Bleecker Street sets a lead push for Bailey and a supporting run for O'Flynn on Tender Loving Care
Bleecker Street will campaign Marion Bailey for best actress and Kate O'Flynn for best supporting actress for Tender Loving Care, according to details reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The split is striking. Bailey and O'Flynn have almost exactly the same amount of screen time in the film.
Bailey plays Birdie. O'Flynn plays Amy, Birdie's daughter. Bailey is first-billed in the credits, which often helps decide who goes lead, meaning the central performance, and who goes supporting, meaning a performance around that centre.
The same distributor plan places two other performances in supporting categories. Alice Bailey Johnson, who plays Rosie, Amy's roommate and fellow social worker, will be campaigned for best supporting actress. Paul Jesson, who plays Geoff, Birdie's husband and Amy's father, will be promoted for best supporting actor.
There is a family link in the cast. Johnson is the real-life daughter of Bailey.
Bleecker Street, the US distributor, will also push the film for a best ensemble prize, the award that honours a whole cast rather than one performer, the report says.
Tender Loving Care is a dramedy from writer-director Mike Leigh about women who devote their lives to caring for others. In the story, O'Flynn's social worker moves in with her best friend after a break-up, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will open in the US on Dec. 4, in the heart of awards season. That date puts it in front of voters just as nominations are decided.
For O'Flynn, the role caps a 20-year working partnership with Leigh, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter. She previously won an Emmy for her performance in Widow's Bay. Leigh has described Tender Loving Care as his final film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
What makes this stand out is the closeness of the choice. Voters will see two central women with equal weight on screen. The distributor is asking them to recognise one as lead and the other as supporting.
