Frances McDormand stars in “Nomadland”, one of this year’s Best Picture frontrunners. Following a virtual awards qualifying run in December and some IMAX and BTX showings over the past few weeks, most moviegoers will finally have a chance to see her latest drama at indoor and drive-in theaters AND on Hulu starting this Friday February 19th.
McDormand is receiving major Best Actress buzz for her performance as Fern. Three years ago, she swept the Best Actress category races for another Searchlight film, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”. Can she do it again?
This is far from the first or second time McDormand has walked down the awards season path. She was first Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress for 1988’s “Mississippi Burning”. Her first competitive Golden Globe nomination came for 1996’s “Fargo” in the Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical category. She lost to Madonna for “Evita” but came back to win the Critics Choice, SAG, Independent Spirit and Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture.
McDormand was Oscar nominated again for 2000’s “Almost Famous” and 2005’s “North Country”. She earned Golden Globe nominations for “Burn After Reading” and “Olive Kittredge”, winning two Emmys for the latter. And besides her “Three Billboards” clean sweep, over the past decade McDormand has memorably lent her voice to characters in three animated movies, DreamWorks “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”, Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” and Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs”.
During her SAG acceptance speech in 2018, McDormand said, “This is really great, and I thank you. I come out of the woods every few years and you invite me to the party. But there’s a lot of young ones coming up, and they need doorstops too. Let’s think about that.”
As SAG Awards voting officially begins – and with Golden Globes, Critics Choice and Oscar nominee voting not that far away – will the voters once again go for one of our top actresses alive… or someone else? Maybe Vanessa Kirby for “Pieces of a Woman”, Carey Mulligan for “Promising Young Woman” or Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”. Sidney Flanigan is Critics Choice and Spirit Awards nominated for “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”. Plus, six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams is in SAG contention for “Hillbilly Elegy” and her “Doubt” co-star Viola Davis is also in the running for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”.
It’s gonna be another exciting awards season, and we’ve got Frances McDormand driving the van!