The actress was nominated for best actress during the March ceremony, but the Academy Award ultimately went to Emma Stone for Poor Things. However, Gladstone recently toldEsquire that “nobody was upset” that she didn’t win.
The Under the Bridge star recalled her “beautiful trip home,” and how her tribe’s “whole confederacy came together for a Lily Gladstone Day. It was the biggest honor anybody could get. The confederacy decided together that they wanted to do it. It was a beautiful homecoming.”
She added, “Two thousand people showed up, from every corner of the US. It was absolutely one of the most moving things that has ever happened in my life.”
Ahead of the event, Gladstone explained that Blackfeet Nation leaders did preemptively assume she would be coming home with a gold statuette, so when she lost, it led to a “funny” call.
“The organizers of the event called me beforehand and they said that they’d got a bunch of little cardboard cut-outs of gold-man statues that looked like an Oscar, to give to the kids. They asked if that was okay, or if it was gonna hurt my feelings. I said: ‘No, absolutely not,’” the actress recalled. “That’s just the whole thing of award campaigns and the competitive nature of pitting art against art. Clearly this film, in this moment, had meaning. It did its job.”
She continued, “Yeah, nobody was upset that it didn’t happen. I feel like when the Golden Globe happened (Gladstone won best actress), a lot of people who are very far away from the industry just kind of thought it was the Oscars. It’s about the fact that [the film has] been awarded and it’s historic, and it’s still just a really meaningful moment. So it’s irrelevant whether or not I walked home with that statue in hand.”
Gladstone added that “regardless of how things turned out,” she’s just fortunate to “have work coming out and I have work lined up,” including some of her most recent projects,Fancy Danceand The Memory Police.
Despite her Oscars loss, the actress took to her social media after the 2024 Academy Awards to express her gratitude for fans’ support throughout the award season.
“Feeling the love big time today, especially from Indian Country. Kittō”kuniikaakomimmō”po’waw – seriously, I love you all,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter) at the time. “(Better believe when I was leaving the Dolby Theater and walked passed the big Oscar statue I gave that golden booty a little Coup tap – Count: one).”
“When watching the Osage Singers at the Oscars, my inner voice said ‘They’re the ones bringing us all up on stage tonight, that’s how it should be,’” she wrote. “The history in the film and of the moment rightfully belong to the Osage Nation. What an honor to be close enough to feel the drum.””
LOS ANGELES — “Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic – already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs – has increasingly looked like the run-away favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods.
The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show. That made for some significant tweaks to the age-old traditions of such ceremonies. There were no ads. Profanity was permitted. (“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah,” said Idris Elba.) And winners were occasionally interviewed backstage by red-carpet co-host Tan France – sometimes awkwardly, sometimes charmingly.
The SAG Awards don’t always signify Oscar success. Two of the last five winners from the guild (“The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Black Panther”) lost at the Academy Awards. But in the past two years, all five of the top SAG prizes – best ensemble and the four acting winners – have corresponded with the eventual Oscar winners, including the ensembles for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “CODA.”
That could mean the SAGs offered an Oscar preview in two of the closest contests: best actor and best actress.
The night’s most thrilling win went to Lily Gladstone for female actor in a leading role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts evenly split between Gladstone and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”
But Gladstone won Saturday and the crowd erupted. Stone, too, stood and vigorously applauded. More is riding on Gladstone than perhaps any other Oscar contender this year. Her win would be a first for Native Americans.
“We bring empathy into a world that so much needs it,” said Gladstone. “It’s so easy to distance ourselves. It’s so easy to close off, to stop feeling. And we all bravely keep feeling. And that humanizes people. That brings people out of the shadows. It brings visibility.”
Murphy and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) have also been seen as in a neck-and-neck contest. But Murphy has now won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs and Globes, suggesting he has the clear edge heading into the Academy Awards.
Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph each won for their supporting performances, likewise solidifying their status as Oscar favorites.
“Why me? Why now? Why do things seem to be going my way?” said Downey Jr., accepting his first SAG Award for a film performance. “Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never grow tired from the sound of my own voice.”
Randolph’s performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” has been a breakthrough role for the 37-year-old actor. Now, she appears poised to win the Academy Award.
“To every actor out there still waiting in the wings for their chance, let me tell you: Your life can change in a day,” Randolph said. “It’s not a question of if but when. Keep going.”
After more than two decades airing on TNT and TBS to dwindling viewership, Netflix acquired telecast rights to the SAG Awards in early 2023. Netflix, a dominant force for years in awards season, turned host, too.
“Personally, I can’t wait to get home and have Netflix recommend this show to me based on all the other stuff that I watch myself in,” joked Idris Elba, the night’s de facto emcee.
The TV awards went largely to the same shows that have cleaned up at the Emmys and Golden Globes: “The Bear” (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ); “Beef” (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of “Succession.”
One exception was Pedro Pascal, who won best male actor in a drama series for “The Last of Us” over a trio of “Succession” stars.
“This is wrong for a number of reasons,” said a visibly stunned Pascal. “I’m a little bit drunk. I thought I could get drunk.”
This year’s SAG Awards follows a grueling months-long strike in which the SAG-AFTRA union fought a bitter battle over a number of issues. Much of the work stoppage was prompted over changes in the film and TV industry brought on by streaming and a sea change led by Netflix.
“Your solidarity ignited workers around the world, triggering what forever will be remember as ‘the hot labor summer,’” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. “This was a seminal moment in our union’s history.”
The new streaming platform was sure to put even more of a spotlight on one of the most closely-watched predictors of the Academy Awards. Oscar voting wraps Tuesday.
Barbra Streisand held the audience in rapt attention while accepting a lifetime achievement award, presented by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper.
“I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager sitting in my bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine,” said Streisand, who recalled being transfixed by “my first crush,” Marlon Brando.
Streisand also took a moment to celebrate the Jewish pioneers of Hollywood.
“Now I dream of a world where such prejudice is a thing of the past,” she said.
Saturday’s show was one of Netflix’s most significant forays yet into live streaming events. Netflix has previously hosted a live Chris Rock comedy special, a celebrity golf tournament and a live reunion “Love Is Blind” episode that was marred by technical difficulties. But Netflix is gearing up for more. On March 3, it will stream a live tennis event.
LOS ANGELES — “Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic – already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs – has increasingly looked like the run-away favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods.
The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show. That made for some significant tweaks to the age-old traditions of such ceremonies. There were no ads. Profanity was permitted. (“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah,” said Idris Elba.) And winners were occasionally interviewed backstage by red-carpet co-host Tan France – sometimes awkwardly, sometimes charmingly.
The SAG Awards don’t always signify Oscar success. Two of the last five winners from the guild (“The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Black Panther”) lost at the Academy Awards. But in the past two years, all five of the top SAG prizes – best ensemble and the four acting winners – have corresponded with the eventual Oscar winners, including the ensembles for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “CODA.”
That could mean the SAGs offered an Oscar preview in two of the closest contests: best actor and best actress.
The night’s most thrilling win went to Lily Gladstone for female actor in a leading role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts evenly split between Gladstone and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”
But Gladstone won Saturday and the crowd erupted. Stone, too, stood and vigorously applauded. More is riding on Gladstone than perhaps any other Oscar contender this year. Her win would be a first for Native Americans.
“We bring empathy into a world that so much needs it,” said Gladstone. “It’s so easy to distance ourselves. It’s so easy to close off, to stop feeling. And we all bravely keep feeling. And that humanizes people. That brings people out of the shadows. It brings visibility.”
Murphy and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) have also been seen as in a neck-and-neck contest. But Murphy has now won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs and Globes, suggesting he has the clear edge heading into the Academy Awards.
Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph each won for their supporting performances, likewise solidifying their status as Oscar favorites.
“Why me? Why now? Why do things seem to be going my way?” said Downey Jr., accepting his first SAG Award for a film performance. “Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never grow tired from the sound of my own voice.”
Randolph’s performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” has been a breakthrough role for the 37-year-old actor. Now, she appears poised to win the Academy Award.
