“Don’t speak!” Dianne Wiest is unstoppable as the actress Helen Sinclair, one of the all-time great “diva” roles in Woody Allen’s zany gangland comedy Bullets Over Broadway. (This was one of the few Allen films in which he had a cowriter; in this case, it was the humor columnist, playwright, director, and actor Doug McGrath.) With this win, Wiest became just the second woman to win two best-supporting-actress Academy Awards, tying Shelley Winters for the honor.
Anna Paquin — 1994 The Piano (1993)
Just 11 years old when she won (but still not the youngest winner in this category!), Anna Paquin bolted out of her seat in a fetchingpurple hat when Gene Hackman read her name at the Oscar ceremony. Adorable! Then she stood behind the podium in a state of shock, half-giggling, half-hyperventilating. It’s a great moment! Then a little Hollywood kicked in and she started thanking people. If you can believe it, Jane Campion was only the second woman ever to be nominated in the best-director category.
Marisa Tomei — 1993 My Cousin Vinny (1992)
A great performance, a great film, a great and righteous win. We’re saying that because, back in the day, there were some who felt Marisa Tomei’s comedic turn in the admittedly light My Cousin Vinny was some kind of blight on the Oscars. It even spun into a conspiracy theory that the announcement of her name was some kind of accident. Tomei was also a former soaps and sitcom star up against three heavyweight Brits (Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave, and Miranda Richardson), as well as Australian Judy Davis in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives. But time has washed all that away—and Tomei has had two more nominations since.
Mercedes Ruehl — 1992 The Fisher King (1991)
Mercedes Ruehl is probably a bigger name to Broadway aficionados than movie lovers, but her turn in Terry Gilliam’s outstanding fantasy-drama The Fisher King was absolutely the right choice for the best-supporting-actress prize this year. She is marvelous as the hard-working video store owner who helps get Jeff Bridges back on his feet after he abandons his career as a talk radio host who inadvertently inspires a killing spree. (Today, someone like that would just say, “Hit like and subscribe!”)
Whoopi Goldberg — 1991 Ghost (1990)
The second Black woman to win in this category (after a 51-year gap), Whoopi Goldberg, who would later host the Oscars four times, was hilarious and touching in the part of the medium Oda Mae Brown in the blockbuster sensation Ghost. As it happened, she was handed her Oscar by Denzel Washington, who had become the second Black man to win the best-supporting-actor prize the year before. Whoopi’s win also added her name to the list of Star Trek alumni who have won an Oscar.
Brenda Fricker — 1990 My Left Foot (1989)
Somehow, Brenda Fricker is the only Irish woman to win an Oscar for either supporting or lead actress. This doesn’t seem right, considering Irish contributions to film arts, but it’s the truth. (There have been wins for Irish women in other Oscar categories, so that’s something, until Saoirse Ronan eventually wins one for acting—she’s got four nominations already.) Accepting her award for My Left Foot (which also got Daniel Day-Lewis his first of three trophies), she thanked the real “Mrs. Brown” and said that “anybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these.”
Geena Davis — 1989 The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Perhaps a bit of an upset over Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl (her third nomination and third loss), Geena Davis won the best-supporting-actress prize for her role as the zany dog trainer who teaches William Hurt how to embrace life after tragedy in Lawrence Kasdan’s terrific comic drama. Oscar producers were probably rooting for Weaver, too, as her costar Melanie Griffith (and then husband Don Johnson) were the presenters for this category.
Olympia Dukakis — 1988 Moonstruck (1987)
This was one of three wins for Moonstruck, which also received a best-actress trophy for Cher and best original screenplay for John Patrick Shanley. (Alas, Vincent Gardenia had tough competition for best supporting actor opposite Sean Connery in The Untouchables. Olympia Dukakis was the obvious best-supporting-actress winner as Rose, head of the Castorini family in one of the all-time great romantic comedies. She concluded her acceptance speech by adding, “Okay, Michael, let’s go!”—a reference to her cousin Michael Dukakis, who was running for president at the time (and would lose by a considerable margin).
Dianne Wiest — 1987 Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
She may not have deserved Cole Porter, but she deserved this Oscar win. This was Dianne Wiest’s first of two best-supporting-actress Oscars, both of which came from appearing in Woody Allen films. Hannah and Her Sisters is such a sweeping view of New York City characters that she barely shares any screen time with her costar Michael Caine, who also won a best-supporting-actor award for this film. (Allen won best original screenplay, too, and was nominated for best director while the film was nominated for best picture.)
Anjelica Huston — 1986 Prizzi’s Honor (1985)
With this award, Anjelica Huston became the only person to win an Oscar in a film directed by their parent, in this case John Huston. (Nearly 40 years earlier, John Huston directed his father, Walter Huston, to an Oscar in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Not sure if this double record will ever be broken!) Prizzi’s Honor, an ahead-of-its-time mafia comedy, costarred Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner and has one of the most shocking endings in the history of movies.
Peggy Ashcroft — 1985 A Passage to India (1984)
“Mrs. Mooooooooore!” Sir David Lean’s final film was nominated for 11 Oscars, including best picture, but won only two: best score for Maurice Jarre (his third after Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, all Lean films) and best supporting actress for Dame Peggy Ashcroft, who was 77 at the time of her win, making her the oldest winner in this category. Based on E.M. Forster’s novel, costarring Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Roshan Seth, and others, the film is either progressive for its time or a reactionary ode to the days of the British Raj, depending on your point of view. All can agree, though, that Peggy Ashcroft’s performance as the kind British lady who prefers to travel in comfort is terrific.
Linda Hunt — 1984 The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
An unusual award in the sense that Linda Hunt (a white woman from New Jersey) plays the part of Billy Kwan, a Chinese Australian man. This would likely not fly today, but 40 years ago it was seen as a brave—and even noble—casting choice. The film is beyond canceled, despite being a stern look at Indonesia’s attempted military coup and democratic struggles during the late 1960s.
Jessica Lange — 1983 Tootsie (1982)
This was one wild night for Jessica Lange at the Oscars. She won best supporting actress over her costar Teri Garr from Tootsie (tough choice!), but also over her costar Kim Stanley in the Frances Farmer biopic Frances. For a brief moment, it looked like Lange might be a double-winner, as she was nominated for best actress for Frances too—but that prize went to Meryl Streep for Sophie’s Choice. Anyhow, despite Tootsie’s 10 nominations (including best picture), this was its only win. That it lost best original screenplay to Gandhi (a terrific movie, sure) is a bit of a scandal.
Maureen Stapleton — 1982 Reds (1981)
A three-hour-plus movie about internecine squabbles between leftists sounds like more of an obligatory chore than a good time, but Warren Beatty’s exhilarating and juicy Reds is absolutely terrific. Part of that is due to Maureen Stapleton’s performance as the community’s den mother (inasmuch as anarchists can have den mothers) Emma Goldman. She had been nominated three times previously (first in 1958, for Lonelyhearts), and when she accepted her award, she said she was “thrilled, happy, delighted,” paused to add “sober,” then said she wanted to thank “everyone she ever met in her entire life.”
Mary Steenburgen — 1981 Melvin and Howard (1980)
Jonathan Demme’s breezy tall tale about Melvin Dummar, a drifter, gas station employee, game show contestant, and American dreamer who claimed that Howard Hughes bequeathed him his fortune, is one of the great movies of this era that doesn’t get enough attention. This shaggy indie included a juicy part for Mary Steenburgen as the put-upon wife trying to keep a family together in the face of a doofus husband.
Now that Anora has hit select theaters, Sean assesses the state of the Best Picture race by running through a long (emphasis on long) list of 26 films that have a chance to be nominated at the Oscars (1:00). Then, Sean and Amanda discuss Anora, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or–winning drama about a whirlwind romance between a sex worker and the son of a Russian oligarch (30:00). Finally, Sean is joined by John Crowley, the director of the new Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh romance We Live in Time (1:15:00). They discuss, among other things, the qualities that attracted Crowley to Garfield and Pugh, how he chooses to work in film vs. theater, his long-running project of sincere romantic dramas, and more.
Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: John Crowley Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders
Matt is joined by New York Times awards season reporter Kyle Buchanan to preview the 2024-25 Oscar race now that the table is mostly set. Kyle sets the table for a fascinating Oscar season—one without a clear front-runner like Oppenheimer was last year—and highlights the biggest narratives that have emerged, including the movies with the strongest momentum, early 2024 films that could make a last-second surge, and other burning questions (02:09). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the MLB playoffs (28:28).
For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, What I’m Hearing …, click here.
Dissident Iranian film professionals have reiterated calls to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to reconsider its relationship with Iran’s government-controlled Farabi cinema org which currently oversees the country’s Oscar submission process.
“In a world where Iranian artists and filmmakers suffer under the oppression of the Islamic Republic government, it is alarming that Farabi, a state-controlled entity known for censorship and repression, is still permitted to select the representative of Iranian cinema for the Oscars,” the Independent Iranian Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) said in a statement.
The org, which made the same request last year, issued the statement in the wake of Farabi’s announcement on Sunday that it had selected In The Arms of The Tree to represent Iran in the best international feature film category at the 97th Academy Awards.
IIFMA was created in 2023 in response to the Woman Life Freedom movement which grew out of widespread popular protests across Iran in 2022, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for not wearing her veil in accordance with the country’s strict laws.
“The Academy must reconsider its partnership with Farabi due to doubts about the integrity of their selections. Independent filmmakers face severe repercussions, including imprisonment and bans, for not aligning with the regime’s propaganda,” said the IIFMA.
The statement comes just days after news broke that filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha were continuing to be politically persecuted for their film My Favorite Cake, which world premiered in Berlin earlier this year after the directors defied pressure from the authorities to withdraw the film.
The pair, who were slapped with a travel ban last the spring, had their passports returned over the summer but found themselves grounded again in early September as they tried to fly to Sweden where Moghadam has family and also holds nationality.
Other directors caught in the crosshairs of the Iranian authorities in recent years include Ali Ahmadzadeh, who was also stopped from traveling after he refused to pull his film Critical Zone from Locarno, where it won the Golden Leopard, and Saeed Roustayi, who was sentenced to six months in jail in 2023 for showing his film Leila’s Brothers in Cannes without permission, sparking protests from the likes of Martin Scorsese.
My Favorite Cake is among a raft of Iranian features to have played to acclaim on the international festival circuit this year but not taken into consideration by Farabi to be Iran’s 2025 Oscar entry because they do not meet with government approval.
They also include Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which has since been selected to represent Germany, where the director is currently living in exile having fled a harsh flogging and prison sentence there.
“Despite acclaim at international festivals, these filmmakers are denied the chance to showcase their work at the Academy Awards. It is crucial for the Academy to acknowledge the censorship in Iran and support independent filmmakers,” continued the IIFMA statement.
