Oscars 2023: Academy conducting review into Andrea Riseborough nomination
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences appears to be looking into the unexpected ‘Best Actress’ nomination for Andrea Riseborough, who received a nod in the Oscars category last week under controversial circumstances.
Claiming a nomination for her performance in the small indie drama To Leslie, where the British actor stars as a Texas mother who wins the lottery, Riseborough’s nod came after a guerrilla campaign for the performer online. Whilst many have got behind her performance, others are raising their eyebrows as to how she got an Oscar nomination in the first place when the film made just £22,000 at the global box office when it was released in October 2022.
Although the Academy hasn’t mentioned Riseborough directly, a statement from the organisation alluded to the controversial nomination.
The entire statement reads: “It is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner, and we are committed to ensuring an inclusive awards process. We are conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication”.
The statement adds, “We have confidence in the integrity of our nomination and voting procedures, and support genuine grassroots campaigns for outstanding performances”.
Reacting to the surprise nomination, Riseborough told Deadline, “I’m astounded…It’s such an unexpected ray of light. It was so hard to believe it might ever happen because we really hadn’t been in the running for anything else. Even though we had a lot of support, the idea it might actually happen seemed so far away…I’m not entirely sure how the f*ck this happened”.
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