Official "Amy Adams for Oscar (Someday)" Campaign Kickoff!

Ah, Fall. The time of beautiful color-changing leaves (in other parts of the country), cooler temperatures (see above), USC's annual loss to an unranked team in NCAA football, David's now annual tradition of locking his keys in his car, and the kickoff of film industry awards show mania (read: complete and utter immersion). Over the next few months, studios will release their prize projects, some globally and others confined to such hubs of art film enthusiasm (read: Academy voters) as Los Angeles and New York. In almost no time, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce the Golden Globe nominees, many of which will not yet have been released, in their yearly effort to pretend that Entertainment Weekly doesn't actually select the acting and picture nominees (more on that another time). And then it will be time for Hollywood's big annual bash: a night of tedious musical numbers, famously extravagant costumes, Meryl Streep losing yet again, and lots and lots and lots of champagne (read: vodka and cocaine).

Incidentally, there's been some minor buzz about this being the year Streep breaks her 25-year-long losing streak despite receiving a staggering 11 nominations in that time, bringing her total to a record 15 nominations and a non-record two wins (a feat equaled by Hilary Swank) for her critically lauded performance in Julie & Julia, a film The New Yorker called "one of the most charming American movies of recent years." However, since as of yet Entertainment Weekly has not taken up the battle cry for Streep (thus securing her victory, as is said magazine's power), it may well turn out to be another bridesmaid night for the greatest living actress (although if such an outcome occurs because Swank emerges victorious for her also buzzed-about role in Amelia, I know of at least two people including myself who will likely descend upon the Kodak Theatre a la Stephen King's Carrie).

But hey, at least Streep has a pair of Oscars on her mantle at all. It could be worse...(How?)...She could be Annette Bening (ka-boom!), who has lost not one but two close races to...you guessed it...Hilary Swank. Yes, that girl who was on Beverly Hills, 90210 (the original!). With two wins to two nominations and a notably brief filmography to her credit, Swank's career has run, at least awards-wise, in a way Jennifer Hudson ought to study: a prime lesson on efficient awards acting. Meanwhile, Streep, not for nothing called Queen of the Box Office, signs on to the occasional piece of fluff in order to singlehandedly rescue sagging summer theatrical revenues...and then does such a phenomenal job she STILL swings an Oscar nom most of the time (see The Devil Wears Prada)!

Fortunately, the Academy Awards' many faults get a smidge of balance from the Academy's penchant for "better late than never" Oscars, wherein a previously overlooked artist is finally victorious though often for work that falls short of their best (sometimes greatly so; see Kate Winslet and The Reader). While frustrating to the Kanye Wests of the world who naively expect or at least wish for accurate bestowals of that pesky word "Best" (of which I admit I am one), the ends justify the means more often than not, and I'd rather see Streep lose yet again so that a Kate Winslet can have her day than see any more Peter O'Tooles (eight nominations, no competitive wins), Alfred Hitchcocks (six nominations, no competitive wins) or Richard Burtons (seven nominations, no wins, plus he had to be married to Liz Taylor).

I suffer no delusions of grandeur that cause me to believe that I could ever significantly impact Oscar history (at least until I manage to get a job writing for Entertainment Weekly), but I see no harm in contributing even slightly to what I imagine and desperately hope someday to be a juggernaut leading to an Academy Award for one of the most uniquely and enormously talented young film actors, whose mere presence in a frame is at once a comfort and a joy and who is a member of the brutally selective pantheon of cultural figures without a single detractor (Queen Latifah, Allison Janney, Johnny Depp and Beyonce Knowles are among the group's scant members). By this I refer, of course, to Amy Adams (in case the visual aides weren't quite obvious enough).

Analysis of Adams' brilliance will require its own article(s) in order just to scratch the surface, so I will leave that for another day. Instead, in the wild and crazy one-in-a-billion chance someone who knows someone who knows someone who works in the mail room for Entertainment Weekly might happen to stumble upon my humble blog and help get the ball rolling, I'd like to share a brief list that I think efficiently demonstrates my point. Hope you enjoy.

People With More Academy Awards than Amy Adams

Anna Paquin



Kim Basinger


Jennifer Hudson


Tatum O'Neil


Cuba Gooding, Jr.


Hilary Swank


Gwyneth Paltrow


Helen Hunt


Halle Berry


Reese Witherspoon


Louise Fletcher


Liza Minnelli


Hilary Swank (Again)


Jamie Foxx


Russell Crowe


Charlize Theron


Lionel Richie


Stephen Schwartz


Sofia Coppola


Ben Affleck


Billy Bob Thornton


Eminem


Three 6 Mafia