To Leslie, a social media campaign promoted by Hollywood stars pushes the film towards the Oscars

For some years now i box office receipts data, in Italy as in the world, they always travel with the minus sign in front. L’hemorrhage of spectators is there for all to see, generating a crisis in cinemas, which in turn are forced to close their doors. Whether it’s just a phase or a trend, this, for now, is not known. What is certain is that the various streaming platforms have revolutionized the way of conceiving the audiovisual and its use. Despite this, the big productions resist and relaunch, through titles, super millionaire films and large casts that are full of audiences and takings. The problem remains that of small productions, which risk being overwhelmed or even disappearing. The space for the independent cinema has shrunk further, and the cameras aimed at the real life of those who want to tell a story with the few resources available risk being shut down in the bud, and their films never ending up in theaters and never receiving an award.
The big stars of Hollywood say no to all this, and here, like in a fairy tale – not cinematic this time, but real – the independent film “To Leslie” shot in just 19 days of shooting, with a budget so small that it cannot even cover the costs of distribution or the marketing campaign, it could even compete for the Oscars. And that’s thanks to word of mouth from some celebrities who really put in the effort. They are pushing on their social channels to get the attention of the Academy, so that the protagonist Andrew Riseborough can be nominated, have a place of honor in the Olympus of cinema, and get to raise the most coveted statuette to the sky.
Kate Winslet called her colleague’s performance “the greatest female performance on screen that I have ever seen”. But that’s not all: many stars have ‘joined’ each other to achieve the common goal, turning on the spotlight on the film in various ways, for example by participating in the screenings or hosting them themselves, as did Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow. Here then is that “To Leslie” is being transformed into a real one social phenomenonwhich has now gone viral. Among the various celebrity comments circulating on social media, that of Jaimie Alexander who entrusted Instagram with a post that speaks for itself: “This film is incredible – he wrote -. Wow. Extraordinary performance by Andrea Riseborough, perfect. The entire cast is phenomenal. I hope it wins all the prizes”.
In the long list of supporters of the film there are names of the caliber of Edward Norton and Amy Adams, Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon, Demi Moore and Jennifer Garner, Kim Basinger e Geena Davis, Melanie Griffith and Brooke Shields, Courteney Cox and Mia Farrow, just to name a few. This implementation by the great Hollywood stars sounds to all intents and purposes like a small big revolution, not surprisingly renamed the “Pro To Leslie Movement”.
The story of To Leslie
In early 2022 the drama film directed by Michael Morrisin his directorial debut, had premiered at Sxsw, il South by Southwest Festival. Once it entered the festival circuit it received acclaim from the criticism, however in a year it remained practically unknown, or almost so, to the general public. The protagonist of the story is Leslie, played by Andrew Riseborough, a single mother from West Texas who struggles every day to provide for herself and her son, played by Owen Teague. Her fate seems to smile at her when she wins the lottery, but soon after her the same luck turns her back on her. A few years later, the hope for a better life has vanished and the money has already run out. Leslie therefore falls back into her despair, she is a single woman, with the years slipping on her, taking away all her charm. She has no place to stay, but at one point she meets a man named Sweeney, played by Marc Maron. The woman, who has always fought to build a future for herself, and has always wanted to leave behind an existence full of regrets, loneliness and disappointments, continues to be looking for a second chance, for her and for her son. In that lonely man she will see a reason for redemption, a last hope. Will she make it to build a better life?