14 DAY TRIAL // All those critics saying a piece of wood is capable of showing more emotion on the big screen than Kristen Stewart, the leading lady from “The Twilight Saga,” should brace themselves for a huge blow: Sony Pictures Classic, which picked up the distribution rights to the movie “Still Alice,” will be campaigning for an Oscar for the young actress.
The film also stars Julianne Moore, playing an esteemed linguist who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, with Stewart playing the daughter, who puts her life on hold to care for her mother. Moore’s performance stands out as nearly perfect, but Stewart too is getting rave reviews for hers.
The studio picked up the film for distribution in the US after it screened at TIFF 2014, with Michael Barker, co-chief, telling The Hollywood Reporter that they will be behind Stewart 100 percent in the upcoming awards season.
Kristen Stewart is putting “Twilight” behind, is definitely going places
This will be Kristen’s first Oscar campaign, and hopefully her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well. Campaigns don’t start until later this year, but she must be breathing a sigh of relief to know that she has backing from the studio, because that’s something not all actors can boast of.
“There’s no question that Julianne Moore gives the greatest performance of her career to date — it’s a performance of such amazing depth and subtlety — but one of the reasons it comes off so spectacularly well is that the actors around her are so strong. Kristen Stewart has never been better than she is in this film. Alec Baldwin gives one of the strongest performances of his career. In addition to that, you’ve got Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish also giving really strong performances,” Barker says.
“Kristen Stewart is someone we have seen in many movies over the last several years — four in 2014, with three coming up in 2015 so far — and she has shown great range in such a wide variety of genres. But there is something about this performance that has new depths that she hasn’t shown before. She’s really terrific in the film,” he continues.
That’s a lot of talk leading up to confirmation that they will propose Kristen for Best Supporting Actress for the Oscars 2015. In the same interview, the Sony boss hints that the actress has already been informed of the plans and that she’s fully cooperative.
What does an Oscar campaign mean?
First of all, campaigning for an Oscar means making yourself visible, more so than you’d ever do if you were just promoting a movie. This means agreeing to countless appearances on television, doing interviews by the dozen, and practically going out of your way to get your name in every media outlet possible.
For some actors, this kind of major butt kissing (because that’s what this is, to speak the truth) is too much to take – not to mention that it takes them away from doing actual work, which is even more reason for them not to do it. Perhaps the most recent example is that of Michael Fassbender, who refused to campaign for an Oscar for his role in “Shame,” and as such, when nominees for Best Actor were announced, his name wasn’t on the list.
Then, there is the “For Your Consideration” campaign, which includes TV ads and prints, and a new series of interviews, which actually propose X actor or actress, or Y movie for a nomination at the Academy Awards.
Kristen’s biggest enemy is herself
So, an Oscar campaign requires a lot of time and even more money to carry through, so actors with no backing from the studio often can’t afford to do it. Kristen is not one of them, having cemented her reputation as one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities with the insanely successful “Twilight” franchise.
Her biggest problem right now is handling media attention: she’s famously shy, admitting more than once just how much she hated doing interviews and appearances, not to mention red carpets. If she wants an Oscar, for “Still Alice” or any other movie, she has to learn how to hustle: and that means playing the celebrity game with the media.
Below is a video from “Still Alice,” as a trailer hasn’t been made available as of the time of writing. The film is scheduled to open wide in US theaters at the beginning of next year.
