In addition to Benedict Cumberbatch, Reese Witherspoon was also one of the surprise names left off the list of Independent Spirit Award nominees. Reese is considered to be in the second position, after Julianne Moore, for Best Actress Oscar nominee for her performance in Wild. And if we’re working on the McConaissance plan (his agent, Jim Toth, is her husband), ideally she’d be at the Spirits the night before Oscar Sunday. Instead the Spirits have called Moore, Rinko Kikuchi, Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton, and YAY Jenny Slate. I wrote about Obvious Child a few weeks ago – click here for a refresher. It deserves a lot of love.
Like Cumberbatch, not being nominated for a Spirit Award doesn’t mean Reese isn’t going to the Dolby. What it does tell us though is that the gap between her and Julianne Moore is significant. And if she wants to actually win, she has to increase her efforts to close in. What does an intensified effort from Reese look like? I look forward to it.
In other Reese news…
She and Nicole Kidman acquired the rights to Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies a few months ago. Have you read it yet? You should. It’s a good talker. At first they were thinking it would be a feature film. Now it’s looking like it’ll be a limited TV series, like True Detective. Much better, right?
It’s a very specific world – the school run social order, the SUV alliances, the politics of being a parent – that takes time to build, and David E Kelley will be the one writing it, creating what will no doubt be a familiar narrative to those with children, who have to deal with these little dramas every day. Judgy moms, MAJOR gossip.
So it’s smart that they’re taking their time to tell this story. And Nicole totally wants to be Celeste.
