Riseborough

Andrea Riseborough leaves great glutinous silences in a conversation, letting me hover on Zoom, half there with her in her white lounge in LA, and half simply alone and gazing. After she became famous playing Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley, and in the Madonna film WE as a glamorous Wallis Simpson, and as a brittle Broadway actor in the Oscar-winning Birdman, I am curious to discover that in real life Riseborough looks as if Bette Davis had perhaps joined the Clash. She is poised and mischievous as she…

Following controversy earlier this year over Andrea Riseborough’s surprise lead actress Oscar nomination for the little-seen film “To Leslie,” the film academy announced Monday that it has updated its regulations around campaigning for the coveted awards.The new regulations, approved by the group’s 54-member board of governors, clarify rules regarding communications to academy members to promote particular films and performances, including the use of social media, and limit the number of hosted screenings that are…

A rocky-horror sexual awakening is promised in Amanda Kramer’s initially interesting but ultimately laborious queer reverie of 50s and 60s style, like a theatrical daydream as experienced by Anybodys, from West Side Story. The long dissolve fades and blue-lit nightclub scenes are amusingly Lynchian, as is the very stylish and all-too-brief cameo from Demi Moore as a mysterious and worldly neighbour called Maureen. But the film feels over-determined and self-satisfied.Andrea Riseborough and Harry Melling play Suze and…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeAndrea Riseborough has said that the controversy surrounding her recent Oscar nomination has “deeply impacted” her.In January, the 41-year-old British actor was a surprising addition to the 2023 Oscar nominees, bagging a nod in the Best Actress category for her leading role in the indie drama To Leslie.Her nomination followed a run of late-in-the-day endorsements from numerous A-list…

Twenty-three years have ticked by since Tom Cruise last attended the annual Oscars nominees luncheon, in support of his performance as the manipulative sex guru Frank TJ Mackey in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. He lost – his third defeat in a decade, following Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July – and shortly afterwards set aside his Academy Award ambitions to prove his value as a daredevil action star.But this year’s best picture nod for Top Gun: Maverick, in which Cruise not only starred, but also produced,…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeYou can easily understand why Andrea Riseborough’s fellow actors have been so awestruck by her performance as the alcoholic mum in Michael Morris’s unsung, low-budget movie To Leslie and why so many of them voted for her to receive an Oscar nomination. What is harder to fathom is why Riseborough has subsequently been pilloried in the media for her Oscar campaign and threatened with…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeAndrea Riseborough will not be stripped of her Oscar nomination for best actress.After a review of the awards campaign for the indie drama To Leslie, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday (31 January) that the 41-year-old actor’s nomination stands.Days after this year’s nominations were announced, the Academy shared a statement saying it is “conducting a…

Photo via Momentum Pictures Andrea Riseborough might be feeling like she’s used up a significant amount of luck, following reports the Academy will not rescind her Best Actress nomination for To Leslie. The English actress had been put in a spot of bother over accusations of her essentially canvassing for votes to get a nomination at this year’s awards. Riseborough appeared to have hired a PR agency to pump out more screenings of To Leslie to those eligible to vote, including several high profile and glowing…

Andrea Riseborough’s controversial Oscar nomination will not be taken away after an academy review.The British actor had been a surprise inclusion in this year’s best actress category for her performance in low-budget drama To Leslie after a last-minute campaign from celebrities including Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow. Accusations of unfair tactics were raised and the academy announced an internal review of campaign procedures.“Based on concerns that surfaced last week around the To Leslie awards campaign, the academy…

To Leslie is a sad, sweet country song of a movie, with a steel-guitar twang of love and loss. Screenwriter Ryan Binaco was inspired by his own mother for this film, conjuring her memory in the spirit of Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970) or maybe Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). Better Call Saul producer Michael Morris makes his feature directing debut. The film is ultimately just a little contrived and its final scene is not entirely plausible, but the drama is always fiercely watchable due to an undoubtedly…