Isabella Rossellini
What Should She Have Been Nominated For? She might come, almost literally, from cinematic royalty, but while her mother Ingrid Bergman won three Oscars and was nominated for a further four, Isabella Rossellini has, shockingly, never been nominated. In fairness, her tastes lean a little more experimental than her ma’s, but even so, the Academy have had multiple opportunities to nominate her: her devilish supporting turn in “Death Becomes Her,” for instance; or Peter Weir’s powerful “Fearless.” But the obvious one would have been her breakthrough, in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet,” a searing, surprising and raw performance that launched her to stardom and won her a Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. And while you might think that the film would be too out there for the Academy, you’d be wrong: Lynch was nominated for Best Director at that year’s Oscars. If only Rossellini could have followed him.
Will It Happen? We thought it might happen this year: Rossellini stands out without a ton of screen time in David O. Russell’s “Joy,” but lukewarm reaction to the movie ended that possibility. Hopefully it reminds other filmmakers of how potent she can be, though.
Danny Glover
What Should He Have Been Nominated For? Perhaps a victim of #OscarsSoWhite even before the hashtag, and indeed Twitter, existed, Danny Glover’s career trajectory is exactly the sort that should have seen him cozily racking up the nominations. After all, the Academy usually loves a commercial actor (and Glover’s “Lethal Weapon” stint certainly qualifies him as such) who goes “serious.” And it’s remarkable that Glover didn’t get recognized for “The Color Purple” (which picked up 11 other nods) or for his memorable villain turn in “Witness” (which had eight). And while the film is further outside the Academy’s purview, he was also outstanding in Lars von Trier‘s undervalued “Manderlay.” But for now, it’s his work on TV, especially in “Lonesome Dove” and “Mandela,” that has seen him meet with most awards success.
Will It Happen? We’d have said it felt unlikely (while desperately suppressing a “getting too old for dis shit” reference), but Glover’s upcoming slate (he has 17 projects in various stages of production! 17!) makes us think that a late-career nod might yet happen, and soon, if just one of those titles turns out better than any of his nine 2015 movies.
Gong Li
What Should She Have Been Nominated For? As wildly underrepresented as black actors are in the acting categories at the Oscars, Asian actors are even more so. And those who do pick up rare nominations tend to get them for English-speaking roles. So perhaps it’s not a surprise that Gong Li, who despite a couple of English roles (notably in “Miami Vice,” the turgid “Shanghai,” and playing Japanese in “Memoirs of a Geisha“) is best known for her Chinese films, doesn’t have a nomination. It is, however, a disappointment, seeing as she’s maybe the ultimate icon of Chinese cinema and six of her films have been Oscar-nominated elsewhere. Of those, the most egregious oversights in regards to her acting are Zhang Yimou’s “Ju Dou,” his “Raise the Red Lantern” and Chen Kaige‘s “Farewell My Concubine,” while her performance in the otherwise soapy ‘Geisha’ is terrific (if culturally problematic), and she’s a sublime part of the enigmatic puzzle that is Wong Kar-Wai‘s “2046.”
Will It Happen? It’s starting to feel pretty unlikely, as her forays into English-speaking cinema have fared so poorly and the pace of her output overall has slowed recently.
