Answering Questions from the Internet: Why Wasn’t Bryce Dallas Howard Nominated?

It is fun to see which search engine queries send people to the site.  Obviously most of the time the searches are directly related to posts we did.  But sometimes not.  Here’s an interesting one from today.  You hear that, Internet?  Send your questions indirectly my way and I’ll be glad to answer!

Why wasn’t Bryce Dallas Howard nominated for The Help?

It is a good question, as I personally couldn’t distinguish her from Jessica Chastain.  I’m not sure there is any one reason you can single out, but I’ve come up with a few contributing factors.  Early on in the race, it became clear that Octavia Spencer was the presumptive favorite for supporting actress.  At that point, everyone was declaring this year the year of Chastain, since she was great in about a bajillion movies that all were released in 2011.  And soon after, her support consolidated around The Help, which effectively ended whatever chance Dallas Howard might have.  With two supporting actress nods for the film, it is extremely difficult to get a third one, in terms of creating a clear publicity campaign and convincing people.  Also, you’ll notice that the nominees in the supporting categories generally play upbeat or at least engaging characters that are easy to root for.  Dallas Howard is playing the character that everyone (in the film and in real life) hates.  It is something of a stock character that isn’t over the top or evil so much as obnoxious.  Which is a hard sell and perhaps a big reason she never managed a piece of that elusive buzz.