By paying for her Oscar ads, Sally Kirkland landed a nomination for « Anna, » unafraid to take her destiny into her own hands
In 2011, I was watching the Oscars (it used to be such an event) and when they mentioned Melissa Leo’s nomination, they said, “Not since Sally Kirkland has an actor taken out their own ads for their awards campaign.”
My friend Sally was a fighter, a survivor, a Build It Yourselfer, but I didn’t know her yet. That night, I set out on a mission to make a short film with her in it, and we were going to get nominated for an Academy Award. Sally had already won a Golden Globe and had been nominated for an Oscar alongside Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter and Cher (spoiler: Cher won). Exactly one week later, I handed her an envelope full of cash, and in the same living room, we filmed our short “African Chelsea” and crossed our fingers. The LA Times wrote about the long shot:
Roske said his DIY Oscar campaign was inspired in part by the 1987 promotional effort by actress Sally Kirkland for her performance in the film “Anna,” which resulted in a lead actress nomination alongside Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter and Cher. Not coincidently, Kirkland plays the mother in “African Chelsea.”
“That performance [in ‘Anna’] wouldn’t have been seen by many people at all without that campaign,” Kirkland said.
