Let’s take a look at the Best Actress race for the Oscars after the end of fall festivals, which is turning out to be the most competitive in recent years. The big three film festivals- Berlin, Cannes and Venice, are over.
Cue to the crucial fall film festivals- Telluride and Toronto, which are still ongoing. These are but essential in providing a road map to the Oscars next year, and if there’s one category that is stacked it is the Best Actress in a Leading Role. (Also read: Poor Things to Maestro: 10 films premiering at the 2023 Venice Film Festival that we can’t wait to watch)
Emma Stone, Sandra Hüller and Margot Robbie are in the running for the Best Actress Oscar race this year. Emma Stone, Sandra Hüller and Margot Robbie are in the running for the Best Actress Oscar race this year.
Venice Film Festival provides a sure-shot lead when it comes to the category, given how the Volpi Cup for Best Actress award chosen by the festival often translates into an Oscar nomination. The streak is unbeatable at this point- four of the past winners in the past five years of the festival have gone on to secure an Oscar nomination, with one winning. The list includes Olivia Colman for The Favourite (2018), Vanessa Kirby for Pieces of a Woman (2020), Penélope Cruz for Parallel Mothers (2021) and Cate Blanchett for Tár (2022).
This should leave the most recent winner in the category, Cailee Spaeny for Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla beaming with joy. Cailee has never been nominated before, and the Academy loves honouring a newcomer in an author-backed biopic. Given how Priscilla reconstructs the narrative introduced by Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, that got star Austin Butler a Best Actor nomination, Priscilla could bode very well with the Academy members.
