Dear Gossips,

Awkwafina!

Awkwafina won the Best Actress for her performance in The Farewell at the Gotham Awards last night in New York. As Variety notes, the Gothams, “hosted by the Independent Filmmakers Project, resembles the Iowa caucus as the first stop on the long and tangled road of awards season”.

The Farewell is one of the most acclaimed films of the year, considered one of the best films of 2019, it performed well at the specialty box office, and still, it’s amazing to me that Awkwafina has been able to hang in the race considering the film’s summer release. And yet, here we are, just a few days from Golden Globe nominations, and she’s definitely in it. That said, it was a surprise to Awkwafina too, as she said during her acceptance speech, “I've never won anything! I can't even win an argument in the Instagram comments!”

She goes on to thank Lulu Wang for putting the “my Vag girl” in her movie and also grandmothers everywhere for “spoiling us, loving us, and believing in us”. As we’ve seen, every award show prior to the Oscars can serve as an audition for Oscar. In her first audition, Awkwafina did well. But will the Academy really put her through? 

Right now, according to experts, Renee Zellweger is the frontrunner. Charlize Theron was, up until recently, considered to be the lock for a nomination right behind her. In the last few days though, Scarlett Johansson has overtaken the second spot for her performance in Marriage Story. Marriage Story got a LOT of love last night at the Gothams, winning six out of ten awards, including Best Actor for Adam Driver and Best Feature Film. So, once again, Netflix will be a factor at the Oscars this year, if not for Marriage Story then for The Irishman. (My hot take on The Irishman: I have an hour to go to finish it after two sittings – it’s TOO LONG and boring but Joe Pesci is amazing.) 

Back to Awkwafina though – right now, she seems to be on her own in solid fourth, ahead of Saoirse Ronan. Will be interesting to see in the coming weeks, after Little Women comes out if Saoirse can make a charge. But this win at the Gothams is a really great sign for Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens. Great timing, the first trailer was just released yesterday. 

Yours in gossip,

Lainey