“The Academy should reevaluate its association with Farabi and advocate for the representation of these filmmakers at the Oscars. The time for action is now to promote artistic freedom and human rights on a global platform,” it concluded.
In the backdrop, IIFMA’s statement adds to a separate, but related, call to AMPAS to create an entry into the best international feature film category giving representation to exiled filmmakers, in a similar way in which the International Olympics Committee has gotten behind a refugee team made up of exiled sports people.
Algeria has selected Chakib Taleb-Bendiab’s child kidnapping thriller “Algiers” as its entry in the 2025 Oscars international feature race.
Inspired by true events, the film is set against the backdrop of collective scars left by the country’s 1992-2002 civil war, known as the Black Decade. It turns on the kidnapping of a young girl that creates tension and suspicion in the Algerian capital. Only Dounia, a brilliant psychiatrist, and Sami, a police inspector, can unearth the demons of the past,” reads the film’s official synopsis.
“Algiers” is the first feature by Bendiab, a writer/director and composer whose short “Black Spirits” – an African Samurai tale set in the Tunisian Sahara performed by French and Japanese actors – made a splash on the fest circuit.
It was chosen to represent Algeria in the Oscars race by a committee within the country’s culture ministry. The ministry in a statement praised “Algiers” as “a major step toward the recognition of the country’s burgeoning film industry on the global stage.”
Taleb-Bendiab in a statement said he “envisioned this film as a raw, human portrayal, faithful to the realities of Algerian life, observed through the lens of a thriller— a genre rarely showcased from our country in the West.”
“Algiers” is a co-production between Algeria, Tunisia, France and Canada. Khaled Chikhi, of Algeria’s Temple Production, is the lead producer; Yasmine Dhoukar (Clandestino) is the Tunisian co-producer; and Canadian filmmaker Patricia Chica (Flirt Films) serves as executive producer.
Mad World represents “Algiers” for international sales.
Palestine: ‘From Ground Zero’
The Palestinian Ministry of Culture has selected anthology film “From Ground Zero” to represent Palestine as its entry in the 2025 Oscars international feature race.
A compilation of 22 short films shot by filmmakers inside the Gaza Strip during the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “From Ground Zero” was spawned by Gaza-born director Rashid Masharawi who founded the Masharawi Fund to give internally displaced artists a platform to express their personal stories amidst the war’s devastation.
Masharawi worked alongside French production company Coorigine Productions and producer Laura Nikolov, who coordinated all the groups in Gaza, receiving the material, and supervising the post-production process.
“From Ground Zero” recently made its North American debut at the Toronto Film Festival.
Nepal: ‘Shambala’
Nepal has selected “Shambhala” as its Oscar entry in the international feature film category.
Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” – a mystic, sacred realm in Tibetan Buddhism, also an area of significance in Hinduism, which means a place of peace – begins in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where pregnant Pema faces scrutiny as her first husband Tashi vanishes on a trade trip to Lhasa. Accompanied by her de facto husband, the monk Karma, she embarks on a journey to find him, evolving her quest into self-discovery and liberation.
The film debuted at the Berlinale and has since played at Sydney, Karlovy Vary and Locarno. It is a Shooney Films (Nepal) production in co-production with CDP (France), Ape&Bjørn (Norway), Aaru Production (Hong Kong), ZK Films (Turkey), Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao (Taiwan) Bangdel and Shakya Production (U.S.).
Bham’s 2012 short “Bhansulli” debuted at Venice. His debut feature “Kalo Pothi” (aka “The Black Hen,” 2015) won the Fedeora best film award at Venice Critics’ Week and became Nepal’s official Oscar entry. The film, produced by Bham, reunites him with his “Kalo Pothi” producer Catherine Dussart, who serves as co-producer alongside Verona Meier, Shuk Fong Chong, Zeynep Koray, Justine O. Bibhakar and Sunder Shakya, with Debaki Rai, Liao Ching-Sung, Roger Huang, Ruben Thorkildsen, Can Aygor and Salina Shakya as executive producers and Rajesh Prasad Khatri, Jeremy Chua and Lee Chi Lin as associate producers.
Kenya: ‘Nawi’
Kenya has selected “Nawi,” which explores the issue of child marriage in rural Africa, as its Oscar entry in the international feature film category.
The film centers on Nawi, whose aspirations of attending high school are shattered when she learns that her father Eree plans to marry her off to a stranger. Despite her family’s need for the bride-price – livestock – Nawi refuses to accept her fate. Her ally in this struggle is her brother, Joel.
The film is directed by Toby Schmutzler, Kevin Schmutzler, Vallentine Chelluget and Apuu Mourine. It is written by Milcah Cherotich. It is produced by Lydia Wrensch, Caroline Heim and Brizan Were. Executive producers are Ludwig Bayern, Steven Haft, Katja Eichinger and Matthias Rosenberger.
The production companies are FilmCrew Media, Startup Lions Assets Kenya and Baobab Pictures.
Senegal: ‘Dahomey’
“Dahomey,” Mati Diop’s immersive documentary that won the Berlinale’s prestigious Golden Bear, has been selected as Senegal’s entry to the 2025 Oscars international feature race.
According to its official synopsis, “Dahomey” explores “real perspectives on far-reaching issues surrounding appropriation, self-determination and restitution. Set in November 2021, the film charts 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey that are due to leave Paris and return to their country of origin: the present-day Republic of Benin. Using multiple perspectives, Diop questions how these artifacts should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence.”
After holding its North American premiere at TIFF, “Dahomey” will screen at Camden International Film Festival and New York Film Festival before debuting in U.S. theaters on Oct. 18.
“Dahomey” is written and directed by Diop with cinematography by Josephine Drouin Viallard and editing by Gabriel Gonzalez. Diop, Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy produce alongside executive producers Christiane Chabi Kao and Cotonou. Les Films du Losange is handling international sales.
Georgia: ‘The Antique’
Georgia has selected “The Antique,” a drama about the 2006 expulsion of thousands of Georgian nationals from Russia, as its contender for the Academy Awards best international feature film prize.
The film was directed by Rusudan Glurjidze and is structured as a coproduction involving Georgia’s Cinetech, the Czech Republic’s Cinetrain, Iceland’s Whitepoint Digital and Germany’s Basia Berlin Filmproduction. International sales are handled by MPM International.
The Oscar selection was made by a special committee within Georgia’s National Film Center.
The film had its world premiere at the recent Venice film festival, where its initial screenings were threatened by claims of copyright infringement by Russian and Croatian companies.
Belgium: ‘Julie Keeps Quiet’
Leonardo Van Dijl’s “Julie Keeps Quiet” has been selected as Belgium’s entry in the contest for the international feature film category of the 97th Academy Awards.
“Julie Keeps Quiet” focuses on a star player at an elite tennis academy, whose life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet…
Van Dijl’s debut feature premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, where it won both the Prix SACD and the Prix Fondation GAN. It made its North American premiere in Toronto’s Centrepiece section. Upcoming screenings include Busan and London film festivals.
Tennis champion Naomi Osaka is executive producing the movie through her company Hana Kuma. The cinematography is by Nicolas Karakatsanis (“Cruella,” “I, Tonya”) and the score is by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.
The film has been sold by New Europe Film Sales to nearly 30 territories, with deals for North America and Japan expected to close soon.
The film is produced by Gilles De Schryver, Gilles Coulier, Wouter Sap, Roxanne Sarkozi for De Wereldvrede (Belgium), and co-produced by Delphine Tomson, Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne for Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium), Nima Yousefi for Hobab (Sweden) and Kristina Börjeson and Anthony Muir for Film i Väst (Sweden).
Executive producers are Federica Sainte-Rose and Florian Zeller for Blue Morning Pictures and Naomi Osaka and Stuart Duguid for Hana Kuma. The film was supported by The Flemish Audiovisual Fund, the Centre du Cinema et de l’audiovisuel of the French community in Belgium, the Belgian Tax Shelter, Proximus, New Dawn and Film i Väst.
Van Dijl is repped by 2AM, Ken Lambrechts, CAA and Granderson Des Rochers.
Slovenia: ‘Family Therapy’
Slovenia has selected Sonja Prosenc’s “Family Therapy” as its submission to the Oscars best international film race.
“Family Therapy” follows a seemingly perfect family whose life is thrown into disarray when a young stranger arrives, exposing their hidden fears, flaws and dreams, and unraveling the deep-seated dysfunction in their relationships. It stars Mila Bezjak, Aliocha Schneider, Marko Mandić and Katarina Stegnar.
In a statement, the country’s Oscar jury said the film “addresses the current theme of the hedonistic elite in the modern world, who live their safe and untouchable lives under a glass dome. The film skillfully intertwines the complex dynamics of relationships between the inner and outer worlds, the spiritual and the physical. Through an innovative combination of expressive means, at a high production level, and with the right balance of comedy and tragedy, the creators have succeeded in breaking through the seemingly protective glass that once shielded us from the intrusion of raw reality.”
In an interview with Variety, Prosenc said the film came to be because she was “wondering about this dissonance between our values and our actions, when we are confronted with something in real life.”
Of her main characters, she said: “I think they feel completely disconnected from the rest of society. And they want to feel disconnected. This is a very contemporary state of society in Slovenia. And, of course, worldwide.”
Hungary: ‘Semmelweis’
Lajos Koltai’s period biopic “Semmelweis,” about a Hungarian doctor best known for introducing antiseptic procedures at Vienna’s maternity clinic, has been selected as the Hungarian entry for the best international film category of the Academy Awards.
Koltai was nominated for an Oscar for the cinematography of 2001’s “Malena.”
“Semmelweis,” sold by NFI World Sales, has become the highest grossing Hungarian movie in theaters in five years, attracting more than 350,000 viewers and grossing more than $2 million since its November 2023 release.
Taking place in 19th century’s Vienna, the film tells the story of Ignac Semmelweis, a short-tempered but passionate Hungarian doctor, who delivers babies and carries out autopsies on a daily basis whilst looking for the cause of puerperal fever, the mysterious epidemic that decimates patients in the hospital.
Semmelweis’ boss prohibits him from conducting research into the subject and blocks him at every turn. He also makes a young midwife, Emma Hoffmann, spy on him. However, the relationship between Semmelweis and Emma develops into a romance. When Semmelweis discovers the cause and prevention of the maternity fever, half of his peers discredit him, yet he carries on with the fight to prove his theory at all costs.
Koltai said, “Semmelweis’ life is an example for all of us: a man who always, in all circumstances, followed his own path with a courage that defied death, which could not be diverted by hatred or violence. I wanted to show the viewers that it can be done: Perseverance, determination, dedication and passion bear fruit.”
The film’s leading role is played by young talent Miklós H. Vecsei, playing opposite Katica Nagy. “Semmelweis” was written by Balázs Maruszki. The cinematographer was András Nagy. Music was composed by Attila Pacsay. “Semmelweis” was produced by Tamás Lajos, Szupermodern Filmstúdió and Joe Vida, and was supported by Hungary’s National Film Institute.
