In the history of the Oscars, there have been wins over the years that have made little sense in hindsight.
'Green Book', for example, seemed ridiculous when compared with what else was on offer that year. 'The Favourite', 'A Star Is Born', 'Roma', 'Blackkklansman' were all far, far better wins that 'Green Book'. The same was true in 1998 when 'Shakespeare In Love' won Best Picture the same year as 'Saving Private Ryan'.
The campaign waged by Harvey Weinstein to see 'Shakespeare In Love' take home as much Oscar gold as possible is now legendary, but nearly two decades on, people are still thinking about it and talking about it. In fact, a 2015 poll of Academy voting members found that if given the chance, they'd vote for 'Saving Private Ryan' in hindsight.
In a recent interview, Glenn Close - who herself has been nominated for Best Actress a total of four times, and for Best Supporting Actress a total of three times - said that Gwyneth Paltrow's win "didn't make sense."
"I honestly feel that to be nominated by your peers is about as good as it gets. And then, I’ve never understood how you could honestly compare performances, you know?” Close told Pete Travers in an episode of 'Popcorn'.
“I remember the year Gwyneth Paltrow won over that incredible actress who was in ‘Central Station’ (Fernanda Montengro) and I thought, what? It doesn’t make sense. So I think who wins has a lot of things to do with how things have been, you know, whether it has traction or whatever,” she added. It's worth pointing out, too, that Close wasn't even nominated that year against Paltrow. At the time, Paltrow and the rest of the cast of 'Shakespeare In Love' went on a months-long press tour for the movie, and effectively set the strategy for Oscar publicity campaigns thereafter.
“Publicity, how much money did they have to put it out in front of everybody’s sight. I have to be philosophical about it, if I was upset about it," Close added.
This year's Oscar race hasn't yet started, given the current state of the movie industry, but one thing's for sure - 'Hillbilly Elegy', Glenn Close's latest movie, doesn't deserve any place in it.
