When a star gets their hands on a golden statuette on Sunday, it will be the results of meticulous planning, relentless charm – and millions of dollars. (Oh, and acting, too)
Buried in the endearingly manic jumble of thoughts and dedications in Olivia Colman’s dumbfounded Oscar acceptance speech last year – the one sealed as a classic by its panicked shoutout to
Lady Gaga at the very end – was a telling thank-you that went largely overlooked. “And to Bryna,” Colman said, “who made me do things that I said ‘no’ to, but she was right.” It underlined the fact that Colman’s surprise victory over the frontrunner, Glenn Close, was not just a happy stroke of luck, but the result of a long and expertly calculated campaign.
The Bryna in question was Bryna Rifkin, the
Hollywood publicist extraordinaire and dab hand at steering stars through the almost six-month marathon of “awards season”, from the essential autumn trio of buzz-building autumn festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto) to
Oscars night. Rifkin’s client list is elite: in addition to Colman, she has in recent years carried the likes of Marion Cotillard, Ruth Negga, Willem Dafoe and Michael Shannon to against-the-odds Oscars recognition. All would have been put on a rigorous circuit of interviews, roundtables, talkshow spots and dressy appearances at umpteen precursor events and lesser award ceremonies – the very things a perennially working and not especially attention-seeking character actor such as Colman might have “said ‘no’ to”, only to be persuaded by a determined PR team that visibility is the key to victory.