Back to selection
Considerations: Holding Space for Sing Sing
Sing Sing Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here.
Last March, in the week leading up to the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, I received an invitation from BBC News to chat about Bradley Cooper. An interview with him had recently gone viral for a clip where Cooper teared up while speaking of Leonard Bernstein, whom he played in Maestro. (He earned three Oscar nominations for that film—best picture, actor and original screenplay—but was passed over for his direction).
In a brief phone call with the segment producer, I understood the topic to be discussed: the notion that too much promotion could hurt Cooper’s chances for winning an Oscar. I had planned to say it didn’t matter one way or another, because Maestro probably wouldn’t win any of the awards for which it was nominated. (It earned seven nods, which is ultimately a win in itself.) But once I was live on air, I quickly realized that the host wanted someone to laugh along with him about Bradley Cooper. “Isn’t it quite insane for him to cry about missing Leonard Bernstein, a man he never met?” the host asked, prodding me to confirm his presumption that Cooper’s performative tears would cost him an Oscar (for acting, no less). The host seemed disappointed with me when I politely disagreed with him. “Cooper has spent a lot of time with Bernstein, in a way,” I said. “He not only played the man on screen, but he also wrote, directed and produced this movie. Sure, he may seem like a crazy actor to us, but he also spent years of his life thinking of nothing other than Leonard Bernstein and his life. That was his job.”
This story came to mind as I watched Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s misty-eyed press tour for Universal’s Wicked, which has seen the two stars frequently reduced to tears over the last month. Maybe it’s post-election anxiety, as Out’s Tracy E. Gilchrist suggested that Wicked fans have been “taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that and feeling power in that” in the weeks since Nov. 5, whatever that means. (The moment went viral, as Grande’s reaction to the notion of holding space for “Defying Gravity” inspired her to reach her hand over and … hold Erivo’s index finger.)
Silly? Yes. But I feel for the women. They shot two Wicked movies back-to-back and then had to keep up their energies to make it through the first of two global press tours. I’m sure it’s exhausting and can make anybody feel a little delirious even when people aren’t asking about nonsense or suggesting the film is the anti-fascist piece of art America needs right now. It’s enough to make anyone reach out and touch somebody’s finger. But it’s much better to be a meme during a film’s release strategy than it is during an awards campaign; should commentators find Erivo and/or Grande to be shedding too many tears—to be feeling too many feelings about Elphaba and Galinda, respectively—on the path to the Oscars, they risk looking more thirsty than vulnerable, á la Bradley Cooper. Even those in need of escape are quick to turn on a celebrity or two.
Actors are naturally the main draw in any awards season—they are the stars, after all, and thus become ambassadors for their films in ways that even their directors aren’t. (Jon M. Chu isn’t going viral.) They have to keep up a nonstop performance on demand for an entitled public of reporters and random social media users alike. There’s no way to tell if the people who vote for the Oscars really care about the PR machine that makes actors likable so they can reap the rewards for doing some of the more complicated and emotionally draining—and least quantifiable—jobs on a film set. One hopes voters are more concerned about the acting that happens on screen rather than on a red carpet or while sampling a spread of increasingly spicy chicken wings.
Acting is weird, embarrassing, intense and mysterious, which is why we’re drawn to performers in the first place. And while rich celebrities seem like the least deserving of our sympathy, the job of an actor—from the most famous to the least—is to understand human behavior and emotion. The best actors are the ones who take their jobs seriously, even if we think it’s cringeworthy when they explain the strange jobs they hold.
Maybe I’m feeling especially earnest about the craft because I finally caught A24’s Sing Sing last week, which I think could easily land a best picture nomination. I’ll admit I avoided it in its summer theatrical run because I knew it would make me cry, and I didn’t want to feel emotionally manipulated. A few weeks ago, a friend in New York did a Q&A with star Colman Domingo and his castmates, and she told me that she and the actors were allcrying by the end of the panel. I was certain that I wouldn’t be able to avoid the tears. But I was blown away by the film; the script was sharp, the cast was incredible and it looked surprisingly stunning despite being shot in a maximum security prison. Moreover, my tears were genuine.
Directed by Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing is set within the walls of the eponymous correctional facility and stars Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield, a member of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program that sees him and his fellow inmates mounting theatrical productions under the helm of director Brent Buell (Paul Raci). The rest of the cast (save for Sean San José) is made up of former incarcerated members of RTA, all of whom play themselves—with the standout being Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, whose supporting performance could set him up for an Oscar nomination. (Perhaps one of two; Maclin and the real Whitfield both share story credit with Kwedar and Clint Bentley, and a nom for best adapted screenplay isn’t out of the question).
The screening was for SAG members (I spotted Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Nia Vardalos, Yvonne Orji, Donna Mills and Jasmine Cephas Jones in the audience) and was followed by a Q&A with Kwedar, Domingo, San Jose, Maclin and Sean “Dino” Johnson (a founding member of RTA) moderated by host Andrew Garfield, who called the movie one of his favorites of all time. Folks gasped at the length of the production (Domingo had only 18 days in between The Color Purple and Rustin, and Kwedar used them all) and cried as Johnson recalled the trauma of returning to the real Sing Sing to shoot the film. “Vulnerability” was discussed many times; the conversation underscored not just what an actor must accomplish in order to do their job well, but also suggested that embracing one’s own vulnerabilities is to understand humanity at its rawest form.
While Domingo feels like a shoo-in for his second consecutive Oscar nomination for best actor, the focus of the night was on Maclin. His is the kind of feel-good Cinderella story fit for an Oscar campaign narrative — I heard someone ask for his manager’s name at the post-screening reception. And a film that sees acting as an empathetic tool that encourages and facilitates rehabilitation? I can’t imagine another movie winning over the actors en masse, who are a big voting block within the Academy. Not to mention it’s subtly anti-carceral, which may land well with liberal-minded voters still reeling from the election.
Of course, A24’s biggest task is getting voters to see it. Sing Sing had a late-summer theatrical run, but is weirdly not yet available on SVOD. Perhaps that’s part of the studio’s strategy. While the big players demand attention with outsized campaigns, an optimistic indie drama that celebrates the human spirit is the kind of sleeper hit that could go far with word of mouth—particularly among voters who might feel validated by its larger themes.
If you were forwarded this email and would like to subscribe to this free newsletter, or other Filmmaker newsletters, click here.
