Yes We Fran(ces McDormand)
Three Oscars and still underappreciated. How come, Chief Willoughby?
“When they called my name,” quipped Meryl Streep said in the acceptance speech for her third Academy Award, “I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Ohhh, no. Oh, come on—why? Her … Again.’” It’s too bad Streep used the joke because it arguably would have made more sense coming from the mouth of an actress who, only five years ago, few would probably consider overdue for a second Oscar (much less a third).
Yes, it’s time to talk about Frances McDormand.
McDormand’s trio of Best Actress prizes arguably vaunts her above Streep in pantheon conversations and puts her behind only Katharine Hepburn. While awards are not life’s report card, to steal a phrase from Marion McPherson, it does not feel like popular opinion has quite caught up with the industry’s admiration. You don’t feel like a sitcom would make a joke about how Frances McDormand could play Batman and have it land.
I think this snippet of conversation between The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and The New York Times' Wesley Morris immediately following her victory for Nomadland last year is a perfect illustration of the dissonance McDormand’s adulation prompts:
I want to make the case less ambiguously: Frances McDormand is a national treasure and unquestionably one of our — if not absolutely — best working actresses. Here’s why:
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