The Riseborough Affair

Can we have ONE Oscar season without controversy? Just ONE! I am asking so little! I just want pageantry and glamor, dammit, and I keep having to talk about slaps and voting rules! This year’s fresh hell is the surprise Best Actress nomination of British actor Andrea Riseborough for her performance in To Leslie. I am not as high on that film and that performance as others—I prefer Riseborough’s gender-bending work in Please Baby Please—but Riseborough is a good actor and is the type to get nominated for something, eventually. And it turned out her first nomination came this year, on the back of a film few people have seen. Compounded with a lack of precursor nominations—Riseborough has been a non-entity on the awards circuit up to this point—and the exclusion of Black actors Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler, who were more prevalent in the run up to nominations, Riseborough’s inclusion left many people scratching their heads.  ...Full Story