Koltai’s film is the third about the life of the physician, after André de Toth’s 1940 biopic and Frigyes Bán’s “Semmelweis,” released in 1952.
The Oscar selection committee included Csaba Káel, government commissioner for the development of the Hungarian motion picture industry and chairman of the National Film Institute, editor Gabriella Koncz, dramaturge-director György Lukácsy, Emil Novák, cinematographer-director and chairman of the Hungarian Film Academy, Ákos Pesti, producer, Zsuzsanna Sipos, Oscar-winning set decorator (“Dune”), and Csilla Szabó, dramaturge.
Czech Republic: ‘Waves’
The Czech Republic has selected drama film “Waves” as its contender for the best international film category of the Oscars. Written and directed by Jiri Madl, the film is set during the 1968 Soviet Invasion of the country and depicts the fact-based story of a group of journalists from the international service of Czechoslovak Radio who were determined to keep independent news flowing.
The film had its premiere at the Karlovy Vary festival and picked up the audience award. It had its commercial release in Czech theaters from Aug. 15 via Bonton, and attracted over 400,000 admissions.
The selection was made by the Czech Film and Television Academy.
The film’s international sales are being handled by Urban Sales.
Cambodia: ‘Meeting With Pol Pot’
Rithy Panh’s “Meeting With Pol Pot” has been selected to represent Cambodia in the best international film section of the Oscars. While based partially on real events (and on the writings of American war journalist Elizabeth Becker), it crafts a fictitious tale of three French journalists attempting to interview Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in 1978. The film premiered in May at the Cannes film festival and had an official release in Cambodia on Aug. 9.
The selection was made by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and announced by the Department of Film and Cultural Diffusion.
Morocco: ‘Everybody Loves Touda’
Morocco has selected Nabil Ayouch’s “Everybody Loves Touda” as its candidate for the best international film Oscar.
The film tells the story of a young poet and singer steeped in an ancient Moroccan form of folk song called aita, but forced to perform trashy pop songs in bars filled with abusive men.
“Everybody Loves Touda,” launched in May out-of-competition from the Cannes Film Festival. MK2 Films is handling international sales.
Ayouch produced “The Blue Caftan,” directed by Maryam Touzani, which in 2023 became the first Moroccan film to ever make it to the Oscars shortlist.
South Korea: ‘12.12.: The Day‘
South Korea has picked “12.12.: The Day” an historical, political action drama as its national contender for the best international film Oscar. The film, dealing with a military coup in 1979, was the highest grossing film of last year at the Korean box office and the decision to select it for the Oscars was a unanimous one, the Korean Film Council (Kofic) said.
Directed by Kim Sung-su, the film was released in November last year.
Japan: ‘The Cloud’
Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s “Cloud” has been selected as Japan’s submission for the best international film in the Oscars race. The film will appear out of competition this week at the Venice film festival.
The film is a thriller centered around a young man who resells goods online and who triggers a series of online incidents. These blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.
Despite having long been one of a triumvirate of top Japanese directors (along with Kore-eda Hirokazu and Kawase Naomi), Kurosawa has not previously had one of his films selected for an Oscar run.
Japan has scored strongly at the Oscars. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has won the best foreign film Oscar twice (for “Departures” and “Drive My Car”) and had one make the shortlist (“Confessions”) and two additional nominations (“Shoplifters” and last year’s “Perfect Days.)
International sales are handled by Nikkatsu.
Kyrgyzstan: ‘Heaven Is Beneath Mother’s Feet’
“Heaven Is Beneath Mother’s Feet” (aka “Beyish Enenin Tamanynda”) will represent Kyrgyzstan in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. The Oscar selection was made by the Union of Cinematographers of Kyrgyzstan.
The film is directed by Ruslan Akun and is the story of an adult man whose mental development stopped at age 8 and who continues to live with his mother. In order to make sure that his mother can go to heaven, he takes her by foot on a journey to Mecca.
Last year the Kyrgyzstan submission was ruled to be ineligible as it had released before the qualifying period. No replacement film was offered. “Heaven is Beneath Mother’s Feet” opened in Kyrgyzstan cinemas in March 2024 and has subsequently released in Russia and Uzbekistan.
Germany: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’
Germany has decided to submit Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” which received the special jury prize at Cannes Film Festival, for its Oscar entry. Rasoulof attended the fest while in exile in Germany from his home country of Iran, which had sentenced him to eight years in prison for the political content of his films.
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” follows a man (Misagh Zareh), who has “just been promoted to be an investigating judge at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran when a huge protest movement sweeps the country following the death of a young woman,” its synopsis reads. “Although the demonstrations increase and the state cracks down with ever tougher measures, Iman decides to side with the regime, upsetting the balance of his family.”
In a statement, Germany’s Oscar committee called the film “a psychological portrait of Iran’s theocracy which is built on violence and paranoia. Mohammad Rasoulof subtly tells of the cracks within a family that are representative of those within Iranian society itself. A masterfully directed and movingly acted film that finds scenes that stay with you. The two rebellious daughters symbolize the courageous women of Iran and their self-sacrificing struggle against the patriarchs of their families and their state. It is an outstanding work by one of the great directors of world cinema and someone who has found refuge in Germany from state despotism in Iran. We are very happy to know that Rasoulof is safe in our country. And we are delighted that he will be representing Germany at the Oscars in 2025.”
Neon is releasing “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in the U.S.
Lithuania: ‘Drowning Dry’
Laurynas Bareiša’s “Seses” (Drowning Dry), which won best director in the international competition and best performance award for the film’s four leads at Locarno Film Festival on Saturday, has been selected by Lithuania as its Oscar entry.
In the film, Ernesta, her husband Lukas, and her son, together with her sister Juste’s family, are spending the weekend at a country house after Lukas’s victory in a mixed martial arts tournament. The families are swimming in a nearby lake, having dinner, discussing family finances. After an accident, the sisters become single mothers. The film follows the sisters’ life in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The structurally complex, narratively splintered drama marks a confident step forward for Lithuanian cinematographer turned director Bareiša, whose debut “Pilgrims” triumphed in Venice’s Horizons competition in 2021.
The producer is Klementina Remeikaitė for Afterschool Production of Lithuania and the co-producer is Matīss Kaža for Trickster Pictures of Latvia.
International sales are handled by Alpha Violet.
Uruguay: ‘Hay una puerta ahí’
Uruguay has submitted Juan Ponce de León and Facundo Ponce de León’s debut feature documentary “Hay una puerta ahí,” to the the best international feature category of the 97th Academy Awards.
“Hay una puerta ahí” documents the beginning of a friendship between two older men, with one helping the other to die. For nine months, Fernando and Enric recorded every conversation they shared about the subject, conversations had entirely through video chat during the pandemic.
With a slight “The Odd Couple” vibe, Fernando logs on to video chat from a hospital bed, often with a cigarette between his lips, while Enric sits in a well-kept home office. Fernando’s family makes sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes uplifting cameos as together, they face the end of their patriarch’s life.
The film, produced by Mueca Films in Uruguay and A Contracoriente Films in Spain, screened in San Sebastian’s Made in Spain sidebar in 2023 and in Malaga’s special selections section for documentaries.
“Hay una puerta ahí”
Credit: Malaga Film Festvial
Taiwan: ‘Old Fox’
Taiwan has selected multi-award-winning drama film “Old Fox” as its representative in the best international feature category of the 97th Academy Awards. The island’s Ministry of Culture says that it selected “Old Fox” from 14 candidate films.
Directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan, the film tells the morally-conflicted tale of an 11-year-old boy from a modest background. He is torn between the hardscrabble and penny-pinching life of his single-parent father and the allure of a neighborhood landlord, who offers riches and lessons in streetwise pragmatism.
The central performances of child star Bai Run-jin (who previously appeared in “Dear Tennant”) and writer-actor Akio Chen elevate the triangular relationship into a prize-winning effort. The picture had its premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival before becoming the numerical winner at Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Horse Film Awards the following month. While it missed out on the best film prize, “Old Fox” collected four prizes including best director and best supporting actor for Chen.
“Old Fox”
BIT Production
Latvia: ‘Flow’
Latvia has selected Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow” as its entry in the best international feature category of the 97th Academy Awards. The animated feature had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and won four prizes at Annecy.
Sideshow and Janus Films acquired North American rights to the film out of Cannes and are planning a theatrical release this year.
At Annecy, “Flow” won the Audience Award, the Jury Award, the special prize for original music and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution. It will also screen at the Toronto Film Festival next month.
“Flow” follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet.
The film was co-written by Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza, with a score by Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe. It was produced by Zilbalodis and Kaza, alongside Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman. The international sales agent is Charades.
Zilbalodis’ “Away” won the Contrechamp Award for Best Film at Annecy in 2019.
Latvia’s selection was made by the Latvian Selection Committee, a commission of film industry experts established by the National Film Center.
“Flow”
Janus Films / Sideshow
Austria: ‘The Devil’s Bath’
“The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller which competed at the Berlin Film Festival, has been submitted by Austria as its official Oscar entry for the international feature film race. The film picked up the Silver Bear for best cinematography (for Martin Gschlacht) at the Berlinale.
The film is directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind “Goodnight Mommy,” which bowed at Venice and also represented Austria in the Oscar race.
Set in rural Austria in 1750, the film centres on Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world, which is devoid of emotion and limited to chores and expectations. A pious and highly sensitive woman, Agnes falls into a deep depression, before committing a shocking act of violence that she sees as the only way out of her inner prison.
The movie is being handled by Shudder in North America. The streamer also picked it up for the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It’s been sold around the world by Playtime.
“The Devil’s Bath” was produced by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, in co-production with Heimatfilm and Coop99 Filmproduktion.
Courtesy of Shudder
“The Devil’s Bath”
Ireland: ‘Kneecap’
Ireland has submitted “Kneecap” to represent the country in the Oscars international feature film category.
The film became a sensation in Sundance, where it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, and has been amassing plaudits at festivals around the world over the last few months.
From writer-director Rich Peppiatt, “Kneecap” is a raucous semi-autobiographical comedy about the wildly outspoken and hard-partying Northern Irish hip-hop trio of the same name.
“Kneecap” was produced by Trevor Birney and Jack Tarling for Fine Point Films and Mother Tongues Films, with Patrick O’Neill at Wildcard acting as co-producer.
Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí and Móglaí Bap in “Kneecap”
Helen Sloan
Jimmy Kimmel received a Creative Arts Emmy Award for “Outstanding Variety Special (Live)” this evening for hosting the Oscars in 2023. He’s hosted a total of four times, could the shiny new statuette convince him to host a fifth?
“No, the die has been cast,” said Kimmel with a laugh.
