We live in a society where success is measured by victimhood. The more oppressed someone is perceived, the more likely we are to celebrate them. Where we used to celebrate high achievement and winning success, we haven’t done that for a long time. Often, but not always, our votes are driven by empathy and sympathy, less so for true greatness.
I have been saying Mikey Madison’s is the performance of the year ever since I saw Anora back in Telluride. I base this not just on her performance but also her work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (she stole the show) and her normal demeanor as a person in the world. That kind of skill is rare. Now, however, because of our victim-driven cultural madness foisted upon an industry that is theoretically designed to win awards on achievement, Mikey Madison is somehow being cast as the “Sue” who robbed Demi Moore of her Oscar. These kinds of narratives, I know from experience, never die. In this case, it’s just flat-out wrong.
But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
The play, or the ceremony, was very good. Not much to complain about, that’s for sure. It was an entertaining show and the Academy, in my view, did everything exactly right.
I applaud the Academy for what I would consider an A+ ceremony. They kept politics (mostly) out of it. Conan O’Brien was funny.
The jokes were dirty and nasty, as they should be. The opener with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande was pure magic. Erivo, in particular, is just the best voice I’ve ever heard in my life. She is a perfect vocalist. On a different level from everyone else.
The choice to open the show that way was brilliant. They kept it moving and nicely paced, and the tributes were wonderful. I have no criticisms for them at all, which is rare. I mean, let’s put it this way: Any criticisms I would have are completely unrelated to the show itself.
I also am always moved by how both Sean Baker and Brady Corbet support each other every time the other wins. Watch Brady Corbet in this clip. Baker’s statement in his acceptance speech is also important, and I’m so glad he said it. He made a film that is brilliant and uncompromising. Is it a movie for everyone? No. It is not. But for those of us whose hearts it harpooned, we had a wonderful night. It was easily my favorite film of last year and I say this as someone who hasn’t always been a fan of Baker’s. This time, though, he made a movie that is top-to-bottom brilliant, and much of that has to do with the performance of Mikey Madison.
That isn’t to say I didn’t feel sad when Demi Moore did not win. I know many people felt that way. It was similar to how we felt bad when Lily Gladstone didn’t win last year. I am not always as gracious as I should be in situations like this. We become emotionally attached to narratives and when our favorites win we somehow felt like we won. But in this case, Mikey Madison 100% deserved to win.
At first, when the year began, I thought she couldn’t lose. Then, after things felt like they shifted, it did seem like Demi Moore had it in the bag because she beat Mikey Madison at the Golden Globes. The first sign of support for Madison didn’t appear until the BAFTAS. That is not that unusual. It happens sometimes. Probably the popularity of Fernanda Torres cut into the Demi Moore vote more than it did the Madison vote.
While it’s true that sexuality did matter—it always does—it mattered last year with Emma Stone and this year with Mikey Madison, but it wasn’t the only reason. The sex perhaps made it easier for some voters to care or to relate to her character, as opposed to The Substance, a film that essentially blamed men for the ills of society. The Academy is still majority male. You do the math.
You may or may not know this about me but I got my start in life in acting. I went to the Los Angeles Theater Academy as a teenager. I tried for a short amount of time to be an actor. I wasn’t pretty enough. I am now old. I know the meaning behind the film The Substance. But I also know that Demi Moore herself is the living embodiment of that film’s message. The film says, “Accept yourself as you are,” but Demi Moore is celebrated for looking young, which is the game, right?
That is why, at least to me, the film’s message as “important’ did not resonate. I felt it was a brilliant satire of female vanity, but it isn’t a message movie or shouldn’t be. That hasn’t stopped people from using this moment to once again marinate in the idea that there is a victim in this scenario, and that victim is Demi Moore. Here’s the problem: Moore’s is a co-lead with Margaret Qualley. Moore spends much of the movie lying on her side. The biggest scenes in the movie, the most emotional scenes, belong to Qualley, who wasn’t even nominated.
This is a great boost to Demi Moore’s career either way. She will get more roles. But I hope that she, just as I hope that Nicole Kidman and other older actresses, can accept roles about older women, not older women needing to still look and be young. Older women need stories too.
That was also the problem for Lily Gladstone last year. She was perhaps the heart of the film but she wasn’t the whole film. Emma Stone was the whole film and Mikey Madison is the whole film. This is also why it’s funny that the last time all five Best Actress nominees were in Best Picture contenders the film that prevailed was Annie Hall, which also won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Diane Keaton. Like Anora, Annie Hall won all but one of its Oscars.
Plenty of people thought Keaton’s work wasn’t serious enough but the truth is, people fell in love with her character — a character that has not just stood the test of time but become a permanent fixture in American culture.
These are two totally different films, but it’s interesting how they turned out. I was able to predict Mikey Madison based on Kris Tapley’s advice—he said if Anora is winning Best Picture, why wouldn’t Madison also be winning? It was good advice from the same person who warned me that Frances McDormand would win for Nomadland.
The Oscars this year are a reminder that the Academy’s efforts to diversify their ranks by bringing in roughly 3,000 newer, younger, more international members has dramatically transformed the Oscars. There is no going back. Hollywood will have to up its game to compete better. But one thing is clear, when these voters love a movie, they love a movie. Parasite, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Oppenheimer and now, Anora are the kinds of wins driven by passion.
