Spoilers ahead for Marriage Story.
We're coming to the end of Awards Season, as 2019's biggest movies are judged on their merits by those within the industry. Following The Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and SAG Awards, the main event is the annual Academy Award ceremony. Actress Laura Dern is representing big time this year, as a cast member of nominated films Little Women and Marriage Story. The latter earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and it turns out that the script itself mad the actress cry for a half hour.
Laura Dern plays cutthroat divorce lawyer Nora Fanshaw in Marriage Story, who serves as a friend and confidante to Scarlett Johansson's Nicole.
Noah Baumbach's drama is an emotional story about family and divorce, one that can elicit strong emotions from viewers. But it turns out that Dern was emotional from just reading his script, as she recently revealed:
I cried for half an hour, which Noah will tell you because he saved the voicemail. Oh my god, I literally cried so hard... We all know that pain of loving someone so much and they’ve hurt you so much. Whether it was in real life or you’ve had a dream where you kill them or beat the crap out of them. The terror of loving so deep that you feel that hatred from heartbreak.
Marriage Story is based in realism, and tells a story that plenty of people can relate to. That's why the movie's script affected Laura Dern so deeply; she understands love and loss. And unfortunately for her, Noah Baumbach saved the voicemail of her weeping over the phone. Whoops.
Laura Dern's comments to Variety show how immediately she connected to Marriage Story, a movie that would ultimately result in an Oscar nomination and countless other award wins. This type of empathy is no doubt what makes Dern such a strong actress, as she's able to jump into character and channel those emotions. Although her character Nora is exclusively on Nicole's side during Marriage Story.
Marriage Story is definitely a movie that can elicit strong emotions, as there are numerous tear-jerking sequences throughout the course of the 137-minute runtime. Laura Dern is in the movie's first, as Nicole tells her new lawyer just how things ended up so badly with her husband. The couple also gets their epic argument in the third act, as well as Adam Driver's musical number "Being Alive."
It should be interesting to see how Marriage Story stacks up at the Academy Awards. The movie is nominated for a whopping six Oscars this year, including Best Picture. Laura Dern is a favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress category, although there are plenty of moviegoers hoping that her Little Women co-star Florence Pugh will pull and upset and win.
Marriage Story is available to stream on Netflix. Be sure to check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
