Laura Dern talks long road to Oscar for ‘Marriage Story’ (and why she’s definitely a Jo from ‘Little Women’)

Laura Dern has picked up just about every possible trophy this awards season. If there was a prize for simply running the five-month marathon to Oscar night, she’d most certainly win that, too. 

Ever since Noah Baumbach’s tender divorce drama “Marriage Story” premiered at Venice Film Festival in late August, Dern has gamely shown up to every red carpet, industry screening and awards luncheon to promote her latest pair of critically adored movies. In “Marriage Story” (now streaming on Netflix), she’s the scene-stealing Nora, a shark divorce attorney defending Scarlett Johansson’s Nicole in a child custody battle; andin “Little Women” (in theaters nationwide), Greta Gerwig’s bracing adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel, she plays the March sisters’ wise matriarch, Marmee.

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“Everybody’s feeling a bit of fatigue from this very full season, and I’m feeling it just because I’ve been bouncing between both films,” Dern says chirpily, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on her way to be feted at yet another event.

Once it’s all over, “a few days of rest would be delicious,” she adds. “Just cuddling my kids, taking them to school without the pressure of jumping on an airplane, will be much appreciated by them. I really look forward to that.” 

Laura Dern, nominated for best supporting actress in "Marriage Story," arrives at the Oscars' nominees luncheon in Los Angeles. (Photo: DAN MacMEDAN/USA TODAY)

The Oscars await Dern on Feb. 9 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET/5 PT), where she’s the front-runner to take home best supporting actress for “Marriage Story,” after sweeping the category at the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards this month. It’d be the first Oscar win in three nominations for the beloved actress, whose credits include “Blue Velvet,” “Jurassic Park,” “Wild” and HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” 

“Hustlers” star Jennifer Lopez, whose Oscar snub sparked outcry online, “was Dern’s only real competition, (so her) path is completely clear,” says Erik Anderson, founder of AwardsWatch.com. “She simply has too much on her side: Hollywood family royalty, on the (Academy’s) Board of Governors, working the circuit more than anyone. She’s unstoppable.”

Dern, 52, is the daughter of actor Bruce Dern and actress Diane Ladd, who was Oscar-nominated in 1975 for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and brought a then-8-year-old Dern to the show. They went again in 1992, when both were nominated for “Rambling Rose” (Ladd in supporting, Dern for lead). 

“It’s been a very beautiful story that I connect to deeply in terms of my parents, which is really special,” Dern says. 

High-powered divorce lawyer Nora (Laura Dern) wages war in and outside the courtroom for Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) in Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story." (Photo: WILSON WEBB)

Reading “Marriage Story” for the first time, she was instantly drawn to the “ruthless” and “deliciously fun” Nora, who wrestles to keep Nicole’s young son (Azhy Robertson) in Los Angeles, much to the frustration of his New York-based dad Charlie (Adam Driver). But Dern also appreciates the fictitious character’s humanity.

“Nora wanted to represent the underrepresented,” Dern says. “In the male-dominated business she entered, she saw how egregiously disparaging the differences were between a mother and a father,” in terms of how the court rules who’s “fit” to be a parent. 

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