The Awards Connection

2016: Florence Foster Jenkins
2014: Into the Woods
2013: August: Osage County
2011: The Iron Lady
2009: Julie & Julia
2008: Doubt
2006: The Devil Wears Prada
2002: Adaptation
1999: Music of the Heart
1998: One True Thing
1995: The Bridges of Madison County
1990: Postcards from the Edge
1988: A Cry in the Dark
1987: Ironweed
1985: Out of Africa
1983: Silkwood
1982: Sophie's Choice
1981: The French Lieutenant's Woman
1979: Kramer vs. Kramer
1978: The Deer Hunter

As this past Oscar season drew to a close, I began mulling over writing projects I'd like to work on in the post-season. Last year, of course, I spent seven months reviewing all 82 years (up to that point) of Best Original Song and then followed that up with a month's worth of revisiting horror films recognized by the Academy. Both of these projects were a complete blast to work on and I've been eager to dive into another Oscar Flashback.

So, I was thinking...maybe review every single year of a category like Best Supporting Actor? Perhaps just a tad too time-consuming. How about Best Makeup, a more recent category, with fewer nominees? Hard, frankly, to get super-passionate about that. Best Animated Short Subject? An eyebrow-raiser for sure (in a good way) but again, not something I could muster a ton of enthusiasm for.

Then, I thought...wait....just wait. What if I went back and revisited the nominations of a certain performer? That could work. And if I go that route, why not look back at the appearances of the most nominated star in Oscar history - that being the incomparable, brilliant, all-around amazing Meryl Streep? Bingo!

So, that's what I'll be doing over the coming months - venturing back to 1978, the year of Streep's very first Oscar nomination (for The Deer Hunter, of course) and reviewing all 20 categories the actress graced. Now, this won't be me just looking back at the Streep performances alone - I'm going to revisit and review her competition as well, highlight actresses inexplicably snubbed for recognition in these respective years and ultimately determine just what this living legend of the big screen really should've won in terms of Oscars.

If this project intrigues or excites you in the least, I whole-heartedly encourage you to join me in revisiting these performances - 100 overall - and offer up your own reviews in the comments section. Beyond Streep's turns, I'll be looking back at marvelous, underrated performances like Maureen Stapleton in Interiors, Marsha Mason in Only When I Laugh and Sally Kirkland in Anna; legendary ones like Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment, Jessica Lange in Frances and Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple; and perhaps some "WTF is she doing here?" appearances too (I'm looking at you, Anne Bancroft in Agnes of God).

This should, no doubt, be heaps of fun to work on. And, depending on how much time this eats up, I may just have enough to tackle a second performer's Oscar history later this year...