Where Can You Watch To Leslie Starring Andrea Riseborough?
When "To Leslie" was announced as a nominee for the 95th Academy Awards, it was a quintessential "I've never even heard of that movie" award season moment for many viewers following along at home. That reaction, it turns out, has been part of what made Andrea Riseborough's nomination for Best Actress such a lightning rod for controversy, as the Academy is officially investigating whether or not the nomination — which reportedly involved a grassroots campaign from Riseborough's supporters — violated campaign guidelines (per The Wrap).
The hubbub over the "To Leslie" nomination is pretty complicated and involves an Instagram post, a startlingly successful word-of-mouth campaign, and a bylaw that forbids those campaigning from referencing their competition by name. The Academy's official statement came a few days after Riseborough's nomination, with a vow to conduct "a review of the campaign procedures around this year's nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated." The Academy also spoke more broadly about updates that could be overdue for the campaign bylaws, saying that their investigation will help "inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication."
While Riseborough's future in the Oscars race remains unclear, one thing is for certain: "To Lesie," a micro-budget indie drama directed by Michael Morris, has our attention now. After an extremely limited run in theaters, the film soon gained big supporters in the form of major celebrities like Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Winslet, and Sarah Paulson. Cate Blanchett even mentioned Riseborough by name in her acceptance speech at this year's Critics Choice Awards. So now that everyone in Hollywood is talking about "To Leslie," where can the rest of us see it?
VOD options and a theatrical return
"To Leslie" isn't currently available to stream on familiar movie hubs like Netflix or Hulu, but you can rent it pretty much anywhere you'd typically rent video-on-demand films. The movie is currently available for rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube, and Vudu, with a price tag of $6.99 on each site. You can also buy a digital copy from the same platforms for $12.99. There doesn't currently seem to be a physical home media release for "To Leslie" on the horizon, but we'll let you know if that changes.
If you're hoping to catch up on all of this year's Oscar contenders, it sounds like "To Leslie" is definitely worth investing in a rental or purchase. The film centers on a West Texas woman whose life is upended by alcoholism after she wins the lottery. /Film's own Ethan Anderton reviewed the movie at SXSW last spring, and called Andrea Riseborough's performance "transformative," adding, "This isn't an overly theatrical performance, but an authentic portrayal of a perpetually inebriated woman at the end of her spirit-soaked rope."
While major studios often strike deals with streamers that make it easy to tell what movie will land on which site, it's hard to guess where "To Leslie" may stream if it does make its way to a mainstream platform. The movie, which co-stars Allison Janney and Marc Maron, was distributed via Momentum Pictures, a Hasbro-owned company that has also released small-but-mighty films like "Black Bear" and "Soft & Quiet."
While "To Leslie" is primarily available on VOD at the moment, it's worth noting that it's also back in select theaters.