As you may recall in my awards post from yesterday, I love the ladies. When I was tasked with Best Actress I was overjoyed that I got to write about the talented women of 2011, and the category’s six competitors all deserve to be on this list.
First off, Charlize Theron was fantastic as Young Adult’s awful, hair-pulling, selfish ghost writer Mavis Gary. Her acidic, abrasive anti-heroine was an absolute blast to watch as the glue holding together her shallow world began (well, continued maybe) to unravel. Then there’s the young, fresh-faced Saoirse Ronan who kicked butt and took names to the electric sounds of the Chemical Brothers in Hanna, which was shocking and awe-inspiring from the word go. Rooney Mara, who also got a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the same role, delivered the performance of her still-developing career as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and looked quite good doing it (if you know what I mean, dohoho).
Sadly, I didn’t get to see Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, Elizabeth Olsen use any of the four titular names in Martha Marcy May Marlene, or get to listen to Tilda Swinton talk about Kevin in We Need to Talk About Kevin, but after everything I’ve heard, I can’t wait to see all three films as soon as humanly possible.
Of course, there can only be one winner, but with performances like these, maybe, deep down, we all win. With out further adieu, I present you with Flixist’s pick for Best Actress…
After the sort of performance Rooney Mara delivered in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, it’s really no surprise that she won, much less was nominated for both Best Supporting and Best Actress. Rising from relative obscurity (a whole bunch of small roles in stuff we’ve never heard of, five minutes as Zuckerberg’s girlfriend, and the new Nancy in Nightmare on Elm Street) only to sink a role as one of the most recognized literary characters of the 21st century as well as one of the most badass female heroes since Ellen Ripley, the future is bright for Ms. Mara. She put a lot of holes in her body to play this character, which shows a dedication many people of her generation probably wouldn’t be willing to display. Every part of her role as Lisbeth Salander was memorable, and she looked just as darkly alluring as the source material.
Here’s to hoping she keeps this momentum going through the next two films and far into the future!
- Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) – 5
- Charlize Theron (Young Adult) – 3
- Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) – 2
- Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) – 1
- Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) – 1
- Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) – 1
