Everything you need to know about Mary J. Blige’s Oscar nominations
R&B legend Mary J. Blige could potentially add two Oscars to her existing Grammy collection. This morning, it was announced that Mary J. Blige is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song. She earned the first nomination for playing Florence Jackson in the Netflix film Mudbound, and the second for writing the song “Mighty River” for the film.
Her nominations makes her the *first person* to be nominated in these two categories for the same film. You go, Mary J. Blige! Way to make that history.
Mudbound — which is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (Virgil Williams and Dee Rees) and Best Cinematography (Rachel Morrison) — follows two families, one white and one black, living in the Mississippi Delta during World War II. Blige plays the matriarch of the Jackson family. And it’s a role that “liberated” her within a film that, although tragic, has a “silver lining” of love, which she explained to Entertainment Weekly.
The awards attention goes beyond Oscars, and deservedly so.
Blige earned two Golden Globe nominations back in December 2017 in the same categories. When the Golden Globe nominations were announced, Blige told EW, “I had no idea what was coming, but I did know that it was a very important movie.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xucHiOAa8Rs?feature=oembed
Not to mention, Blige has already won two Black Film Critics Circle Awards, the Hollywood Breakthrough Award, the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and she shared the Robert Altman Award and the Special Gotham Jury Award with the Mudbound ensemble.
So yeah, she’s totally SLAYING.
"It was all I could do to not look back." @MaryJBlige's incredible performance as Florence Jackson earns her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. pic.twitter.com/aBl1AgmIsq
— Mudbound (@mudboundmovie) January 23, 2018
If you haven’t already, head over to Netflix to watch Mudbound before the Oscars air on ABC on March 4th. It’s a stunning film, and Mary J. Blige gives it her all. She definitely deserves the nominations, and we’re so excited for her.
