The record for the most Oscar nominations for a non-English film has been achieved by Jacques Audiard’s musical Emilia Prez, which tells the story of a transsexual mobster who escapes the Mexican mob.
At Thursday’s announcement, the movie had a total of 13, three more than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001), and Roma (2018).
The movie’s star, Karla Sof a Gasc, is the first transgender actor nominated for an Oscar. Twelve years before to his transition, in 2008, Elliot Page received a Juno nomination.
Audiard’s film was nominated for multiple awards, including best sound, original score, editing, cinematography, makeup and hairstyling, international feature, director, picture, adapted screenplay, supporting actress (Zoe Salda), and two original songs.
Wicked, the box office hit adaption of the Broadway musical, and The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour epic about a Hungarian architect (Adrien Brody) who immigrates to the United States following World War II, both garnered 10 nominations.
Both Edward Berger’s papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, and James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biographical A Complete Unknown were nominated eight times.
The only acting nomination aside from Fiennes went to supporting actress Isabella Rossellini, while Berger, whose All Quiet on the Western Front was an awards sensation two years ago, did not receive a directing nomination. The film also had a strong supporting cast, including Lucian Msamati, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow.
A Complete Unknown did better than anticipated, too, as actor Timoth é Chalamet, Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez), and Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger) were nominated for prizes.
Coralie Fargeat’s controversial body horror film, The Substance, was the only female director among the 10 films nominated for best picture. Of the ten scripts that were up for grabs, Fargeat was the only woman to write a solo credit.
In the leading actress category, there were several unexpected results, such as the exclusion of seasoned actors Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie for their parts in Babygirl and Maria.
Rather, Demi Moore has become the front-runner in the category after gaining a lot of momentum following her Golden Globe win earlier this month.
She and Gasc will battle against Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here, Walter Salles’s true story about a Brazilian kidnapping, Mikey Madison in Sean Baker’s sex worker romance Anora, and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked.
Brits were let down, including Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who was supposed to receive a nomination for Hard Truths, her reunion with Mike Leigh, after receiving one for Secrets & Lies in 1997.
In order to make the final five main actors, Hugh Grant (for the horror movie Heretic) and Daniel Craig (for the sensual obsessive drama Queer) did not receive two Golden Globe nods.
The inclusion of Sebastian Stan and supporting actor Jeremy Strong (as Roy Cohn) in the unflattering Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, along with Brody, Fiennes, and Chalamet, could be seen as Hollywood’s first jab at the outgoing president. Colman Domingo also stars in the prison drama Sing Sing.
For his performance in Jesse Eisenberg’s Holocaust tour comedy A Real Pain, Kieran Culkin is the most nominated supporting actor. Zoe Salda, played by Emilia Prez, seems like a sure pick for the supporting actress role.
However, despite his outstanding performance in Gladiator II, Denzel Washington was not nominated for his eleventh award.
Although it was only nominated for Best Costume Design, Ridley Scott’s late sequel to his 2000 Oscar-winning classic was predicted to pull off the same feat at this year’s ceremony.
Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis were not nominated for The Last Showgirl, and Luca Guadagnino’s films from the previous year, Challengers and Queer, were not recognized by the Academy.
Another disappointment was Kneecap, an Irish-language music drama that did not make the Oscar cut in any category despite receiving six Bafta nominations.
The best foreign movie shortlist, which also includes the Latvian cat cartoon Flow, the Danish baby-killing thriller The Girl with the Needle, the Iranian drama The Seed of a Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof, and I’m Still Here, is headed by Emilia P. Rez.
Along with Memoir of a Snail, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, The Wild Robot (which garnered three nominations total), and Inside Out 2, which was regarded as an outside contender for best picture, that movie will also compete on the animated film shortlist.
Similarly biased in favor of the chewy, the documentary selection did not include Will Ferrell’s road trip Will & Harper or a retrospective of Christopher Reeve’s life.
Rather, Porcelain War, which is about Ukrainian artists, and Black Box Diaries, which is about a landmark sexual harassment case in Japan, are in competition for the award with No Other Land, a serious study into the devastation of the Masafer Yatta quarter in the West Bank.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Sugarcane, an examination of the Canadian Indian residential school system, and an ambitious jazz-fueled study of the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.
In order to give 10,000 voters, almost 60% of whom reside in Los Angeles, additional time to see movies and cast their ballots, this year’s nominees were postponed twice in the wake of the California wildfires. It’s unclear what impact the subsequent discussion on the usage of AI in The Brutalist and Emilia Prez will have, as the vote ended last Friday.
Both movies made use of voice-cloning technology; the former enhanced the Hungarian accents of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, while the latter enhanced Emilia Prez’s singing voice in the role of Karla Sof a Gasc n.
Brady Corbet, the director of The Brutalist, defended his actors after the news, saying that Adrien and Felicity’s performances are entirely their own.
The celebration will honor those who heroically battled the flames and celebrate the work that unites us as a worldwide cinema community, according to a letter emailed to all Academy members on Wednesday by the organization’s president, Janet Yang, and CEO, Bill Kramer.
They added, “We will honor Los Angeles as the city of dreams, portraying its beauty and tenacity, as well as its function as a lighthouse for filmmakers and creative visionaries for more than a century.” As we consider the recent occurrences, we will emphasize the resilience, ingenuity, and hope that characterize Los Angeles and our sector.
Additionally, the Academy declared that it will no longer feature live performances during the broadcast, instead focusing on songwriters, whose contribution to the ceremony has long been seen as underappreciated.
This year’s Oscars will be hosted by Conan O. Brien on March 2. Two weeks prior, on February 16th, the Bafta Awards are held.
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Eliot Pierce is a dedicated writer for ChiefsFocus.com, covering local crime and finance news. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, Eliot aims to provide his readers with clear and insightful analysis, helping them navigate the complexities of their financial lives while staying informed about important local events. His commitment to delivering accurate and engaging content makes him a valuable resource for the community.