Why was Meryl nominated for “The Deer Hunter” (1978)?

It's easier to get a nomination for a role that isn't that showy when you're starring in an Oscar juggernaut like The Deer Hunter.

Plus, by the time Academy members were voting, she was already an up-and-coming talent who just won an Emmy and was in demand by people like Woody Allen, Alan Alda and Robert Benton. She was on the verge of having a major breakthrough, which made people notice her performance more.

Meryl communicated more with just a silent facial expression in this film than other actors said with pages of dialogue.

Moronic question from a moron

Maybe it's more about the lack of good roles for women that year?

Why did her career go down the shitter?

Fuck you, R3. I wasn’t as impressed by the movie as everybody else seems to be. Three friends from a podunk town somehow all end up together as POWs in Vietnam? And they go hunting in what’s obviously the Pacific Northwest but live in PA. And the endless Russian roulette scenes.

Not as good as I was hoping.

She was quite thin in that movie.

R6 go jump in a lake

It was a Supporting Role. She was nominated in Supporting.

What is it about Supporting that you are failing to understand?