Every year around this time, I become like a cliche TV husband who disappears from his wife and children’s lives in order to follow footy season. I do that as well but, in this case, it’s movie awards season. A sport for people who like sitting down and being quiet.
I know it’s not a unique characteristic to have but I love movies and I’m not afraid to admit it. I love watching them, I love discussing them and I love listening to hours and hours of podcasts where other movie lovers and experts discuss them. This time of year is prime movie dissection time. We are deep into the season. The most talked-about movies of the year compete in a series of awards shows before the grand final in a few weeks at the Oscars.
Leading up to the big day there is an overflow of discussion about the awards, who is competing, who was snubbed, who is most likely to win and why. At this point in the season there is still debate over some categories, which keeps things interesting, meaning we can hope for some surprises on the night. However, most people agree that one award is on lock, and unfortunately it just happens to be the one I desperately want someone else to win. No offence to Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, who gives an incredible performance and is the heavy favourite – but I think Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You should take the best actress statue instead. Not just because I think her performance is amazing – but because I really want her to have an Oscar in her house.
I am not the first person to talk about how talented Byrne is, who has shone in many things for many years. As soon as Australia saw her in Two Hands (RIP beautiful Heath), we knew she had something special. However, I think for too long she has flown under the radar as one of our actual greatest actors. She is getting her flowers now, winning a Golden Globe and being Oscar-nominated for an intense performance that carries an entire movie, much of it in a close up on her face, where she conveys an immense range of emotion.
Range and consistency are the keywords that come to mind when defining Byrne as a movie athlete and the reason I think she has been underrated for a lot of her career. She began acting at 13, was rejected from every major drama school in Australia including Nida and Waapa (oops you guys), and was only 18 years old when she was cast in Two Hands. She did stage, movies and then the work that I personally first discovered her true brilliance in – the legal thriller Damages. That show rested on the chemistry between the two leads, meaning Byrne had to stand toe-to-toe with the giant Glenn Close, and she did it with confident ease. She went on to star in the Insidious franchise, requiring her to be scared of ghosts, which she did with aplomb. She was in an X-Men movie, doing superhero stuff really well, I assume (I haven’t seen this one), and in Troy (doing Trojan princess stuff epicly). All of that is evidence enough of her range but then comes what tips her into the “great” territory – her skill as a comedy actor.
She blew people away with her breakthrough role in Bridesmaids, where she showed her hilarious comedy chops against the great Kristen Wiig. She was one of the best parts of Bad Neighbours, shining against a comedy stalwart like Seth Rogen. And in the underrated Rose Byrne film I recommend most, Spy, she plays a Russian arms dealer, a fully formed comedic character who gets more laughs than Melissa McCarthy. Even in a movie as dramatic as If I Had Legs, she delivers dark humour perfectly. To excel in thrillers, romances, dramas and horror is impressive in itself – but to be just as excellent at comedy as well is special, and rare.
On top of this, Byrne has seemingly not lost her Australian accent – she’s still one of us. Every comments section under every interview has people exclaiming they never knew she was Australian. Or, if the poster is American, exclaiming they never knew she was British. I have to admit that Jessie Buckley is also talented enough to switch between genres and I know that she has also mastered the American accent.
But still. I want Rose Byrne to win. She’s my home team and so I will be spending the next few weeks watching movies, listening to people talk about movies and hoping for an underdog upset at the big game.
• Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney
