Gwyneth Paltrow, Edward Norton and More Are Helping Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress Oscar Chances

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When nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are announced on Tuesday, there might be a surprise pick in the Best Actress category.

In recent weeks, Andrea Riseborough's performance in her 2022 drama To Leslie has gained significant ground in the awards season — despite being shut out of the Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards — in large part due to how many major stars have publicly promoted the film.

In recent days, Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Sarah Paulson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Courteney Cox have hosted screenings of the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Norton, 53, and Paltrow, 50, are among a significant number of actors who have praised To Leslie on social media, with Paltrow writing on Instagram last Wednesday that 41-year-old Riseborough "should win every award there is and all the ones that haven't been invented yet" for her performance.

"For those interested in really great acting I'll share that Andrea Riseborough's portrayal in To Leslie just knocked me sideways," Norton wrote on Instagram regarding the film last Wednesday.

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"It's about the most fully committed, emotionally deep, physically harrowing performance I've seen in a while," the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery actor noted, calling Riseborough's performance "just raw & utterly devoid of performative BS."

"It's a tough but really elegant and compassionate film (by Michael Morris) where the emotion is really earned," Norton added in the post's caption, alongside three photos of Riseborough in the movie. "I happened to catch it and, wow, I was really staggered by the depth she reached. Very rare. Check it out."

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To Leslie, directed by longtime television producer and director Michael Morris (Better Call Saul) in his feature film directorial debut, follows a single mother in Texas who "wins the lottery and squanders it just as fast," leading her to seek redemption years later, according to a synopsis shared by the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Riseborough was one of 10 performers nominated for the ceremony's best lead performance award when nominations were released in November.

Everett

"We can't even afford an ad. We live or die by people's reactions to the film," director Morris recently told THR of the independent movie's word-of-mouth appeal. "We've been so under the radar and our only strategy has been to get people to see the film. I don't want it to become another title in the library. I want it to be seen."

"The movie is about a person who happens to struggle with certain things, and she deals with and endures those things as best she can," he added. "It's an important distinction because it makes the movie about a human being, and something about that has registered with actors."

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Paulson, for her part, told THR in a recent statement that she was "just struck by" To Leslie's "authenticity" when she watched the movie.

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"Andrea's performance affected me profoundly; achingly human and without vanity — and I do not mean 'vanity' in terms of appearance, I mean 'without awareness of how one is perceived or how one will be perceived' — just total embodiment," the 12 Years a Slave actor said. "Immersion. Movies like this, made for little money, that are this powerful and true, should be given the same attention and consideration as those that have huge studios and therefore budgets behind them."

"Anything I could do to help bring eyes to it would mean I was doing something for all of us as actors and moviegoers," she added.

To Leslie, which also stars Allison Janney, Marc Maron, Stephen Root and Owen Teague, is available to rent or purchase on video on demand now.