My Award Nominations – The Slice Awards!

Hello! Exciting news; I’ve decided to acknowledge my award nominations as the Slice Awards. I’ve been recording my own personal picks for award season for the past few years now, and last year, with my first post on the matter for Today Junior, I decided I wouldn’t pick a winner outright, and I rather enjoyed that. I decided that with all the nuance between performances (comedic to dramatic to horrific and beyond), to pick a winner is splitting hairs, and what an honour it must be to be nominated and recognised among the best performances of the year. The name and image (and trophies, if I were to imagine that I have them) of the Slice Awards are inspired by pizza or a large cookie, where everyone gets their slice. Instead of a daft awards show, I imagine my Slice Awards would roll into a roundtable discussion, much like The Hollywood Reporter do now, where all recipients would get the opportunity to talk about their performances, their careers, and bounce off each other with discussions on their craft – for me, an Actors Roundtable is so much more invigorating than a red carpet and speeches. And in the future, if I decided an individual winner should be named, or if discussions around the nominees came to who was the best, then the favoured would be referred to as the ‘big slice’😊. Now, all this is just fantasy stuff for now, and a fanciful way for me to divulge my picks amidst this busy and elongated cinematic award season, but I’m glad I get to share my concept with you, and I hope you understand where I’m coming from. And here they are…

My Notable Exceptions (Movies I haven’t seen, nominated in my chosen categories by the Academy)

Another Round

One Night in Miami

Sound of Metal

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

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BEST DIRECTOR

Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Charlie Kaufman – I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Chloe Zhao – Nomadland

David Fincher – Mank

Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods

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BEST ACTOR

Anthony Hopkins – The Father

Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods

Gary Oldman – Mank

John David Washington – Malcolm & Marie

Mark Rylance – The Trail of the Chicago 7

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BEST ACTRESS

Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Eliza Scanlen – Babyteeth

Francis McDormand – Nomadland

Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman

Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Zendaya – Malcolm & Marie

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – Hillbilly Elegy

Bel Powley – The King of Staten Island

Essie Davis–The True History of the Kelly Gang

Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy

Meryl Streep – The Prom

Youn Yuh-jung – Minari

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alec Baldwin – Motherless Brooklyn

Ben Mendelsohn – Babyteeth

Owen Asztalos – Hillbilly Elegy

Sasha Baron Cohen –The Trail of the Chicago 7

Shia LeBeouf – Honey Boy

Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse

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BEST ENSEMBLE

Happiest Season

Jumanji: The Next Level

Misbehaviour

The Trail of the Chicago 7

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Promising Young Woman

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I had an extremely hard time fitting all potential nominations into six spots this year, and there’s at least two nominations extra I could have easily added across all categories. Best Ensemble was the absolute hardest to squeeze – at the last minute, Jumanji: The Next Level beat out Birds of Prey! This is the first year I’m attempting to have a Best Director category as well, and I’m approaching it like a baby giraffe finding my feet. It’s difficult, because it’s hard to separate direction from screenplay, editing, cinematography and the overall effectiveness of a movie; I don’t want ‘Best Director’ to become ‘Best Film’, but I’m finding it’s a fine line.

Like always, I learn when putting myself in the shoes of someone who produces an awards list like this, and I’ve learnt again – it’s very hard not to result politically, even unintentionally, when your individual value system is going to be based on something. So, look, maybe I was hard on the Academy Awards and award ceremonies when having my rant in my last Pondering post. I still stand by my objections, but I don’t want to be one of those people who condemns and dismisses just because something doesn’t share my own point of view; so I apologise for that. These are my choices for awards, but I believe the best way to decide upon awards would be through committee.

Who do you think was amongst the best performances of 2020 and beyond? Who did I miss, and who do you agree deserves recognition? There’s a reply box below, please have your say!