Kelly Mantle, the former Ru Paul’s Drag Race contestant who is being considered for a Best Supporting acting trophy for next year’s Academy Awards is making history even before her potential nomination: the Oscars will allow one person to be eligible for both best supporting actor as well as best supporting actress.
The inclusionary move is believed to be the first of its kind for the Oscar race, reported NewNowNext.
Miguel Ali wrote and directed the film “Confessions of a Womanizer” and pushed for Mantle to be considered under both categories.
Mantle shared the news on her Facebook page.
“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in Oscar history that a person will be considered for an acting Oscar in both gender categories,” Ali wrote on Facebook. “I firmly believe that our androgynous/transgendered acting community is the most untapped resource in Hollywood. We need to bring them more attention, and by doing so, we will create more empathy for our androgynous/transgendered brothers and sisters.”
Drag Race fans will recall Mantle was sent home in the very first episode of season 6.
Watch the scene with Mantle that was submitted for Oscar consideration, below:
am
Sorry to offend, but this performance does look extremely amateurish.
QJ201
@am: Original source? NowNextNow. A former RPDR contestant could win double parking contest and Logo/NNN would issue a press release.
PR stunt for the film.
Entertainment PR has to get a bit less obvious.
Doug
There is no way in the world the Academy will be nominating Kelly Mantle for an oscar. Who’s even heard of “Confessions of a Womanizer?”
Bascha
What kind of BS news is this? That performance is not Oscar worthy. I looked up that film (that I’ve never even heard of) and it is most certainly not Oscar worthy.
Brian
Fake news????
Xzamilloh
I love me some Kelly Mantle, but girl, no.This was terrible
dwes09
Nope, he is not being considered for either supporting actor or actress. Seems he and a host of others were confused by “Oscar qualifying screening”; something a whole lot of movies get to see if they are worthy of any nominations at all (the film did well in the festival circuit, getting 10 awards, but MUST play in a movie theater for a general run to be qualified for consideration).
As for his being nominated in both categories, actor and actress, that is never going to happen, as he clearly uses male pronouns, and was in a DRAG competition (by definition men dressing as women).
Queerty needs to be a bit more circumspect about what it publishes. Maybe do research occasionally?
inbama
Many drag performers, like the late Lady Chablis, are actually transwomen.
So there!
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
Ridiculous. Cross dressing doesn’t change your sex. Neither do pills or surgery.
Chris
Performances like that get you kicked offf Ru Paul’s Drag Wars; they certainly don’t get you considered for an Academy Award. ….. This doesn’t negate the Academy’s ground breaking move in response to Mantle’s performance.
DMRX
The wording is a little bit confusing here, but I’m assuming the newsworthy part is that it’s now possible for someone to be nominated in both categories. ?
Since she or he hasn’t been nominated yet, it’s a stretch to say that she or he is “being considered.”
jdboston617
@Bascha: But did you see the film? Kinda hard to criticize if you haven’t seen it. Who knows. Maybe it’s great!
gossipbear
Actually I thought that scene was given a nice subtlety and understatement by both actors. Okay, it might not have set the screen on fire at just that moment, but I believed they were who they were supposed to be and what their characters were feeling. Sometimes the quiet stuff is harder to pull off than the big dramatic scenes, trust me. Oscar worthy? Hard to say from that little snippet, but it had layering and texture: good, solid Strasberg-based performances.
ErikO
Kelly is bisexual so why is this not mentioned? While he makes a good drag queen he’s not Oscar worthy.
inbama
@ErikO:
Bisexual?
Put her in a third category!