“To every actor out there still waiting in the wings for their chance, let me tell you: Your life can change in a day,” Randolph said. “It’s not a question of if but when. Keep going.”
After more than two decades airing on TNT and TBS to dwindling viewership, Netflix acquired telecast rights to the SAG Awards in early 2023. Netflix, a dominant force for years in awards season, turned host, too.
“Personally, I can’t wait to get home and have Netflix recommend this show to me based on all the other stuff that I watch myself in,” joked Idris Elba, the night’s de facto emcee.
The TV awards went largely to the same shows that have cleaned up at the Emmys and Golden Globes: “The Bear” (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ); “Beef” (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of “Succession.”
One exception was Pedro Pascal, who won best male actor in a drama series for “The Last of Us” over a trio of “Succession” stars.
“This is wrong for a number of reasons,” said a visibly stunned Pascal. “I’m a little bit drunk. I thought I could get drunk.”
This year’s SAG Awards follows a grueling months-long strike in which the SAG-AFTRA union fought a bitter battle over a number of issues. Much of the work stoppage was prompted over changes in the film and TV industry brought on by streaming and a sea change led by Netflix.
“Your solidarity ignited workers around the world, triggering what forever will be remember as ‘the hot labor summer,’” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. “This was a seminal moment in our union’s history.”
The new streaming platform was sure to put even more of a spotlight on one of the most closely-watched predictors of the Academy Awards. Oscar voting wraps Tuesday.
Barbra Streisand held the audience in rapt attention while accepting a lifetime achievement award, presented by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper.
“I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager sitting in my bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine,” said Streisand, who recalled being transfixed by “my first crush,” Marlon Brando.
Streisand also took a moment to celebrate the Jewish pioneers of Hollywood.
“Now I dream of a world where such prejudice is a thing of the past,” she said.
Saturday’s show was one of Netflix’s most significant forays yet into live streaming events. Netflix has previously hosted a live Chris Rock comedy special, a celebrity golf tournament and a live reunion “Love Is Blind” episode that was marred by technical difficulties. But Netflix is gearing up for more. On March 3, it will stream a live tennis event.
LOS ANGELES — “Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic – already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs – has increasingly looked like the run-away favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods.
The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show. That made for some significant tweaks to the age-old traditions of such ceremonies. There were no ads. Profanity was permitted. (“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah,” said Idris Elba.) And winners were occasionally interviewed backstage by red-carpet co-host Tan France – sometimes awkwardly, sometimes charmingly.
The SAG Awards don’t always signify Oscar success. Two of the last five winners from the guild (“The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Black Panther”) lost at the Academy Awards. But in the past two years, all five of the top SAG prizes – best ensemble and the four acting winners – have corresponded with the eventual Oscar winners, including the ensembles for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “CODA.”
That could mean the SAGs offered an Oscar preview in two of the closest contests: best actor and best actress.
The night’s most thrilling win went to Lily Gladstone for female actor in a leading role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts evenly split between Gladstone and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”
But Gladstone won Saturday and the crowd erupted. Stone, too, stood and vigorously applauded. More is riding on Gladstone than perhaps any other Oscar contender this year. Her win would be a first for Native Americans.
“We bring empathy into a world that so much needs it,” said Gladstone. “It’s so easy to distance ourselves. It’s so easy to close off, to stop feeling. And we all bravely keep feeling. And that humanizes people. That brings people out of the shadows. It brings visibility.”
Murphy and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) have also been seen as in a neck-and-neck contest. But Murphy has now won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs and Globes, suggesting he has the clear edge heading into the Academy Awards.
Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph each won for their supporting performances, likewise solidifying their status as Oscar favorites.
“Why me? Why now? Why do things seem to be going my way?” said Downey Jr., accepting his first SAG Award for a film performance. “Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never grow tired from the sound of my own voice.”
Randolph’s performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” has been a breakthrough role for the 37-year-old actor. Now, she appears poised to win the Academy Award.
“To every actor out there still waiting in the wings for their chance, let me tell you: Your life can change in a day,” Randolph said. “It’s not a question of if but when. Keep going.”
After more than two decades airing on TNT and TBS to dwindling viewership, Netflix acquired telecast rights to the SAG Awards in early 2023. Netflix, a dominant force for years in awards season, turned host, too.
“Personally, I can’t wait to get home and have Netflix recommend this show to me based on all the other stuff that I watch myself in,” joked Idris Elba, the night’s de facto emcee.
The TV awards went largely to the same shows that have cleaned up at the Emmys and Golden Globes: “The Bear” (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ); “Beef” (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of “Succession.”
One exception was Pedro Pascal, who won best male actor in a drama series for “The Last of Us” over a trio of “Succession” stars.
“This is wrong for a number of reasons,” said a visibly stunned Pascal. “I’m a little bit drunk. I thought I could get drunk.”
This year’s SAG Awards follows a grueling months-long strike in which the SAG-AFTRA union fought a bitter battle over a number of issues. Much of the work stoppage was prompted over changes in the film and TV industry brought on by streaming and a sea change led by Netflix.
“Your solidarity ignited workers around the world, triggering what forever will be remember as ‘the hot labor summer,’” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. “This was a seminal moment in our union’s history.”
The new streaming platform was sure to put even more of a spotlight on one of the most closely-watched predictors of the Academy Awards. Oscar voting wraps Tuesday.
Barbra Streisand held the audience in rapt attention while accepting a lifetime achievement award, presented by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper.
“I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager sitting in my bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine,” said Streisand, who recalled being transfixed by “my first crush,” Marlon Brando.
Streisand also took a moment to celebrate the Jewish pioneers of Hollywood.
“Now I dream of a world where such prejudice is a thing of the past,” she said.
Saturday’s show was one of Netflix’s most significant forays yet into live streaming events. Netflix has previously hosted a live Chris Rock comedy special, a celebrity golf tournament and a live reunion “Love Is Blind” episode that was marred by technical difficulties. But Netflix is gearing up for more. On March 3, it will stream a live tennis event.
LOS ANGELES — “Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic – already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs – has increasingly looked like the run-away favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods.
The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show. That made for some significant tweaks to the age-old traditions of such ceremonies. There were no ads. Profanity was permitted. (“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah,” said Idris Elba.) And winners were occasionally interviewed backstage by red-carpet co-host Tan France – sometimes awkwardly, sometimes charmingly.
The SAG Awards don’t always signify Oscar success. Two of the last five winners from the guild (“The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Black Panther”) lost at the Academy Awards. But in the past two years, all five of the top SAG prizes – best ensemble and the four acting winners – have corresponded with the eventual Oscar winners, including the ensembles for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “CODA.”
That could mean the SAGs offered an Oscar preview in two of the closest contests: best actor and best actress.
The night’s most thrilling win went to Lily Gladstone for female actor in a leading role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts evenly split between Gladstone and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”
But Gladstone won Saturday and the crowd erupted. Stone, too, stood and vigorously applauded. More is riding on Gladstone than perhaps any other Oscar contender this year. Her win would be a first for Native Americans.
“We bring empathy into a world that so much needs it,” said Gladstone. “It’s so easy to distance ourselves. It’s so easy to close off, to stop feeling. And we all bravely keep feeling. And that humanizes people. That brings people out of the shadows. It brings visibility.”
Murphy and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) have also been seen as in a neck-and-neck contest. But Murphy has now won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs and Globes, suggesting he has the clear edge heading into the Academy Awards.
Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph each won for their supporting performances, likewise solidifying their status as Oscar favorites.
“Why me? Why now? Why do things seem to be going my way?” said Downey Jr., accepting his first SAG Award for a film performance. “Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never grow tired from the sound of my own voice.”
Randolph’s performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” has been a breakthrough role for the 37-year-old actor. Now, she appears poised to win the Academy Award.
“To every actor out there still waiting in the wings for their chance, let me tell you: Your life can change in a day,” Randolph said. “It’s not a question of if but when. Keep going.”
After more than two decades airing on TNT and TBS to dwindling viewership, Netflix acquired telecast rights to the SAG Awards in early 2023. Netflix, a dominant force for years in awards season, turned host, too.
