If Cate Blanchett wins this year’s Oscar as Best Actress for “Blue Jasmine,” she will become the second actress in a Woody Allen film to take that honor.
Almost every Oscar pundit still rates Blanchett as a shoo-in, even after she was criticized in a letter by Allen’s estranged adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow — in which Farrow details 22-year-old allegations of sexual abuse against the filmmaker, who was never charged by authorities following an investigation at the time (and who newly denied them over the weekend).
Overall, 11 actresses have been Oscar-nominated for the Woodman’s work — one of them twice, and all but two in the supporting category, where there were four additional wins (not counting Sally Hawkins, who is currently competing for “Blue Jasmine”).
Not too shabby, but compare Woody’s track record with, say, William Wyler, who directed five women to Best Actress Oscars, and a couple more to Best Supporting Actress. And, unlike Woody, wrote none of his movies.
Does Woody Allen write good roles for women, or is he a great director of women? His track record on both counts is mixed — many of his female supporting roles tend toward stereotype — but he’s certainly worked with some great actresses, and I’d give a lot of credit to the Woodman’s casting directors, some of the best in the business.
Here’s a rundown of Woody’s Oscar-nominated women, and how they fared (years shown are for films’ release dates):
Diane Keaton, “Annie Hall” (1977)
Woody’s real-life ex-girlfriend played a character based on herself in this box-office smash, which won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay (which Woody shared with Marshall Brickman). Allen received his sole acting nomination but lost to Richard Dreyfuss (“The Goodbye Girl”), while Keaton triumphed as Best Actress over Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine (both of “The Turning Point”), Jane Fonda (“Julia”) and Marsha Mason (“The Goodbye Girl”).
Maureen Stapleton and Geraldine Page, “Interiors” (1978)
Nominated three times previously, ace character actress Stapleton stood out as the only character who’s sympathetic or funny in Woody’s grim, Bergman-esque drama. Stapleton lost the Supporting Actress Oscar to Maggie Smith (“California Suite”), but won three years later for Warren Beatty’s “Reds.” Lead actress Page, who lost the Best Actress award to Jane Fonda (“Coming Home”), finally won on her eighth and final try for an Oscar, for “The Trip to Bountiful” (1985).
Mariel Hemingway, “Manhattan” (1979)
Hemingway’s work as Woody’s teenage lover (a role reportedly based on a real erstwhile Allen paramour, Stacey Nelkin) is by far the most impressive thing she’s ever done. She received the only acting nomination for this masterpiece, which was far less well received by Oscar voters than “Annie Hall.” She lost to Meryl Streep (“Kramer Vs. Kramer”), who played Woody’s bisexual ex-wife in “Manhattan” and reportedly refused to ever work with him again.
Dianne Wiest, “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986)
Most people agree that Mia Farrow did the best work of her career as the leading lady for her then-companion Woody. But she inexplicably didn’t receive either of the two Oscar nominations for women that came out of their 12 films together. Crack character actress Wiest won Best Supporting Actress for playing Farrow’s troubled sister here, edging out Tess Harper (“Crimes of the Heart”), Piper Laurie (“Children of a Lesser God”), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (“The Color of Money”) and Maggie Smith (“A Room With a View”).
Judy Davis, “Husbands and Wives” (1992)
In a role turned down by Jane Fonda, Davis was nominated as Best Supporting Actress as a woman whose divorce (from director Sydney Pollack) throws pals Farrow and Allen’s own marriage into turmoil. Woody becomes involved with a younger woman in his last film with Farrow, a drama released amid the real-life scandal involving his involvement with Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn (later Woody’s wife) and child abuse allegations involving Dylan Farrow. Davis lost to Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny”).
Dianne Wiest and Jennifer Tilly, “Bullets Over Broadway” (1994)
Wiest gave a high-style comedic performance as an alcoholic 1920s actress for her second win as Best Supporting Actress. Working with a script that Allen co-authored with Douglas McGrath, she triumphed over Rosemary Harris (“Tom & Viv”), Helen Mirren (“The Madness of King George”), Uma Thurman (“Pulp Fiction”) — and co-star Tilly, improbably nominated in the same category as a gun moll.
Mira Sorvino, “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995)
Sorvino was cast as a prostitute who turns out to be the birth mother of Woody’s adopted son in this dimly remembered comedy. In one of the big head-scratchers in Oscar history, she was named Oscar’s Best Supporting Actress over Kate Winslet (“Sense and Sensibility”), Joan Allen (“Nixon”), Mare Winningham (“Georgia”) and Kathleen Quinlan (“Apollo 13”).
Samantha Morton, “Sweet and Low Down” (1999)
This distinguished British actress snagged a supporting actress Oscar nod for playing a mute character in this musical drama starring Sean Penn, but lost to Angelina Jolie for “Girl, Interrupted.”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008)
The only woman nominated for a Woody Allen film before Blanchett and Hawkins this century — sorry, Scarlett Johansson — spoke most of her lines in Spanish as the tempestuous girlfriend of Javier Bardem, whom she later married in real life. She edged out Taraji P. Henson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Amy Adams (“Doubt”), Viola Davis (“Doubt”) and Marisa Tomei (“The Wrestler”).