A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Nicole Kidman that was titled “Nicole Kidman doesn’t stop” and in that post I included a tweet that made me laugh. As I wrote at the time, “some people were offended by it but I understand the spirit because it relates to just how productive she is. So I’ll show it to you even though you might yell at me but there’s a point!” 

 

Here, again, is the tweet – and the point is that she is booked and busy AF: 

Last month Nicole premiered The Perfect Couple, currently streaming on Netflix. The show is a mess but her performance is delightfully batsh-t because, as usual, she understands the assignment. At the same time, she was promoting Babygirl, which is due out in December and for which she is campaigning for yet another Oscar nomination. And last night she was at the premiere of season two of Lioness. That’s three projects in four months. She has at least eight other projects that are either in development or in post production. 

 

She is breathtakingly relentless! And serving, always serving! Look at this outfit!

It’s Bottega Veneta, styled by Jason Bolden. So f-cking good. 

 

Nicole plays a supporting role in Lioness, with Zoe Saldana in the lead. Zoe too is on the campaign trail for Oscar – she’s the frontrunner right now for a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work in Emilia Pérez. It was announced this week that she’ll receive the American Rivera Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in early February, another indication that she’s locked in for that Oscar nomination and could actually win since that event is considered a key campaign stop just before the Oscar voting period.

 

Here's a fact about Zoe that we probably don’t talk enough about: she’s “the only performer in history to have starred in four films that grossed more than $2 billion” and now she’s matched her commercial success with prestige. Still, we are far from calling this a done deal. Not just because there are still four months in the season, but the other contenders are still coming on. 

The two other actresses who look like strong possibilities for a supporting nomination are Danielle Deadwyler in The Piano Lesson and Isabella Rossellini in Conclave. Conclave is what Sarah calls a “dad movie”, specifically the kind of movie that would appeal to older Oscar voters. And Isabella, well, she’d be the veteran in the supporting actress field, with an extensive resumé, the daughter of two legends, and a legend in her own right. She has very limited screentime in the film, but she makes a huge impact in those few minutes (I screened it at TIFF and she was, for me, the best part of it). What she does with just her eyes in her scenes is extraordinary. Some think that the shortness of her part will hurt her. But it’s not like the Academy has never awarded acting legends in this category with little screen time. See Dame Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. 

 

Isabella and Team Conclave haven’t been as visible so far on the awards circuit. And still no one is counting them out, precisely because Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella don’t necessarily have to be visible in conventional campaign ways to be considered. Something to keep in mind as the campaign unfolds. 

Back to Zoe, she’s wearing Balmain and I like how she and Nicole, with the shapes of their skirts, are kinda coordinated.