“Personally, I can’t wait to get home and have Netflix recommend this show to me based on all the other stuff that I watch myself in,” joked Idris Elba, the night’s de facto emcee.
The TV awards went largely to the same shows that have cleaned up at the Emmys and Golden Globes: “The Bear” (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ); “Beef” (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of “Succession.”
One exception was Pedro Pascal, who won best male actor in a drama series for “The Last of Us” over a trio of “Succession” stars.
“This is wrong for a number of reasons,” said a visibly stunned Pascal. “I’m a little bit drunk. I thought I could get drunk.”
This year’s SAG Awards follows a grueling months-long strike in which the SAG-AFTRA union fought a bitter battle over a number of issues. Much of the work stoppage was prompted over changes in the film and TV industry brought on by streaming and a sea change led by Netflix.
“Your solidarity ignited workers around the world, triggering what forever will be remember as ‘the hot labor summer,’” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. “This was a seminal moment in our union’s history.”
The new streaming platform was sure to put even more of a spotlight on one of the most closely-watched predictors of the Academy Awards. Oscar voting wraps Tuesday.
Barbra Streisand held the audience in rapt attention while accepting a lifetime achievement award, presented by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper.
“I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager sitting in my bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine,” said Streisand, who recalled being transfixed by “my first crush,” Marlon Brando.
Streisand also took a moment to celebrate the Jewish pioneers of Hollywood.
“Now I dream of a world where such prejudice is a thing of the past,” she said.
Saturday’s show was one of Netflix’s most significant forays yet into live streaming events. Netflix has previously hosted a live Chris Rock comedy special, a celebrity golf tournament and a live reunion “Love Is Blind” episode that was marred by technical difficulties. But Netflix is gearing up for more. On March 3, it will stream a live tennis event.
“It’s basically not real if it’s not on the internet,” Francesca Scorsese tells her father, Martin, in a newly released teaser for the Oscar winner’s upcoming Super Bowl ad. It’s a fitting sentiment for the pair, whose viral TikToks have both boosted the icon’s profile among the younger generation and introduced the world to his 24-year-old daughter, an aspiring filmmaker.
The elder Scorsese helms his first Super Bowl ad for Squarespace, a teaser which features the director learning how to create a website with Francesca, who serves as the commercial’s behind-the-scenes creative director. In the teaser, which can be seen below, the father and daughter mimic the banter found in their popular TikTok and Instagram videos, which contain artful trolling of Marvel movies and a fan cam clip where Francesca calls Martin a “certified silly goose.”
At one point, Martin quips, “This website slaps, kid, doesn’t it?—a direct callback to Francesca explaining Gen Z slang terms to him. Although she jokingly replies, “I really regret ever teaching you that,” the Tisch graduate says that neither of them plan on pausing their partnership—including in more TikToks. “He tells people that I pull him into them, but actually, it’s the other way around,” Francesca tells Vanity Fair.
The younger Scorsese, who only recently saw her brief role in her father’s film The Aviator for the first time, insists she “leans more toward darker themes” in her own work. Francesca was the behind-the-scenes creative director on Scorsese’s 2023 Bleu de Chanel commercial featuring Timothée Chalamet, and at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, both father and daughter debuted projects. Scorsese’s was the Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon, while Francesca’s was her latest short, titled Fish Out of Water. In between work on an A24 book she’s writing with her father and a short film inspired by her mother Helen Morris’s childhood, Francesca spoke to VF about growing up Scorsese, attending the Oscars, and embracing the nepo-baby label.
Vanity Fair:In the Super Bowl ad teaser, you joke about regretting teaching your dad what “slaps” means. Do you have any remorse about introducing him to some of the more Gen-Z stuff, likeLetterboxdorTikTok?
Francesca Scorsese: Oh, my God, I don’t have any regrets. Honestly, sometimes, he’ll like….Oh God. Sometimes, he will use Gen-Z slang because he’s heard it, and it’s the funniest thing to me. I feel like hearing your dad say, “Oh yeah, that slaps,” or, “I’m so woke,” or whatever, it’s just so cringy to me. It just makes me crack up. He is from a different generation, so it’s a little—I wouldn’t say embarrassing to hear him say it, but it’s funny because it feels like he is really trying to stay current with my generation and with me.
Spurned by many critics and consumers alike, Matthew Vaughn‘s pricey spy-comedy Argylle is bombing at the North American box office in the biggest miss to date for Apple’s theatrical ambitions.
The movie — costing a reported $200 million to make before marketing — grossed $5.6 million on Friday for an estimated opening of $16.5 million. The results aren’t much better overseas, where Argylle is estimating a weekend opening of $16.9 million. Numbers will be updated Sunday morning.
Because Apple is first and foremost one of the world’s richest tech companies whose priority on the content side is streaming, its theatrical efforts are judged differently. If legacy Hollywood studios released a $200 million movie with results like these, they would be skewered
Universal is distributing Argylle on behalf of Apple Original Films in exchange for a distribution fee.
Argylle, directed from a script by Wonder Woman‘s Jason Fuchs, tells the tale of a best-selling spy novelist and cat-loving recluse whose tranquil life is upended when the plots of her books begin coming to life.
Vaughn’s reality-bending spy thriller doesn’t lack star power. The cast includes Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa, Catherine O’Hara, Sofia Boutella and Samuel L. Jackson. Alfie the cat is played by Chip, the real-life pet of supermodel Claudia Vaughn (née Schiffer).
Argylle is Apple’s third traditional theatrical release in recent months following Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated Killers of The Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Both movies likewise cost $200 million or more to produce. Many in Hollywood believe it’s a good thing to have Apple Original Films throw its hat into the ring since it means more movies on the big screen before they head for streaming on Apple TV+.
While it may be an awards darling, Killers of the Flower Moon — which nabbed 10 Oscar nominations, the third most of any film behind Oppenheimer (13) and Poor Things (11) — Scorsese’s epic has only grossed $157.6 million at the global box office. Napoleon has fared somewhat better with $219.4 million to date (the latter film earned three Oscar noms).
The other new action at the domestic box office this weekend is a special nationwide release of the faith-based series The Chosen: Season 4, Episode-1-3. The producers of the hit streaming series wanted to make it available first in theaters. Episodes four, five and six will play in cinemas later this month. Fathom Events is handling The Chosen theatrically in its widest release ever. This weekend’s tally is an estimated $3.3 million.
Among holdovers, Warner Bros.’ musical Wonka is crossing the $200 million mark domestically, while Paramount’s musical Mean Girls is crossing $100 million in a vote-of-confidence for the oft-maligned genre.
Isabelle Thomas, British documentary filmmaker and the wife of Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon producer Bradley Thomas, was found dead at a Los Angeles hotel this week, medical records show. Thomas was 39.
Isabelle Thomas died by suicide and was discovered with “multiple traumatic injuries” at a local hotel, according to online records from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Citing law enforcement sources, TMZ reported this week that on Monday, Thomas had lept from a high-up floor at the Hotel Angeleno; the 17-floor Westwood hotel is notable for the balconies that wrap around the building on each floor.
Police sources reportedly indicated that she was discovered dead at the scene when first responders arrived.
“Isabelle was the light of our lives,” said the family in a statement to the L.A. Times. “She was courageous and took all life’s opportunities without fear, showering love and kindness on her friends, family, and children along the way. Her projects were as diverse as her passions, reflecting a curiosity about people and our culture that inspired everyone lucky enough to spend time with her. We remember her as a soulmate, beautiful daughter, sister, devoted mother and wife.”
The British producer, also known as “Izzy,” is from the Cotswolds in the U.K and resided in California with her husband and their two children. According to her website, she graduated from Oxford University and went on to advise on projects for international entertainment companies, private family offices, global membership spaces, start-ups, the UN and The World Bank.
Isabelle married Bradley Thomas, a producer of major films for decades, in 2018. The couple was spotted at red carpet events around town while his career flourished as a producer on Clint Eastwood’s The Mule in 2018 and 2022’s Palme d’Or-winning satire Triangle of Sadness. The two were photographed together as recently as Jan. 13 at the 2024 BAFTA Tea Party at The Maybourne Beverly Hills.
