Anne Hathaway to Campaign in Supporting Actress for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Support the Queen of Ithaca! Universal Pictures will campaign Anne Hathaway in the supporting actress category for her turn as Penelope in Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar sensation “The Odyssey,” Variety has learned exclusively. The decision puts one of the season’s marquee names near the top of the supporting actress conversation, settling a question awards watchers have […] Universal will campaign Anne Hathaway in supporting actress for Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," a bid that could land her a second Oscar. Universal Pictures will campaign Anne Hathaway in the supporting actress category for her turn as Penelope in Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar sensation “The Odyssey,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The decision puts one of the season’s marquee names near the top of the supporting actress conversation, settling a question awards watchers have debated since the film opened: not whether Hathaway would contend but where. It also positions Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus, as the film’s lone above-the-title lead in the acting races and pairs Hathaway with her co-star Samantha Morton, whose Circe has drawn some of the film’s strongest notices. With Hathaway in supporting, Universal will have a shot at the most common double-acting nomination in Academy history: two supporting actress nominees from the same film. It