In my Wednesday article on Oscar predictions, I warned of the possibility that this year’s list could be even more international than in recent years, in part because of the Los Angeles wildfires, which have pushed the Academy to extend the voting period twice and by almost a week in total. . This indicates that voters in Los Angeles, where many of them live, might have been concerned. This told me that the ever-growing international base of Oscar voters, untouched by the fires, might have more influence than ever on the nominations.
There is no doubt that this happened.
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Besides, we also had two international films in the race for best film last year, The area of interest And Anatomy of a fall, but France has not submitted the latter as an international entry. Additionally, four of this year’s Best Picture nominees were directed by foreign filmmakers (Jacques Audiard and Coralie Fargeat from France, Denis Villeneuve from Canada, and Walter Salles from Brazil). And the ultra-competitive race for best actress has two non-Americans with Spaniard Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilie Perez) becoming the first trans artist nominated for acting roleand Brazil’s Golden Globe winner Fernanda Torres (I’m still here).
Let’s start with the best film. From Z in 1969, 11 films were nominated simultaneously for Best International Feature Film (formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film) and Best Picture. This year, for the first time, there is two: the Spanish language of France Emilie Perez and the highly political politics of Brazil I’m still here, the latter becoming the biggest surprise for the best film of the morning. South Korea Parasite remains the only film to win Best Picture and Best International Feature in 2020, but all previous examples have won the International award.
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“I’m still here”
Alile Onawale
And then there is Cannes. The emblematic film festival which took place last May had an exceptional distribution this year with 31 nominations for eight films previewed in the south of France. This is sometimes seen as an unwise strategy for the Oscars, as playing so far in advance can lead to other films getting more attention at fall festivals, but with many Cannes titles making their northern premieres -Americans in Telluride or Toronto, this becomes a moot point. . Cannes has three of this year’s best film nominees for the Palme d’Or Anora, Emilie Perez And The bottom.
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Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña in ‘Emilia Pérez’
Shanna Besson/PAGE 114 – WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS – PATHÉ FILMS – FRANCE 2 CINÉMA
And while we’re talking about Emilie Perezlanding Netflix a personal best 13 nominations, the musical is in rarefied air at the Oscars and represents the streamer’s first real best chance to finally take home the Best Picture award after Apple became first with CODA in 2022. This is also the first time since the winner Olive And Funny girl in 1968 and winner My beautiful lady And Mary Poppins In 1964, two musicals competed in the race for best film. Add Bob Dylan musical biopic A complete stranger, and you have three.
Ralph Fiennes in “Conclave”
SXSW
Looking through the nominations, the only one really surprising what is surprising is that they are not. Of course, there are the usual snubs, particularly in the crowded Best Actress field, and foreign directors, as usual, take away spots from those whose films have otherwise racked up numerous nominations and nominations for the best film. Among the neglected is The conclave Edward Berger, who I thought was a lock for his otherwise eight-time nominated papal drama, what does this exceptional filmmaker have going for it TO DO to impress the AMPAS directors branch, who are the ones who vote for the nominations, after being similarly overlooked two years ago for its multi-nominated Best Picture contender All is calm on the Western Front? It’s shameful, and since he’s neither a producer nor a writer this time, he’s locked out.
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The same goes for the sensational 10-time nominee for Best Picture. Wicked, which saw its director Jon M. Chu ignored. At least he has a chance next year for part two, Villain: For good. I think it’s high time the Academy addressed the annual snobbery fest in this category. As they always say: “Do you think five of these 10 Best Picture nominees directed themselves?”
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in “Wicked”
Universal images/courtesy Everett Collection
Overall, today’s list is basically what I thought it would be. I mean, did you really expect Diane Warren to have no chance at her 16th (!) Best Song nomination and eighth (!) straight – another top 16 Netflix total – for “The Journey” by The Six Triple Eight?
Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in “The Brutalist”
Photos of Brookstreet
The exceptional performance for The Brutalist, with 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, could perhaps create a sort of eerie replay of 2002, when another Holocaust-oriented film, The pianist, for which Adrien Brody won an Oscar, also won for directing and adapted screenplay before ultimately losing to Chicago, the last musical to win Best Picture. Could this unique scenario repeat itself for Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour epic against either Emilie Perez Or Wicked? If it’s the latter without leading Or Screenplay nominations, you would have to go back to the 1930s Grand Hotel, which won the best film award for its only appointment.
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As for Emilie PerezIt is 13 nominations today, certainly it’s a record for a foreign language film, as the headlines dominate the headlines, but it joins a list of other films which received 13 nominations including last year’s Oppenheimer, The shape of water, The strange case of Benjamin Button, Chicago, Shakespeare in Love, Forrest Gump, Mary Poppins, From here to eternity, Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? And Gone with the Wind. From this list, every one of them ultimately won Best Picture except Benjamin Button, Mary Poppins, Virginia Woolf. The The Earth, with 14 nominations, is the only film to have lost so many Best Picture awards.
Despite the overwhelming performance of Emilie Perezwith its 13 nominations and its new favorite status, with the Academy’s preferential ballot where voters rank their favorites starting with 1 and going up to 10, surprises are possible like when Moonlight triumph The The Earth. And Conclave, who led the BAFTA nominations with 12, can look forward to two recent Best Film winners, Green Paper And CODAwho achieved this feat without a directing nomination (each won Best Picture as well as the Screenplay and Supporting Actor awards).
Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in “The Apprentice”
Briarcliff
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the morning came with the supporting nomination for Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, Donald Trump’s villainous mentor, in The apprentice (setting up a standoff in the category with its Succession co-star Kieran Culkin’s A real pain), then again for the nomination of Sebastian Stan for best actor in the role of young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
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Coming just three days after watching him be sworn in for a second term, it’s a sweet moment that Trump himself — who claims not to have seen this clever origin story of the 45th and now 47th president (a director Ali Abbasi couldn’t have predicted this when he set out to make this film, which is exceptionally fair and accurate, sometimes even empathetic towards Trump. Considering no one in Hollywood wanted to come out The apprentice in the United States after its premiere at Cannes, until Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff finally tried its luck and now has two Oscar nominations for its efforts, the acting branch of the Academy is expected to bow out – especially more than Stan was competing against himself for his Golden Globe. A different man, which makes it doubly difficult to collect the votes necessary for its Apprentice performance.
When I interviewed Stan not too long ago, he mentioned that Variety wasn’t even able to find an actor to speak with him for its Actors on Actors series due to the Trump factor. Maybe an Oscar nomination for the actor who plays him will finally get Trump to see the film. How can he resist? And like last year, when he smashed the Oscars with a “critique” at the end of the show read by host Jimmy Kimmel, will he be even more tempted to do it again?
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Stay tuned.
The 97th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 2. ABC will broadcast the ceremony live at 4 p.m. PT/7 ET, and Hulu will stream it.
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