Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe lead actress Oscar race is competitive, so there’s no guarantee that Andra Day will win for her socko performance in “The United States vs.
Billie Holiday.” But Day has the kind of backstory that Oscar voters love: She (and the movie) appeared with little advance fanfare, and she makes a huge impact in only her second feature (after a tiny role in “Marshall”).
Plus, she and director Lee Daniels are succeeding where many have tried but failed: a biopic on Holiday.In 1956, Variety quoted a Doubleday press release shortly before the publication of Holiday’s autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues,” saying, “This is a powerful, often shocking and immensely saleable book.” It was indeed sale-able.
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