Scandal ahead of the Oscars: Andrea Riseborough may be deprived of the nomination because of the “impact” on film academics

______________________________

At the Oscars again not without scandal. And if last year Will Smith excelled in this part at the ceremony itself (then he publicly hit Chris Rock for a bad joke about his wife), then this year’s main contender in the Best Actress category, actress Andrea Riseborough, managed it long before solemn moment. Embedded in a scandal that could see the 41-year-old Briton lose her nomination, she found herself thanks to the enterprising producers of For Leslie, in which she starred.

As it became known, during the Oscar race, the filmmakers sent hundreds of messages and emails daily to members of the Academy and influential stars, imploring them to watch the tape and speak publicly in favor of Andrea’s nomination. And it worked: Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore and others publicly gave the film high marks – the producers managed to get the 218 academic votes needed to be included in this year’s list of nominees.

And everything would be fine if it were not for the “Oscar” charter, in which such use of personal connections and discussion of nominees falls under the article “lobbying” and “categorically prohibited.” The Academy is currently investigating, and an official statement was released last Friday:

The goal of the Academy is to ensure the fair and ethical conduct of the competition, and we are committed to ensuring an inclusive awards process. We are reviewing campaign procedures around this year’s nominees to ensure that no rules have been broken,” the statement said.

By the way, such a precedent at the Oscars is not the first. Throughout the history of the award, applicants have been de-nominated nine times. Moreover, the first in this list was Charlie Chaplin. Then the organizers were afraid that he would take home the four main statuettes (best actor, screenwriter, director and film) and instead presented him with a special award “4 in 12”, removing him from all major nominations.