Oscar Seasoning: Can Origin Pull a To Leslie?
AvaDuVernay's Origin has been widely ignored by the Oscar precursors, but a few voters are helping it to pick up steam as the voting window closes.
The Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards have come and gone, leaving behind a slew of seemingly indomitable contenders for Oscar night. Oppenheimer is so far ahead of the competition in terms of recognition that a Best Picture victory seems like a safe bet (of course, anything can happen between now and the evening itself, which I’m sure Bradley Cooper is taking some solace in.) Other major players include Poor Things, The Holdovers, and Anatomy of a Fall. Honestly, it’s been a solid year for buzz-worthy titles. Anything could happen, and the slate of potential nominees is full of bangers. But, as with any season, there will be omissions.
We have a solid idea in our heads of what constitutes an Oscar favourite. There are recurring stories and styles that the Academy is drawn to. We know how studios and producers push their works on the festival circuit and who they prioritize as safer choices. Much has happened over the past decade to shake up proceedings, but there’s a reason we don’t see AMPAS as a risk-taker. But said safeness is also not evenly applied across the board. You can meet all of the criteria for an Oscar favourite and still fall short, and it’s hard to overlook how often that seems to happen for films not made by cishet white American men. Step forward Origin.
Ava DuVernay is familiar with being snubbed. Selma was notably absent from the vast majority of categories during its Oscar season, even though the movie was well received, earned a lot of precursor nods, and fit perfectly into the criteria of an “Oscar movie.” As arguably the most prominent Black female filmmaker on the planet, DuVernay is aware of how differently she is viewed compared to her white male contemporaries. She famously attended the same Sundance lab as Colin Trevorrow, who went from scrappy indie rom-com to Jurassic World in one leap.
Her latest film is Origin, a highly ambitious drama based on the non-fiction book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. DuVernay, who wrote the script as well as being producer and director, decided to make Wilkerson herself the protagonist and have the narrative follow her on her worldwide journey to investigate "the origins of our discontents." Her book describes America's scourge of racism as an aspect of a caste system, sharing common ground with the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for King Richard, plays Wilkerson, and the cast includes Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Finn Wittrock, and Audra McDonald. I haven’t seen the film yet because it doesn’t seem to have a UK release date (boo), but colleagues I trust have raved about it. Robert Daniels wrote for Roger Ebert dot com (a site I have contributed to several times, full disclaimer): ““Origin” isn’t a perfect movie. But the character of a truly great film isn’t found in its perfection. Rather it arises from how the narrative moves, challenges, and hugs the heart. Rich in thought, “Origin” is a dense, forceful masterwork, and, quite simply, the most radical film of DuVernay’s career.”
Already, you can see how this sort of project would be lauded for its ambition. DuVernay lobbied to have the film receive its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. There, it received strong reviews and earned DuVernay a lot of attention. Since then, the buzz has quietened. It didn't receive any Golden Globe nominations or any recognition from the Critics' Choice Awards.
The film’s distributor is Neon, which is still a small independent company. They broke through in a major way in 2019 thanks to the success of Parasite, and quickly established themselves as a prestige power player. They acquired the distribution rights to four Palme d'Or winners: Parasite, Triangle of Sadness, Titane, and Anatomy of a Fall, the last one being their major awards season contender this year. They have a good eye but you do see how some of their titles fall by the wayside. Anatomy of a Fall is hogging a lot of their attention this year, which means a lot less care was given to the likes of Ferrari, Eileen (one of my favourites of 2023), and, yes, Origin. From a purely business perspective, I sort-of get it. Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or. It has a major Best Actress contender who has a lot of residual buzz from another hot contender of the season (Sandra Huller is also in The Zone of Interest.) It has a cute doggie! Their budget is far more limited than, say, Netflix, who DuVernay used to work with. I imagine their pockets are also a lot lighter following the massive commercial flop of Ferrari, which reportedly cost about $95 million and has made less than $36 million worldwide. Still, Origin being so sidelined feels like a major missed opportunity.
