In the wake of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles that struck at the heart of the film industry, an embraced Hollywood stood behind the Netflix narco-musical about trans identity “Emilia Perez” in its Oscar nominations Thursday.
Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language, French-made film, dominated the nominations with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture and best actress for Carla Sofia Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor. Nominated for an Oscar. The film also garnered nominations for directing, original screenplay, two of its songs, and Zoe Saldana.
Netflix, despite its starring role in Hollywood, has never won Best Picture. Many of its top contenders have racked up big numbers of nominations before (including “Mank,” “The Irishman” and “Roma”), but only a handful went home with trophies.
“Emilia Perez,” however, may be its best chance yet. It became the most nominated non-English language film of all time, surpassing Netflix’s own “Roma”, which landed 10 nominations. Only three films – “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land” – have scored more nominations in Academy Awards history.
Another musical — “Wicked,” the smash Broadway adaptation — came in with almost as many nominations. John M. Chu’s lavish “Wizard of Oz” riff collected 10 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
“The Brutalist,” Brady Corbett’s postwar epic filmed in VistaVision and released by A24, also came away with a commanding 10 nominations, including best picture, best director and actor for Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones. Nominations included.
The 10 nominees for best picture are: “Anora”; “Brutalist”; “a complete unknown”; “conclave”; “Dune: Part Two”; “Emilia Perez”; “I’m still here.” “Nickel Boys”; “Substance”; “Wicked.”
In a wide-open Oscar race, the six most honored films—”Emilia Perez,” “Rogue,” “The Brutalist,” “Enora” (six nominations) “Conclave” (eight nominations) and “A Complete Unknown” (eight unknowns) “(Eight Unknowns” (Eight Unknowns” (Eight Nominations” (Eight Nominations “) nominations) – all as expected. The biggest surprise was the Brazilian film “I’m Still Here”, set under the Brazilian military dictatorship There was a portrait of political resistance, which also earned Fernanda Torres a Best Actress nomination, and Ramel Ross’s “Nickel Boys,” a philosophically crafted first-person POV-shot drama that was overlooked by many guilds in earlier voting.
Those nominees displaced some best-picture prospects in the prison drama “Sing Sing,” the journalism thriller “September 5” and the tender comedy “A Real Pain,” though those films all landed nominations elsewhere.
One of the most audacious films of 2024, “The Apprentice” landed a surprising pair of nominations for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. The film portrays President Donald Trump’s ascent into New York real estate under the tutelage of attorney Roy Cohn. Trump has called people associated with the film “human scum”.
In the Best Actor category, where Stan and Brody were nominated, the other nominees were Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”). Most notably left out was Daniel Craig, acclaimed for his very un-James Bond performance in “Queer”.
Best Actress, a category capped by Demi Moore for her perfect performance in “The Substance,” saw nominations for Moore, Gascón, Torres, Erivo and the star of “Enora,” Mickey Madison. Possibly the most competitive category of the year, which left out Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl”), Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”) and Angelina Jolie (“Maria”).
“I’m a Los Angeles native and so there’s been a lot of devastation these past few weeks and my heart breaks for L.A., but it’s been really beautiful to see everyone come together,” Madison said Thursday. “Hollywood is coming together and celebrating film right now is really beautiful.”
In the directing category, “The Substance” filmmaker Coralee Fargate managed to crack the otherwise all-male group of Sean Baker (“Enora”), Corbett, Audiard and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”). Most expected Edward Berger to be nominated for directing the papal thriller “Conclave”.
The supporting cast was led by award favorite Kieran Kulkin for his performance in “A Real Pain”. Other nominees were: Yura Borisov (“Enora”), Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Strong. Supporting Actress nominations went to Grande, Saldana, Jones, Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”).
Nominations were originally planned for January 17. But after wildfires on January 7 began burning through Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other areas around Los Angeles, leaving historic levels of destruction, the Academy extended its voting window and twice adjourned. Announcement of nomination. The fresh firestorm outside Los Angeles continued Thursday as Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott announced their nominations.
With much of the film industry reeling from the fire, some called for the Academy to cancel the Oscars altogether. Academy leaders have argued that the March 2 ceremonies should go ahead, both for their economic impact on Los Angeles and as a symbol of resiliency for the industry. Organizers have vowed this year’s awards will “celebrate the work that unites us as a global film community and acknowledge those who fight so bravely against wildfires.”
“We will reflect on recent events while highlighting the strength, creativity and optimism that define Los Angeles and our industry,” Bill Kramer, the academy’s chief executive officer, and Yang said in an email Wednesday.
But the fire has severely curtailed much of Hollywood’s usual awards season. The Film Academy canceled its annual nominees luncheon. Other events have been postponed or downsized. On Wednesday, Kramer and Yang said the original song nominees would not be performed this year. Conan O’Brien, whose Pacific Palisades was on fire, is hosting.
The Oscar nominations followed an up-and-down year for Hollywood, which saw an industry-wide production slowdown and wide swaths of unemployed workers due to the tragedy of the California wildfires in January. Most humbling, perhaps, was the presidential election that returned Trump to office in a race where podcaster Joe Rogan held more sway than all the A-listers combined.
At the same time, even amid a downturn for superhero movies, the industry rallied behind some galvanizing hits, including Universal Pictures’ “Rogue,” and three Walt Disney Co. hits in “Inside Out 2,” Deadpool and Wolverine. Grossers worth Rs 1 billion are included. ” and “Moana 2,” a film originally developed as a series for Disney+. Those films missed nominations Thursday except for “Inside Out 2,” which went with “The Wild Robot,” “Flo ,” joining “Memoirs of a Snail” and “Wallace and Gromit: Revenge of the Most Foul” among the best animated nominees. ”
The uncertain status of the films seemed to be reflected in the nominations, which were spread across both widely watched and little-watched, theatrically released and primarily streaming films.
But unlike last year, when Hollywood rallied around the success of “Oppenheimer,” the 2024 film year offers no clear frontrunners for the industry’s top honor. With five weeks to go until the Oscars ceremony, at least four or five films — including “The Brutalist,” “Emilia Perez,” “Enora,” “Conclave” and “Rogue” — stand to have a shot at best picture. Are.