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| Lionsgate |
| Mo'Nique in Precious |
Since Philly-born Lee Daniel's Precious premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and Mo'Nique took home a special acting prize for her portrayal of Precious' mother, she's been tapped as an Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress (in his review, Shaun Brady said "Mo'Nique, undoubtedly in line for the Academy Award, is remarkable; she almost makes you pity this woman before exploding into terrifying, withering rage.").
But Oscar, for those who follow it with religious fervor, know that the venerable awards show is politics as usual, and the quality of the performance in question is just as important ' arguably less so ' than the type of performance, station of the actor in Oscar history (i.e. Al Pacino's win for Scent of Woman is largely seen as a gimme for past snubs) and campaign mounted to support that performance. In recent months, Mo'Nique has caused quite the stir because she hasn't gone on the traditional campaign circuit, which usually consist of film festivals and panels, pimping out her own work. It's even been rumored that she's asked for money to make appearances in support of her film and herself.
It may seem counterintuitive for Mo'Nique not give herself the extra push, she's brought up some interesting points in her own rebuttal of the process. Below is a clip from tonight's episode of Mo'Nique's BET show, where she discusses the nomination process with former noms Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson:
For those who don't want to watch the entire clip, Terrence and Taraji essentially say its part of the game while Mo'Nique doesn't see the point. And for her, she's right. Precious is one of those once in a lifetime roles for Mo'Nique. Finding another strong role for a strong, overweight black female is going to be near impossible for white-washed Hollywood and Mo'Nique is smart to ask how this will help her. Because it won't. Just look at this part transcribed by awards guru Scott Feinberg (who first reported on the clip):
Mo'Nique: 'Now let me ask y'all this, because I know y'all are gonna school me correctly: What does it mean financially?' '
Henson: 'Y'all are really gonna see how Hollywood works! For me, not really much. I mean, I did see a change, but a very slow change. This one here [Howard] hit ' how many figures come with million? Six? Seven! You hit seven; I ain't seen seven yet. But that's how it is for women in Hollywood. That's just, you know, across the board.'
Howard: No, but it didn't come right away. That didn't happen right away. It's like planting a seed that's being watered ' it's got to grow.'
But Mo'Nique is a different animal. She's not looking to be a legit actress, as far as I can tell and Precious is an anamoly for her. And while Henson and Howard claim it has helped their careers, Henson will still probably be relegated to supporting roles because being a black woman in Hollywood is Sisyphean. Even though Howard's paycheck was upped, his nom didn't stop him from getting kicked off of Iron Man 2 (only to be replaced by the also-nominated, and in my opinion superior, Don Cheadle). Feinberg says this is a turning point for Mo'Nique but I call bullshit and I hope she does too. It'll be a shame if Mo'Nique loses traction because she doesn't want to campaign, and the awards cognoscenti may be up in arms about Mo'Nique's refusal to campaign, I'm with her. Fuck 'em.
I've always thought the campaign push is ridiculous, but I agree it's part of the game. Even Howard says that she has to campaign in order to make herself known to Academy voters but doesn't Mo'Nique's snub send the message that her performance should stand on merit alone? Look, I know I'm living in a fantasy world where Hollywood is a meritocracy, which it most certainly isn't and while Precious has it's fault, Mo'Nique is a powerhouse and she deserves the credit, even if the large majority of people who have to decide have never seen Phat Girlz.What do you think? Is Mo'Nique doing the right thing or is she simply hurting a movie she helped push to greatness?
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