Did Judi Dench really deserve an Oscar for "Shakespeare In Love"?

I love Hillary and Jackie and Gods and Monsters, but I do think Judi deserved the award because of the way she dominated and commanded the screen. She just ungraciously galumphed into a mud puddle ("Too late, too late!") and turned in this snarling, big ol' Queen E in the same year Cate Blanchett gave us a delicate, naive young Elizabeth. Cate's performance is memorable and Judi's opposite performance of the same character is as vivid with under 10 minutes of screen time. She deserved it.

Lynn (no E) Redgrave was sublime in Gods & Monsters.

Rachel Griffiths and Kathy Bates were both solid but had been much better in other performances, Brenda Blethyn was a fun panto performance and Judi Dench was great but it was a clear consolation award.

Laura Linney would have been a worthy nominee that year for The Truman Show, as would Lisa Kudrow for The Opposite Of Sex.

Lynn Redgrave won the Independent Spirit award that year, beating her niece Joely Richardson.

Rachel Griffiths for sure. Lynne Redgrave a close second.

Lynne Redgrave deserved it. No question.

Of all the performances i remember kathy bates ‘ monologue ripping into the Clintons. It was excellent moment - so I say her. Otherwise- lisa kudrow should of been nominated (& maybe won?).

Compared to the other nominees? A fair argument for no.

Compared to other winners? Hell fucking yes. 8 minutes of Judi Dench in that role is worth more than several other winning performances. Including her co-star Goop's.

Here's her speech. Very classy.

Judy Dench deserves an extra bagel now and then

This makes me think of my mom, who I lost a few years ago. 💜

She first heard of Judi Dench the year she won the Oscar, and for some reason she could never get the words "Dame Judi Dench" out of her mouth right and always called her "Jane Doody Bench."

R9 God Bless your mum X

Thank you, R10. I miss her so much.

R11 I'm sure she is still watching over you. I'm really sorry for your loss. Did your mum like Jane Doody Bench?

She should have been sent back to merry ole England on an old freighter in 1st class storage.

How cool would it have been if Blanchett had won for playing the younger Elizabeth as well as Dench for the elder Lizzie

R12 Not particularly, but she liked saying her name! Haha. I don't think she had a lot of favorite actors. She loved Jane Fonda because of her activism and she hated her father because he was a jerk.

She may have been more aware than she gave away, though. She didn't talk much about movies or non-documentary TV, but she called me one day and told me I had to see Arrival and that Amy Adams is heartbreaking in it, and I had no clue she even knew who Amy Adams is.

So Jane Doody Bitch it is!

Out of the nominees, I think Judi was a deserving winner, but I was really sad that Laura Linney was not nominated. She is a wonderful actress, and I thought she gave a truly great performance in a tricky role in The Truman Show. She deserves an Oscar or two.

I hated the movie. Dame Judy provided the only watchable 8 min. That’s worth an award.

This was during the era when Miramax/Harvey spent serious coin to buy the AMPAS votes. This is how he paid for the blowjob from Fishsticks.

If not Dench, it should have gone to Joan Allen, who wasn't even nominated, for her performance in Pleasantville.

Olivia was robbed for Xanadu. Fuck Judi. This is the Oscar’s greatest crime!

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Judi should have won for "Notes On A Scandal"

That's a pretty strong lineup of women!

[quote]Judi should have won for "Notes On A Scandal"

She was terrific in NOAS, and in another year, yes for the Oscar. But everyone knew Helen Mirren was not to be denied the win for "The Queen". And I know that everyone hates Meryl here on DL, but IMO she truly deserved the win that year for "The Devil Wears Prada", one of the best performances of her career. Fifteen years later it's still by far the most memorable of the five nominees.

R25 I agree about Merul but I thought she was even better in Doubt, 2 years later.

If NOAS has been released in 2005 or 2009, no way would Dench not have won.

Lisa Kudrow won the NY Film Critics, and I believe was a runner-up in the LA Film Critics. I think the only reason she missed out on the nomination was because not enough Academy members had seen the independent film, and I don't know if they had started the custom of sending out screeners yet, I suspect she came in 6th in the voting. Had she gotten the nomination. I really think she might have won!

