No Surprises, Please!

There’s a kind of rule in Hollywood. We know who will be nominated for the Oscars in advance. Well, not with certainty. After all, it’s a huge secret — almost as huge a secret as who will win Best Picture. But all the same, we know. The Oscars take place at the end of the awards season. So, everyone who will win an Oscar has already cleaned up at the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, etc. As a result, the ceremony is not particularly exciting.

That is why people were so astonished when they saw that the list of Oscar nominees, which was released this week, featured a name that was not on anybody’s radar. Andrea Riseborough has a shot at winning the statuette for Best Actress in “To Leslie.” This is hardly surprising given her role as an alcoholic single mother in the U.S. who blows her lottery winnings and becomes homeless — classic Oscar material. But Riseborough was not a name on anyone’s lips at the preceding awards ceremonies. She was not on any bookmaker’s list.

That’s good, you could say. They are finally giving a chance to a fresh face instead of one of the usual suspects. You could say that. Or you could launch a review because it’s so suspicious that it reeks of corruption among the members, which is what the Academy is now doing. It is sad when predictability is the only conceivable status quo. However, admittedly, that is typical Hollywood.