Inde Navarette‘s Obsession performance hit like a meteorite. Her Nikki Freeman, a victim of a voodoo-like emotional-sexual spell, felt powerful, empathic and agreeably creepy — a propulsive, high-impact component in a very smart and striking horror film.
But in response to Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia calling her performance the third most likely to snag a Best Actress nomination, that’s clearly too much of a reach.
To be fair, honest and forthright about the quality of Navarette’s performance, you have to ask yourself how much of a Best Actress favorite she might be if Obsession‘s box-office had been only so-so or fizzly. The answer, of course, is that she wouldn’t be in the conversation at all if Obsession hadn’t made a huge mountain of money.
So let’s just let it go, shall we? Everyone knows and likes her, she’s in the game, the sky’s the limit, etc. But that’s where it ends for now.
Neglia’s five most likely Best Actress nominees, in this order, are The Debut‘s Julianne Moore (haven’t seen it), Fjord‘s Renata Reinsve (agreed), Navarrette (no), Rose!s Sandra Huller (haven’t seen it) and Prima Facie‘s Cynthia Erivo (no one has seen this, debuting at TIFF)