Best Actress 1994: She'll Do

When I say 1994 was the crappiest year for Best Actress in recent memory, I'm pretty confident that many will agree with me.  It was just a lame run for actresses and Jessica Lange's victory was the icing on the cake.  Not to say she isn't undeserving of multiple awards, just for something a little more substantial.  The number of Best Picture nominees which included a lead turn from a female was exactly zero, unless you count Andie McDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction for that matter.  While my stance has softened over the years, when Best Picture Forrest Gump came out, I was appalled by the messages I saw it delivering about women.  The other two movies barely even had women in the story.  Commercially, there weren't a lot of female-driven hits (Julia Roberts was having an off-year, trying to get her footing back after being on hiatus) and the art-house didn't have much to offer either.  And, it was one of those years where none of the nominees fit any traditional Oscar narrative to help sell the idea of a "deserving winner."

When it came to deciding who to reward the Oscar, the lesser of all evils probably went down like this: Despite winning the SAG, Jodie Foster's Nell was easy to rule out.  The already two-time Oscar winner (whose victories were still pretty fresh) wasn't even in her mid-30s.  And that her movie and performance was ripe for parody didn't help matters.

Winona Ryder, the youngin' of the group, was still on the rise.  She was nominated for Little Women.  Now, if Katherine Hepburn couldn't even get nominated for her Jo March, it didn't seem likely the Ryder would win, now would it?  Additionally, Ryder was still proving herself as an actor.  She had the good fortune of being Tim Burton's muse, the heroine of cult hit Heathers, as well as "the voice of a generation" in Reality Bites.  But, as an actress, with her anemic voice and limited range, it would be a while before she even began showing signs of raw talent.  A win for her at that point would have been regrettable, even if the film still made a good show at the box-office.

Susan Sarandon would be the most overdue at that point.  She was on her fourth nomination.  Her film The Client, based on the John Grisham novel, directed by Joel Schumacher, did not have the best credentials.  While it did make bank (and is still probably one of the highest grossing films to receive a Best Actress nomination), it was one of her more forgettable performances in a movie that quite possibly hasn't aged well.  So, it would come as no surprise if there was still some sort of split between her and Jessica Lange.  That would leave Miranda Richardson and Lange.  Both actresses played characters who are mentally unstable or misunderstood.  Richardson, once a rising star having been first offered the role of Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, still had a leg up on Lange age wise.  However, Richardson was already on her way to 40 and hardly fit into the Oscar definition of a "babe," which, I imagine, unfortunately did not work in her favor.  Instead, the AMPAS would settle on Lange, who had already won a supporting statue for Tootsie twelve years prior.  That same year she was also one of the favorites for lead, losing to Meryl Streep's universally referenced Sophie's Choice.  Having built up three more nods since then, Lange had accumulated some goodwill, enough that they were willing to choose her over Sarandon.  Enough time had passed.

She takes what she needs and moves on ...
unless it's an Oscar

What made 1994 more unusual is that one of its most talked about performances, Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction, was disqualified for a nomination, as the movie originally debuted on HBO the summer before its Fall theatrical release.  The producers would file suit, but a judge would throw it out, as the AMPAS rules are clear: a movie's premiere must be in the theaters.  Additionally, Fiorentino was overlooked by the Emmys AND the Golden Globes (who didn't cite her for either medium), despite winning the majority of film critics awards out there.  Some talk about category confusion, this might be one of the only cases of medium confusion.  It would be only a few more years until The Sopranos and Sex and the City would legitimize cable's place in the "television" world.  Fiorentino tried to exploit her film noir persona in the cinema to no avail.  Her commercial high would end up being third billing in Men in Black (a role she won in a card game with the director) where despite its ending, would writer her out completely in the sequel.  Ominously, it's explained that her character requested a return to the morgue where she would work as a medical examiner.  The location is exactly where Fiorentino's career ended up.  But, even if she had made it into the Oscar race, as Basic Instinct, every screen siren Kathleen Turner has played, and Annette Bening in Bugsy have proven, Oscar doesn't really have high regard for a femme fatale or an old Hollywood broad, at least in modern times.  They will notice someone like Angelica Huston; but her sexual proclivities aren't, shall, we say, traditional.  What does that say about the AMPAS?

Jennifer Jason Leigh came closest to nabbing her first nomination, but she falls on the list of actresses the AMPAS just don't like.  While there are some critics who don't care for her, as far as The Academy is concerned, her non-traditional physical beauty probably rubbed them the wrong way.  They have proven time and time again that they like their ingenues pretty and easily labeled as babes.  That simply worked against Leigh, which is a shame, considering her talent.  This would be a year the Oscars also continued their bias against comic brilliance.  Somehow, the ability to make us laugh ranks several rungs below anything else that can be associated with acting.  They'll take charming and scrappy (Terms of Endearment, Moonstruck, Working Girl, The Blind Side), but to have out-right comical muscle, as is the case of Jamie Lee Curtis, they tend to take a pass.  Overlooking her prowess in True Lies was an unfortunate example, one of many in the case of Curtis over the years.  Meryl Streep was also left out, which wasn't very common, but The River Wild was essentially an action thriller, not exactly Oscar bait.

The Nominees:
-Jessica Lange, Blue Sky: GG Drama winner; SAG, LA, Chicago, National Society (2nd) nominee ($3.4M, Fall release; current 74% RT).

-Miranda Richardson, Tom & Viv: NBR winner; GG Drama, BAFTA nominee ($0.5M; 33%)

-Jodie Foster, Nell: SAG, Dallas-Fort Worth, Southeastern winner; GG Drama, Chicago nominee ($33.7M / $106.7M; 53%)

-Winona Ryder, Little Women: Kansas City winner; Chicago, Chlotrudis nominee ($18M / $50.1M; 90%)

-Susan Sarandon, The Client: BAFTA winner; SAG, Chicago nominee ($92M / $117.6M, Summer release; 80%)

The Also-Rans:
-Linda Fiorentino, The Last Seduction: New York, Dallas-Fort Worth AND Texas, ISA, London winner; Boston (2nd), Chicago, National Society (3rd), Chlotrudis nominee ($5.8M, "Fall" release; 94%)

-Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle: Chicago, National Society winner; GG Drama, New York (2nd), ISA nominee ($2.2M; 74%)

-Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies: GG Comedy winner; SAG supporting nominee ($115M / $146.3 / $378.9M, Summer release; 72%)

-Meryl Streep, The River Wild: SAG, GG Drama, Chicago nominee ($46.8M / $94.2, Fall release; 55%)

-Meg Ryan, When a Man Loves a Woman: SAG nominee ($50M, Spring release; 70%)

The Also-Nominated (for supporting):
-Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction: BAFTA nominee (lead); SAG, Golden Globe, New York (2nd), Chicago, Dallas-Forth Worth (2nd), National Society (2nd), Chlotrudis nominee (supporting) ($8M / $107.9M / $213.9M, Fall release; 96%)

-Helen Mirren, The Madness of King George: Cannes winner; BAFTA nominee (lead) ($15.2M; 93%)

The Rest of the Competition: 
-Isabelle Adjani, Queen Margot: César winner ($1.3M; 75%)
-Irène Jacob, Red: BAFTA, César nominee ($3.6M, Fall release; 100%)
-Andie MacDowell, Four Weddings and a Funeral: GG Comedy nominee ($4.4M / $52.7 / $245.7M, Spring release; 96%)

-Kathleen Turner, Serial Mom: Chlotrudis nominee ($13M / $7.8M, Spring release; 60%)
-Sigourney Weaver, Death and the Maiden: Dallas-Fort Worth (2nd) ($12M / $3.1M; 84%)
-Julianne Moore, Vanya on 42nd Street: Boston winner; Chlotrudis nominee ($1.8M, Fall release; 88%)
-Judy Davis, The New Age / The Ref: Chlotrudis winner ($0.3M / $11.4M; 67% / 76%)
-Shirley MacLaine, Guarding Tess: GG Comedy nominee ($27.1M, Spring release; 59%)
-Emma Thompson, Junior: GG Comedy nominee ($60M / $36.8M / $108.4M; 32%)
-Li Gong, To Live: Chlotrudis nominee ($2.3M; 87%)
-Geena Davis, Speechless: GG Comedy nominee ($20.7M; 12%)
-Brooke Smith, Vanya on 42nd St.: Boston (3rd) nominee; National Society (3rd), ISA, Chlotrudis supporting nominee ($1.8M, Fall release; 88%)