Meet Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Future Oscar Nominee/Winner?

I had Mary Elizabeth Winstead on my short list earlier this year for Best Actress. She was one of three actresses from Sundance who got most of the buzz for Best Actress. Quvenzhané Wallis seems like a sure bet, and Helen Hunt is also looking strong, but in the supporting category. I did a rundown in April on the critical praise Smashed and Winstead received (her costar is recent Emmy award winner Aaron Paul for Breaking Bad).  For a while, there didn't seem to be anything happening distribution-wise with the movie, which Sony Pictures Classics bought after the festival finished. However, the release date was set in early August for October 12th. The film has now shown at the Deauville Film Festival and TIFF.  She plays an alcoholic trying to walk the straight and narrow, so her role is Oscar-bait.  She is also young and beautiful, which the AMPAS love.  There is a lot going in her favor.  And, if the movie builds an audience, a nod is inevitable.  There's little that I'm familiar with about her other than the dubious remake The Thing she played lead on last year (not a good thing), as well as her part in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (a very good thing).

She did a lot of TV early on as a teenager.  As an adult, she graduated to film sequels like The Ring and Final Destination, the latter of which she was the main character.  She had roles in Bobby, Factory Girl, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.  She scored another lead as an aspiring dancer in Make It Happen and, in perhaps her biggest get, she landed the Die Hard franchise as Bruce Willis' daughter in the fourth installment.  One of her best turns was in 2010's Scott Pilgrim as the memorable ass-kicking Ramona Flowers with the ever-changing-hair-color.  There was, of course, that smelly Thing from last year, and she also appeared in the Abraham Lincoln film with the vampires, as his wife Mary Todd.  Currently, she has three other films in the can: A.C.O.D, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, and a reunion with her Smashed director James Ponsoldt, The Spectacular Now.  She started producing shorts and appeared on Broadway with Donny Osmond in Joseph, and can sing and dance.  She married writer/director Riley Stearns two years ago, with whom she has been with for ten years (since she was 18 when they met).  Looking at her picture and her body of action work, I have to ask: has Hollywood finally found its Wonder Woman?  Right look, right age, right resume.  Check back with me if it ever gets made.