The late-night host declined to repeat the gig at the next Academy Awards due to the time commitment preparing for Hollywood’s biggest night. Neither Kimmel nor comedian John Mulaney accepted an offer to host for 2025 with no one else confirmed as of now.
Though he did not address whether hosting duties were completely off the table indefinitely, he has previously said if he returned for next year’s celebration it would’ve been three back-to-back years which was too overwhelming for his schedule both professionally and personally.
In the meantime, Kimmel remains focused on working on his eponymous late-night show ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! as the industry landscape is rapidly changing. On Friday, it was announced that NBC’sThe Tonight Show will no longer have original episodes airing 5 nights a week. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers already scaled back to four nights of originals a week starting this season.
“As a group, we have a text chain of all the late-night hosts and we sent all of our congratulations to Jimmy Fallon for getting Friday off,” Kimmel shared backstage. “There is no future for late-night,” he added as the room erupted with laughter.
The 97th Academy Awards have yet to land a host, though it’s not for lack of trying.
ABC is said to have made offers to both Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney, both of whom passed on the opportunity, as first reported by Puck News. Fortunately for the Academy and its host network, there’s still plenty of time, with the Oscars not slated to air until Sunday, March 2.
The first outreach had gone to Kimmel, its late-night host, who’s already emceed the Academy Awards four times, including the last two years. (Ironically, his statement upon accepting the offer in 2023 read: “I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times.”) Nevertheless, he was the obvious choice, in large part because his last foray was widely praised and because he’s already part of the Disney family. But Kimmel ultimately said no, as he reportedly did hosting this year’s Emmy awards, which will also be carried on ABC.
The decision may come as a surprise to those who know Kimmel to ultimately say yes to most major gigs in the name of being a good partner. After all, he’s hosted the Emmys for ABC three times, he makes an annual appearance as roast master at the Disney upfront and he keeps re-upping his late night contract despite hemming and hawing about being done. But he’s also been vocal in recent years about his desire to have more balance in his life, which played into his decision to take the summers off at Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Mulaney, arguably a sexier if riskier bet, came next. His name has been bandied about as a potential host ever since he won over the Oscar crowd at the Governors Awards earlier this year. In fact, many saw that non-televised gig as an audition of sorts, during which Mulaney clearly passed. (Vulture went so far as to publish a piece titled, Let John Mulaney Host Everything.) The year prior, Mulaney had been asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he would ever consider hosting the Oscars. “Sure, why not?” he replied. “It would be really fun. It’s hosting the Academy Awards. Johnny Carson did that.”
And while the comic addressed the possibly more recently, telling THR in June that he “wouldn’t necessarily say no”; in the end, he decided to pass for this year. (Don’t bother asking about the year after since he insists he doesn’t plan more three months in advance.) Though hosting the Oscars is a prestigious opportunity and still a major platform, it’s also a massive, months-long and often thankless undertaking. Plus, Mulaney would have had to give up other opportunities, including another likely (and hugely lucrative) standup tour. So, it’s back to the drawing board for ABC and the Academy, which hasn’t had to run an extensive search for an Oscars host in years. ABC declined to comment for this story, and the Academy did not immediately respond.
The Academy is currently accepting general entries (best picture and other categories), animated features, animated shorts, documentary features, documentary shorts, international features, live action shorts, original scores and original songs.
Submissions are due on different dates between Aug. 15 and Nov. 14, depending on the submission’s category and the date of its qualifying run. (General entries, animated features, documentary features and short films of all sorts have two different due dates, one for submissions that qualified before July 1 and another for submissions that qualified on or after that date.)
The 97th Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Early contenders include spring indie Challengers; summer blockbuster Inside Out 2; Cannes standouts Anora, Emilia Pérez and The Substance; and Sing Sing, a drama that opens in theaters today.
The 2024 Oscars, which took place this past March, saw Oppenheimer named best picture and win six other awards including best director (Christopher Nolan), best actor (Cillian Murphy) and best supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.). Best actress went to Poor Things‘ Emma Stone and best supporting actress was won by The Holdovers‘ Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is extending invitations to 487 to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer. If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members.
This year’s list across 19 branches include 2024 Oscar winners Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers; Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington and production design team James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek; 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov, War Is Over! producer Brad Booker; The Zone of Interest sound duo Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn; the Godzilla Minus One VFX team Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Takashi Yamazaki; American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson; and Anatomy of a Fall writing duo Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.
Jefferson and Triet are among eight names on the list who were invited to more than one branch (noted in the list below with asterisks); invitees must select one branch to join.
Other notables include Killers of the Flower Moon Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone; SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland; Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.; John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski; and the Past Lives trio of Celina Song, Greta Lee and Teo Yoo. Song is also a multi-branch nominee (Writers and Directors).
“We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of new members to the Academy,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang today. “These remarkably talented artists and professionals from around the world have made a significant impact on our filmmaking community.”
The Academy said the 2024 class is made up of 44% who identify as women, while 41% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 56% are from 56 countries and territories outside U.S. A total of 71 Oscar nominees and 19 winners are among the invitees to AMPAS’ 19 branches.
The 487 new members for this year is up from the 398 invited in 2023. The record for most invitees came in 2018, when 928 were asked amid the Academy’s overhaul of its rolls as it focused on diversifying its membership.
See below for the full list of 2024 invitees:
Actors
Jessica Alba – “Machete,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City” Erika Alexander – “American Fiction,” “30 Years to Life” Swann Arlaud – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Bloody Milk” Shabana Azmi – “Godmother,” “Arth” Obba Babatunde – “City of Lies,” “The Manchurian Candidate” Saleh Bakri – “The Blue Caftan,” “The Band’s Visit” Stephanie Beatriz – “Encanto,” “In the Heights” Danielle Brooks – “The Color Purple,” Clemency” Tia Carrere – “True Lies,” “Wayne’s World” Sergio Castellitto – “Don’t Move,” “My Mother’s Smile” Alfredo Castro – “El Conde,” “Tony Manero” Jason Clarke – “Oppenheimer,” “Zero Dark Thirty” Kate Del Castillo – “Under the Same Moon,” “American Visa” Gang Dong-won – “Broker,” “Peninsula” Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Unknown Country” Rachel House – “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “Boy” Sandra Hüller – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest” Maeve Jinkings – “Toll,” “Neon Bull” Greta Lee – “Past Lives,” “Gemini” Kate Mara – “Megan Leavey,” “The Martian” Dash Mihok – “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Thin Red Line” Catherine O’Hara – “For Your Consideration,” “Best in Show” Da’Vine Joy Randolph – “The Holdovers,” “Dolemite Is My Name” Fiona Shaw – “The Last September,” “The Butcher Boy” Qi Shu – “The Assassin,” “Three Times” D.B. Sweeney – “Dinosaur,” “Eight Men Out” Jasmine Trinca – “Fortunata,” “Honey” Koji Yakusho – “Perfect Days,” “The Blood of Wolves” Teo Yoo – “Past Lives,” “Vertigo”
Casting Directors
Dixie Chassay – “Dune: Part Two,” “Poor Things” Kharmel Cochrane – “Saltburn,” “The Northman” Angela Demo – “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Jennifer Euston – “American Fiction,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” Rene Haynes – “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Revenant” Gayle Keller – “Bros,” “The King of Staten Island” Moira Miller – “A Fantastic Woman,” “The Green Inferno” Masunobu Motokawa – “Perfect Days,” “The Wandering Moon” Ulrike Müller – “Ghost Trail,” “Scorched Earth” Elsa Pharaon – “A Silence,” “Holy Motors” Alejandro Reza – “Noche de Bodas,” “Gringo” Luis Rosales – “Cassandro,” “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” Limor Shmila – “The Vanishing Soldier,” “The Stronghold” Rebecca van Unen – “Sweet Dreams,” “Quo Vadis, Aida?” Chamutal Zerem – “Karaoke,” “Foxtrot”
Cinematographers
Eric Branco – “Story Ave,” “The Forty-Year-Old Version” Chananun Chotrungroj – “Birth/Rebirth,” “The Trapped 13: How We Survived the Thai Cave” Matthew Chuang – “You Won’t Be Alone,” “Blue Bayou” Andrew Commis – “Blueback,” “Babyteeth” Ashley Connor – “Polite Society,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” Josée Deshaies – “The Beast,” “Passages” Alex Disenhof – “Alice,” “Captive State” Jomo Fray – “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” “Port Authority” Damián García – “Jungleland,” “I’m No Longer Here” Magdalena Górka – “Die in a Gunfight,” “An Ordinary Man” Ryuto Kondo – “Monster,” “A Man” Dariela Ludlow Deloya – “A Million Miles Away,” “Prayers for the Stolen” Catherine Lutes – “Close to You,” “Mouthpiece” Aurélien Marra – “L’Homme Debout,” “Two of Us” Igor Meglic – “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Fast X” Crescenzo Giacomo Notarile – “Bullet,” “Moonwalker” Sophia Olsson – “Charter,” “Echo” Yerkinbek Ptyraliyev – “Yellow Cat,” “Karinca” Jamie Ramsay – “All of Us Strangers,” “Living” Nanu Segal – “Emily,” “Donkey Punch” Hidetoshi Shinomiya – “Drive My Car,” “The Town of Headcounts” Jigme Tenzing – “The Monk and the Gun,” “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” Ravi Varman – “Japan,” “Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two” Maria von Hausswolff – “Godland,” “A White, White Day” Sophie Winqvist – “Clara Sola,” “Pleasure”