Isabelle Thomas’ death comes as her husband is in the height of award season as he promotes Killers, which, alongside fellow producers Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, is up for the 2024 Oscars best picture trophy.
Bradley Thomas’ producing career began with the Farrelly brothers’ hit 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber and has not lost momentum over 30 years. He produced several of the duo’s subsequent comedies, including There’s Something About Mary and Shallow Hal, then later teamed up with legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott for All the Money in the World and Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund as EP on the biting satires that followed his debut, Force Majure.
Lily Gladstone joins “CBS Mornings” after her landmark Oscar nomination for Best Actress in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” making history as the first Native American nominee in this category.
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The nominations for the 2024 Oscars were announced today with “Oppenheimer” leading the pack with 13 nods followed by “Poor Things” with 11. The 96th annual Academy Awards follow a year that saw the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon of “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan‘s epic World War II biopic pack movie theaters around the world with each raking in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.
Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t without its share of surprises, with no nomination for “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and no acting nods for the movie’s star Margot Robbie — a producer for the best picture nominee — or past Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Meanwhile, America Ferrera scored a best supporting actress nod for her performance in “Barbie” after she wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe. And Justine Triet became the eighth woman nominated for best director for “Anatomy of a Fall.” Here is the full list of this year’s Oscar nominees:
Best picture
“American Fiction”
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Barbie”
“The Holdovers”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Past Lives”
“Poor Things”
“The Zone of Interest”
Best actor
Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Best actress
Annette Bening, “Nyad”
Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”
Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Best supporting actor
Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”
Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”
Best supporting actress
Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
America Ferrera, “Barbie”
Jodie Foster, “Nyad”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Best director
Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”
International feature film
“Io Capitano,” Italy
“Perfect Days,” Japan
“Society of the Snow,” Spain
“The Teachers’ Lounge,” Germany
“The Zone of Interest,” United Kingdom
Animated feature film
“The Boy and the Heron”
“Elemental”
“Nimona”
“Robot Dreams”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Adapted screenplay
“American Fiction”
“Barbie”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
“The Zone of Interest”
Original screenplay
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“The Holdovers”
“Maestro”
“May December”
“Past Lives”
Visual effects
“The Creator”
“Godzilla Minus One”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Napoleon”
Original score
“American Fiction”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
Original song
“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Documentary feature film
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Four Daughters”
“To Kill a Tiger”
Cinematography
“El Conde”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
Costume design
“Barbie”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Napoleon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
Animated short film
“Letter to a Pig”
“Ninety-Five Senses”
“Our Uniform”
“Pachyderme”
“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Live action short film
“The After”
“Invincible”
“Knight of Fortune”
“Red, White and Blue”
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Documentary short film
“The ABCs of Book Banning”
“The Barber of Little Rock”
“Island in Between”
“The Last Repair Shop”
“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
Film editing
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“The Holdovers”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
Sound
“The Creator”
“Maestro”
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Oppenheimer”
“The Zone of Interest”
Production design
“Barbie”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Napoleon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
Makeup and hairstyling
“Golda”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
“Society of the Snow”
Last week, Nolan’s drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the top-secret Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb, led the nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards with 13 nods. “Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, received 11 nominations for the U.K.’s version of the Oscars.
At the Golden Globes earlier this month, “Oppenheimer” won five awards, including best drama motion picture. Nolan took home the Globe for best director. Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of the title character earned him best actor in a drama, and co-star Robert Downey Jr. won best supporting actor.
First-time Globe nominee Lily Gladstone won best drama actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
“Poor Things” won the Globe for best musical or comedy motion picture, and Stone won the category’s best actress award. Paul Giamatti won best actor in a musical or comedy for Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” and Giamatti’s co-star Da’Vine Joy Randolph — another first-time Globe nominee — won best supporting actress.
“Barbie” was nominated for nine Globes, including best director. It won two, best original song for Billie Eilish‘s “What Was I Made for?” and the new award for cinematic and box office achievement.
David Morgan and Caitlin O’Kane contributed reporting.
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
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Nominations for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards have been unveiled. Scroll down for the full list.
Leading the way this year is Christopher Nolan’s atomic biopic Oppenheimer, which snagged 13 noms, including best film, director, and adapted screenplay. Oppenheimer was one nomination away from equaling All Quiet on the Western Front’s record 2023 haul of 14 noms. Trailing Nolan is Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, who clocked 11 nominations with his latest black comedy, Poor Things. Lanthimos’ haul also includes best film and director alongside outstanding british film and adapted screenplay for Tony McNamara.
Chasing the leading two is Martin Scorsese’s Osage epic Killers Of The Flower, which clocked nine nominations. The 3-hour plus pic pops up in best film, supporting actor for Robert DeNiro, and cinematography for Rodrigo Prieto. However, the film didn’t land noms in either best director or best actress (Lily Gladstone), where it had been longlisted and earmarked as a frontrunner. Jonathan Glazer’s breakout Cannes drama The Zone Of Interest also netted nine nominations, giving the British filmmaker his best-ever BAFTAs haul.
Other leading films include Anatomy of A Fall, The Holdovers, and Maestro, which all clocked seven noms. Andrew Haigh’s enigmatic drama All of Us Strangers landed six nods, and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn have five apiece.
This year, 11 out of 23 nominees in the performance categories have received their first BAFTA nomination, including Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers), Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane), and Teo Yoo (Past Lives). In other notable acting notes, Paul Mescal and Claire Foy are in their respective supporting categories for All Of Us Strangers, while awards season frontrunners Margot Robbie and Emma Stone fill out the best actress category.
In best director, four of the six are first-time director nominees: Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest), Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers), Alexander Payne (The Holdovers), andJustine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall). Triet is the sole woman in director. None of the director nominees are previous winners in this category.
Standout British titles in this year’s crop of noms include Raine Allen Miller’s debut feature Rye Lane, which landed two noms, including Outstanding British Film alongside Oparah’s acting nom, and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, which landed three noms: Outstanding British Film, Outstanding Debut, and Casting.
This year’s nominations are relatively spread out amongst the studios, with Disney/Searchlight out in front, clocking 22 noms. Trailing behind is Universal (14). Indie studio A24 had a strong showing with nine, all from Jonathan Glazer’s Zone Of Interest. Apple performed the best amongst the streamers with 14 noms, including 4 for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Netflix clocked 12 overall.
Winners will be announced at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, hosted by actor David Tennant on February 18 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London.
Breaking down the noms, Jane Millichip, CEO of BAFTA, said: “The 38 films nominated by BAFTA voters today span an extraordinary range of genres and stories. The field this year is incredibly strong. More films were entered, making the selection process particularly tough for our voting members.
She added: “The films and talented people nominated represent some of the most talked about films of the year, the most critically acclaimed, and films yet to be released and discovered by audiences. With a month to go until the EE BAFTAs on 18 February, we encourage film fans everywhere to watch as many nominated films as possible and find out more about the people who make them by listening to our new official podcast, Countdown to the BAFTAs, which is available widely on podcast platforms from today.”
