Best Actress at the 1997 Oscars - who was most unlucky to miss out on a nomintion?

Madonna deserved a nomination. She was pretty amazing in Evita

No she wasn’t.

Debbie was hilarious in Mother and it would have been nice to see her nominated.

I think Courtney's performance at "The People vs Larry Flint" was more supporting than leading.

Madonna was great in Evita. Her dying scenes were acted superbly.

Let’s not pretend the acting noms go to the absolute best top 5. If they did, 90% of those nominated wouldn’t be nominated.

It’s a game.

Madonna did deserve a nomination. She was flawless. Any other actress would have been given a nomination for Evita even if they’d given a lesser performance. Apparently, Madonna did not campaign much for a nomination. She had just had Lourdes and was apparently having some postpartum issues from the biography I read.

It’s an excellent line-up as is, though I would have voted for Brenda Blethyn or Emily Watson to win over Frances McDormand, whose first two Oscars came over more deserving nominees unlikely to get another chance at Best Actress.

Damn none of those have stood the test of time. Proves how pointless award shows are.

Agree with r3

[quote]Damn none of those have stood the test of time. Proves how pointless award shows are.

Never mind movies from almost 30 years ago. Would anyone care to revisit "CODA" (2021), "Nomadland" (2020), "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (2014), "Argo" (2012), or "The Artist" (2011)?

Sharon Stone should have emerged victorious the year before. That liberal disaster Susan Sarandon stole Sharon’s Oscar away from her. Sharon has been proven the victor in the years since as Susan is despised as a nutcase and an anti-Semitic hag.

Sharon married two Jews which makes her ostracization from Hollywood all the more peculiar.

Stone had any number of "issues" that might have contributed to her ostracization.

Sharon is the epitome of beauty and a talent rarely encountered in Hollywood. Sharon’s eroticism and indescribable beauty has been unmatched for decades and she remains Tinseltowns most electric and standout star.

Sharon wasn't even likely 2nd in the the vote totals.

R1 has a warped view. R1 thinks that asphalt is a rectal disorder.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, she’s been demoted to guest appearances on Karate Kid spinoffs as her lack of charisma and nonexistent sexual energy has proven she’s not a true movie star like Sharon. She’s a streaming supporting player at best. Sharon continues to regale Hollywood with her breathless beauty and dynamic talent. While show business continues to evolve, one stalwart is the stardom and explosive charisma that is exclusive to Sharon Stone.

Courtney was nominated for a Golden Globe, but she didn’t bag the Oscar nom that year

97’ Oscars - the beginning of Frances McDormand’s three (four if you count the producer credit on Nomadland) undeserving Oscar wins.

Frances is unfortunately one of the homeliest creatures in cinema. People crave true movie stars with glamour and beauty like Sharon Stone.

Frances is a sad secretary with halitosis who will never captivate the public with the charisma and sensuality of a marquee idol like Sharon Stone.

But Frances gets that sweet Coen cock every night

I suspect Madonna came in 6th in the voting. I think Alan Parker's direction made the film look too much like an MTV video, so voters felt like they had already seen Madonna give this performance.

Not on OP's list who I would have loved to see nominated: Laura Dern for Citizen Ruth.

A very underrated movie and a truly sublime performance.

I remember adult dramas..

Madonna’s several crying scenes were not sung and were done very well. She likewise nailed the rest of the movie. She carried the entire movie. No one would sit through 2 1/2 hours of mostly singing if she didn’t have the charisma to pull it off.

I do think she came in 6th in voting.

Neat.

Courtney Love was stupid. She won the New York Film Critics Award for Supporting Actress but then insisted on being campaigned for lead actress at other awards. She probably would have got a supporting nod.

[quote] I do think she came in 6th in voting.

Madonna never came in anything for an Oscar.

She can’t act. She spends her life acting as the malignant narcissist she is. There’s nothing left for film.

She’s a horrific monster and will never be acknowledged for any contribution to cinema. Just like that fat cunt Oprah.

R26 Absolutely. Her and Madonna were destined for nominations but both fucked it up.

You know Madonna was great when she was a favorite for a nomination after coming off Body Of Evidence. I think her fantastic performance in Dangerous Game is what put her in contention.

R27 You poor thing. Like it or not, Madonna can act. And she can act very well when she wants. Apparently she was so good in Goose and Tom Tom on Broadway the entire theater community was in awe. David Mamet was so in awe he wanted her for Speed The Plow which notorious theater critic snob Frank Rich said she was fucking excellent. Yes, she did get some bad reviews but his was very important because of his notorious and withering criticisms. She was great in DSS, Who’s That Girl (yes she was), Dick Tracy, A League, Dangerous Game, and Evita. She as also good in that Woody Allen movie and that other movie in the late 80s where the director fell ill during it (and later died) and said the movie being shit was his fault for not turning it over to someone else.

Madonna had won the Golden Globe that year, and should have received an Oscar nom. Brenda Blethyn should have been the winner over McDormand.

[quote]Courtney Love was stupid. She won the New York Film Critics Award for Supporting Actress but then insisted on being campaigned for lead actress at other awards. She probably would have got a supporting nod.

Supporting was also pretty packed that year. Performances that missed out were Kate Winslet for Hamlet, Lynn Redgrave for Shine (BAFTA nom), Marion Ross for The Evening Star (GG nom), Marisa Tomei for Unhook The Stars (SAG), Renee Zellweger for Jerry Maguire (SAG), Gwen Verdon for Marvin's Room (SAG), Queen Latifah for Set It Off (Ind Spirit) and Elizabeth Pena for Lone Star (won Ind Spirit).

Juliette Binoche was going to be the Supporting winner regardless.

I was sixth and you two-faced bitches all know it!

1997 Best Actress contenders was an embarrassment of riches.

[quote]Sharon Stone should have emerged victorious the year before. That liberal disaster Susan Sarandon stole Sharon’s Oscar away from her

I agree. 30 years later no one remembers Sarandon's brave NO MAKE UP AND COVER UP THE TITS creative choices but they do remember Stone's performance that elevated an otherwise fairly standard crime movie. But this was Sarandon's 5th and final nom and she never did anything of interest again, other than getting run over by a bus in The Big C.

We could discuss this for HOURS* but more deserving of nominations were Nicole Kidman for To Die For, Toni Collette for Muriel's Wedding and Julianne Moore - seriously - for Safe.

*See what I did there?

Shut up Sharon Stone’s PR/agent/stan

Neither Madonna or Sharon Stone are comparable to Streep, Keaton, McDormand, Kidman, Close etc with their range and longevity.

But Kidman and Stone's performances in Evita and Casino were absolutely brilliant and worthy of praise. 30 years later their performances have held up.

Can anyone explain Brenda Blethyn’s breakdown when Marianne Jean Baptiste asks who her father was?

R38 - I always read it that Cynthia had been raped but Mike Leigh explains in the link.

Fascinating at the improvisation and that Brenda and Marianne's acting was really quite real.

You forgot Shirley MacLaine in The Evening Star which I would replace with GOOPs utterly forgettable performance.

Op is your stated year the year of the film releases or the Oscars telecast. If the former Pam Grier was overlooked for Jackie Brown.

R31 Sony fucked Renee over by touting her for Lead Actress when he was largely seen as Supporting and had been SAG nominated in the category. She likely would have gotten the Supporting nod getting swept up in all the film's nominations. Interestingly Sony made the same misread with Courtney Love although Love did insist she was a lead.

R41 Pam Grier was the following year when Helen Hunt beat all the British Actresses for As Good As It Gets. Like Madonna the previous year, I suspect Pam Grier came in 6th and lost the nomination by 2 votes.

The other nominees were Judy Dench for Mrs. Brown (who won supporting the following year for her cameo in Shakespeare in Love), Helena Bonham Carter for Wings of the Dove (my personal choice), Julie Christie for Afterglow and Kate Winslet for Titanic. Kate was probably the most vulnerable but got the slot because, well, it was TITANIC!

Poll so white. I should have gotten a nod for Set it Off.

I'm not sure Pam came in 6th the following year. Jodie Foster in Contact and Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding were largely excepted to be nominated by even Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel who only had Roberts and Bonham Carter as sure things in their annual Memo To The Academy special. Ally Sheedy also had an outside chance for High Art.

Dangerous Game was the first movie Madonna received good notices for.

I don't know if she would have been able to eek out a nomination had she played her cards right, but she did herself no favors by trashing the movie before it opened because she'd thought she would get a leg up on the critics for once. Only it didn't work, as the LA and NY times along with a few others actually praised her performance (though others placed it on their worst of notices for the year)

But 93 was a weak Best Actress year, and Susan Sarandon managed to snag a nomination for a summer movie that got OK notices. So anything could have been possible.

But I remember it being a shock that neither Madonna, Debbie and Courtney weren't nominated in 97. I think Cindy Adams blasted the nominations in her category saying they were a majority of no names that no one cared about. And Billy Crystal even made that "Who are you people?" crack when he came out on stage. It seemed like the Academy was trying to make a statement that year.

[quote] Any other actress would have been given a nomination for Evita even if they’d given a lesser performance.

No, because they’re actually actresses and not professional naked clowns like Madonna. She’s been stinking up the silver screen for 40 years now. Flop after flop, awful, wooden “performances.” She’s atrocious.

Thankfully, Hollywood finally figured out she’s toxic to cinema and won’t hire her for anything anymore. One of the rare good decisions made in that shady business.

Perhaps if she focused on learning how to act instead of showing off her tits and pussy she might have honed her skills enough to be serviceable. That would have been the best she could have hoped for. Because she has zero acting talent and has no business being in a feature film. Ever.

R46 are you kidding? That was not the first movie Madonna received a good notices for. She received good notices for desperately seeking Susan Dick Tracy, a league of their own and dangerous game plus that Woody Allen film, shadows and fog I believe. The people that gave her bad notices for dangerous game just did so because it was cool to trash Madonna at the time. Remember, this is in the middle of her sex backlash. There’s no way she got nominated for dangerous game because the movie was crap. She was right about that. If you read the Mary Gabriel biography about her you’ll see that she apparently was phenomenal in the Broadway show goose and Tom Tom. So much so that many critics said if she would’ve been seen in that instead of Shanghai, surprise after desperately seeking Susan, her movie career trajectory would’ve been much better. Because they said it showed she could really act well. Once the critics smelled blood they weren’t going to give her much. Broadway’s most respected critics, Frank Rich, gave her glowing reviews for Speed the Plow. When his review came out, the bad reviews of her performance stopped cold.

I don’t care to correct all the mistakes in this because I’m doing speech to text lol.

Hi, Patti LuPone/R47. Who knew you posted here at Datalounge.

[quote] Broadway’s most respected critics, Frank Rich, gave her glowing reviews for Speed the Plow.

She must’ve sucked his cock. She’d have no problem doing that.

Because she’s a slut who can’t act.

[quote] I don’t care to correct all the mistakes in this because I’m doing speech to text lol.

Wow. What a lazy fucker.

R51 No, I was driving. But yeah, sometimes I can be a lazy ass.

Cindy Adams, who hated Madonna, went berserk when she wasn’t nominated for Evita. So did Geraldo. She’d go on his Friday shows and bitch about the snub with Geraldo vehemently agreeing with her. There are probably clips on YouTube of it.

I think if Binoche had been placed in lead she might have won. Great performance. I also think she is the greatest living actor so I'm biased.

[quote] R51] No, I was driving. But yeah, sometimes I can be a lazy ass.

So you risked the lives of fellow drivers on the road to read Datalounge and defend Madona‘s acting ability?

Why not chug a gallon of vodka and speed down the highway? It seems more noble and rational.

Stopped at red lights to read. The rest speech to text isn’t putting anyone in danger. Calm down maybe you need the vodka.R55

[quote]I think if Binoche had been placed in lead she might have won.

The bitch did win!