Costume Designers
Dave Crossman – “Napoleon,” “1917” Mario D’Avignon – “Midway,” “Hochelaga, Land of Souls” Anne Dixon – “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” “The Song of Names” Jürgen Doering – “Personal Shopper,” “Clouds of Sils Maria” Leesa Evans – “Always Be My Maybe,” “Bridesmaids” Gabriela Fernández – “I’m No Longer Here,” “Cantinflas” Małgorzata Karpiuk – “The Zone of Interest,” “Quo Vadis, Aida?” Kazuko Kurosawa – “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai,” “Silk” Ann Maskrey – “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Mona May – “Enchanted,” “Clueless” Rama Rajamouli – “RRR,” “Baahubali: The Beginning” Sheetal Sharma – “Gangubai Kathiawadi,” “Kesari” Preeyanan “Lin” Suwannathada – “The Creator,” “Buffalo Boys” Jill Taylor – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” “My Week with Marilyn” Mónica Toschi – “A Ravaging Wind,” “Argentina, 1985” Holly Waddington – “Poor Things,” “Lady Macbeth” Khadija Zeggaï – “Passages,” “Love Crime”
Directors
Fede Álvarez – “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” “Don’t Breathe” Kyle Patrick Alvarez – “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” “C.O.G.” Lila Avilés – “Totem,” “The Chambermaid” Jamie Babbit – “The Stand-In,” “But I’m a Cheerleader” Minhal Baig – “We Grown Now,” “Hala” Bahrām Beyzaie* – “When We Are All Asleep,” “Killing Mad Dogs” Jayro Bustamente – “La Llorona,” “Tremors” Steven Caple Jr. – “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” “Creed II” İlker Çatak* – “The Teachers’ Lounge,” “I Was, I Am, I Will Be” Ayoka Chenzira – “Alma’s Rainbow” Justin Chon – “Blue Bayou,” “Ms. Purple” Rima Das – “Tora’s Husband,” “Village Rockstars” JD Dillard – “Devotion,” “Sweetheart” Alice Diop – “Saint Omer,” “We” Sally El Hosaini – “Unicorns,” “The Swimmers” Leslie Harris – “Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.” Cord Jefferson* – “American Fiction” S.S. Rajamouli – “RRR,” “Eega” Boots Riley – “Sorry to Bother You” Alex Rivera – “The Infiltrators,” “Sleep Dealer” A.V. Rockwell – “A Thousand and One” Juliana Rojas – “Good Manners,” “Necropolis Symphony” Emma Seligman – “Bottoms,” “Shiva Baby” Celine Song* – “Past Lives” Angel Manuel Soto – “Blue Beetle,” “Charm City Kings” Justine Triet* – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Sibyl” Anand Kumar Tucker – “The Critic,” “Leap Year” David Yates – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” Susan Youssef – “Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf,” “Habibi Rasak Kharban”
Documentary
Trish Adlesic – “The ABCs of Book Banning,” “Gasland” Daniela Alatorre – “A Cop Movie,” “Midnight Family” Waad Al-Kateab – “We Dare to Dream,” “For Sama” Anne Alvergue – “The Martha Mitchell Effect,” “Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn” Raed Andoni – “Ghost Hunting,” “Fix Me” Alethea Arnaquq-Baril – “Twice Colonized,” “Angry Inuk” Mila Aung-Thwin – “Let There Be Light,” “Last Train Home” Tina Baz – “Adolescents,” “Fix Me” Jorge Bodanzky – “The Amazon, a New Minamata?,” “Third Millennium” Moses Bwayo – “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” Caryn Capotosto – “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Nadim Cheikhrouha* – “Four Daughters,” “Benda Bilili!” Mstyslav Chernov – “20 Days in Mariupol” Michael Collins – “Almost Sunrise,” “Give Up Tomorrow” Flávia de Souza – “Aftershock,” “Open Heart” Jeanie Finlay – “Your Fat Friend,” “Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth” Beadie Finzi – “Only When I Dance,” “Unknown White Male” Ellen Goosenberg Kent – “Torn Apart: Separated at the Border,” “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” Sky Hopinka – “Kicking the Clouds,” “Malni: Towards the Ocean, towards the Shore” José Joffily – “A Symphony for a Common Man,” “Foreign Soldier” Rachel Lears – “To the End,” “Knock Down the House” Rebecca Lichtenfeld – “The Eternal Memory,” “The Nightcrawlers” Sergei Loznitsa – “Babi Yar. Context,” “Mr. Landsbergis” Aïcha Macky – “Zinder,” “The Fruitless Tree” Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala – “Delikado,” “Call Her Ganda” Elaine McMillion Sheldon – “King Coal,” “Heroin(e)” Mark Mitten – “A Compassionate Spy,” “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” Vincent Moloi – “Skulls of My People,” “Men of Gold” Nisha Pahuja – “To Kill a Tiger,” “The World before Her” Pola Rapaport – “Addicted to Life,” “Broken Meat” RaMell Ross – “Easter Snap,” “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” Ousmane Samassekou – “The Last Shelter,” “The Heirs of the Hill” Frédéric Tcheng – “Invisible Beauty,” “Halston” Jennifer Tiexiera – “Subject,” “P.S. Burn This Letter Please” Hemal Trivedi – “Among the Believers,” “Saving Face” Christine Turner* – “The Barber of Little Rock,” “Lynching Postcards: “Token of a Great Day”” Keith Wilson – “Joonam,” “I Didn’t See You There”
Executives
Salma Abdalla Cate Adams Maya Amsellem Lenora del Pilar Ferrero Blanco Sasha Bühler Michelle Byrd Elaine Chin Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Paolo Del Brocco Gina Duncan Dan Friedkin Poppy Hanks Kate Hurwitz Iris Knobloch Tim League Sasha Lloyd Harvey Mason Jr. Daniela Michel Brittany Morrissey Brianna Oh Lejo Pet Areli Quirarte Matthew Reilly Chris Rice Ben Roberts Peter Safran Couper Samuelson Ellen Stutzman Fumiko Takagi Graham Taylor Emily Woodburne Kim Yutani
Film Editors
Timothy Alverson – “Halloween,” “Orphan” Michael Andrews* – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Shrek 2” Qutaiba Barhamji – “Four Daughters,” “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” Joseph Charles Bond – “Wildflower,” “The Man Who Knew Infinity” Victoria Boydell – “Saltburn,” “Rye Lane” Paul Carlin – “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “The Mystery of D.B. Cooper” Carlotta Cristiani – “The Inner Cage,” “Daughter of Mine” Cătălin Cristuțiu – “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,” “Poppy Field” Annette Davey – “Dreamin’ Wild,” “Together, Together” Amy Foote – “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” “The Work” Keith Fraase – “Past Lives,” “To the Wonder” Jo Francis – “Memory,” “Charming the Hearts of Men” Toni Froschhammer – “Perfect Days,” “Pina” Nassim Gordji-Tehrani – “Rosalie,” “The Wolf’s Call” Kaya Inan – “My Wonderful Wanda,” “In the Aisles” Lisa Lassek – “Leave the World Behind,” “Marvel’s The Avengers” Jaume Martí – “Society of the Snow,” “God’s Crooked Lines” Rie Matsubara – “The Boy and the Heron,” “When Marnie Was There” Mike Munn – “To Kill a Tiger,” “This Is Not a Movie” Darrin Navarro – “Summering,” “Tallulah” Mdhamiri Nkemi – “Blue Story,” “The Last Tree” Hilda Rasula – “American Fiction,” “Vengeance” Josh Schaeffer – “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Molly’s Game” Laurent Sénéchal – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle” Takeshi Seyama – “The Boy and the Heron,” “Spirited Away” Michelle Tesoro – “Maestro,” “On the Basis of Sex”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Ana Bulajić Črček – “Illyricvm,” “Number 55” Hildegard Haide – “Run to Ground,” “Extinction” Karen Hartley Thomas – “Golda,” “The Personal History of David Copperfield” Frédéric Lainé – “The Animal Kingdom,” “Benedetta”
Marketing and Public Relations
Michele Abitbol-Lasry Matt Johnson Apice Austin Barker Neil Bhatt Darnell Brisco Nasim Cambron Holly Connors Mauricio Azael Duran Ortega Stephen Garrett Christopher Gonzalez Andrea Grau Blair Green Carlos Alberto Gutiérrez Lisa Zaks Markowitz David Ninh Julien Noble Gitesh Pandya Michelle Paris Elaine Patterson Lonnie Snell Ray Subers Caren Quinn Thompson Jessica Thurber Hemingway Vilija Vitartas Stephanie Wenborn
Music
Michael K. Bauer – “Cassandro,” “The Equalizer 3” Stephen Bray – “The Color Purple,” “Psycho III” Anthony Chue – “Man on the Edge,” “G Storm” Gary M. Clark – “Flora and Son,” “Sing Street” Marius de Vries – “Navalny,” “CODA” Jerskin Fendrix – “Poor Things” Simon Franglen – “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Magnificent Seven” Jo Yeong-wook – “Decision to Leave,” “Hunt” Shari Johanson – “Maybe I Do,” “All Together Now” Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch – “All of Us Strangers,” “Living” Fabrizio Mancinelli – “Il Viaggio Leggendario,” “The Boat” Diego Navarro – “The Cuckoo’s Curse,” “The Wasteland” Martin Phipps – “Napoleon,” “The Princess” Plínio Profeta – “Desapega!,” “Nosso Sonho” Philippe Rombi – “Driving Madeleine,” “Joyeux Noël” David Sardy – “The Beekeeper,” “Zombieland” Katrina Marie Schiller – “Wonka,” “Black Mass” Carl Sealove – “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down,” “The Human Trial” Ryan Shore – “Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World,” “Zombie Town” Kubilay Uner – “American Traitor: The Trail of Axis Sally,” “Force of Nature” Dan Wilson – “American Symphony,” “Love Again”
Producers
Tom Ackerley – “Barbie,” “I, Tonya” Nadim Cheikhrouha* – “Four Daughters,” “The Man Who Sold His Skin” Jay Choi – “The Good the Bad the Weird,” “A Tale of Two Sisters” Jennifer Davisson – “Robin Hood,” “Live by Night” Fernanda De la Peza – “The Hole in the Fence,” “Robe of Gems” Simón de Santiago – “Regression,” “Agora” Diana Elbaum – “Hounds,” “Isn’t She Lovely?” Saïd Hamich Benlarbi – “Deserts,” “Return to Bollene” Alex Heineman – “Gunpowder Milkshake,” “The Commuter” Sandra Hermida – “Society of the Snow,” “Un Amor” John M. Jacobsen – “Trollhunter,” “Max Manus” David Koplan – “Spirited,” “Papillon” Ben LeClair – “American Fiction,” “Fair Play” Tatiana Leite – “Rule 34,” “Loveling” Agustina Llambí Campbell – “Argentina, 1985,” “The Wild Ones” Andrew Lowe – “Poor Things,” “Chevalier” Renata de Almeida Magalhães – “The Great Mystical Circus,” “The Greatest Love of All” Kaoru Matsuzaki – “Shoplifters,” “Like Father, Like Son” Kelly McCormick – “Bullet Train,” “Violent Night” Sarah Schechter – “My Policeman,” “Free Guy” Ritesh Sidhwani – “Gully Boy,” “Dil Chahta Hai” Leslie Urdang – “Rabbit Hole,” “Adam” Edward Vaisman – “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” “A Thousand and One” James Wilson – “The Zone of Interest,” “Under the Skin” María Zamora – “The Rye Horn,” “Alcarràs”
Production and Technology
Deva Anderson Keir Beck Nicholas Bergh Geoff Burdick Larry Chernoff Man-Nang Chong George Cottle Eddie Drake Shauna Duggins Jonathan Eusebio Clay Donahue Fontenot Kyle Gardiner Barrie Hemsley Joel C. High Susan Jacobs Renard T. Jenkins Joshua Levinson Larry McConkey David James McKimmie Samantha Jo “Mandy” Moore Kenny Ortega Prem Rakshith Chad Stahelski David Webb Woo-Ping Yuen
Production Design
