The answer is, most likely, somewhere in between. To Leslie, which co-stars Marc Maron, Owen Teague, Allison Janney and Stephen Root, is the type of gritty, poverty-adjacent indie drama that draws critical praise and awards attention but struggles to find distribution and audience. The film, made for under a million dollars and filmed over the course of 19 days, made, again, barely $27,000 in a limited release; writer and director Morris told the Hollywood Reporter that they couldn’t even afford an ad. Riseborough’s committed performance, in which she transforms into a woman breaking down from years of alcohol abuse and plays several stages of drunkenness and withdrawal with almost comically pink-rimmed eyes, is in a recognizable awards genre of, for lack of a better term, “going ugly” or poor. Which is not to say her work is insensitive; she is remarkably good at playing an uncomfortably loud, pitiable yet resilient drunk. Her Leslie is a vortex of need nearly vibrating with shame and the weight of a shadow self, one on the earlier side of potential who didn’t make her mistakes. Though the film’s redemption arc feels too pat (and her rock-bottom job at a motel is an indefinably Hollywood-ized vision of working-class struggles), Riseborough’s mutability rises above.

In other words, it’s the type of intense, full-immersion transformation (on a “cellular level”, according to Adams) that would draw the respect of other actors. You’d have to be pretty cynical to believe that some of the enthusiasm for Riseborough’s work wasn’t genuine. Still, as IndieWire reported, it’s unlikely there wasn’t some behind-the-scenes dealing. Riseborough is represented by powerhouse agency CAA; the intra-celeb buzz originated at the film’s SXSW premiere when Norton and Theron agreed to host screenings after “a few well-placed phone calls” by Morris, who has directed episodes for Bloodline, Better Call Saul, Shameless and 13 Reasons Why.