Each year since 1994, members of the Screen Actor’s Guild, now SAG-AFTRA, come together to honor fellow performs in film and television. Spoilers may follow!
Perhaps the most difficult category for me to vote on this year is Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Leading role. The nominees are all very talented and the films they represent are varied in style and genre. Below are some of my thoughts on my top three choices.
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock – With an established career and experience on her side, Helen Mirren’s character Alma, the wife and artistic partner of Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most compelling performances of the nominees. She shows a full range of emotion and is sympathetic in her role as wayward wife and loyal film partner. Alma is constantly overshadowed by her genius husband and desperate to break out of the background. Mirren brings many nuances to her pivotal part and is expressive with every part of her being in every minute on screen. But can her own triumph as a actor stand up to the next generation of screen stars?
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook – While not a stranger to audiences, Jennifer Lawrence is still considered a new phenomenon in this grand industry. In her role as Tiffany, a reformed bad-girl with a touch a justified crazy, Lawrence turns on the sassy charm that audiences have come to know and adore. She brings truth and sincerity to all she does and doesn’t try to sugar coat the characters she portrays. Lawrence finds honesty in her characters, especially in this role, without the caricaturization of Tiffany’s neuroses. What’s more, she is able to hold her own against veteran actor Robert DeNiro with all the confidence in the world. Never disappointing, Jennifer Lawrence is certainly one of Hollywood’s most beloved leading ladies. But does she show enough range in this role to win the award?
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty – She is the one they never saw coming! Although she has a similar number of professional credits as her fellow nominee, Jennifer Lawrence, Chastain has yet to become a household name. That, however, does not make her any less talented. In Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain’s character, Maya travels her arc in leaps and bounds, yet we seem to miss the turning points. Perhaps this was due to writing and/or editing, but the connections were not there. Still, Chastain paints a compelling portrait of a young CIA operative who has to carve her own path in a post 9/11 world and does it with passion. The strength she brings to the role drives the film forward and keeps the suspense of the moment, even though we all know how it ends. But are her strengths greater than the sum of the film’s weaknesses?
What are your thoughts and predictions?