Alain Bainée – “Society of the Snow,” “Official Competition” Annie Beauchamp – “Swan Song,” “Penguin Bloom” Ruth De Jong – “Oppenheimer,” “Nope” Douglas Dresser – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Finch” Emmanuelle Duplay – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Red Island” Warren Flanagan – “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” Lorin Flemming – “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Henry Fong – “Army of the Dead,” “A Wrinkle in Time” Jennifer Gentile – “Blue Beetle,” “Malignant” Shona Heath – “Poor Things” Sam Hutchins – “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” “Joker” Steven Jones-Evans – “Anyone but You,” “Carmen” Claire Kaufman – “Oppenheimer,” “White Noise” Carol Kupisz – “Napoleon,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Zsuzsa Mihalek – “Poor Things,” “Atomic Blonde” Edwin L. Natividad – “Blue Beetle,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Till Benjamin Nowak – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Black Panther” Chris Oddy – “The Zone of Interest,” “King of Thieves” Jenny Oman – “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” “The Green Knight” Adam O’Neill – “Chevalier,” “Empire of Light” James Price – “Poor Things,” “The Iron Claw” Peggy Pridemore – “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House,” “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” Scott Purcell – “Ambulance,” “A Quiet Place” Steve Saklad – “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.,” “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar” Rick Schuler – “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Once upon a Time…in Hollywood” Don Shank – “Elemental,” “Luca” Andrew M. Siegel – “The Fabelmans,” “Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” Tom Targownik Taylor – “Stand Up Guys,” “Little Fockers” Adam Willis – “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Marriage Story” Katia Wyszkop – “Peter von Kant,” “Une Jeune Fille Qui Va Bien” Milena Zdravkovic – “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”
Short Films and Feature Animation
Dan Abraham – “Once upon a Studio,” “Planes” Abigail Addison – “The Debutante,” “I’m OK” Michael Andrews* – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Megamind” Brad Booker – “WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” “The Book of Life” Samuel Caron – “Invincible,” “As Happy as Can Be” Nazrin Choudhury – “Red, White and Blue” Sarah Helen Cox – “Heavy Pockets,” “Plain Pleasures” Louie Del Carmen – “Luck,” “The Star” Kayla Galang – “When You Left Me on That Boulevard,” “Joan on the Phone” Amit R. Gicelter – “Letter to a Pig,” “Black Slide” Alan Hawkins – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” Atsuko Ishizuka – “Goodbye, Don Glees!,” “No Game No Life: Zero” Tal Kantor – “Letter to a Pig,” “In Other Words” Àlex Lora – “The Fourth Kingdom,” “Us” James Mansfield – “Zootopia,” “Hercules” Patrick Mate – “Smurfs: The Lost Village,” “Puss in Boots” Boris Mendza – “Bazigaga,” “Rise of a Star” Yegane Moghaddam – “Our Uniform,” “On the Cover” Maral Mohammadian – “Impossible Figures and Other Stories I,” “Shannon Amen” Mari Okada – “Maboroshi,” “Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms” Ryo Orikasa – “Miserable Miracle,” “Datum Point” Frank Passingham – “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Kubo and the Two Strings” Ülo Pikkov – “’Til We Meet Again,” “Empty Space” Rebecca Pruzan – “Lovesick,” “Ivalu” Troy Quane – “Nimona,” “Spies in Disguise” Vincent René-Lortie – “Invincible,” “The Man Who Traveled Nowhere in Time” Carlos Segundo – “Big Bang,” “Sideral” Pauline Seigland – “One and Thousand Nights,” “Little Hands” Shuzo Shiota – “Blame!,” “Muybridge’s String” Justin K. Thompson – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” Christine Turner* – “The Barber of Little Rock,” “Lynching Postcards: “Token of a Great Day”” Theodore Ty – “Nimona,” “Lilo & Stitch” Chie Uratani – “In This Corner of the World,” “Summer Wars” Viviane Vanfleteren – “Titina,” “The Secret of Kells” Atsushi Wada – “Bird in the Peninsula,” “The Great Rabbit” Virgil Widrich – “Fast Film,” “Copy Shop” Masaaki Yuasa – “Inu-Oh,” “Mind Game” Rayka Zehtabchi – “Are You Still There?,” “Period. End of Sentence.”
Sound
Gina R. Alfano – “Baby Ruby,” “You Hurt My Feelings” Manfred Banach – “Home Sweet Home – Where Evil Lives,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” Stephanie Brown – “Haunted Mansion,” “The Marvels” Johnnie Burn – “The Zone of Interest,” “Poor Things” Alexandra Fehrman – “American Fiction,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Linda Forsén – “Love Lies Bleeding,” “A House Made of Splinters” Lee Gilmore – “Dune: Part Two,” “The Batman” Glynna Grimala – “End of the Road,” “Father Stu” Loveday Harding – “Heart of Stone,” “The Batman” Brent Kiser – “The Lionheart,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Frédéric Le Louêt – “Only 3 Days Left,” “Alibi.com 2” Steven A. Levy – “Oppenheimer,” “Tenet” Kate Morath – “The Boys in the Boat,” “Belfast” Mark Purcell – “Maestro,” “Dune” Alejandro Quevedo – “Murder City,” “Radical” David M. Roberts – “The Killer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” Shelley Roden – “Elemental,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Jay Rubin – “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” “Master Gardener” Ian Voigt – “The Creator,” “The Hustle” Laura Wiest – “The Boogeyman,” “Sanctuary” Tarn Willers – “The Zone of Interest,” “Starve Acre” Linda Yeaney – “The Beekeeper,” “Interstellar”
Visual Effects
Gerardo Aguilera – “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Avengers: Endgame” Stephen Hugh Richard Clee – “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” Simone Coco – “Napoleon,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Ian Comley – “The Creator,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Tim Dobbert – “The Creator,” “Kong: Skull Island” Emile Ghorayeb – “Nope,” “Alita: Battle Angel” Michael Grobe – “Dune: Part Two,” “Fast X” Trevor Hazel – “The Creator,” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves” Tamara Kent – “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire,” “The Flash” Julius Lechner – “The Batman,” “Spider-Man: Far from Home” Allan Magled – “Bad Boys for Life,” “Geostorm” Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet – “Napoleon,” “Cruella” Raymond McMillan – “Little Children,” “Dracula 2000” Lori C. Miller – “Nyad,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” Johnathan Nixon – “Nyad,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” Tatsuji Nojima – “Godzilla Minus One,” “Ghost Book Obake Zukan” Rick Walter O’Connor – “Bumblebee,” “A Quiet Place” Stephane Paris – “The Commuter,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” Laura Pedro – “Society of the Snow,” “A Monster Calls” Pietro Ponti – “The Marvels,” “Terminator Genisys” Kyle Robinson – “The Flash,” “Black Panther” Kiyoko Shibuya – “Godzilla Minus One,” “Ghost Book Obake Zukan” Kathy Siegel – “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “Ford v Ferrari” Orde Stevanoski – “Smurfs: The Lost Village,” “Alice through the Looking Glass” Masaki Takahashi – “Godzilla Minus One,” “Parasyte” Alexis Wajsbrot – “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” Alex Wuttke – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” Takashi Yamazaki – “Godzilla Minus One,” “Parasyte” Dennis Yoo – “The Batman,” “War for the Planet of the Apes”
Writers
Bahrām Beyzaie* – “When We Are All Asleep,” “Killing Mad Dogs” Elegance Bratton – “The Inspection,” “Pier Kids” Samy Burch – “May December” Dave Callaham – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Alessandro Camon – “The Listener,” “The Messenger” Nicolás Casariego – “Society of the Snow,” “Intruders” İlker Çatak* – “The Teachers’ Lounge,” “I Was, I Am, I Will Be” Massimo Ceccherini – “Io Capitano,” “Pinocchio” Linda Yvette Chávez – “Flamin’ Hot” Akela Cooper – “M3gan,” “The Nun II” Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer – “Blue Beetle,” “Miss Bala” Zeina Durra – “Luxor,” “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!” Lee Eisenberg – “Good Boys,” “Bad Teacher” Massimo Gaudioso – “Io Capitano,” “Tale of Tales” Arthur Harari – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle” David Hemingson – “The Holdovers” Cord Jefferson* – “American Fiction” Erik Jendresen – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Ithaca” Maryam Keshavarz – “The Persian Version,” “Circumstance” Marc Klein – “Mirror Mirror,” “Serendipity” Kogonada – “After Yang,” “Columbus” Tony McNamara – “Poor Things,” “The Favourite” Rhett Reese – “Ghosted,” “Deadpool” Tony Rettenmaier – “They Cloned Tyrone,” “Young. Wild. Free.” Bernard Rose – “Traveling Light,” “Candyman” Sarah Adina Smith – “The Drop,” “Birds of Paradise” Celine Song* – “Past Lives” Gene Stupnitsky – “No Hard Feelings,” “Good Boys” Takuma Takasaki – “Perfect Days,” “Honokaa Boy” Juel Taylor – “They Cloned Tyrone,” “Creed II” Erica Tremblay – “Fancy Dance,” “Heartland: A Portrait of Survival” Justine Triet* – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Sibyl” Eva Vives – “All about Nina,” “Raising Victor Vargas” Paul Wernick – “Ghosted,” “Deadpool”
Artist Representatives
Laura Berwick Eryn Brown John Carrabino Hillary Cook Tim Curtis Brian Dobbins Frank Frattaroli Jay Gassner Roger Green Laurent Gregoire Jermaine Johnson Theresa Kang Becca Kovacik Linda Lichter Douglas Lucterhand Devin Mann Gregory McKnight Evelyn O’Neill David Park Cynthia Lee Pett Valarie Phillips Maggie Pisacane Lindsay Porter Gretchen Rush Jodi Shields Chris Silbermann Carolyn Sivitz Gary Ungar Douglas Urbanski Steve Warren Alex Yarosh
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.””
Born Emily Jean Stone in 1988, the actor said in 2017 that she was compelled to choose a different moniker as a teen. “My real name is Emily Stone, but when I started acting, that name was already taken by another actress, so I had to come up with a different one.” (Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA requires each member to have a unique working name.)
“For a 16-year-old, picking a new name is an interesting prospect.”
But “Emma” wasn’t her first choice. A look at Stone’s IMDB page shows that her early aughts credits, for appearances on shows such as Medium, were under the name “Riley Stone.” That lasted about six months, she said in an interview with W. “I did a guest spot on Malcolm in the Middle, and one day they were like, ‘Riley! Riley!’ and I had no idea who they were talking to.”
“So then I changed it to ‘Emma’, because it’s closer to Emily.”
That said, she had the option of Emily J. Stone at the time, but didn’t take it, saying “I don’t think I can pull off the ‘J’.” Another possible factor in the decision was a fondness for the Spice Girls, particularly Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon from 2018, Stone said that “Growing up, I was super blonde … I wanted to be called Emma because of Baby Spice.
