed suit, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Edward Norton, and Susan Sarandon – to name a few – taking to social media to praise the performance. This grassroots method seemed to have worked as Risenborough secured her first Oscar nomination.
It was not without controversy, however. Many felt that Risenborough’s nomination could have gone to a black woman. Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till) were both boxed out of a nomination despite receiving praise for their performances. Chinonye Chukwu, the director of Till, said about the snubs, “we live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women.”
Maron, who played a small role in the movie, took to his podcast, WTF, to comment on the investigation. “Apparently, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences or whatever the fuck it is has decided to investigate Andrea Riseborough’s grassroots campaign to get her the Oscar nomination,” the comedian commented, “because I guess it so threatens their system that they’re completely bought out by corporate interests in the form of studios.”
Maron later added, “millions of dollars are put into months and months of advertising campaigns, publicity, screenings by large corporate entertainment entities and Andrea was championed by her peers through a grassroots campaign which was pushed through by a few actors. The Academy is like this is not the way it’s supposed to work. Independent artists don’t deserve the attention of the Academy unless we see how it works exactly. So, we’re going to look into this.’”
After the investigation was conducted on Jan. 3oth, Risenborough kept her nomination.
Leave a Comment