Amy Adams' Oscar Buzz for 'Nightbitch' Proves There's Still Hope for the Amyverse

Six-time Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams is “this year’s first recipient of the Toronto International Film Festival’s TIFF Tribute Performer Award, an accolade that has gone to several eventual Oscar winners and/or nominees since the honor’s inception in 2019.” (Entertainment Weekly) Amy stans: rise!! Do we have a name for our fandom? Adam Bombs? We’ll work on it.

The award is for her body of work, but the catalyst is the release of Nightbitch, the adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel by the same name, about a woman who becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog. Helmer is an Oscar’s coach of sorts, having directed other actors in roles that have landed them nominations, like Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Sounds like everything’s coming up Adams Apples!! Still not it …

This adds Adams to the list of first-time Oscar-buzzy actors this year, including but not limited to Zendaya in Challengers and Demi Moore in The Substance. Past TIFF Tribute Awards winners who have gone on to be nominated or win an Academy Award include Colman Domingo in Rustin, Brendan Fraser in The Whale, Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog, and Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker.

Worthy performers, all, but none quite so worthy and long-awaited as Amy Adams, who has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the films Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, and Vice, and Best Actress for American Hustle. Tragically excluded from that list is Arrival for which she should have won Best Actress, at least according to me, president of the Adam’s Ribs. That one’s my favorite.