“And guess what? Now I am,” Stone said. It’s unclear if in the years since that interview, she’s grown less into the Spice Girls or more into her “J” era, but her desire to reclaim “Emily” seems to be ever-growing. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in a conversation published this week, she was again outed as an Emily by her co-interviewee and The Curse co-starNathan Fiedler.
“I’d like to say something,” Fielder said as the interview kicked into gear. “Her name’s Emily, but she goes by Emma professionally. So when there’s people that don’t know her, I end up saying Emma. But I’m going to just say Emily from here on.”
“I freaked out a couple of years ago,” Stone said in response. “For some reason, I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.’”
That freakout has abated a bit, Stone said, to the point where she’s taken a “You can say Emma. You can say anything,” attitude. But still, she has a yearning for the name of her birth. If a fan addressed her as “Emily,” “That would be so nice,” Stone said. “I would like to be Emily.”
Kevin Hart wants people to know that some of the stories of his height have been greatly exaggerated.
The actor appeared on Sunday night’s edition of CBS‘ 60 Minutes, where he spoke with Anderson Cooper and set the record straight. Cooper noted that GQ reported his height as 5-foot-5, while TheLos Angeles Times put it at 5-foot-4. “And some other place said you were 5’2″,” Cooper added.
“Well, that place is bullshit,” Hart joked. “GQ finally got it right. [I’m] 5-foot-5, like with a shoe on, like a sneaker. Now, if I put a boot on, I can get to 5’5″ and a half.”
Hart, who talks about his short statue in his stand-up comedy routine, explained why he’s been incorporating those jokes for more than 20 years.
“It’s talking about the things that you aren’t afraid to laugh at about yourself,” he said. “I’m really confident that the laugh that I’m getting, you’re not laughing necessarily at me as if I’m a joke. You’re laughing at the experience. I’m giving you an experience through a story that is relatable. And more importantly, I’m saying things that other people just don’t have the heart to say.”
Cooper asked Hart if he’s a billionaire yet, to which the actor-comedian quipped in response: “None of your business. Man, are you trying to get me robbed?”
Pressed about whether he will be a billionaire, Hart turned serious: “I mean, hopefully and even if I don’t or if I’m not, I think the better side to what I’ve done is create what can become the new norm for other people in the business of funny for other people in the business of entertainment, right? Not just being a part of the business, but learning and understanding how to be the business.”
Cooper also asked Hart about the 2018-19 controversy in which he was selected to host the Oscars ceremony but was forced to step down when homophobic comments he’d made on social media and in his stand-up act in the past resurfaced. These included: “I’m not homophobic. I have nothing against gay people. Be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.”
Hart didn’t apologize at first, but later reversed course. On 60 Minutes, he reiterated past comments he’s made about how Wanda Sykes helped him realize the impact of his words.
“Later on, the understanding came from the best light bulb ever,” Hart told Cooper. “Wanda Sykes said. there’s people that are being hurt today because of comments like the ones that you made then, and there’s people that were saying it’s OK to make those comments today based off of what you did. It was presented to me in a way where I couldn’t ignore that.”
He said it was a lesson he took to heart.
“In those moments of despair, great understanding and education can come out of it if you’re given the opportunity,” he added.
“In those moments of despair, great understanding, and education can come out of it if you’re given the opportunity,” says Kevin Hart, whose comments about the gay community onstage and on Twitter sparked a controversy. https://t.co/0rEqdUbKxipic.twitter.com/OqWo9XSMx3
The 2025 Oscars ceremony is months away, but we already know some things about the show, the potential nominees and who may host it.
Read on below for answers to your questions about the 2025 Academy Awards.
When Are The 2025 Oscars?
The Oscarswill be handed out Sunday, March 2 — a week earlier than the March 10, 2024 show. The ceremony will start at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET — a welcome time change that began with the 96th Academy Awards last March. The show had typically run from 5 p.m./8 p.m. (and often much later depending on speeches).
Who Is Hosting The 2025 Oscars?
The host usually isn’t announced until November or December, but given the show is on ABC through 2028 and given Jimmy Kimmel’s well-received efforts earlier this month, he may well be back again. If so, it will be his fifth time hosting, putting him in company with the great Johnny Carson. Only Bob Hope and Billy Crystal have fronted the event more times (a LOT more times).
No one knows. Nominees are usually announced in January.
There are plenty of great actors and directors who’ve made promising movies that could be in the mix, including Joaquin Phoenix returning to his Oscar-winning role in Joker: Folie à Deux; Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2; Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos together again in the director’s upcoming anthology film Kinds of Kindness; Forrest Gump pals Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks reuniting for Here; Oscar-winner Steve McQueen’s wartime epic Blitz; Angelina Jolie returning as Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria and the list goes on.
The ceremony will air live on ABC. In addition to ABC, the Oscars ceremony has typically been available on ABC.com and the ABC app via authentication with a cable or satellite provider. ABC is also available through streaming services including Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.
Wahlberg played Sergeant Dignam, who worked in the Special Investigation Unit of the Massachusetts State Police Department, in the Boston-set film, which also starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Vera Farmiga, among others.
“I was a little pissed about a couple things but look, it all worked out in the end, I think,” Wahlberg said on the March 14 episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“Originally I was supposed to play another part. Originally, I was supposed to get paid,” he said, without elaborating. “And then even when we kind of agreed that I would play Dignam and I saw the advantages of playing that part and how I would approach the situation with everybody else playing opposite me, I then had another movie after.”
He said he had just finished filming Four Brothers and was about to start shooting Invincible.
“I was trying to grow my hair out, which is why I had that weird hair. You know, everybody’s like, what was that wig about? I was like, it was not a wig, I was just trying to grow my hair for the next film.”
Wahlberg has been open about his clashes with Scorsese before and now says he understands his director’s point of view.
“I completely understand where Marty was coming from. He had to deal with Jack, he had to deal with Matt and Leo and Alec and everything in the studio and everybody else who was in the cast and then I was supposed to be in and out in five weeks,” he said. “And so I went off to go and shoot Invincible, got my hair extensions, came back and then they were like, oh you gotta take out the extensions. I was like, [this] shit took eight hours. I’m not gonna take this out. We had a couple of issues.”
Wahlberg ended up earning his first and only (so far) Oscar nom for the role (he lost to Little Miss Sunshine’s Alan Arkin, though the film won four Oscars, including best picture and best director). At the time, he came to realize he could “have some fun” with the character. Wahlberg — who grew up in Boston — previously said he had conversations with Scorsese about improvising.
“Ultimately, I think when I read that particular role, I was like, OK, this is, this is a good role,” he said. ” This is an opportunity for me to really kind of go off and have some fun for me. Originally, I was just thinking, ok, we gotta make this as realistic and credible as possible. It’s Boston, it’s gangster shit. You don’t see too many of that, those movies. And I was thinking kind of broad big picture, not necessarily my own individual goals or even the opportunity for me as an actor. And then when I read the part again, I was like, OK, there’s, there’s something here.”
Asked if Oscar nominations and other accolades matter, Wahlberg says it’s nice when it happens, but not something he’s focused on.
“Look, you want the movie to be recognized, you want to be recognized — it helps the ultimate success of the film,” he said. ” I think it enhances the box office quite a bit, especially if you have a movie coming out at that time of year, but it’s not as high on the priority list as it used to be, let’s just say that.”
So, would he rather “movie make a billion dollars or win an Academy Award,” as Horowitz put it.
“If I have a nice back end, I would rather [have the money],” Wahlberg said. “But that being said, look, I mean, you know, I’m competitive guy. I work really hard and I try to make the best movies possible. I always want to be the best. I approach it as very much as an athlete, as a fighter, all those things. So I only wanna win.”
Horowitz also asked Wahlberg to set the record straight about turning down Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 hit heist comedy Ocean’s Eleven. Wahlberg said he’d already committed to starring in Planet of the Apes for Tim Burton and in The Truth About Charlie for Jonathan Demme and therefor was unable to do Ocean’s.
“I was asked to do the movie and what happened was we asked if they would wait for me, but I had already committed to working with Tim Burton and Jonathan Demme,” he explained. “And for me, it was even though those movies did not turn out to be good, those experiences were great. And you know what, at that point, I was still really trying to grow as an actor.”
He said some parts of the two films did not excite him at the time, but he still had a great experience working on both.
“I was thrilled about the opportunity to work with Tim, [but I] wasn’t thrilled about the idea of doing that remake, but it was worth going to take that risk to work with Tim Burton,” he said of 2001’s Apes. “Same thing with Jonathan Demme when I read the script, I’m thinking, oh my God, is this Philadelphia? is this Silence of the Lambs? No, it was a kind of loose remake of Charade. So, no, I was not like thrilled when I was in the beret and the scarf, the baguette, but had one of the great times in my career, my life, off set. I had a great time working on that movie. I really learned a lot, worked with some hugely talented people.”
“Cord [Jefferson] said he was gonna write a movie during covid then all this happened,” producer Tommy Alter wrote via Instagram on Thursday, March 14.
Alter shared a slew of new photos from the 96th Academy Awards, including a snap of American Fiction writer and director Jefferson, 42, and Kelce, 34, together at an afterparty. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end looked dapper in a black suit with a silver choker and bracelet as he held up Jefferson’s own hardware: an Oscar statue.
“I felt so much joy making this movie, and I want other people to experience that joy,” Jefferson noted in his victory speech. “The next Martin Scorsese is out there. The next Greta is out there — both Gretas [Lee and Gerwig]. They just want a shot, and we can give them one. Thank you to everyone who worked on this movie for trusting a 40-year-old Black guy who had never directed before.”
While Alter and Jefferson attended the Oscars at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, Kelce was not present at the ceremony. He was, however, reportedly at Madonna’s ultra-exclusive afterparty with his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. British Vogue reported that the couple stopped by the Gucci-sponsored event that notoriously has a photography ban.
Kelce and Swift, also 34, have been dating since summer 2023 after a missed connection at her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City that July. They took their romance public in September 2023 when she went to her first Chiefs football game.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are all anyone can talk about. Swift and Kelce were first linked in July 2023 when the Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared he attempted to ask Swift out after attending her Eras Tour. “I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I […]
“When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Swift told TIME in a December 2023 profile. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
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Swift later attended 12 more of Kelce’s games, including Super Bowl LVIII in February. After watching the Chiefs win their second consecutive Lombardi Trophy, Kelce returned the favor to support her on the international leg of the Eras Tour.
Swift wrapped the Australian and Asian legs earlier this month, and now the pair are in their “nesting” era at her L.A. residence.
“They’re focused on rest and recuperation and relaxing at home and having low-key and chill time together,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this week. “They are enjoying movie nights in her home theater, catching up on films and shows they’ve missed.”
