Is it not amazing how the movies and shows and performances get shifted or elevated or changed in your mind?
I saw I, Tonya before it was in wide release, so those who had seen it at film festivals were mostly talked out and everyone who hadn’t seen it yet weren't done yet. And like I’ve written before, I literally thought about it every day. I’m still not finished thinking about it.
I had thoughts about the screenplay and Margot Robbie and the exhausting but-well-done role of Jeff Gillooly’s idiot partner Sean, all doing interesting things. I wish Margot Robbie was getting more attention, but she’s decidedly behind the scenes even when she’s out front – I don’t know if she’s still battling the flu or if people are worried she’s going to bring Tonya “Don’t ask me about the past” Price-formerly-Harding to every awards ceremony or what – but in front of and behind the scenes, Robbie is the reason the movie exists. I wish she was getting to speak to some of the questions about abuse and representation that keep coming up.
But awards season has told us over and over again that what we need to acknowledge is Allison Janney.
And I mean – yes. She’s the standout, she’s great… but she’s not the whole movie. She’s not even a truly critical part of it. Which is maybe why she seemed to roll her eyes just a bit on her way up there, or maybe it was just modesty when they said she’d won SEVEN SAG awards.
Because at this point, what’s left to say? She tried to make it different with her ‘this speech is about the actors’ point, but what’s there to say that she hasn’t said before?
Nicole Kidman is using each speech to make a different but connected politically-adjacent point, but Allison Janney hasn’t really made any waves at all… something that feels increasingly out of step as this season goes on.
She’s also never been nominated for an Academy Award.
For what that’s worth.
In other news, her dress last night would be slightly too covered for the Oscars if such an event should come to pass, but man it was a showstopper otherwise, wasn’t it? My thing is, it’s so gorgeous and strong with those shoulders, and as we know Janney is 6 feet tall… if she’d turned it down, who else would have dared to try it? Would it otherwise have stayed on the rack forever?
