Best Supporting Actress 2013: Margo Martindale, August: Osage County

Rondi Reed (left) originated August: Osage County's Mattie Fae Aiken role
in Chicago and later won a Tony, as well as making a reprise in the London
production; Margo Martindale (right) plays the part in the film version

Well, after hanging out at AD, the subject of August: Osage County came up, so I suppose now is as good of a time as any to break the seal on Margo Martindale's Oscar chances. I can't rightly say that she will win a year from now.  HOWEVER, I am willing to bet serious money that she will be nominated at a minimum for August.  The role is a doozy and she's starring in Harvey Weinstein's crown jewel for next year's Oscar season.  Part of her chances of winning will involve just how exactly Julia Roberts will be campaigned.  Roberts' other awards-grab-in-the-making The Normal Heart has just become an HBO-venture instead of a motion picture, so I imagine August to be the wide-mouthed actresses' only shot at any Oscar attention for a while.  Her role in the play, along with Meryl Streep's, is technically a lead.  Although, if push comes to shove, it's Streep's Viola Weston who is at the center of everything.  We don't know how the movie will play out, but even if it stays true to its theatrical roots, category fraud could very easily come into play.  Will Roberts stand to be campaigned for anything less than lead?  There hasn't been a double-billed lead actress Oscar campaign since Thelma & Louise.  Everything that has come closest since (namely Chicago, The Hours) has had some kind of legitimate justification for splitting up the actresses, or faced stiff competition in getting both of its ladies in (The Kids Are All Right).

But, without a doubt, Martindale will be supporting.  Her movie career dates back to the early 90s.  She has worked with Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, and Susan Sarandon a couple of times each in small roles, and became one of those faces you just recognize.  She raised her profile by appearing as Hilary Swank's white trash money-hungry mother in Million Dollar Baby and continued to work in films, as well as getting a featured role on the TV show The Riches.  But, it wasn't until her role on the series Justified (she won an Emmy a year ago) did larger audiences begin paying more attention specifically to her.  At age 61, she is hitting the peak of her career and will become an even more popular entity when August lands sometime this year and people get a look at her Mattie Fae Aiken.  As far as Martindale is concerned, there are only four slots available in her category, because she has already parked herself in one of them.  Do you think Grandma Smurf might have it in for her?  Margo can rest easy, for now.  The mafia matriarch is currently preoccupied with one Anne Hathaway.