Here’s Kristen Stewart at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Saturday. Some people are saying she’s working the circuit to see if she can build some momentum for an On The Road nomination (as the New York Film Critics Circle announces its winners list today and it’s all over the place -- more on this tomorrow). Is she? That’s Hathaway’s category, and Sally Field just took it in New York. And there’s also Helen Hunt and Amy Adams and Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham Carter and Kerry Washington and a few others in that mix. So campaigning may not be the motivation here, though that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
It’s never a bad move to work the room, especially this room. To be among studio executives and Academy members, other actors, industry power players, especially after the year she’s had, sandwiching a scandal between two successful box office hits. It’s time to line up some jobs then. This is exactly the kind of environment where those conversations can happen. And that’s good. That is, after all, the game. If Stewart is willing to play the game, well, it might also be prudent to improve her entire game. Like a hockey forward who can advance the puck and backcheck in the defensive zone -- that’s why Sidney Crosby is a complete player: he is phenomenal on both ends of the ice. Kristen Stewart is a good actor. But as we all know now, especially when one wants to be a Movie Star, just acting is not enough. The packaging and the selling are important too. Which means that swinging leg of hers? You remember that swinging leg from the Balenciaga Florabotanica live chat? Click here for a refresher. That swinging leg wouldn’t go over well with this crowd is what I’m saying. The Palm Springs retirement crowd would however be into this dress. Good choice.
