{"id":623253,"date":"2026-09-13T09:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T09:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623253\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T09:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T09:10:21","slug":"misty-green-at-tiff-rosalind-eleazars-best-actress-oscars-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623253\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Misty Green’ at TIFF: Rosalind Eleazar’s Best Actress Oscars Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRoughly two-thirds through \u201cMisty Green<\/a>,\u201d Rosalind Eleazar<\/a> takes a breath and lets a rendition of \u201cOne Night Only,\u201d from the musical \u201cDreamgirls,\u201d rip. The characters around her go quiet, and the crowd at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Chris Rock<\/a>\u2018s film made its world premiere, seemed similarly enraptured.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when Rock and his cast took the stage for their post-screening Q&A, the crowd made their appreciation for her work known with cheers and applause.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnstage, Eleazar explained why she fell in love with Misty and was \u201creally desperate\u201d to play the part. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was such a raw and honest take on the darker side of our industry,\u201d Eleazar said about reading the script for the first time (and charming the crowd with her British accent). \u201cShe\u2019s such a complex and such a contradictory and flawed character, and I\u2019m sort of drawn to characters that are difficult to love, and the way that Chris wrote the individual relationships with such precision and nuance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe moment I read the script in London, I was desperate to do this part. So I did whatever I could,\u201d Eleazar said, before realizing what she\u2019d accidentally insinuated, since Misty Green will indeed do anything for a role. Rock and the crowd chuckled as she hastily recovered: \u201cNormal things! Just like Zooms and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEleazar \u2014 recently named one of Variety\u2019s 10 Actors to Watch for 2026 \u2014 is a best actress contender that dares anyone in the room to argue otherwise. Each scene feels fit for her Oscar clip package, much Cate Blanchett delivered in each beat of \u201cBlue Jasmine.\u201d Misty is a fading, award-winning actress clawing back her career, but self-sabotaging along the way. Eleazar plays her with the danger of Pam Grier and the polish of Tracee Ellis Ross.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201dI love a messy woman,\u201d Rock said, explaining why he crafted the complex character in the first place. \u201cI like to make things I haven\u2019t seen: I haven\u2019t seen it with a woman, I haven\u2019t seen it with a Black woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Rock explained in his Variety cover story, the role was a tricky one to cast because of its risqu\u00e9 nature, but Eleazar was game as could be.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI know she\u2019s a lovely lady and demure tonight, but you have these meetings, and you have to think to yourself: \u2018OK, is she gonna smoke the cigarette in her underwear on the balcony? Is she gonna get on the floor and fight for the money? Like on the day you can just say you\u2019re not doing it, and what the fuck am I gonna do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith \u201cMisty Green,\u201d Rock, who wrote and directed the film, crafted a dramatic satire that cuts to the bone. The film functions as a tour of Los Angeles\u2019 most potable artistic hot spots, but doubles as an autopsy of the business, especially for artists of color. He skewers \u201cHollywood\u201d without ever quite naming names. \u201cCall Kevin,\u201d one actor barks. \u201cIs it Hart?\u201d The film keeps daring you to fill in the blanks.<\/p>\n

\n\tMost importantly, Rock hands Eleazar showcase after showcase, and she cashes in on every opportunity. A sequence built around a screen test for \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d is the funniest, sharpest stretch of acting in the film \u2014 until the next one that follows it. When Misty sings a version of Radiohead\u2019s \u201cCreep\u201d in the lounge at the Hollywood Roosevelt, the ache lands similarly to Carey Mulligan\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York\u201d solo in \u201cShame.\u201d By the time Eleazar reaches \u201cOne Night Only,\u201d it\u2019s her \u201cLa La Land\u201d audition moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, for the Oscar-shaped elephant in the room. Only one Black woman has won the lead actress Oscar: Halle Berry, for \u201cMonster\u2019s Ball,\u201d in 2002. Now, 24 ceremonies later, could Eleazar be the most credible candidate to become the second? She\u2019s more than worthy.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then there\u2019s Daniel Kaluuya. The \u201cJudas and the Black Messiah\u201d Oscar winner has been away from screens for too long, and \u201cMisty Green\u201d is the argument for why the business can\u2019t afford to keep letting that happen. He plays Misty\u2019s brother, who grapples with his mental health. A single scene near the finale is enough to shatter your heart.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdam Driver turns up for a stretch that is, improbably, the best thing he does all year \u2014 better even than his work in \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d \u2014 as a Hollywood type that walks the fine line between pimp and producer. One scene, which finds him snorting a line off Misty\u2019s thigh, is pure, gleeful provocation.<\/p>\n

\n\tRock\u2019s entire ensemble is superb. Anna Kendrick gives her sharpest turn since \u201cUp in the Air\u201d as Misty\u2019s best friend, a fellow actress drawn to Black men even as she dates the family-approved white ones. Topher Grace plays Misty\u2019s talent agent, forced to deliver the hard truths about her erratic behavior. Rock casts himself as Jordan Green, a Hollywood director who knew Misty at her peak. Colleen Camp has a small, sly role, her second A24 film this year after \u201cClub Kid.\u201d Anthony Anderson plays a police officer, whose deadened delivery drives the film toward some of its most uncomfortable scenes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMisty Green\u201d has plenty of laughs, but it curdles by the end \u2014 \u00e0 la \u201cRequiem for a Dream\u201d \u2014 with scenes that drag Misty into the darkest depths of the business. <\/p>\n

\n\tNonetheless, Rock is building toward something less comfortable than a takedown of Hollywood vanity. The film is ultimately about is redemption and an examination of mental illness \u2014 and how thoroughly the country has failed to fund it, understand it or train anyone, its police most of all, to meet it. Anderson\u2019s cop and Kaluuya\u2019s brother are two ends of the same failure, and the movie sits in the space between them.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the upcoming Oscar race, Eleazar is a top-tier best actress contender in waiting. Kaluuya belongs in the supporting conversation on the strength of a single scene. And Rock, long underrated behind the camera since \u201cTop Five,\u201d has finally made the movie that earns his name a place in the screenplay and directing chatter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMisty Green\u201d opens in U.S. theaters on Oct. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roughly two-thirds through \u201cMisty Green,\u201d Rosalind Eleazar takes a breath and lets a rendition of \u201cOne Night Only,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,79115,93,61,60,264645,264646,261202],"class_list":["post-623253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-chris-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-misty-green","tag-rosalind-eleazar","tag-telluride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623253","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=623253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}