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? Ella Glendining (Director)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
PAST LIVES Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer
DOCUMENTARY
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
AMERICAN SYMPHONY Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
BEYOND UTOPIA Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
WHAM! Chris Smith
ANIMATED FILM
THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
ELEMENTAL Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg
DIRECTOR
ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet
THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
BARBIE Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
THE HOLDOVERS David Hemingson
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
PAST LIVES Celine Song
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
AMERICAN FICTION Cord Jefferson
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS Tony McNamara
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer
LEADING ACTRESS
FANTASIA BARRINO The Color Purple
SANDRA HÜLLER Anatomy of a Fall
CAREY MULLIGAN Maestro
VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane
MARGOT ROBBIE Barbie
EMMA STONE Poor Things
LEADING ACTOR
BRADLEY COOPER Maestro
COLMAN DOMINGO Rustin
PAUL GIAMATTI The Holdovers
BARRY KEOGHAN Saltburn
CILLIAN MURPHY Oppenheimer
TEO YOO Past Lives
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
EMILY BLUNT Oppenheimer
DANIELLE BROOKS The Color Purple
CLAIRE FOY All of Us Strangers
SANDRA HÜLLER The Zone of Interest
ROSAMUND PIKE Saltburn
DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH The Holdovers
SUPPORTING ACTOR
ROBERT DE NIRO Killers of The Flower Moon
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Oppenheimer
JACOB ELORDI Saltburn
RYAN GOSLING Barbie
PAUL MESCAL All of Us Strangers
DOMINIC SESSA The Holdovers
CASTING
ALL OF US STRANGERS Kahleen Crawford
ANATOMY OF A FALL Cynthia Arra
THE HOLDOVERS Susan Shopmaker
HOW TO HAVE SEX Isabella Odoffin
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes
CINEMATOGRAPHY
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Rodrigo Prieto
MAESTRO Matthew Libatique
OPPENHEIMER Hoyte van Hoytema
POOR THINGS Robbie Ryan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Łukasz Żal
EDITING
ANATOMY OF A FALL Laurent Sénéchal
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Thelma Schoonmaker
OPPENHEIMER Jennifer Lame
POOR THINGS Yorgos Mavropsaridis
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Paul Watts
COSTUME DESIGN
BARBIE Jacqueline Durran
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jacqueline West
NAPOLEON Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
OPPENHEIMER Ellen Mirojnick
POOR THINGS Holly Waddington
MAKE UP & HAIR
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
MAESTRO Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
NAPOLEON Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
OPPENHEIMER Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
POOR THINGS Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston
ORIGINAL SCORE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Robbie Robertson
OPPENHEIMER Ludwig Göransson
POOR THINGS Jerskin Fendrix
SALTBURN Anthony Willis
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Daniel Pemberton
PRODUCTION DESIGN
BARBIE Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
OPPENHEIMER Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
POOR THINGS Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora
SOUND
FERRARI Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
MAESTRO Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
OPPENHEIMER Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CREATOR Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
NAPOLEON Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
POOR THINGS Simon Hughes
CRAB DAY Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak
VISIBLE MENDING Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
WILD SUMMON Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley
BRITISH SHORT FILM
FESTIVAL OF SLAPS Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
GORKA Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai
SUCH A LOVELY DAY Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
YELLOW Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos
Martin Scorsese, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and, in the eyes of many, the greatest filmmaker alive today.
Over the course of a career spanning nearly 60 years, Scorsese has directed 26 narrative features and 16 documentary features, among them 1973’s Mean Streets, 1976’s Taxi Driver, 1980’s Raging Bull, 1990’s Goodfellas, 1995’s Casino, 2006’s The Departed, 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street and, most recently, 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon. The adaptation of David Grann’s bestselling book features a script co-written by Eric Roth and Scorsese, who also produced the film, which stars his two great muses, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, plus breakout Lily Gladstone. It follows a series of murders in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land in the 1920s.
Described by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Scorsese has been the recipient of just about every honor that exists. Those include an Oscar, three Emmys, a Grammy, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, two Directors Guild Awards, an AFI Life Achievement Award, a Film Society of Lincoln Center tribute, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Cecil B. DeMille Award and a BAFTA Fellowship, among many others. He has also been recognized with achievement awards from the Venice Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival.
For Killers of the Flower Moon, specifically, he has already been awarded multiple best film and best director awards, including from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Killers was also chosen as one of 2023’s 10 best films by the AFI Awards, and Scorsese was nominated for best director and best screenplay at the Golden Globes. He also received nods for the best director at the Directors Guild Awards and the Critics Choice Awards, where he was nominated for best adapted screenplay. Oscar nominations are almost surely to follow.
Over the course of a conversation at the Hotel Bel-Air, the 81-year-old reflected on the tug of war that he felt as a kid growing up in Little Italy between his faith and the reality of his life, and how that shaped the films that he made. He also opened up about the origins and evolution of his special relationships with De Niro and DiCaprio, with whom he has made 10 features and six features, respectively; how he almost directed Schindler’s List; how he feels about the Scorsese vs. Marvel controversy; how Killers of the Flower Moon is sort of an amalgam of his gangster films, period costume drama, family film and trilogy of films about faith; plus much more.
The Golden Globes is no stranger to being riddled with scandal. Even in the 1950s, when it was still a relatively germinal organization (with the first edition airing in 1944), the awards ceremony was “renowned” for taking what amounted to bribes and payoffs via various “gift-giving” endeavors from studios, production companies and individual stars themselves. By the 60s, the Golden Globes were exposed for determining their winners based on advertiser influence, and that, furthermore, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) put pressure on nominees to attend the ceremony, lest they lose their win to another nominee who actually did attend. The entire thing was such a shitshow—such a complete and blatant display of nepotism and abuse of power—that the ceremony was actually banned from being aired on television between 1969 and 1974.
Scarcely back on the air for a full ten years after returning post-1974, the next major scandal was Pia Zadora’s “miraculous” win for “New Star of the Year” (another made-up award in the vein of Cinematic and Box Office Achievement) thanks to her performance in Butterfly, a movie that was both unanimously panned and had not even been released yet at the time the awards ceremony aired. Not so hushed whisperings about how Zadora’s husband, Turkish-Israeli financier Meshulam Riklis, bought her the award led to a further degradation in the Golden Globes’ credibility. Yet this has never stopped the show from enduring. In fact, from being second only to the Academy Awards in terms of prestige and well-knownness to the layperson outside of Hollywood. Yet, as Scarlett Johansson once called out, the show was merely used as a tool by the likes of Harvey Weinstein to curry Oscar favor. Hence, the flagrancy of bribery.
Some cynics would even argue that it surely can’t be a coincidence that the only time Madonna was ever recognized for her acting ability was thanks to the Golden Globes, as she won the award (in 1997) for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Evita. The HFPA had a less speculative case of being paid off for the 2011 Golden Globes, when both Burlesque and The Tourist managed to secure nominations in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category. This despite Burlesque being a critical laughingstock (though, yes, it is lauded by those who appreciate camp) and the fact that The Tourist was a spy/action-adventure movie. Needless to say, HFPA members were cajoled into nominating these films thanks to getting “flewed out” to Las Vegas to see a Cher concert and a little personal lobbying from Angelina Jolie herself re: The Tourist.
At the end of 2020, amid then-fervent cries about changing Hollywood’s openly discriminatory practices as a result of the overall anti-racist spark ignited by George Floyd’s murder in May of that year, the Golden Globes were once again put on blast for a lack of Black members and generally arcane membership “policies.” So it was that, yet again, the awards ceremony was barred from being aired on television in 2022, with Tom Cruise going so far as to return the Golden Globes he won as a show of “solidarity” the year before. By 2023, the organization had been (theoretically) totally revamped, sold off to Eldridge Industries (also known for buying Dick Clark Productions) and repackaged as a for-profit entity with a larger and more “diverse” membership working behind the scenes to nominate people and the films they’re part of. Not only that, but as Robert Downey Jr. pointed out during his acceptance speech this year, the organization changed its name, doing away with the HFPA altogether. It also transitioned to a new network, swapping NBC out in favor of CBS, billed as the “less fun” of the Big Three broadcast networks (NBC, ABC and CBS). And, indeed, it didn’t seem like much fun for anyone when the last-minute host, Jo Koy (relatively unknown up until this moment), took the stage to deliver a monologue that induced cricket-chirping silence (though Taylor Swift really didn’t need to be so uppity about the harmless “difference between the NFL and Golden Globes” joke that Koy made).
Luckily, things picked up slightly as the evening wore on, and viral moments of levity were provided, including Jennifer Lawrence mouthing, “If I don’t win, I’m leaving” and what felt like two minutes of watching Timothée Chalamet (who, mercifully, did not win for Best Actor in Wonka) and Kylie Jenner “canoodling” and saying shit to the effect of, “No, I love you more.” It was pretty nasty (and not nearly as noteworthy as Ali Wong’s show of PDA with Bill Hader), but obviously the stuff of viral and meme gold. Even that “bit” between Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell presenting the award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy proved to, for whatever reason, endlessly charm audiences. Which proves that the Golden Globes isn’t quite yet the stodgy, irrelevant entity that people would like to make most long-running institutions out to be.
