Duana and I will be recording the new episode of Show Your Work on Monday, after we wrap coverage of the Golden Globes. By that point, we won’t have slept for… well… a long time. We’ll be fried – so, yeah, should be a good show. One of the stories I’m pitching hard is “Emily Blunt and John Krasinski: Hollywood’s latest power couple”. As a primer, if you haven’t already, read their joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter. We’ll be fresh off observing how they play it at the Globes and looking ahead to the Critics’ Choice Awards a week later.
Here’s Emily in Palm Springs last night, repping Mary Poppins Returns in a one-shoulder Roland Mouret which is a solid choice for that event and an excellent teaser for what she’ll be wearing on Sunday. She is, after all, on the campaign trail. Please, you don’t need me to remind you – yet again – that fashion is part of an Oscar campaign. And Emily is definitely going for it. Her momentum for a Best Actress Oscar nomination, which would be her first, has been steadily building the last few weeks. Mary Poppins Returns is performing OK at the box office, the reviews have been solid though not spectacular, but everyone agrees she is wonderful in the role. And it’s looking like it’s a wide open Best Actress race. There’s a frontrunner, sure – Lady Gaga – but no one is anywhere near being a lock. Also, when it comes down to it, I’m not sure anyone is convinced that the Academy will give Gaga an Oscar for her first lead film role over the likes of Glenn Close and Olivia Colman and Emily herself, who is about as well-connected and well-respected as anyone among the contenders.
Emily Blunt has game. As we learn from that THR piece, she’s been playing a long game for a decade and even though that strategy is only now coming to the surface, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been there all along, she’s just showing it to us now…at exactly the right time? I don’t think Emily is going to win at the Globes on Sunday (my predictions are Gaga – because the Hollywood Foreign Press won’t be able to resist handing it to Gaga – and Olivia Colman) but the Globes don’t matter for her when she has two SAG nominations carrying her towards the Oscars, an indication of how popular she is among actors, the Academy’s largest member branch. If she can secure that nomination on January 22 when the Academy makes the announcements, I’m telling you, do not count her out. Watch her onstage with the kids last night in Palm Springs. How are those voters going to be able to resist this? Start at the 1 hour 21 minute mark here.
