Big Edie vs. Little Edie for Lead Actress Emmy

Extending the battle for prominence and dominance that existed in real life between mother Beale and daughter Beale, Jessica Lange has decided she’ll be placing her Grey Gardens performance in the Lead Actress category at the Emmys this August. According to the distinguished Page Six of the NY Post:

According to an insider, the cable net has been pushing Drew Barrymore, who plays “Little” Edith Beale in the well-received HBO movie, to put herself in the running for a Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries Emmy nomination. Hoping to maximize its awards tally and prevent a vote-splitting scenario, HBO suggested to Barrymore’s co-star, Jessica Lange, that she agree to put herself in the running for a Best Supporting Actress nod.

But we’re told Lange wouldn’t go for it. “Her immediate reaction was that she’s won two Oscars, and that she has equal screen time to Barrymore,” says our insider. “She felt she wasn’t a supporting character in the film, and that it’d be dishonest and a manipulation of votes. She didn’t want a part of it.”

Watching the doc and bio-pic side by side last week, I was struck by the clearly conscious decision the HBO filmmakers made to place Little Edie at the center of the narrative. In the documentary, Albert and David Maysles allowed Little Eddie to hog the spotlight a bit but her mother’s domineering presence was never in doubt. The adaptation gives the more traditional dramatic arc to Little Edie by default, but sometimes does so at the expense of the actual real-life dynamic.

Although we’re all blown away by how closely the actresses have mimicked the mannerisms and accents, there are a couple of scenes in particular where the HBO doc throws the weight of its sympathy toward Little Eddie. (I’ll have to try to find clips to back up what I think I saw being done.)

Strangest quote from the NY Post’s piece, after the cut.

After weeks of back and forth, HBO finally decided to allow Barrymore and Lange to go head-to-head in the lead category. “Now we have a scenario where either Lange will go home empty-handed, or neither will win,” says our source. “It’s unfortunate.”

How are those the only two possible outcomes? If the screenplay did indeed tip the balance toward Barrymore, the Post “source” tries to sway influence the other way.

The principal participants aren’t doing much to clarify how the decision was reached:

Asked to comment, a spokeswoman for HBO tells Page Six, “Both performances have been widely praised and critically acclaimed. We are thrilled with the reception that ‘Grey Gardens’ has received. HBO would never presume to dictate which category an actor chooses for award submissions. We do engage in a dialogue with actors and filmmakers to facilitate the process, but the actor’s decision is always final.”

Lange’s rep adds, “Prior to the decision being made, there was lots of discussion between Drew, the studio and Jessica. Obviously people wanted a scenario where everyone was happy. At the end of the day, HBO was the one who looked at the screentime and made the call.”

So, boiling down those last two paragraphs to their essence: HBO says it’s what Lange wanted, and Lange’s reps are saying HBO has the final word.

In the Maysles doc, the technique was to turn the cameras on and let us make up our minds about what we were seeing. In the transition to it fictionalized counterpart, the story is necessarily manipulated for dramatic sway. Apparently the manipulation isn’t over yet.