May December opens in select theatres today and will stream on Netflix starting December 1. There is Oscar buzz around this film – Todd Haynes is the director, it was a hit in Cannes, and as Sarah wrote a few weeks ago, it will likely spark a Conversation. The “age gap discourse”, because many people will be familiar with the story that inspired this movie: Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau.
This is the kind of controversial discourse that Oscar strategists want at this stage of award season. It’s a very competitive season. The film is meant to be provocative and make people uncomfortable, the source material alone takes care of most of that, so as Sarah noted, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays on social media when more people start seeing it, especially when it starts streaming in a couple of weeks.
May December stars two Best Actress Oscar winners, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. That alone is enough to light up Film Twitter. Netflix has submitted May December for Golden Globes consideration in the comedy/musical category; it’s not so much that they care about winning Golden Globes, it’s about positioning the film in contention, with the hopes that any nomination from any Oscar precursor generates more attention so that Oscar voters will keep it in mind up against the big boys and girls in the race, like Oppenheimer and Flower Moon and Barbie and Poor Things and American Fiction…
Again, it’s a VERY competitive year.
But you know who might be May December’s best shot at a nomination? Charles Melton! Best known as Reggie from Riverdale or, if you’re like me and will watch any romance movie based on romance books, The Sun is Also a Star. I LOVED him in that movie and I’m still salty that more of you didn’t see it.
Charles has been nominated for a Gotham for his performance in May December. He’s sharing the screen with two heavyweights, Julianne and Natalie, and he’s breaking through. Now that the strike is over, he can really make a push in to the Best Supporting Actor race, up against the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Ryan Gosling, Robert De Niro, Mark Ruffalo, Sterling K Brown, and more. I hate to sound repetitive but it’s a VERY competitive year.
So it’ll be interesting to see how Charles approaches his campaign. Because we have a comparison here, especially this week. Charles’s situation is not unlike Jacob Elordi’s – a breakthrough year, starring in acclaimed projects, but known for their work in shows and movies that aren’t nearly as prestigious, shows and movies with big pop culture hype. Jacob decided to go in the direction of white man broody regret, sh-tting on the thing that gave him his start. Will Charles soon be making headlines for disparaging Riverdale? Or will he choose not to be a cliché?
Here he is at the premiere of May December last night, as swoony as he’s ever been in a long black jacket over wide leg pants and that hair, that floppy K-pop hair and those dimples and that smile and I mean, come on, we could use more of Charles this award season, right?
Talented and pretty and stylish, like, just, I’ve run out of words, let me throw up a picture:
BRING ON THE HYPE, people! Why isn’t there more hype!
And one final thought re: Natalie Portman because she is single and she’s in her leg era right now and I am all about this, we need more of this, too.