That said, the presence of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish (who also won the award for Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?”) alone served as enough proof that the ceremony has carried on to subsequent generations. Even if only the most blanca and monoculture-oriented. But that didn’t stop the voters from doing their best to promote “inclusivity” in the lone manner they could: by giving the award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama to Lily Gladstone for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon. Even if there were many Native Americans who weren’t quite as moved by the film as some of the white viewers who watched it (a phenomenon that also seemed to occur with 2016’s Moonlight). In truth, Gladstone’s capitulation to the proverbial white male as the teller of an Osage story can be viewed as at Native American version of the Uncle Tom trope. And yet, how else is a girl (or boy) supposed to get representation in mainstream Hollywood without “cozying up” a bit?
This seemed to be the underlying theme of the night, with audience silence resounding well beyond the Jo Koy monologue in terms of nary a celebrity making any political statement. That’s right: for arguably the first time in history, celebrities at an awards ceremony were not feeling political. Almost as though to do so would be “too much” amid the tinderbox climate (figuratively and literally) of now. Particularly with regard to mentioning anything about Israel and Palestine. Which proves, once again, that Hollywood hypocrisy is alive and well no matter how much its awards ceremonies feign “evolution.” For how can an awards show really evolve if the industry itself hasn’t?
“Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone paid tribute to the Blackfeet Nation after her win at Sunday’s Golden Globes by delivering part of her acceptance speech for best performance by an actress in a motion picture — drama in Blackfeet.
“I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I’m not fluent in, up here because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera,” Gladstone said.
She called her win historic, and said it didn’t “belong to just me.”
Gladstone grew up on the reservation of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
Gladstone played Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman who lived through the Osage murders in the early 1900s, in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” adapted from David Grann’s bestselling book of the same name.
Gladstone won Sunday’s award over Carey Mulligan, Sandra Hüller, Annette Bening, Greta Lee and Cailee Spaeny.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who also starred in the movie, wore a pin with the symbol of the Osage Nation to the award show.
“She brought so much to, not only her character, but to the entire film,” DiCaprio previously said. “She was an amazing partner to have.”
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
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Lily Gladstone’s front-runner status in the best-actress race was solidified at the Golden Globes 2024, where she dedicated her historic win for Killers of the Flower Moon to “every little res kid, every little urban kid, every little native kid out there that has a dream.”
The actor, who was nominated alongside Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller, Nyad’s Annette Bening, Past Lives’ Greta Lee, Maestro’s Carey Mulligan, and Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny earned Killers’ sole win at the 81st Golden Globes. She began her powerful remarks by speaking in her native Blackfeet language. In English, Gladstone then thanked “the beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this,” adding, “My mom, who even though she’s not Blackfeet, worked tirelessly to get this language into our classrooms so I had a Blackfeet-language teacher growing up.”
Gladstone acknowledged Hollywood’s history of erasing Native American actors and narratives onscreen, noting that “in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English” before a sound mixer would play the tracks backwards in order to approximate Native languages—a technique that produced gibberish passed off as authentic speech. “This is a historic win,” Gladstone continued. “It doesn’t belong to just me. I’m holding it right now, I’m holding it with all of my beautiful sisters in the film at the table over there, and my mother, standing on all of your shoulders.”
Accepting the honor for her performance as Mollie Kyle, whose community in the Osage Nation of 1920s Oklahoma was ravaged in a series of serial killings, Gladstone concluded her speech by thanking her cohort, including director Martin Scorsese, and costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. “You are all changing things,” she said. “Thank you for being such allies.”
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The British Academy has unveiled the results of the first round of voting across all 24 categories for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, with a perhaps unsurprising trio of films at the top.
The cultural phenomenon that was “Barbenheimer” has continued to smash its way into awards season, with both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” named in 15 categories, including best film and director. But joining the two with 15 slots, making it a three-way tie going into the final nominations, is “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Last year, only “All Quiet on the Western Front” earned 15 longlist places, with the film going on to dominate the awards ceremony (and winning best film).
Further down, “Poor Things” was named in 14 categories, “Maestro” in 12 and “Saltburn” in 11, with “Saltburn” missing out on a best film slot. Other U.K. films fared well, with “The Zone of Interest” and “All of Us Strangers” named in 10 categories (including best film), “Wonka” in eight, “How to Have Sex” in six and “Rye Lane” in five. “How to Have Sex” and “Rye Lane” also saw their debut directors, Molly Manning Walker and Raine Allen-Miller, respectively, and their lead stars, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Vivian Oparah, find longlist slots in the director and leading actress categories (among some well-established greats).
The final nominations list are set to be announced on Jan. 18, with the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony taking place Feb. 18 from London’s Royal Festival Hall.
See the full BAFTA Longlist below.
Best Film
“All of Us Strangers”
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Barbie”
“The Holdovers”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Past Lives”
“Poor Things”
“The Zone of Interest”
Outstanding British Film
“All of Us Strangers”
“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”
“The Deepest Breath”
“The Great Escaper”
“How to Have Sex”
“Napoleon”
“The Old Oak”
“One Life”
“Poor Things”
“Rye Lane”
“Saltburn”
“Scrapper”
“Tetris”
“Wonka”
“The Zone of Interest”
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
InReunited, Awards Insider hosts a conversation between two Oscar contenders who have collaborated on a previous project. Today, we speak with Michael Mann, who directed Ferrari, and Eric Roth, who cowrote Killers of the Flower Moon. The longtime collaborators previously worked together on The Insider, Ali, and the TV series Luck.
Eric Roth wasn’t sure he was the right guy to write The Insider;Michael Mann, the director, was confident he was. It was the first time the writer of Forrest Gump and the director of Heat had met each other, but as Roth remembers that meeting, “some kind of kinship” was born. “We both come from tough backgrounds, and we just figured we could battle this out together.”
1999’s The Insider, the compelling thriller about a whistleblower in the tobacco industry starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, would go on to be nominated for seven Oscars. For Mann and Roth, it was the foundation of their creative friendship that would continue on with 2001’s Ali, starring Will Smith, and the HBO series Luck. They would both go on to do plenty of projects without the other—Roth’s many credits include Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star Is Born, and Dune, while Mann helmed Collateral and Public Enemies. But they remain friends, and their desire to collaborate together again has never waned. “We both have the same sense of humor, I think, a skepticism and cynical humor,” says Mann.
With their current projects—Roth cowrote with Martin Scorsese the epic Killers of the Flower Moon, and Roth directed Ferrari, starring Adam Driver—they both use their passion for delving into true stories to bring to life captivating films about unique characters in history. In this wide-ranging conversation, the pair reminisce about being heavy smokers while making The Insider, reveal why they love the research part of their job, and the reason their artistic partnership is so unique. “Look, it’s a collaborative medium, but the truth is, at the end of the day, the director’s boss, and so you need to find some common ground,” says Roth. “And Michael’s just a unique bird. He’s annoying, but he’s unique.”
Vanity Fair:What is your strongest memory of working onThe Insidertogether?
Michael Mann: When we were doing Insider, we would write every morning at the Broadway Deli. And the reason was that we’re both heavy smokers and they had just started anti-smoking legislation in restaurants, but you could still smoke in bars. So the Broadway Deli happened to have a bar in the morning, so we’d be sitting there in the morning for three hours smoking and all this stuff. And then about three or four weeks before we started shooting, I said, ‘I’ve really got to stop, because what I’ll do is, once I start shooting I’ll get up to three packs a day.” So we both decided that we would stop.
Eric Roth: Well, the only thing I disagree with is, this is kind of after the movie, because we were during the movie smoking in the biggest anti-tobacco lawyers’ offices in America.
Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone has opened up about how using she/they pronouns is connected to the performer’s Indigenous background and “partly a way of decolonizing gender.”
In a new interview with People, Gladstone — who was raised on the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana by a father of Blackfeet and Nimiipuu heritage and a white mother — says that “in most Native languages, most Indigenous languages, Blackfeet included, there are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there’s only they.”
And within the Blackfeet community specifically, Gladstone says, “we don’t have gendered pronouns, but our gender is implied in our name.”
“Even that’s not binary,” Gladstone adds, explaining how a grandfather had a Blackfeet name that meant “Iron Woman.”
“He had a name that had a woman’s name in it,” Gladstone says. “I’d never met my grandfather. I wouldn’t say that he was nonbinary in gender, but he was given a woman’s name because he kind of carried himself, I guess, the way that women who have that name do.”
Gladstone adds, “And there were lots of women historically and still now who are given men’s names. They fulfill more of a man’s role in society as far as being provider, warrior, those sort of things.”
Speaking about personal pronoun preferences, Gladstone says, “my pronoun use is partly a way of decolonizing gender for myself.”
Beyond that, Gladstone says the she/they pronouns is a way of the performer “embracing that when I’m in a group of ladies, I know that I’m a little bit different. When I’m in a group of men, I don’t feel like a man. I don’t feel [masculine] at all. I feel probably more feminine when I’m around other men.”
“In ceremony, a lot of times where you sit in the circle is a gendered thing,” Gladstone says. “I happen to sit in circles that are very embracing of all of our people. And I’ve seen people change where they sit in the circle based upon how they’re feeling that day.
Gladstone also recalls realizing early on that “they” might be preferable to gendered pronouns.
“I remember being 9 years old and just being a little disheartened, seeing how often a lot of my boy cousins were misgendered because they wore their hair long,” Gladstone says. “It happens to a lot of kids, I think, especially Native boys leaving a community where long hair is celebrated [and then] just kind of getting teased for it. So I remember back then being like, everybody should just be they.”
Gladstone also speaks about gendered awards categories, which has received more attention in recent years as groups like the Gotham Awards, MTV Movie & TV Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Independent Spirit Awards, for which Gladstone is set to serve as honorary chair of the 2024 awards ceremony, have opted for gender-neutral categories.
“I think it’s really cool that we’re seeing ‘performer’ and we’re seeing everybody brought in together. I do feel that historically having gendered categories has helped from keeping women actors from a lot of erasure because I think historically people just tend to honor male performances more,” Gladstone says. “I know a lot of actresses who are very proud of the word ‘actress’ or are very proud of being an actress. I don’t know, maybe it’s just an overly semantic thing where I’m like, if there’s not a ‘director-ess,’ then there shouldn’t be actresses. There’s no ‘producer-ess,’ there’s no ‘cinematographer-ess.’ ”
In a world…where moviegoing isn’t what it once was and blockbusters run three hours…a great trailer gets audiences motivated to check out a film on opening weekend. But the very best previews are so much more than that: They hold up as short-form works of art in their own right.
Keep in mind, marketing pros get just two and a half minutes to grab your attention and make their pitch. A clumsy trailer can also ruin the experience, misrepresenting the movie and setting ticket buyers up for disappointment. These days, fans devour trailers online, watching ads for anticipated new franchise entries by the millions within the first 24 hours they hit the internet. Earlier this month, an impressive ad for the upcoming “Grand Theft Auto 6” game set new highs on YouTube.
The trailer for “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” led with a handful of jaw-dropping stunts, like the one where Tom Cruise races his motorcycle up to and eventually over the edge of a precipitous cliff (watch AV Squad’s trailer). And a pair of trailers for “Evil Dead Rise,” cut to a classic record player warbling “Que Sera Sera,” served up a nightmare-fuel montage of creepy sights from the spinoff (check out the all-audiences preview by MOCEAN, as well as Buddha Jones’ gorier red-band trailer).
Still, sequels, prequels and reboots have it relatively easy — their task is to convince fans that the movie will deliver on their preexisting excitement. By contrast, it’s infinitely harder to introduce audiences to an original film, which is why you won’t see AV Squad’s rad teaser for “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” on this list. The trick is distilling the selling points of an unfamiliar property (or, in the case of “Barbie,” a longstanding brand) into something concise enough to entice.
So, setting aside the finished product to consider each preview on its own merits, here are Variety’s picks for the year’s best trailers, according to chief film critic (and admitted trailer addict) Peter Debruge. Click the arrow on each photo to watch the trailer in question.
They Cloned Tyrone – “Freaky” Trailer
Image Credit: PARRISH LEWIS/NETFLIX
Who made it: GrandSon Back in the day, practically every trailer used a voice-of-God narrator to summarize the plot (“In a world where…”). Lately, the trick is to convey what a movie’s about using clips and a minimum of on-screen text. Trouble is, “They Cloned Tyrone” boasts a crazy-complicated conspiracy theory much too elaborate to distill into two minutes, so the preview takes things in a different direction, focusing on the funky, funny vibe of Netflix’s stylish blaxploitation satire. The trailer’s structured around Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” remixed to match the tempo of the clips. But most essential for any comedy promo: It gets laughs and promises more where those came from. How does the movie measure up? The trailer introduces a fresh filmmaking talent, and sure enough, the film reps a promising debut from “Creed II” screenwriter Juel Taylor.
Air – “Flight” Trailer
Image Credit: Courtesy of Prime
Who made it: Zealot The job of a good trailer is to inspire people to see the movie. But sometimes, it’s also about informing those who will never get around to buying a ticket as to the film’s message (consider the classic trailer for Michael Mann’s “The Insider”). The “Air” preview achieves both those goals, getting audiences to reconsider the game-changing endorsement deal between Nike and then-rookie Michael Jordan, while also conveying how much fun Ben Affleck and friends had flashing back to that era (cue ’80s power ballad “Sister Christian”). A dumpy looking Matt Damon makes a long-shot bet, the outcome of which we all know. But the trailer convinces it’ll be an entertaining ride. “The shoe is just a shoe,” he says, “…until my son steps into it,” finishes Viola Davis. How does the movie measure up? There’s so much more to the story than the trailer suggests, making for one of the year’s best crowd-pleasers
The Creator – Teaser Trailer
Image Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Who made it: Wild Card Creative Group These days, it seems like you can do practically anything with visual effects (soon enough, we’ll be saying the same of artificial intelligence). But truly visionary sci-fi movies are still few and far between. The thrill of witnessing something fresh — albeit a dystopian future with strong “Terminator” and “Blade Runner” vibes — drives the trailer for Gareth Edwards’ original robot war movie. So does a smart use of Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” which escalates in intensity as the spectacular battle footage builds in sync with the song’s crescendo. The teaser does a nice job of balancing large-scale blockbuster moments (including a percussive nuclear blast) with quieter, more “human” moments (including the big reveal, where we see the face of a young girl grafted onto a cyborg rig). How does the movie measure up? Edwards is better at worldbuilding than he is at storytelling, and the trailer accurately emphasized the former.
Oppenheimer – “Secrets” Trailer
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Who made it: Trailer Park Group Every year, each distributor is allowed one trailer that exceeds the standard 150-second runtime. It stands to reason that Universal would dedicate that honor to “Oppenheimer,” the Christopher Nolan tentpole it deemed so important, the studio erected a billboard featuring a countdown timer on S. La Cienega Blvd. more than a year before it opened. “This is a national emergency,” begins Trailer Park’s three-minute supercut, which brings breathless, race-against-time energy to the Manhattan Project portion of the film, alternating between awesome nuclear-fission imagery and punchy, apocalyptically self-important zingers, like Matt Damon spouting, “How about because this is the most important thing to happen in the history of the world?” Other trailers, like Inside Job’s two-minute “Lightmaker” spot, do a more accurate job of representing the whole film, but “Secrets” positioned “Oppenheimer” as the must-see, “most important” event movie of the summer. How does the movie measure up? The trailer got millions to buy tickets to Nolan’s masterpiece, but may have skewed their expectations in the process, overrepresenting Emily Blunt’s role (as Oppie’s wife), while reducing the Robert Downey Jr. dimension to just two shots.
