For many, receiving an Oscar nomination is an an overwhelmingly emotional experience that validates their entire career. But maybe not for Hong Chau. In an interview with The Independent, Chau said that she feels “nothing” after receiving her first Oscar nomination for her role in Darren Aronofsky‘s The Whale this year: “If I can be completely honest, it’s more like, ‘Oh dear.'”
Chau has fair reason to be disillusioned with awards season. Her first bout with awards buzz came after breaking through as Ngoc Lan in 2017’s Downsizing, opposite Matt Damon. Chau recalls everyone telling her she that she was a shoo-in for a nod for her performance as a disabled Vietnamese political activist turned cleaner. But despite being recognized at the Critic’s Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and the SAG Awards, Chau was snubbed by the Academy Awards, with Phantom Thread‘s Leslie Manville swooping in to nab the slot occupied by Chau for most of awards season.
“Of course, it didn’t happen,” Chau said. “I said to myself, ‘I don’t ever want to go through this again’. So now, when people ask how it feels to be nominated, it’s strange. I really feel nothing. If I can be completely honest, it’s more like, ‘Oh dear’.”
Chau’s apathy towards awards may also stem from her history of working on projects that receive more than their fair share of criticism. She recalls the intense backlash she got for Downsizing, with critics calling her character’s thick Vietnamese accent “a hate crime” and an “icky, racist caricature.” Chau defends Ngoc Lan and her accent choices, calling the criticism “so off base” and suggesting that a lot of the people “who were really harping on the accent” came “from a more privileged background.”
“Nobody went and asked what the ladies who work at the nail salon [thought about it], or the people who worked in the kitchens of all of these restaurants,” said Chau, a daughter of working class Vietnamese immigrants….
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