Cousin Sal is joined by Jimmy Kimmel to discuss hosting the Oscars, the Jake Paul–Mike Tyson fight, and the glory years of UNLV basketball before being joined by the D3 to debate which former NCAA basketball player would’ve made the most NIL money.
Host: Cousin Sal Guests: Darren Szokoli, Brian Szokoli, Harry Gagnon, and Jimmy Kimmel Producers: Michael Szokoli, Joel Solomon, Jack Wilson, and Chris Wohlers
The former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is speaking out to slam the “classless” Jimmy Kimmel for the way he hosted the Oscars on Sunday night after he used the show to shamelessly bash Donald Trump. Kelly fired back by torching Kimmel and bringing up his documented history of blackface.
Kelly Eviscerates Kimmel
Though Kimmel initially avoided politics while hosting the Oscars, he took a shot at Trump at the end of the show after the former president bashed his hosting style on social media.
“Thank you, President Trump,” Kimmel said, according to CBS News. “Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still up. Isn’t it past jail time?”
This didn’t sit well with Kelly, who fired back at Kimmel on her eponymous SiriusXM talk show.
“He found time to take a shot at Trump, he found time to take a shot at Katie Britt, he did not find any time to make fun of Joe Biden who is the sitting president of the United—I just guess there’s no fodder there, nothing to joke about,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s guest Andrew Klavan, a conservative political commentator, responded by saying that Kimmel “just following what the news media is doing.” He added that he was surprised that Kimmel never mentioned President Joe Biden, who had just given “the worst State of the Union address in my lifetime,” which he called “ugly and divisive.”
👇🏻WATCH: Megyn Kelly goes🔥SCORCHED EARTH🔥on Jimmy Kimmel, Robert De Niro, and George Stephanopoulos, “Sanctimonious Leftists.”
🔥On Stephanopoulos: “Remember when you created a whole command center designed to smear Bill Clinton’s sexual assault and rape accusers so you could… pic.twitter.com/QLwh8fAQHz
Earlier in the show, Kelly criticized the Oscars audience, “who laughed and curried favor with the man who wore blackface so many times, he’s second only to Justin Trudeau in his fondness for the practice.”
Kelly went on to say that the Hollywood stars “absolutely ate up the performance by Hollywood darling Mr. Kimmel” even though “some of the very same celebrities who wanted you to believe they were horrified — horrified — after yours truly said in 2018 that people used to don dark makeup to imitate well-known black celebrities and it wasn’t a big deal.”
The New York Post reported that this was a reference to Kimmel wearing blackface to portray the black Utah Jazz star Karl Malone in a skit on “The Man Show” back in the 1990s. He also wore dark makeup to portray Oprah Winfrey in another skit. In contrast, Kelly was fired by NBC in 2018 after she simply weighed in on those wearing blackface, saying that “in the 70s/80s, it used to be viewed differently.”
“Obviously Kimmel’s love of blackface was not a deal-breaker for ABC — which already employs him as a late-night host and which, in addition to its many blackface awards shows, also produced and promoted many shows and stars in blackface,” Kelly lamented.
“It appears the real sin with blackface, you see, is talking about how standards on it have changed, not actually wearing it,” she continued. “You can still win Oscars and host the Oscars after doing that.”
Check out her full comments on this in the video below.
Kelly also ripped into Kimmel for a joke he made at the expense of Robert Downey Jr., who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar on Sunday night for his work in Oppenheimer.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr’s career… well, one of the highest points,” Kimmel said during the opening monologue. When Downey Jr. responded by tapping his nose in a sign of recognition, Kimmel asked: “Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made?”
A visibly annoyed Downey Jr. reacted to this by signaling Kimmel to move on from the joke.
“What Kimmel did last night, was he tried to mock people’s weaknesses and things they had genuinely fought hard to overcome, like he did to Robert Downey Jr, who wound up being a favorite of the night,” Kelly said.
“But before he won Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer, Kimmel, in his opening monologue, decided to take a shot at—everyone knows about Robert Downey Jr’s long history with drugs and alcohol,” she continued. “It’s something no one celebrates but he needs to be given credit for overcoming.”
After Kelly played a clip of the exchange, she added, “What was that? That was just classless.”
Kelly concluded by comparing the way Kimmel hosted the Oscars to the way the British comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes on five separate occasions in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2020, according to Newsweek.
“Last night, one of the things I think stood out about Kimmel’s hosting was, he didn’t get it. The reason Ricky Gervais did so well when he hosted those Golden Globes and just eviscerated everyone in that room is because he was making fun of them on things that we knew were true,” Kelly explained.
“Y’know kind of, their abuse of their own power, their self-importance and that kind of thing and he was punching up, which is okay,” she stated.
Check out Kelly’s full comments on this in the video below.
George Stephanopoulos’ Gross Hypocrisy, and Kate Middleton Fake Photo Controversy, with @andrewklavan and @DM_Maureen_ Callahan
Plus, Kimmel at the Oscars, Biden apologizes for calling Laken Riley’s killer “illegal,” and more. Watch today’s FULL show, here on X: pic.twitter.com/5aFtVB3nbg
The hypocrisy of Kimmel and the rest of Hollywood never ceases to amaze, and good for Kelly for calling them all out. No wonder the Oscars has been struggling to get anyone to watch for years!
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At this point in her life, Lindsay Lohan has tried-and-true rituals for getting ready for a big night out. Lohan opts for what she calls a “pretty simple” routine, starting with “nice eye patches, maybe a face mask,” before starting hair and makeup. But first it’s all about tending to bath time and bedtime for her eight-month-old son, Luai, with her husband, Bader Shammas. A veteran of the red carpet, Lohan is no stranger to preparing for an event like the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, but before she’s out the door, there’s one more crucial step. “Before I leave, I want to see my son and give him a kiss,” Lohan told Vanity Fair the morning after attending the 30th anniversary of the renowned event.
During a time when every moment matters, Lohan and Shammas treated the Vanity Fair Oscar Party like date night. It had been more than 10 years since Lohan, who was “just excited to go and get dressed up and look fab,” had attended the bash. And for the new mom, who next stars in Irish Wish, out later this month, it was a time to catch up with old friends and make new acquaintances. “I bumped into a lot of people that I haven’t seen in a long time. Billie Eilish was one of the sweetest people and Sydney Sweeney—I met both of them. And it’s just nice to see everyone. Everyone was just there having a nice time and I think it’s so beautiful to see,” she said.
Lohan catching up with Kim Kardashian inside the Vanity Fair Oscars Party.
Photograph by Krista Schlueter
Having previously attended the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Lohan knew that the night required a daring, ultraglamorous ensemble, and turned to Balenciaga for a custom embroidered bustier dress in silver sequin fringe embroidery. An iteration of the brand’s resort 2024 collection final look, the dress was originally shown with long sleeves and a high neck. But for Lohan’s tailor-made look, the frock was made in a strapless version, allowing the actor to channel Old Hollywood glamor. “The dress was so beautiful, and it reminded me of 1920s casual. We wanted to go for effortless chic, effortless glam,” Lohan said.
Jamie McCarthy
Initially torn between two options for the night, the other being more form-fitting, Lohan saw the sequined gown and knew it was the one. “It just made more sense, and the weight of it felt really special. You know whenever you put something on that feels heavy, it just feels more glamorous. And that’s kind of the vibe I wanted to go with,” said Lohan. And glamor was just what she exuded with the glittering gown alongside her signature auburn tresses and dark brown eye makeup, topped with a peachy lip.
With the whimsical night out spent mingling with the biggest names in Hollywood behind her, the new mother reflected on finding her equilibrium between being in front of the camera and life with her family in Dubai, where she prefers being at home and hosting friends and family.
“I think life is all about balance. So no matter where you are, you will find that, if that’s what you crave. I think it’s important to have both worlds to be in—you always need a place you can go back to and settle. So even though we spend a lot of our time in New York as well, home is always where the heart is, no matter where you are,” she said.
The Best Moments From the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
“It’s just a lovely, lovely script.” WTOP’s Jason Fraley speaks with William H. Macy ahead of the actor hosting a screening of the 1996 film on Thursday.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘Fargo’ with William H. Macy at Warner Theatre (Part 1)
He earned acclaim in films (“Boogie Nights”) and TV series (“Shameless”), but his career role remains his Oscar-nominated performance in the movie masterpiece “Fargo” (1996).
This Thursday, William H. Macy visits Warner Theatre in D.C. to host a screening of a film that combines the comedy of “The Big Lebowski” (1998) with the drama of “No Country for Old Men” (2007) for a genre bender that remains the Coen Brothers’ best.
“We’re taking questions from the audience,” Macy told WTOP.
“I saw the film on a big screen for the first time with good sound, maybe for the first time since we made the thing, and it is a magnificent film. I was knocked out. I was really proud to be in it. Everybody is stunning in the thing. Franny (actress Frances McDormand) just broke my heart yet again and, boy, everything from (cinematographer) Roger Deakins’ shooting to the Coen Brothers, it’s just a brilliant film.”
The story follows Jerry Lundegaard, a bankrupt used-car salesperson in Minneapolis who seeks an investment from his rich father-in-law. When he’s refused, Jerry hires two criminals in Fargo, North Dakota, to kidnap his wife for ransom money, but the plan backfires and the bodies pile up as do clues for pregnant detective Marge Gunderson.
“Everything they do is intentional,” Macy said.
“Joel does most of the directing, but Ethan directs too, then Ethan does most of the writing, but Joel writes too. I think that’s the way they work. It’s really tandem. … They’re funny guys, good Lord they are. I think one of the things that’s so brilliant about the film is that it’s really horrifying and funny at the same time. They treated the violence in such a banal manner that it’s even more horrifying.”
You won’t find a better slimeball antagonist than Macy’s Jerry, fudging the numbers with a worn pencil and throwing temper tantrums with his ice scraper. His weasel chops are best on display during a concerned phone call off screen, only to realize that he’s just practicing his act, shifting back to a normal tone to speak to the operator.
“[The operator bit] was a little improv, I suggested it because I knew the camera was gonna come around the corner and catch me,” Macy said.
“[The pencil bit] I was sitting at the desk waiting for them to set up the shot and I was doodling on the pad, Ethan came over and looked at it and said, ‘Hey, let’s shoot this,’ so they got an insert of the pad. [The ice scraper bit] was scripted that way, some version of: ‘He loses his [crap] in the parking lot.’”
His naiveté stirs a deadly cocktail with his criminal hires, Steve Buscemi’s motor-mouthed Carl Showalter (“I’m not here to debate, Jerry”) and Peter Stormare’s ice-cold Gaear Grimsrud (“Stop at Pancakes House”). The duo dances on the knife’s edge of murder and buddy comedy, as Buscemi promises “total silence” by relentlessly talking.
“They’re a great couple — it’s really well drawn,” Macy said. “When the wife gets free from the two kidnappers and starts to run, