In the wake of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles that struck at the heart of the movie industry, an embattled Hollywood lined up behind the Netflix narco-musical about trans identity "Emilia Pérez" in 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 Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar. The film also landed nominations for directing, original screenplay, two of its songs and for Zoe Saldaña.
Netflix, despite its starring role in Hollywood, has never won best picture. Many of its top contenders have previously racked up large numbers of nominations (including “Mank,” “The Irishman” and “Roma”) but gone home with only a handful of trophies.
“Emilia Pérez,” though, may be its best chance yet. It became the most nominated non-English language film ever, 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 away with nearly as many nominations. Jon 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 Corbet's postwar epic filmed in VistaVision and released by A24, also came away with a commanding 10 nominations, including best picture, best director and nominations for actor Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.
The 10 nominees for best picture are: “Anora”; “The Brutalist”; “A Complete Unknown”; “Conclave”; “Dune: Part Two”; “Emilia Pérez”; “I’m Still Here.”; “Nickel Boys”; “The Substance”; “Wicked.”
In a wide-open Oscar race, the six most honored films — "Emilia Pérez," "Wicked," "The Brutalist," "Anora" (six nominations) "Conclave" (eight nominations) and "A Complete Unknown" (eight nominations) — all fared as expected. The biggest surprises were the Brazilian film "I'm Still Here," a portrait of political resistance under Brazil's military dictatorship that also landed Fernanda Torres a best actress nomination, and RaMell Ross' "Nickel Boys," a daringly crafted first-person POV-shot drama that had been overlooked by many guilds in earlier voting.
Those nominees likely displaced a few best-picture possibilities 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 2024's most audacious films, "The Apprentice ″ landed a surprising pair of nominations, for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. The film dramatizes the formative years of President Donald Trump' s emergence in New York real estate under the tutelage of attorney Roy Cohn. Trump has called those involved 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 that Demi Moore has appeared to have locked up for her full-bodied performance in "The Substance," saw nominations for Moore, Gascón, Torres, Erivo and the star of "Anora," Mikey Madison. Arguably the year's most competitive category, that 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 so much devastation these past few weeks and my heart breaks for L.A. but it’s really beautiful to see everyone coming together," Madison said Thursday. "Hollywood coming together and celebrating film right now is really beautiful.”
In the directing category, "The Substance" filmmaker Coralie Fargeat managed to crack into the otherwise all-male group of Sean Baker ("Anora"), Corbet, Audiard and James Mangold ("A Complete Unknown"). Most had expected Edward Berger to be nominated for directing the papal thriller "Conclave."
Supporting actor was led by Kieran Culkin, the favorite for the award, for his performance in “A Real Pain.” The other nominees were: Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Strong. Supporting actress nominations went to Grande, Saldaña, Jones, Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Isabella Rossellini ("Conclave”).
The nominations had originally been planned for Jan. 17. But after wildfires on Jan. 7 began burning through the Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other areas around Los Angeles, leaving behind historic levels of destruction, the academy extended its voting window and twice postponed the nominations announcement. Fresh fires outside Los Angeles continued Thursday during the nominations, announced by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott.
With so many in the film industry reeling from the fires, some called on the academy to cancel the Oscars altogether. Academy leaders have argued the March 2 ceremony must go ahead, for their economic impact on Los Angeles and as a symbol of resilience 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 fought so bravely against the wildfires.”
“We will reflect on the recent events while highlighting the strength, creativity, and optimism that defines Los Angeles and our industry,” Bill Kramer, academy chief executive, and Janet Yang, president, said in an email to members Wednesday.
But much of the usual frothiness Hollywood's award season has been severely curtailed due to the fires. The film academy canceled its annual nominees luncheon. Other events have been postponed or downsized. On Wednesday, Kramer and Yang said original song nominees won't be performed this year. Conan O'Brien, whose Pacific Palisades home was spared by the fires, is hosting.
The Oscar nominations followed a up-and-down year for Hollywood that saw expansive post-strike delays, wide swaths of unemployed workers due to an industry-wide production slowdown and the tragedy of the California fires in January. Most humbling, perhaps, was the presidential election that returned Trump to office in a race where podcaster Joe Rogan seemed to hold more sway than all A-listers combined.
At the same time, even amidst a downturn for the superhero film, the industry rallied behind some galvanizing hits, including Universal Pictures’ “Wicked,” and three Walt Disney Co. $1 billion grossers in “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool and Wolverine” and “Moana 2,” a film originally developed as a series for Disney+.
Those films missed nominations Thursday except for “Inside Out 2," which joined the best animated nominees of “The Wild Robot,” “Flow,” “Memoir of a Snail” and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.” Otherwise, the biggest hits to join the Oscar mix were “Wicked” ($710.3 million worldwide) and “Dune: Part Two” ($714.6 million). Netflix doesn't report box office, so “Emilia Pérez" has no tallied ticket sales, and hasn't been among the streamer's top watches, either.
That uncertain state of the movies seemed to be reflected in the nominations, which were spread across films both widely seen and little noticed, theatrically released and predominantly streaming.
But unlike last year, when Hollywood rallied around the success of “Oppenheimer,” the 2024 movie year offered up no clear frontrunner for the industry’s top honor. With five weeks to go until the Oscar ceremony, at least four or five movies – including “The Brutalist,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Anora,” “Conclave” and “Wicked” – are seen having a shot at best picture.
AP National Writer Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.
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