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Five times Amy Adams nearly won an Oscar

Could 2019 be her year?

There are so many reasons to get excited about upcoming movie Vice. It’s Adam McKay’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning The Big Short, so you just know it’s going to be super smart and super entertaining. It’s absolutely star-studded, too - Christian Bale has completely transformed into Dick Cheney, and then there’s Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell and a personal favourite of ours, the terrific Amy Adams.
Amy Adams
Adams became one of only two people to be nominated three times at the most recent Golden Globes. She was nominated twice for HBO series Sharp Objects, which she starred in and produced, and for her performance as Lynne Cheney in Vice – a “Lady Macbeth-like figure”, according to Variety. She's just been nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

So could 2019 be the year she finally nabs that Oscar? It’s her third time starring alongside Bale, after all - and as they say, third time’s a charm...

Let’s take a look back at the five times she nearly - but not quite - won:

American Hustle

What got her nominated?
Playing Sydney Prosser, a glamorous, schemingly seductive partner to Christian Bale’s con-man.


What was the buzz?
Adams “played [Sydney] with a gleam of pure self-harming passion” according to the Guardian, but the New York Times nailed it when it ran the following: “with her bright eyes and alabaster gleam, Ms. Adams can look like a porcelain doll, a deceptive mien that helps complicate Sydney and turns an unpredictable character into a thrillingly wild one.”

And the winner was...
The 2013 award for Best Actress went to Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine.

The Master

What got her nominated?
A fairly small but essential role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s psychological scientology origin story, Adams played Peggy Dodd, the wife of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s charismatic cult leader.

What was the buzz?
“Unexpected fireworks come from Amy Adams as Peggy Dodd,” according to Screenrant, which also noted that her innocent looks belied the steely fanaticism of her character. Her performance was “quietly devastating”, said Rolling Stone.

And the winner was...
Adams lost to Anne Hathaway who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Les Misérables.

The Fighter

What got her nominated?
Playing a tough, sexy barmaid named Charlene whose boyfriend is struggling to become a professional boxer.

What was the buzz?
“She carries the part as much through her body as her lines,” the Guardian said of her performance, while another review from the paper praised the ensemble cast: “Bale, Leo and Adams have rightly received Oscar nominations and this is indeed an actors' film that draws its power and moral energy from the interaction of this ensemble.”

And the winner was...
Amy’s co-star Melissa Leo won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Doubt

What got her nominated
In this bleak but stylish religio-thriller, Amy played naive young Sister James who suspects a priest of carrying on an inappropriate relationship with one of her pupils.

What was the buzz?
“Amy Adams has several excellent scenes as Sister James, a young woman of transparent integrity,” the Guardian said, while MTV agreed: “Watch the scene where Meryl Streep coaxes the truth out of Adams. It's a seduction, a dance really.”

And the winner was...
The 2008 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress went to Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Junebug

What got her nominated?
Amy played Ashley, a heavily pregnant young woman who becomes firm friends with her husband’s brother’s new bride.

What was the buzz?
Roger Ebert adored the film, and spoke highly of “a scene of incredible power between Ashley and her brother-in-law, in which we see that Ashley truly is good, and brave, and sweeter than peaches.” The New York Times was similarly enamoured, saying “Adams's incandescent Ashley floods the movie with a heartbreaking sweetness and warmth.”

And the winner was…
The Constant Gardener’s Rachel Weisz beat Amy to the award for Best Supporting Actress.

Get times and tickets for Nocturnal Animals and Arrival.