Entertainment Weekly ALSO did an “anonymous Oscar ballot” thing and I have to say, keep them coming. The more we expose what goes into how Academy voters vote, the more we, as a society, can say that Academy voters are terrible people. Like, there is no mystery about it – these are mostly old men being terrible and voting for people and films based on the flimsiest rationales ever. This EW piece is something else though – there is an anonymous voter included in this piece who sucks so hard, I’m making him a blind item. I need to know this bigot’s identity. We need to name and shame him. EW describes the man as an actor and “his performances in critically heralded prestige dramas, biting mainstream thrillers, and on Emmy-winning TV shows have earned this actor consistent acclaim throughout his career.” If it is Alec Baldwin, I swear to God. Please read some of the absolute horsesh-t he was saying as he filled out his ballot:
He stopped watching the Oscars before he became an Academy member: “I’d sort of stopped watching them. I was so disgusted by the whole thing, and then I got into the Academy, and now I’m forced to — so, be careful what you wish for. The whole Hollywood back-slapping, ‘get a big stinkin’ load of me,’ it’s not a newsflash, it just seems to get worse and worse. I think the Academy is making an effort to please everybody, and it’s reflective of the state of the world, but I feel like they’re being held hostage — somewhat unfairly — by the wokeness.”
He thinks it’s fine that the Academy didn’t nominate Viola Davis or Danielle Deadwyler: “When they get in trouble for not giving Viola Davis an award, it’s like, no, sweetheart, you didn’t deserve it. We voted, and we voted for the five we thought were best. It’s not fair for you to start suddenly beating a frying pan and say [they’re] ignoring Black people. They’re really not, they’re making an effort. Maybe there was a time 10 years ago when they were, but they have, of all the high-profile things, been in the forefront of wanting to be inclusive. Viola Davis and the lady director need to sit down, shut up, and relax. You didn’t get a nomination — a lot of movies don’t get nominations. Viola, you have one or two Oscars, you’re doing fine.”
He was too stupid to understand Tar: “They have their favorites, they have their pets, and if Cate Blanchett opens a door, she gets an Academy Award nomination. I feel like they bought [TÁR] hook, line, and sinker. It seemed way too long, it seemed really ham-fisted, I got very confused about, like, when she went to her assistant’s house and it was this run-down slum, like, what? What are we doing? Where are we? What’s happening? I didn’t think it was good storytelling, and with a central performance that’s inauthentic, it felt so much longer. I really struggled to get through that thing.
He hated ‘The Whale’: “[The Whale] is so pandering for an Oscar. I think he’s a very talented guy, but I didn’t buy a second of that movie. I’d seen the play, so I knew what I was in for, and somehow turning it into a movie just made the artifice look so magnified…. cheeseball from the get-go, and I didn’t even think the makeup was that good.
Again with the wokeness: “I don’t believe that thing of you have to be a murderer to play a murderer — I know it’s all the rage. You can’t play a gay guy unless you’re a gay guy — it’s so out of control with the wokeness. I’m a fervent liberal, but wokeness, I think we all agree, has taken over. I thought he was fine casting, I just wish the movie had been better.
He has a real hate-on for Cate Blanchett: “I said a little prayer during TÁR that I would never have to watch Cate Blanchett act again. I thought, this has got to be the end of this, this can’t go on. I think she’s a talented woman, but she’s so technical, she’s ice cold, and I always see her acting. The person I wanted to be in there was Judy Davis in Nitram. Astonishing. You’ve got Cate Blanchett and Judy Davis, both from Australia, and they couldn’t be more different. Cate is working it like crazy, like, get a big stinking load of me, and Judy Davis is just doing the work and knocking it out of the park every single time. I feel like Cate just wants us all to fall in love with her and be a movie star, and I’m not on board.
Jesus H.: “I thought [Ana de Armas] was really good, and there were moments in that movie where I believed she was Marilyn Monroe. She captured it so fantastically, I just hated that movie so much that I couldn’t revisit it. She was tortured and raped and victimized in every single scene. She couldn’t walk through a door without somebody raping her. [Laughs]
On Andrea Riseborough’s nomination & shutting out Davis & Deadwyler: “I feel like anything goes, all’s fair in love and war. I thought [Riseborough] gave a great performance. It was very much “for your consideration” — like, what’s going to win me an Oscar? It had all the check-boxes through it, and it seemed to be pandering a bit, so that bugged me. The ending was terrible. Good for them, they went about it and got her a nomination. I’m sure other people were doing equally political maneuverings behind the scenes, they just didn’t get caught. If it hadn’t been for Viola Davis being mad she wasn’t nominated, I don’t think anybody would’ve questioned it…. it’s ridiculous, it’s sour grapes. The Academy has bent over backwards to be inclusive. Last year, there were more Black people presenting. It’s like, come on.
HE DIDN’T EVEN WATCH THE WOMAN KING: I think Viola Davis is talented, I didn’t see Woman King, but I’m a little tired of Viola Davis and her snotty crying. I’m over all of that. I’m willing to believe that Andrea Riseborough gave a better performance. [Danielle Deadwyler] was so pandering [in Till] for an Academy Award nomination. She was good. I mean, who wouldn’t be good in a part like that? The strong, wronged mother. But you look at the real Mamie Till, she’s not wearing all of these incredible gowns and beautifully made-up. I thought it was a confusing message. If they’d really [made a movie about] that woman, who was not used to being in the public eye and wore house dresses, she [wouldn’t have] had one incredible outfit after another. The ego behind this pushing her to be a movie star was too blatant for me.
Do you see what I mean? Please, someone do some digging and find the identity of this utter douchebag. He is contemptible. I’ve already seen some suggestions that this could be Brian Cox? No, I doubt it? Brian Cox can be rude and “politically incorrect,” but I don’t see Cox saying all of this racist sh-t about Viola Davis and The Woman King, nor do I see him laughing when talking about the rape scenes in Blonde. “The Academy has bent over backwards to be inclusive. Last year, there were more Black people presenting. It’s like, come on.” For the love of God. And dismissively referring to Viola as “sweetheart” and calling Gina Prince-Bythewood “the lady director” – utter POS.
are you normal or have you spent the entire morning trying to figure out who the piece of shit anonymous actor is in this ew oscar ballot with your coworkers?? https://t.co/kZlfmjqfa0
— saloni gajjar (@saloni_g) March 10, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, promotional images courtesy of ‘The Woman King’ and ‘To Leslie’.
