If Strange Darling had been a commercial hit, would Willa Fitzgerald have been a bigger contender for Best Actress?

I’ve seen a lot of users here, as well as on r/oscarrace, discussing Willa Fitzgerald’s performance in Strange Darling and how disappointing it was that she missed out on a nomination—I feel the same way. To me, her performance wasn’t just Oscar-worthy; it was one of the best of the year. She was absolutely captivating, electric, and had that rare ability to express a variety of emotions just with her eyes. As someone who discovered her in MTV’s short lived Scream television series and thought she was average at best, she definitely blew me away here and I consider it to be an egregious snub.

I think the main thing that kept Willa Fitzgerald from being a bigger part of the Best Actress conversation was the film being distributed by a small indie studio, which hurt its chances of becoming more known and reaching a wider audience. On top of that, the distributor is reportedly suing its marketing partner for embezzling a huge chunk of the $2 million ad budget, which definitely didn’t help it’s chances.

If we were in an alternate universe where this film was picked up by A24 or another major studio, I honestly believe Willa Fitzgerald would’ve been a much bigger name in the Best Actress race. She gave an amazing performance and the film received mass critical praise—96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.1/10 on IMDb. While she probably wouldn’t have cracked the top five, I’m confident she would’ve at least been in the top ten. With a bigger distributor behind it, the film would’ve had more visibility, which could’ve boosted her campaign and brought more attention to the movie.