Momentum Pictures
The Oscar nominations always bring their share of surprises, but there was perhaps no bigger shock on Tuesday morning than the inclusion of British actress Andrea Riseborough in the Best Actress category for To Leslie.
The little-seen film, which only made less than $28,000 at the box office, suddenly received an influx of support from major stars like Edward Norton and Jane Fonda via social media in the two weeks leading up to the end of nomination voting.
The actress went from being totally absent from the awards conversation, save for an Independent Spirit Awards nomination, to leading it in mere days. Riseborough’s Oscar campaign was seen as a surreal moment of unexpected candor from an actress, a rare moment where someone seemed happy to admit that they wanted to win and would fight for the chance to do so. That it paid off is still baffling.