Dear Gossips,
The National Board of Review announced its award winners yesterday. NBR isn’t always that great of an Oscar predictor; last year their Best Film was The Post, Best Actor and Best Actress were Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, Willem Dafoe and Laurie Metcalf won for supporting …AND they left out The Shape of Water and Three Billboards entirely. This year they haven’t included Vice at all, which many experts consider to solidly be in play. That said, the NBR list is always released during a week when we see the field narrow. The Gotham Independent Film Awards happened on Monday and the New York Film Critics Circle will release its winners list tomorrow. So by Friday we might have a better idea of how competitive the race will be. And whether or not the films with an outside shot can keep hoping. Like…Crazy Rich Asians.
Crazy Rich Asians was named Best Ensemble yesterday by the NBR. This is big for CRA. Earlier this month, Gold Derby reported that CRA could “crash [the] ensemble award at SAG” and that could significantly improve Michelle Yeoh’s chances at a Best Supporting Actress nomination. SAG voting ends on December 9 and nominations will be announced on December 12. She is not one of the frontrunners but she has been slowly and steadily building momentum. Will it be enough?
Michelle was in Beijing the other day with Jon M Chu ahead of the Chinese premiere of Crazy Rich Asians this Friday. An old friend showed up to support her:
Tears came to my eyes when I first saw that photo.
In other Michelle news, The Hollywood Reporter says she might be getting her own Star Trek spinoff. She’s 56 years old, more relevant and viable than ever, still killing it.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
