These ladies coulda been contenders:
Lesley Manville - Another Year
In a very crowded year for Best Actress, Another Year’s National Board of Review winner, Lesley Manville was the victim either of being too unknown and British, or of category confusion. Her producers decided to push her for Best Actress, which would have been great if it had worked out (see Nicole Kidman in The Hours / Kate Winslett in The Reader), but unfortunately left her in the same place where Laura Linney's divorcing, literary Brooklyn-ite in The Squid and the Whale went to miss out on the Oscar race. If they had pushed her for as a Supporting Actress right from the outset (see Natalie Portman / Clive Owen in Closer), she would likely have been a frontrunner, and could / should have won the Oscar that went to Melissa Leo for lack of a stronger contender.
Noomi Rapace - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(Who Played with Fire & Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
Noomi Rapace was 2010's breakthrough sensation as massively abused, bisexual punk hacker Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Two rushed (and inferior) sequels upped her profile, but probably not her credibility. She is excellent in all three films, though; her return from the ‘dead’ in The Girl Who Played with Fire is arguably the most startlingly powerful moment, while her eventual trial in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is rousing stuff, but I loved the guarded, unexpected emotions of her reluctant romantic interlude with Mikael Blomkvist in the first installment the most.
Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right
Anette Bening got all the praise and awards for The Kids Are All Right, but endless movie-goers hailed the greatness of Julianne Moore as loopy, free-spirited mother Jules. Fans were quick to declare Moore’s performance one of her best (which is saying a lot) & raged all season long that she was so uniformly ignored, despite being as vital as Bening to the film's success. There were some last minute hopes that she would be a surprise 5th nominee, but no luck.
Anne Hathaway - Love & Other Drugs
