By 1988, Sigourney Weaver had made
a name for herself, appearing as the bad-assed gal with a gun, in
Alien, and its successful sequel, Aliens, for which she had already received
her first Oscar nomination. In between those films, she earned
respect by showing up in smaller works such as The Year of Living
Dangerously and Half Moon Street.
While critics were starting to
notice her talent as an actress, fans had already fallen in love with her
no-nonsense character that the Aliens films had produced. In 1988,
she would please both critics and fans, offering not one - but two - well
acted, and bitchy performances.
It's difficult to imagine anyone
else in the role of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist. Weaver
plays the character by slowly building her up to a maniacal control
freak. Some have since criticized the film, and the portrayal of
Fossey, the real life gorilla protector, but few could argue that Weaver
plays the role very effectively. Furthermore, it seemed like no one
did argue it when she found herself nominated for Best
Actress.
That year, Weaver also appeared in
Working Girl, a screwball comedy that made a star out of Melanie
Griffith. Weaver played the ultra-bitchy boss, who tries to steal
one of Melanie's bright ideas. The film earned a rack of nominations, and
suddenly Weaver found herself swept up in the Working Girl fervor, with a
nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.
An interesting note to this double
win was that, unlike past double nominees who went up against one of their
co-stars in one of the categories, she was up against co-stars in both! Melanie
Griffith was her competition for Best Actress, and Joan Cusak (also from
Working Girl) was competing with her in the Best Supporting Actress
category. (Jessica Lange was up against her co-star in Francis, Kim
Stanley, and her co-star in Tootsie, Teri Garr, however they were all
nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.)
All money was on Weaver winning
the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year, simply because that seemed to
be the pattern for double nominees. Vegas called it 'even money' and
critics predicted almost unanimously that the prize would be
hers.
At
the ceremony, producers even had Melanie Griffith, with her then-boyfriend
Don Johnson, hand out the Best Supporting Actress Oscar - perhaps with the
expectation that one of her co-stars would be stepping up to the
podium. Unfortunately for Weaver, it didn't happen. She lost
Best Supporting Actress to Geena Davis, who was nominated for The
Accidental Tourist.
Later on, the Best Actress award
was handed out, and Jodie Foster was called to the podium for her work in
The Accused. Weaver went home empty handed, leaving only with the
dubious distinction of being the first double nominee to lose in both
categories.
