{"id":258892,"date":"2026-01-23T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258892\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:30:10","slug":"elle-fanning-voter-insights-wicked-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258892\/","title":{"rendered":"Elle Fanning, Voter Insights, ‘Wicked’ Goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJust the other night Joachim Trier<\/a> was talking all about Elle, as in Elle Fanning<\/a>, listed as a first-time Academy Award nominee Thursday for her performance in Trier\u2019s\u00a0Sentimental Value<\/a>, a Norwegian family drama of the kind Henrik Ibsen, and even Arthur Miller, would\u2019ve approved. The Neon film garnered nine Oscar nominations<\/a> overall Thursday including for Best Picture and Best International Feature.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd received nominations for Leading Actress, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor, respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\tFanning was the surprise. But not for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Pete Hammond\u2019s Oscar Noms Analysis: \u2018Sinners\u2019 Raises The Stakes, But Is It Up To The \u2018Battle\u2019 In A Year Of Few Surprises?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn the movie, Fanning\u2019s cast as Rachel Kemp, a\u00a0Hollywood actress that Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s filmmaker character, Gustov Borg, brings in to play lead in a movie he\u2019s planning. His actress-daughter Nora (Reinsve) has already declined the part.<\/p>\n

\n\tTrier remarked to me that he was\u00a0\u201ccurious whether people see how sophisticated and subtle [Fanning] is as Rachel \u2026 Remember, Elle has as much experience as an actor in their 40s, I mean she\u2019s been acting since she was a tiny toddler. She was in\u00a0The Curious Case of Benjamin Button\u00a0when she was like, 7 years of age, and before that she was in a dozen films.\u00a0I Am Sam\u00a0when she was 2!\u00a0And\u00a0so she has a knowledge of the craft and the life on set and stuff. I think what was beautiful was that I think she really took a risk with a lot of this and just said, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s do this.\u2019 It was super easy to work together. She was extremely open and I\u2019m grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOscar nominees Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd and Elle Fanning in \u2018Sentimental Value\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeon\/Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the writing, Trier said, he and screenplay partner Eskil Vogt were careful not to turn Fanning\u2019s\u00a0Rachel into a caricature of a Hollywood star. \u201dThat would be too silly. We don\u2019t want that. What she\u2019s playing is a human being. The star stuff is pushed aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the film\u2019s key emotional punches comes when Rachel questions Gustav about her suitability to star in his movie. Why would she play the role and not speak Norwegian, she asks?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn that instant, we\u2019re hooked by Rachel and Fanning\u2019s interpretation of her. It\u2019s about her believability and sensitivity, and it\u2019s so unexpected.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat Fanning nailed it shouldn\u2019t have been unexpected because she did the same thing last year with her portrayal of Bob Dylan\u2019s composite lover in\u00a0A Complete Unknown. The scene where she and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s Dylan have a moment as each stands on either side of a wire fence was shattering. I notice that it\u2019s a performance that has stayed with me.<\/p>\n

\n\tSkarsg\u00e5rd told me that he \u201cadored\u201d working with Fanning and that he thought her \u201coutstanding\u201d in both\u00a0Sentimental Value\u00a0and\u00a0A Complete Unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd On \u2018Sentimental Value\u2019 Oscar Nomination Following 2022 Stroke: \u201cI\u2019m Glad The Core Of The Acting, The Important Thing, Survived\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tI had a long chat with three friends who, as it happens, are all members of the Academy, and we chatted through the nominations headlines. Each of them, with no prompting from me, raised the subject of\u00a0Sentimental Value\u00a0\u2014 and Fanning.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Elle Fanning and Renate Reinsve<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDon\u2019t underestimate that she\u2019s a great screen presence \u2014 and she\u2019s a grownup! That\u2019s the important thing to remember,\u201d one of my friends said.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrownup is a good way to describe my sense of today\u2019s nominations.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe inclusion of\u00a0Sentimental Value\u00a0and\u00a0The Secret Agent\u00a0in both the Best Picture and Best International Feature Film categories is thrilling, although I also had a flicker of hope that\u00a0It Was Just an Accident\u00a0and\u00a0Sir\u0101t\u00a0might\u2019ve scored double hits as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNo matter, because in any case it\u2019s\u00a0as if the Academy\u2019s shouting out for all to hear: that filmmaking knows no barrier. You know, movies get made outside of the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: \u2018Sentimental Value\u2019 & \u2018The Secret Agent\u2019 Lead International Charge Across Oscar Categories With Historic Nominations<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tEven over here in my homeland of England. Folk here are jumping up and down (presumably with glee?) about\u00a0Hamnet.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film did well, but its exclusion from the Film Editing category exposes a vulnerability. And the fact that Paul Mescal didn\u2019t land a Supporting Actor nomination for portraying William Shakespeare could also be a negative. There\u2019s a club of Oscar voters who believe it was a travesty to make the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon a secondary character.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s an even bigger club who felt that\u00a0Wicked: For Good<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0reward was collected at the box office. As a huge [at times overexcited] fan of both\u00a0Wicked\u00a0and its half-sibling, it took me awhile to fathom that others were over it; Glinda\u2019s bubble had burst.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom what I can gather from voters, as much as some felt\u00a0Wicked: For Good\u00a0was better made than\u00a0Wicked, it lacked, they believed, the latter\u2019s array of good songs, especially those who were wowed by Cynthia Erivo\u2019s spectacular\u00a0performance of\u00a0\u201cDefying Gravity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI figured that at least Ariana Grande would be recognized for her remarkable display of comic timing in\u00a0Wicked: For Good, but she was shut out, as was the film in every category.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s harsh. However, my Academy voting friends revealed that\u00a0Wicked: For Good rarely came up in conversation, rather it was all about\u00a0One Battle After Another, Sinners, Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, Frankenstein and\u00a0Train Dreams.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy contention was that the heat was never there for\u00a0Wicked: For Good,\u201d another voter said. Then they added: \u201cYou, and everyone else who loved it, weren\u2019t in the majority at the Academy. They already gave their love to the first one. And isn\u2019t\u00a0Sinners\u00a0this year\u2019s musical? It sort of is, but it\u2019s got vampires too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJulia Roberts, when I interviewed her recently<\/a> about her great performance in\u00a0Luca Guadagnino\u2019s underrated\u00a0After the Hunt, idly asked \u201cwho decides\u201d early on which films and performances will go on to make the cut? We talked about it for ages without coming up with a definitive answer.<\/p>\n

\n\tExcept to observe: No one f*cking knows.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn that note I\u2019ll leave you with this: There\u2019s a heck of a lot of love out there for Kate Hudson<\/a> in\u00a0Song Sung Blue<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJessie Buckley (Hamnet), Rose Byrne (If I had Legs I\u2019d Kick You), Reinsve (Sentimental Value) and Emma Stone (Bugonia) better be ready.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson and Hugh Jackman in \u2018Song Sung Blue\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSarah Shatz\/Focus Features<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just the other night Joachim Trier was talking all about Elle, as in Elle Fanning, listed as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[98055,321,2979,93,61,60,2981,10428,2625,2983,10429,47163],"class_list":{"0":"post-258892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-awardsfeature","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-elle-fanning","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-joachim-trier","15":"tag-kate-hudson","16":"tag-oscars","17":"tag-sentimental-value","18":"tag-song-sung-blue","19":"tag-wicked-for-good"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}