Before becoming a filmmaker, DuVernay was a publicist. She worked on campaigns for movies like Dreamgirls, Shrek 2, and The Help. She knows what it takes to get a film made and get it seen by as many people as possible. A lot of her work was focused on, as she told Variety in 2019, "projects that focused on people of color and women, and I feel it was really the prelude to actually making those types of stories, which is what I make now. I spent 10 years amplifying those kinds of stories." Sometimes, it isn't about the money of the parties. It's about getting your work in front of the right people. Origin may be mostly ignored by its own distributors, but DuVernay and her team are working hard.
She took to Instagram after the Golden Globes to share a video of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor handing out postcards for Origin outside her local AMC cinema in Los Angeles, adding, "I wish she was at the Globes or SAG Awards or Critics Choice or the other nominations that didn’t come. I wish she had commercials and magazine covers and all the things that are arranged for the actresses we are supposed to pay attention to in the awards season. I wish she felt the recognition and praise that swirls around her peers in big studio films. I wish the world for her."
I think people in the business are now heeding the call. Ellis-Taylor and DuVernay attended a special party for the movie held by none other than Angelina f*cking Jolie. A lot more actors and Academy voters are getting their names out there for the Origin vote. That includes Francis Fisher. Last year, Fisher earned a bit of notoriety when she became the most vocal cheerleader for Andrea Riseborough's grassroots campaign for To Leslie, which paid off with a surprise Best Actress nomination. Many felt that this thrust of attention led to the likes of Danielle Deadwyler and Viola Davis being snubbed. It created a furore within the Academy and a rule change designed seemingly to solely prevent another To Leslie from happening.
I have a lot of feelings on this matter that I think Izzy from Be Kind Rewind sums up best, so go check out her excellent video essay on the topic. Overall, I was mostly disappointed that the Academy seemed eager to punish a truly boots-on-the-ground effort, making it harder and harder to compete unless you were already a distributor flush with cash. The Oscars has this reputation among the general public for being intensely snobby and elitist but they’re actually very middlebrow and don’t tend to go for anything truly indie or experimental. I don’t know how these campaigning rule changes help to alleviate those biases. It's not supposed to be about who can buy the biggest billboard, but that's where we are. So, seeing Francis Fisher become a major Origin cheerleader did make me smile. She even got Andrea Riseborough out there for some online publicity (and also Steve Guttenberg? Good for him!)
It’s hard to fake passion, and the people who are rooting for both Origin and Ellis-Taylor have it by the bucketload. Melanie Lynskey lauded it on Instagram, saying, "The movie destroyed me. It’s not an easy watch emotionally, but the time flew by. I felt like I didn’t blink. It’s so masterfully constructed- wow you are incredible, Ava." Deadline wrote that the movie's supporters include "Guillermo Del Toro, JJ Abrams, Oprah, James Bond franchise EP Barbara Broccoli, Lena Waithe, former DGA boss Paris Barclay, Colleen Camp [...] Cher, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brit Marling and Rosanna Arquette." That sounds like a random bunch, but remember how much of the Academy is made up of older voters, character actors, and people who know everyone. Ellis-Taylor is a long-time industry favourite who has worked with everyone. That makes a difference.
Voting is about to close, so it’s down to the wire. Everyone knows that Barbenheimer will get a ton of nominations. The safe bets are there. It’s about those fourth or fifth spots in any category where people tend to be more passionate. Andrea Riseborough probably got in because enough people chose her as their top nominee while the others were third or fourth choices. Can Ellis-Taylor get in that way? It’s not impossible. Can Origin get more love? We’ll see. This kind of organic passion is priceless, but it’s also so predictable that a Black woman’s ambitious biographical drama that ticks all of the Academy’s boxes gets to be seen as an also-ran while the likes of Green Book soar to the top on the winds of mediocrity and easy-to-sell sentimentality.
What films are you rooting for this awards season? Let me know in the comments! Also feel free to share any topics you’d like more Oscar Seasoning thoughts on. The next issue of the Gossip Reading Club will go live on Sunday. Our book club choice for the month is Watch Me by Anjelica Huston, which will be open to paid subscribers only. If you don’t want to pay for a subscription but would still like to support me, I have a Ko-Fi account!