The Twelve Days of Oscar, Day 1: Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay

I mean, not that I've blogged whatsoever in the past nine months, and not that I've been anything but scrambling to get my Oscar nominees viewing situation under control, but anyway, here we are! Let's see if we can't blather about the Oscars each of these next twelve glorious days as we slide into ceremony Sunday; what do ya say?

Welcome back to my Twelve Days of Oscar, in which I will (attempt to) blog about two categories per day each of these twelve days! I will mostly do the categories in a seemingly super-random order that is actually based on what I've completed seeing, but I'll justify it somehow, never fear.

For example, today it totally makes sense to look at Supporting Actress, because why not talk about this award early on, just as it's given out so early in the show sometimes (and then, some argue, the winner is promptly forgotten for all time...?)   And since that category overlaps in nominations this year with screenplay categories, why not lump'em together and do a screenplay category today as well? Except it'll have to be Adapted Screenplay, because that's the one for which I've already seen all five.

Actress in a Supporting RoleThe nominees are:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Amy Adams, Vice

In just what order did I list those names, above? In my order of preference? In order of how much I liked the movie? When I saw the movie? Who has the best chance to win? No, no, no, and no. I listed them in order, from most accurate to least accurate, of which roles could properly be described as Supporting Actress roles. Amy Adams' role, the presumed favorite to win, clearly should not be considered supporting. Alas and alack, we have to go through this rigmarole every year of marketing an actress who stars in a film as "supporting" so she has a "better chance" to win her Oscar. Never mind the "This-is-what-Lead-Roles-look-like" aspect of this misogyny, it is such an unfair charade and to know me is to know that it is one of the (very few!) things I hate about the Oscars. Tiresome.

So, no, I don't think that Amy Adams should win, in that I don't think she should win in THIS category. If she were being considered for Lead, as she should be, as Viola Davis should have been for Fences, and as Alicia Vikander should have been for The Danish Girl, and so on and so forth, then maybe. The other mildly annoying factor to consider here is that she's gonna get some make-up Oscar/"lifetime" achievement (I mean, she's still young) votes because people want to finally reward her with an Academy win after nominating her a whole bunch over the last decade plus of awards seasons.

Speaking of that, so Amy Adams has been Oscar-nominated five previous times, with Vice being her sixth. Can you name the other five films? Answers will appear below at the bottom of this post, so make your guess before scrolling down. Hint: four were for Supporting (actual supporting) roles, and one was for Lead.

What about this year's other nominated actresses? Any previous nominees among them? You bet! There are even previous winners! Our other redhead, Emma Stone -- wait, is Marina de Tavira a redhead? Roma was in black and white, so who knows? -  has two previous nods, one Supporting for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (ugh) and one Lead for La La Land (massive ugh, but she won) (the film didn't, though! ha ha ha, remember that?!)  And Rachel Weisz won for Supporting for The Constant Gardener, her only previous acting Oscar nom.

Meanwhile, Regina King was really good in If Beale Street Could Talk, which I think was just a sublime and incredible film, and I really think she should be rewarded, but I guess she'll have to be honored just to be nominated, because frankly, Amy Adams' competition might actually come from Marina de Tavira, who by the way y'all I think might indeed have red hair, but maybe only sometimes, dyed, which means she's not actually a redhead,  in Roma. This is because everyone (in Hollywood) (the industry, not the city) not only loves Roma but is super-proud of themselves for loving Roma, the little Netfllix-produced film that could (upset the notion that only traditional major studios or at least indies with lots of cool connections, but not online streaming services, can produce Best Picture Winners).

Need another hint about Amy Adams? Two of her noms were for films with one-word titles and two were for films with The [Something] two-word titles.

Oh yeah, I forgot to give my opinion about the actresses in The Favourite, who probably won't win because if anything they'll split the vote. Um... it was a weird movie. It gave me anxiety to watch it because the whole time I was freaking out about the caged rabbits. They were good performances and all, but... meh. It's just not my Favourite.

Adapted Screenplay The nominees are:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
BlacKkKlansman

Zero question here, folks, because I want BlacKkKlansman to win everything it was nominated for. This is always a tricky category for me when I haven't read all the books/consumed the previously published material from which these screenplays were adapted. That's right, I've never seen any of the previous Stars who were Born, and I've not yet read the James Baldwin nor the Lee Israel nor the Ron Stallworth books. And what the hell is The Ballad of Buster Scruggs based on? The Coen Brothers' latest fever dream?  Oh, look, I just checked, and basically, yes: it's based on short stories written by the Coens over a bunch of years. Yeah, I knew watching it that those vignettes came from their weird imaginative brains, and by the way for those who haven't yet seen it, they are kind of grisly and effed up. And I have a strong case to make that it isn't really a movie at all, just a series of unconnected vignettes. (Connection = "the Old West."  Connection = the Coens want another Oscar contender, so let's not make this just a streaming Netflix series.)  Anyway, as I was saying, BlacKkKlansman is great and one of my top films of the year and I want it to win everything, so that's my pick in this category, although I did like Can You Ever Forgive Me? and If Beale Street Could Talk a lot, and I couldn't look away from A Star Is Born, really, no matter what else around me might have tried to distract me, as it was just this glorious train wreck of Bradley Cooper-dom and the downward spiral of the rich and famous and some not-too-shabby Gaga and lots of bits about songwriting, and boy was it compelling viewing.

Although I personally want BlacKkKlansman to win, I don't know that it will. Beale Street could possibly take this award; it was so beautifully rendered. I would feel wrong if Can You Ever Forgive Me? won because it's so weird to have a writer in the first place writing a "true" account about stuff she made up... I just don't know how I feel about that to begin with. And Buster Scruggs  needs to just, no.

So there we have it! I'm rooting for Regina and BlacKkKlansman and my hopes will probably be dashed. Who are your picks?

Supporting Actress Answer: Amy Adams was previously nominated for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, and American Hustle. That last one was a Lead Actress nomination.