that Oscar belonged to Felicity Huffman!
Don't get me wrong, Reese was absolutely amazing in Walk the Line.
But Felicity was... flawless. Absolutely remarkable performance. She totally changed everything about herself for this role and seemed completely comfortable playing the character.
This is one of my favorite performances of all time, hands down.
Look! A leprechaun! Pull over, I want to dance with him.
yes !! i agree
shareI agree, however I don't even think Reese was "absolutely amazing" in Walk the Line, I personally thought she was overpraised and rather mediocre. Felicity Huffman was miles better than Witherspoon, Huffman's performance is one of the best of the '00s (along with Cotillard's La vie en Rose, Dench's Notes on a Scandal etc.)
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Miss Witherspoon was fine in Walk The Line, but IMO Miss Huffman was robbed of the Oscar.
No Louis, you're mistaken. It's not me.
Excellent assessment. I could not agree more. Huffman gave the performance of the year in 2005, period...the same as Cotillard in 2007 (La Vie en Rose), and Dench in 2006 (Notes on a Scandal) and before that in 1997 (Mrs. Brown).
shareTOTALLY AGREE!
Reese has had better performances. Walk the Line was completely overpraised. And Felicity was robbed!
She could have won with just the last 15 minutes of Transamerica!
I think that indeed the movie was too much to take for some people, but it did get her a nomination.
Sometimes when I watch this movie in the first half I'm sometimes uncomfortable, so I can imagine people being very uncomfortable.
As far as performance goes, Felicity's was certainly the best.
I don't know how anyone could disagree! You're absolutely right.
shareI am glad for this post.
I caught the movie again today on the IFC, and was trying to think of who won the Oscar that year. I knew that F. Huffman was nominated but didn't win.
She definately deserved it, what a performance...a woman, playing a man who is becomming a woman. Incredible.
Maybe the subject matter was too much for some voters; just too bad because it is an excellent film and the two leads are just fantastic.
Correct, Felicity should have won. Reese gave better performances in Freeway and Election, and probably really deserved her Oscar for them, although they were far too dark for the Academy to acknowledge.
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Agreed. And one more thing people don't seem to mention is that Reese really wasn't a LEAD actress in her film. Yes she was more than just a side character but it was Johnny Cash's story.
shareAgreed. I remember thinking back then why in the hell Witherspoon was even a frontrunner for basically a SUPPORTING performance in Walk the Line! That film was Joaquim Phoenix's, not hers.
shareI too don't understand how Witherspoon swept all the precursor awards (Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, SAG) and then won the Oscar. Her performance in Walk the Line was pretty standard, IMO, and as potsi-1 and hnt_dnl pointed out, it was also a supporting role. The movie's main focus is Johnny Cash. We see his childhood, his brother's accidental death and how he felt responsible, his estrangement from his father who blamed him for the death, his army stint in Germany, his first marriage, his career, and his drug addictions.
If Witherspoon was truly co-lead, we'd get equal insight into her life. Instead, she doesn't enter until 40 minutes in, and even then there are stretches when she's absent from the screen. Her childhood and first two marriages are only mentioned in passing; in fact, her own family/friends are left out of the movie altogether or are relegated to mere cameos. In the end, her only purpose (in the film) is to support Cash through his struggles, particularly his drug abuse, and to reconcile father and son. That's it. She has no bearing on the narrative.
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I also love Reese Witherspoon and as much as I want to try and force it, while I loved her portrayal of June Carter Cash, it just wasn't anywhere near as strong as Felicity Huffman's. So like others, I too believe that Oscar did get it wrong that year.
shareI think Reese would've been a strong contender in the Best Supporting Actress category, but I just can't see her as lead in this movie. Sure, she's the the female with the most screen time, but that isn't saying much. Anne Hathaway has the most screen time in Les Miserables, but she's only on screen for 20 minutes (at most) in a 2 1/2 hour movie. Sometimes a movie has just one protagonist.
shareFelicity deserved an Oscar for this movie for sure. Reese though, did deserve an Oscar for Wild!
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