In her own words, Sally Kirkland said that she was looking to get the film
recognized, and a Best Actress nod would be just the ticket. "I
wanted to get out there and campaign because I think it's a film that
should be seen by everyone in the world. I thought the only way that I
could do that was to quite literally hire a publicist in New York and L.A.
and say 'I'm at your mercy. What do you want me to do? I'll make
myself available to you 24 hours a day. So I did. I turned down
four films just to be available for this campaign."
Kirkland hired Dale Olsen as her
publicist, who in turn chose a strategy that downplayed her own eager bid
to win. He echoed many actors who felt that open campaigning was bad
form, a la Chill Wills, and would backfire.
While Kirkland made noise by
putting her best foot forward, she wasn't the only actor to put forth a
campaign. Barbra Streisand was behind the push to get herself
nominated for Nuts. Studios performed contractual obligations to
Goldie Hawn by promoting her for Overboard. Sean Connery was
successful in landing a nod, and eventually win, for his role in The
Untouchables. Warren Beatty had it written in his contract that the
studio would promote his performance in Ishtar, however, the idea was
dropped after the film became the biggest flop of the year.
Since the producers of Anna
weren't able to put up funds for a campaign, Kirkland called up relatives
and co-workers and asked for donations, raising the money herself to place
trade ads and get publicity for her performance and her film. With
her publicist in tow, she held private parties for Academy members, where
she screened the film, and wooed potential votes her way. After
winning notices from critics and audiences, and after waving those notices
in the face of anyone who would look, she was successful in landing a slot
in the list of Best Actress nominees. She was positioned against
Holly Hunter for Broadcast News, Meryl Streep for Ironweed, Glenn Close
for Fatal Attraction, and Cher for Moonstruck. She managed to make
the final cut, edging out other favorites, like Angelica Huston for The
Dead, Faye Dunaway for Barfly, and sentimental favorite, the 93 year old
Lilian Gish, for The Whales of August.
Following the nomination, Kirkland
continued her tireless campaign, appearing on the talk show circuit, and
speaking publicly about the film and about her nomination.
Alas, it wasn't to be.
Kirkland performed a major coup by getting the nod, but she couldn't
perform the miracle that was necessary to actually win the award.
While Anna got noticed, it was only a modest success. Furthermore,
she was up against actresses who's names alone garnered
publicity.
Newcomer, Holly Hunter created
waves in the hit comedy, Broadcast News. She wasn't a front runner,
but the critics raved about the film. By 1987, a nomination for
Meryl Streep seemed like an expectation. She was receiving her
seventh for Ironweed. The real competition that Kirkland was facing
was from the other two nominees.
For Glenn Close, it was her fourth
nomination, and the film, Fatal Attraction, was a box office smash.
Her eerie performance as a woman scorned, was the ultimate 80's horror
flick, and Close was primed as someone who was certainly worthy of the
award. Close didn't do much campaigning for her work. She
did the interview circuit, but she made it clear that her job was to
act.
And then of course, there was the
fifth nominee, and perhaps the clearest front runner in this race ... Cher!
More
