Andrea Riseborough

Christina Ricci voiced concerns over how the Academy's investigation into Andrea Riseborough is wrong for a number fo reasons.

From the statement, it sounds like the investigation's purpose will be to redefine the rules of nominations going forward and may not apply to Riseborough’s nomination, whatever the outcome. Combined with complaints about other stars that “should have been nominated” in Riseborough’s place, Ricci has called the whole debacle something that the Academy should be shamed about if they end up canceling Riseborough’s nomination. The nod for Riseborough has gained a lot of attention in the last few days after her inclusion was [brought into question](https://movieweb.com/andrea-riseboroough-broke-academy-guidelines-best-actress/) due to a social media campaign launched by the wife of To Leslie director Michael Morris in the weeks leading up to the nominations.

Andrea Riseborough's "To Leslie" Oscar best actress nomination calls back an ad by Shohreh Aghdashloo's 2004 campaign.

The ad utilized four excerpts from print and TV news stories praising the supporting actress. 20, 2004, four days before the final Oscar voting deadline, a print ad in an issue of Daily Variety centered on Shohreh Aghdashloo’s powerful turn in “House of Sand and Fog” (2003). In 2004, the Academy was riding a new voting schedule.

The Academy has released a statement saying that there will be a review of campaign rules in the wake of Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress nomination.

The campaign itself reportedly utilized frowned-upon tactics, such as directly emailing Academy members to encourage them to lobby for To Leslie. However, Riseborough's nomination doesn't mean that there was any misconduct, as grassroots campaigns are even encouraged by the Academy if members feel very strongly about a particular performance. We are conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication. While the film won several film festival awards, it was not nominated for any Golden Globe or Screen Actors Guild Awards, as films nominated by the Academy often are. The Academy Awards were first held in 1929 and have gone on to become the most prestigious film awards in Hollywood. While the statement doesn't mention Riseborough or To Leslie specifically, it alludes to the backlash which was

Actress Frances Fisher is among those who could be vulnerable to discipline because of social-media posts supporting Riseborough.

While the Academy looks into the campaign and the board prepares to meet next Tuesday, “To Leslie” is making the most of the spotlight. “Watch ‘To Leslie’ on the Academy Screening Room app and join the groundswell of support to honor Andrea’s fine work.” Interestingly, that “groundswell of support” phrasing, prominent in other posts from other celebrities, was included here. Exhibitors, not Momentum, are leading the charge, with the Academy’s response to the controversy a major variable. The film is headed back to select theaters in North America this weekend, with a U.K. The section entitled “Lobbying” consists of a single sentence, the interpretation of which could determine whether Riseborough’s campaign is simply a grass-roots effort (which the Academy says it supports) or a violation of the rules. Actress Mary McCormack, who is also a Weinberg and CAA client, as well as the wife of “To Leslie” director Michael Morris, retweeted several posts from those championing the movie on her Twitter and Instagram. Prior to those incidents, producer Nicolas Chartier was found to have broken campaign rules in emails comparing his film, “The Hurt Locker,” to its main rival, “Avatar,” in 2010. Made for less than a million dollars, “To Leslie” was plucked from its SXSW premiere by Momentum Pictures, a division of Entertainment One. In its release announcing the investigation, the Academy said, “We have confidence in the integrity of our nomination and voting procedures, and support geniune grassroots campaigns for outstanding performances.” Meredith Vieira, Mia Farrow, Allison Janney, and Joe Mantegna all deemed “To Leslie” “a small film with a giant heart,” interestingly using the same specific phrase. According to the Amy Adams, Kate Winslet, Charlize Theron, and Melanie Lynskey were among those who hosted Q&As, screenings, and posted about the little-seen “To Leslie” on their personal social media pages.

Riseborough was nominated for Best Actress for her role in 'To Leslie.'

In the meantime, stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete [Oscars coverage](https://www.etonline.com/awards/oscars). Many were shocked considering that, up until her Oscar nomination, the only other award Riseborough had been nominated for was for an Independent Spirit Award. "It is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner, and we are committed to ensuring an inclusive awards process," the statement read. "We are conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication. [95th Academy Awards](https://www.etonline.com/awards/oscars), hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be handed out live at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on March 12 starting at 8 p.m. Feels elitist and exclusive and frankly very backward to me." Oscars 2023: Watch the Nominations for Major Categories ET/5 p.m. T.J.

Andrea Riseborough was nominated for best actress for playing an alcoholic single mother in little-seen film 'To Leslie,' a shock to awards pundits who had ...

The statement did not name Riseborough. The academy issued a statement on Friday that said the organization was "conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year's nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated." Media newsletter Puck reported on Thursday that the unexpected nomination had sparked questions about whether an aggressive campaign for Riseborough had violated lobbying rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The actor got a nod for "To Leslie" amid social media praise from peers like Edward Norton and Gwyneth Paltrow.