Boogeyman – Trailer
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
Who made it: Trailer Park Group Focusing on a child actor who sees more than the adults slyly echoed the campaigns for “Poltergeist” and “The Sixth Sense.” So, while Rob Savage made a PG-13 horror movie as generic as its title, the team at Trailer Park took what he’d shot and delivered a master class in cinematic tension. Relying on deep, black shadows and ominous sources of light — including a glowing ball that rolls under a little girl’s bed — the trailer plays on audiences’ deep-seated fear of the dark. If you caught this one in a movie theater (as opposed to on a computer screen), it was perversely easy to imagine some monster reaching out for you every time the screen goes black. How does the movie measure up? The first minute — featuring a blinking red light and a “Hereditary”-style ceiling crawler — is scarier and more effective than the entire feature.
Cocaine Bear – “Higher” Red-Band Trailer
Image Credit: Universal
Who made it: Inside Job Curiosity and skepticism were both sky-high when “Cocaine Bear” posters started popping up in movie theaters. While the title was been enough to sell most audiences on the movie’s twisted (very loosely “inspired by true events”) concept, the hella-wrong red-band trailer assured the film could deliver on its outrageous B-movie premise. An ambulance whoop kicks off the mayhem, as a pair o’ medics arrive at a blood-spattered park cabin, only to be mauled by the CG black bear inside. Leaning in to the R-rated mix of drugs and gore, the irreverent amuse bouche — cut to Duran Duran’s “White Lines” — serves up severed limbs and swearing kids, grizzled-looking ex-goodfella Ray Liotta and an off-the-wall shot of the bear leaping into the back of a speeding van. How does the movie measure up? Alas, the joke plays best in trailer form.
Saltburn – Teaser
Image Credit: Courtesy of Amazon Studios & MGM
Who made it: Grandson Creative The less you know going in, the better — which is why these mysterious two minutes offer the perfect creative solution: Cut more like a music video, the dreamy montage gives you a feel for Emerald Fennell’s upper-crust arthouse satire, in which a wide-eyed boarding school lad (Barry Keoghan) is invited to a seductive classmate’s upper-class castle. While “The Pioneers” track isn’t actually in the film, M83’s remix of Bloc Party’s mid-2000s single proves an inspired choice to underscore an enigmatic selection of sexy, decadent images. The editing follows the beat, building to a homoerotic shot of Jacob Elordi, backlit and smoking, with his legs spread. Presenting the credits in colorful Gothic text is a nice touch, as the title reveals itself one letter at a time. How does the movie measure up? It’s even wilder than advertised.
Barbie – “Dawn” Teaser
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Who made it: Giaronomo In theaters, it took audiences a few seconds to figure out the twist as Greta Gerwig orchestrated a clever riff on “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in which a monster-sized Barbie takes the place of the Monolith. Young girls are seen playing with baby dolls, while narrator Helen Mirren explains how Mattel’s innovation made history. Cue the horn blasts of “Also sprach Zarathustra,” as those same girls smash their old dolls to bits. The giveaway: when the director’s name flashes in the familiar, neon-pink Barbie font. The teaser got a big laugh in theaters, positioning the film as both a comedy and a bona fide event movie. Fans flipped over just five seconds of hot-pink BarbieLand footage at the end. How does the movie measure up? What seemed like a stand-alone marketing gag actually opens the movie.
Beau Is Afraid – “Beyond” Trailer
Image Credit: A24
Who made it: AV Squad Anyone watching this bewildering mix of clips — skillfully cut to Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” — would be hard-pressed to summarize the plot of “Hereditary” director Ari Aster’s three-hour opus. By all appearances, the film seems to span the life of a stressed-out shut-in, played by a scabby faced Joaquin Phoenix, blurring dream-like scares (smashing through a glass door, motorboating by moonlight) with footage lifted from a surreal animated passage. How can it all fit in one film? The A24 logo is enough to get some folks’ hearts racing, immediately followed here by an unfamiliar “MW” symbol — hardly subliminal, but a subtle clue to one of the movie’s mysteries. (In its viral marketing efforts, the studio went so far as to create a LinkedIn page for the fictional company.) How does the movie measure up? At three hours, it’s bloated, but every bit as creepy-surreal.
Killers of the Flower Moon – “Money” Trailer
Image Credit: Courtesy of Apple
Who made it: AV Squad An overhead shot of an Osage powwow sets the tempo for a brutal, brilliant montage: striking oil, gun blasts and assorted white-man malfeasance timed to tribal drumbeats and chanting. Briefly sampling nearly every violent moment from the film, the trailer condenses an incredibly complex true crime story, which took Martin Scorsese no less than 3½ hours to tell, down to an efficient, pulse-racing 2½ minutes. Even those who don’t elect to watch the movie itself get the drift of this deep historical injustice, distilled down to a few well-chosen exchanges: the pathetic pickup scene, where a sleazy-looking Leonardo DiCaprio hits on Lily Gladstone; Robert De Niro enlisting the patsy in his plan; and Jessie Plemons showing up to investigate the murders. How the movie measures up: Scorsese goes long. Like, really long. That’s one thing the tight, punchy trailer left out.
Many industry folks, some of whom are no doubt Oscar voters, are grateful to Nolan for all that he’s done for the business: tethering auteur-ish prestige to marketability, vocally resisting the streaming incursion. That, coupled with the fact that Nolan is widely seen as overdue for his first Oscar, makes him a strong best director contender. But Oppenheimer as a whole should not be discounted. It may not be as screener-friendly as some of its competitors, but Oppenheimer has enjoyed one of the defining film narratives of 2023. A best picture win would be a fitting end to that story.
As for the other half of the summer box office equation, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie made more money than Oppenheimer, most of it without the advantage of IMAX pricing. It’s not a weighty, masculine affair like Oppenheimer—which better fits the traditional best picture mold—but Barbie’s difference is probably its greatest asset. Gerwig’s film created a new version of branded filmmaking, swaddling its IP commercialism in sociopolitical commentary. If 2023 becomes known for one film, it will be Barbie, a movie that leaned into its cynical origins hard enough that it broke through to some other realm.
But maybe the Academy, or at least enough of the Academy, isn’t quite ready for that seismic shift. They could, instead, turn to Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, a Leonard Bernstein biopic that is comfortably recognizable as an old-fashioned awards movie while still taking artistic swings. Cooper is mesmerizing in the lead role, as is his costar, Carey Mulligan. While reviews for the film may be somewhat muted, the stars have been almost universally praised. Which might mean that Maestro’s best chances are in the acting categories—or, the film, buoyed by its beloved performances, could snatch best picture as a popular tiered-ballot second choice.
At this year’s Venice Film Festival, Maestro was perhaps the glitziest competition entry. But it had a bit of its thunder stolen by Yorgos Lanthimos’s sex-happy bildungsroman Poor Things, a movie originally scheduled for release in early September but that was, in a bit of strange luck, pushed to the more prestigious climes of December. Poor Things is in much better position now, with time to build on the momentum created by its top-prize victory at Venice and sustained good notices from subsequent festivals.
All of the filmmakers I’ve thus far mentioned have directed best picture nominees in the past. So what of the new class? First-time filmmaker Celine Song had a debut for the ages in Past Lives, a Sundance breakout that was a modest summer hit for A24. A decades-spanning romantic drama, Past Lives is gauzy and gentle but far from insubstantial. It offers a bleary, soul-stirring consideration of immigration and aging, animated by lovely performances from Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro.
Jonathan Glazer is perhaps one of the cinéaste world’s most respected filmmakers, despite having made only four films. His latest is The Zone of Interest, a Holocaust movie focused on the perpetrators rather than the victims. Glazer’s film is harrowing, operating at a clinical remove but certainly not spare in style or effect. The Zone of Interest is such a visceral statement of artistic vision that even the more art-film-averse members of the Academy might embrace it. The Zone of Interest took second place at Cannes; the Palme d’Or winner was Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, an electrifying drama starring best actress contender Sandra Hüller, who also plays a supporting role in Glazer’s film. Anatomy has played like gangbusters at subsequent film festivals—a frequent Telluride talking point, a hot-ticket sensation at Toronto—and may be the best positioned of any non-American film.
