Inde Navarrette Will Push For Best Actress For ‘Obsession’ At The Oscars

Not even six months ago, Inde Navarrette was best known for a relatively small supporting role in the CW Superman and Lois series. Now, she’s going to campaign for Best Actress at the Oscars after her villain/victim turn in Obsession, reports Variety.

While there was always awards buzz around her role after the film was released, it’s now reported that Focus Features will campaign for all relevant Oscar categories for Obsession, specifically putting Inde Navarrette in the race for Best Actress. The studio placing her there is not as straightforward as it may seem, as sometimes actors will go for a “lesser” category like Best Supporting Actress because they may think they have a better chance of winning. You could argue she and Bear actor Michael Johnston support each other with similar screen time, but it definitely seems like the right call to put her in the lead category, given her performance, even if it may be a tougher road. (Update: The plan is to submit Johnston for Best Actor and Megan Lawless for Best Supporting Actress)

While horror movies have been in contention at the Oscars at times, they are usually much higher profile projects and higher profile actors, like Demi Moore in The Substance or last year’s Best Actor winner, Michael B. Jordan in Sinners. Navarrette is a total unknown, and director Curry Barker is as well, at least before this.

Obsession has been impossible to ignore, breaking loads of records with over half a billion earned at the global box office on what’s reported to be a $750,000 budget, which is one of the biggest multipliers the industry has seen. Curry Barker now has his pick of projects, and Inde Navarrette just joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the key X-Men role of Rogue. Again, this has all happened in the matter of half a year.

Does Navarrette have a chance at a nomination or even a win? It’s hard to say that the Oscar voting body makes decisions that everyone agrees with, so that’s unclear. There are predictions for who else might land in the Best Actress category when the Oscars come around next year, and Navarrette is on the list. Among the other picks from a major outlet like Variety are:

• Julianne Moore – The Debut
• Rosalind Eleazar – Misty Green
• Marion Bailey – Tender Loving Care
• Olivia Wilde – The Invite
• Renate Reinsve – Fjord
• Lea Seydoux – Gentle Monster
• Sandra Hüller – Fatherland and/or Rose

So it may be an interesting category. The general public has likely not heard of at least some of those actresses or movies. Obsession would be far and away the biggest film submitting an actress to that list.

My prediction, after seeing the critic-beloved The Invite, is that Olivia Wilde, who also directed the film and may be nominated for that as well, might take the trophy. But even if Navarrette was nominated for an Oscar for this breakout role at the age of 25, that would be a rocket strapped to her career. Though you could argue she already has one.

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