A since-deleted post quoted film critic Richard Roeper likening the performances of Riseborough and [Cate Blanchett](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/cate-blanchett), who is nominated for her work in “Tár.” [Michelle Yeoh](https://www.huffpost.com/voices/topic/michelle-yeoh) (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), [Ana de Armas](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/ana-de-armas) (“Blonde”) and [Michelle Williams](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/michelle-williams) (“The Fabelmans”). Ricci was the most prominent star to double down after the review was announced. “It was so hard to believe it might ever happen because we really hadn’t been in the running for anything else. Even though we had a lot of support, the idea it might actually happen seemed so far away.” [Edward Norton](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/edward-norton), [Kate Winslet](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/kate-winslet), [Gwyneth Paltrow](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/gwyneth-paltrow) and [Christina Ricci](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/christina-ricci) — had taken to social media before the voting period concluded to successfully lobby for her nomination. [Critics Choice Awards](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/critics-choice-movie-awards) win earlier this month to praise Riseborough.) [Variety noted](https://variety.com/2023/awards/awards/to-leslie-andrea-riseborough-instagram-post-1235505104/) that an [official “To Leslie” Instagram page](https://www.instagram.com/tolesliemovie/?hl=en) may have violated Academy guidelines two weeks ago. [Independent Spirit Awards](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/independent-spirit-awards) nod for “To Leslie,” a drama centered on an alcoholic single mother at the end of her rope, most Oscar analysts — and Riseborough herself — hadn’t considered her a front-runner for best actress this year. [this year’s nominees](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2023-oscar-nominations-the-complete-list_n_63caea65e4b0c2b49ad54432), to ensure that no guidelines were violated,” it continued, “and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication.” [the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences) announced a review of its own campaign policies to determine if voting guidelines “were violated,” [per People](https://people.com/movies/academy-conducting-a-review-of-oscars-campaign-rules-after-surprise-andrea-riseborough-nomination/). [Oscar](https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/the-oscars) nomination has delighted fans — and seemingly perturbed the Academy.

THR's executive editor of awards notes that Riseborough's campaign follows in a long tradition of unabashed solicitation of votes that have often been, ...

Weissman told me years later that there was only one consequence for the brouhaha: “I was a member of the public relations [branch of the Academy’s executive committee], and when that happened, they invited me off the committee.” But the Academy did implement “the Murray rule,” as Weissman dryly called it, which forbade the use of quotes from Academy members in advertisements. So, I don’t see how the Academy can penalize a contender because he, she, or, in the case of Riseborough, a contender’s friends and supporters, have chosen to utilize these platforms to champion a film or performance, especially when there is no evidence that they disparaged anyone else in the process. 2 issue of Variety under the headline “Crashing the Party for Poor Marty” in which he asserted that Scorsese, who he called a “giant ape director” (whatever that means), “sure doesn’t deserve” to win for Gangs because the film “is a mess.” (The Academy had nothing to say at the time about one member slamming another.) According to the Academy, his conduct was not consistent with the spirit of “the Academy’s promotional regulations, which provide, among other terms, that ‘it is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner.’” But it struck many that the punishment did not fit the crime. A month later, on March 6, an op-ed appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News and the Long Beach Press-Telegram that was credited to Robert Wise, the then 88-year-old Oscar-winning director of West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Russell, meanwhile, was turned in and penalized for telephoning fellow members of the sound branch seeking their support, a clearer violation of Academy rules. For instance, in 2010, Nicolas Chartier, a producer of The Hurt Locker, emailed some friends — or people who he thought were his friends — in the Academy urging them to vote for his picture rather than “the $500 million film,” a clear reference to Avatar. Backlash to the Wills campaign contributed to a number of subsequent Oscar nominees and winners questioning the integrity of the Academy and value of the Oscars: George C. So, following Dern’s strong turn in Lynch’s weird film Inland Empire — which was distributed by some place called 518 Media that apparently had no resources of its own to mount a campaign — Lynch set out in search of some “free media.” He set up a lawn chair on the busy corner of Hollywood and La Brea and plopped himself down next to a cow and a large banner marked “For Your Consideration: Laura Dern,” and then happily chatted and posed for photos with anyone who cared to visit. At the time, most Academy members — and, indeed, most people in Hollywood — were “under contract” to a specific studio, and most studios leaned on their contracted employees — through ways subtle and unsubtle — to back specific “ponies” in each year’s Oscars derby. [Oscars](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/oscars/) hopeful has access to the kind of Rolodex that Riseborough’s champions do and suggesting that some of them were out of line in urging people to rank her #1 on their weighted ballot. The latter contingent apparently prompted the Academy to launch its “review” — but, as a longtime student and observer of the Academy, I highly doubt, based on the information currently in the public domain, that the organization will take punitive action against Riseborough or her nomination.

The Academy launched an investigation after Andrea Riseborough was nominated for Best Actress — learn more about the leading lady.

Film companies aren’t allowed to send more than one email and one physical mailing per week, and there are content guidelines to follow. However, many shared social media praise for the film with very similar wording, calling To Leslie “a small film with a giant heart,” [Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/01/andrea-riseborough-to-leslie-campaign-break-rules-awards-insider) reports, sparking questions about how genuine these endorsements were. And what’s more comfortable than posting about a movie every day!” McCormack’s email allegedly reads. “We are conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication.” “If you’re willing to post every day between now and Jan 17th, that would be amazing! [Kate Winslet](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/kate-winslet/) called Riseborough’s performance “the greatest female performance on screen I have ever seen in my life” during a virtual Q&A.

Andrea Riseborough is at the centre of probe into selection for Academy Awards; Film would has been left shocked by nomination for independent film To ...

The campaign for To Leslie drew further attention when several stars, including Mia Farrow, used the same phrasing in social media posts, calling it 'a small film with a giant heart'. A producer who is an Academy voter said: 'Andrea is one of the best actors working today and beloved by her peers but her Oscar nomination shocked everyone. [Next stop, the Oscars! [Edward Norton](/tvshowbiz/edward-norton/index.html) had praised Riseborough's performance in the low-budget drama, released in October. If they were then Ms Riseborough could be stripped of her nomination. The little-seen movie had taken just £22,000.

The review aims "to inform ... whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication."

The review also aims "to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication," the statement said. The academy issued a statement on Friday that said the organisation was "conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year's nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated." The film was not widely released, earned less than $30,000 at the box office and Riseborough's name was not in the mix at previous awards ceremonies that led up to the Oscars, like the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice awards.