Not only did Kudrow give a great performance, fully dimensional filled with comedy and pathos, but she blew many away when she proved she was a real actress with range and NOT just always Phoebe from Friends. I watched Opposite of Sex again recently. It absolutely holds up!

Had Judi Dench won Actress the year before for Mrs. Brown, (as many expected), I suspect she might not even have been nominated for Shakespeare.

[quote]Had Judi Dench won Actress the year before for Mrs. Brown, (as many expected), I suspect she might not even have been nominated for Shakespeare.

Hard to believe Dench lost the Oscar to Helen fucking Hunt for that silly film As Good As It Gets. Both Dench and Julie Christie (Afterglow) were far more deserving.

Hear, hear R27 R28

And Kudrow was great in TOOS

Quel coincidence! Jane Doody Bench just popped up on my Instagram.

Gwyneth has a strange reaction to Judi's win in that clip. She must have known Judi was sitting in the row behind her but she doesn't even turn around when the announcement is made.

Judy Dench knows when to clench.

She fucked me good so I thought that was deserving of an oscar.

Wasn't this the year that Farrah Fawcett was snubbed for a supporting actress nom in The Apostle?

Never saw Oppostie of Sex, but I remember Lisa and the fabulous Ms. Ricci being touted as potential oscar nominees that year.

Screeners started in the late 80's, early 90's. The problem was it was too bold a movie for the conservative academy to embrace.

Miramax made a lot of really excellent movies. That studio really did have an eye for producing high-quality "artsy" movies with big budgets.

Overall, Miramax productions were superior to most others—better written, good direction, great acting. It's a shame that people now think the company was just a front for a serial rapist.

[quote]Miramax made a lot of really excellent movies. That studio really did have an eye for producing high-quality "artsy" movies with big budgets.

Yeah, in the 80's and 90's, as that list attests to. Notice how there isn't a single film on there post 2000?

Also interesting how The English Patient doesn't make the cut. Another moldy turd that aged badly a year after its release.

A lot of the 90s BP winners are certainly not great. Forgettable dreck really.

The English Patient

Bravefart

Shakespeare in Love

American Beauty

Forest Flump

Dances With Wolves!

Credit to The Academy for awarding The Silence Of The Lambs though.

Yeah, Miramax was greatest in the 1990s. I don't think anyone would dispute that. But it really was something special in my opinion. Today's movies are all such dreck. I wish there were a studio like Miramax.

As for Shakespeare in Love, I absolutely loved it when it came out and I still love it. I think the concept was brilliant and it was executed really well. It was written in iambic pentameter, for god's sake, and it's a patchwork pastiche of Shakespeare's works and it still holds together as its own love story told with a contemporary perspective. Joseph Fiennes is great in it. Gwyneth is perfect in the role, too. Shakespeare didn't write many great roles for women and Gwyneth's role isn't great, but her acting is very good. Even Ben Affleck was great as a hammy actor for comic relief. I don't get the disdain for this movie.

Also, I find it so fascinating that both Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush starred in Shakespeare in Love and in Elizabeth, both set in Elizabethan times and both released in 1998. I was only 19 at the time, and I loved both of these movies and saw them several times in the theater.

I was taking a French class in college when Gwyneth was nominated for Best Actress, and my crazy French teacher went on a big rant about it, saying she was only nominated because she's beautiful and looks just like her mother. The whole time, I was wondering how the woman knew what Gwyneth Paltrow's mother looked like.

I get the extreme dislike for the GOOPster. I really get it. But I think Gwyneth was an outstanding actress and before her later Marvel phase, she turned in a lot of excellent and award-worthy performances. I can't stand her as a person, and I think acting is probably the best thing she's ever contributed to humanity.

So amazing to remember an era when I used to see all the films nominated.

I don't think I changed all that much. it was the movies.

R39 I don't even pay attention to movies anymore. I'm always surprised when I learn there's something like Arrival or Ladybird or Knives Out because they get lost in the mix with comic book and Star Wars and live-action cartoon remakes and horror movies.

TV is better than movies today.

If there's ever another genius like Kubrick, I don't think feature films will be their medium.