Savannah Pennington & Joseph Stanziani
Staff Writers
One of the biggest nights in Hollywood is fast approaching, as the 97th Academy Awards are set to take place on March 2. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the event will be broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on ABC and, for the first time, streamed on Hulu.
This year’s version of the awards show will also be breaking away from Oscars tradition by omitting the live performances of the Best Original Song nominees. According to an article by Entertainment Weekly, this decision was made in order to shift focus towards acknowledging those who fought against the Los Angeles wildfires, with the actual songwriters receiving recognition in the form of a spotlight on themselves and their music. Additionally, many previous winners will be returning as presenters, with last year’s acting winners Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph slated to make appearances.
After its success at the Critics Choice, Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards, “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker, is proving to be a potential frontrunner for Best Picture. The fellow nominees alongside Anora include: “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Pérez,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys,” “The Substance” and “Wicked.”
The nominees for Best Actor include Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown;” Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist;” Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave;” Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing;” and Sebastian Stan “The Apprentice.” Both Brody and Chalamet are leading contenders.
At just 29, Chalamet has made history as the youngest two-time Best Actor nominee since James Dean in 1956. Realistically, it is most likely that Chalamet will be taking home Best Actor for his work in “A Complete Unknown,” with Variety describing the film as “Oscar-friendly,” meaning that it caters towards classic Oscar voters.
History was similarly made in the Best Actress category, with Karla Sofía Gascón being the first openly transgender performer to be nominated in an acting category. The nominees for Best Actress are: Demi Moore, “The Substance;” Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez;” Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here;” Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked;” and Mikey Madison, “Anora.” Moore, who won the award for best female performance at the recent Critics Choice Awards gala, is a top contender for Best Actress.
Moore stars in “The Substance,” a genre bending film that the actress has described as a cross between Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Death Becomes Her” and a 1980s workout video. Moore has not yet won an Oscar, but her recent award-winning streak, specifically for “The Substance” is a good sign that this will finally be her year. She plays an aging actress who is trying to reverse the clock to look younger and bring life back to her career; something many in Hollywood can relate to.
The Academy has a bit of a history of egregiously ignoring the horror genre, so should Moore win Best Actress, the award would metaphorically represent all horror films that have previously gone unnoticed by the Academy. Moore’s cultural and career resurgence is long overdue, and her win would symbolize something significant for the genre.
With the excitement of the Oscars making its rounds on social media there have also been some major controversies regarding the most nominated film this award season. “Emilia Pérez,” which has been nominated for 13 awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, has garnered controversy regarding aspects of the usage of AI and actors’ controversial pasts.
In an interview with the Higher Technical Commission for Sound and Images (CST) at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Cyril Holtz, the sound mixer for “Emilia Pérez,” revealed that he used AI to replace and clone the voices of some of the actors for the film’s musical sections. He said that the purpose of the AI was to help increase vocal range, however, he did not linger on the subject for long and kept any additional questions about AI use in the film at arm’s length.
This lack of transparency, as well as the growing concern about AI in the entertainment industry, has led to clapback from the Academy. From this, Variety made an Instagram post regarding any future usage of AI in the Academy. “The Academy is considering changing its Oscar submission requirements so that films would have to disclose their use of AI,” Variety said.
Furthermore, Gascón’s nomination for Best Actress has generated significant buzz, as drama surrounding past social media posts may end up impacting her chances. Journalist Sarah Hagiin posted numerous posts made by the actress on X where she expressed controversial views on Islam, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars. Gascón has stated that she will stay quiet for the rest of the film’s Oscars campaign.
To many, it is disheartening seeing controversial films receive top nominations when there are other better films that could have gotten nominated instead.
“I love [transgender representation] in movies, I’d just wish it [Emilia Pérez] was a better movie,” freshman Avary East said. “I think a better movie would have been ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ that should have gotten nominated for its representation of transgender issues rather than a bad movie.”
It is clear that controversial films at the Oscars are ruining not only the Academy’s reputation but also how people view award seasons, as a whole.
Recommendation Community on Instagram dedicated a post to breaking down why they believe “Emilia Pérez” to be “the most stupid Oscar nomination this year.”
“There’s a real conversation to be had about whether Emilia Pérez got so many nominations because it genuinely deserved them, or if the Academy wanted to pat itself on the back for being progressive,” the post said. “Because let’s be real when a movie is barely in the awards conversation all year, and then suddenly racks up 13 nominations out of nowhere? Feels more like an industry flex than an earned honor.”
The hope now is that the Academy learns from this year’s mistakes and makes better decisions when nominating future movies.
