(credit. voxxi.com)
Cameron Diaz, to a lot of people, is seen as a commercial actress. What I mean by that, is she isn't lumped in the same categories of actresses like Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Natalie Portman, and Marion Cotillard, who are seen as critical darlings and have won many awards for their performances. When people think of Cameron, they think of "Bad Teacher", the "Shrek" movies, and of course, "There's Something About Mary".
Diaz is an actress that has struggled to be taken seriously as a dramatic actress. In fact, her most critically acclaimed role came in the form of a haggard, dowdy, no makeup wearing wife with lesbian tendencies in Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich". The stripped down Diaz was seen as a major spoiler for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year, winning nominations from every precursor organization/guild. However, she was left off of the Oscar shortlist, in favor of her co-star Catherine Keener.
Diaz as she appears in Being John Malkovich (credit. teamsugar.com)
She flirted with the awards race a few more times, winning raves for her work in the thriller Vanilla Sky, and Martin Scorcese's brilliant (but messy) Gang's of New York. But alas, Oscar continued to elude her.
That may all change this year with a buzzy, sexy new role in Ridley Scott's The Counselor. Based on an original screenplay written by the Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy, whose novel No Country For Old Men was adapted into a film by the Coen Bros. and won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Though trailers and promotion for the film have been relatively quiet given its starry cast (Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, and Diaz herself), so not much is known about it, though it seems to be a thriller set in the high income world of drugs. Diaz's character, Malkina, seems to be a sort of a femme fatale trophy wife type to Javier Bardem's character, and a foil to Penelope Cruz.
Again, promotion has been strangely quiet, but early internet buzz seems the film plays to Diaz's strength's, and that she could find herself in the Oscar race again this year.
Still from The Counselor featuring Cameron Diaz (credit. 20th Century Fox)
Some credible Oscar pundits are including her in their shortlists for Best Supporting Actress, including Nathaniel Rogers of thefilmexperience.net and Michael Hann of The Guardian. There were rumors that Angelina Jolie had been attached to the role for some time before Diaz nabbed it. There had to have been a reason for that, right?
In addition, (and I don't know how seriously to take these claims because after all it is just the internet) people who have read the script have allegedly claimed Diaz's role is the meatiest. It would certainly be nice to see her flex her dramatic acting muscles, Oscar or not, after she's resorted to more commercial fare in the last few years.
Though I'm hesitant to add her to my shortlist for Supporting Actress (coming soon! I promise), I'm intrigued, and will certainly keep her on my radar. It would be nice for people to see her in another light, rather than just Princess Fiona from Shrek
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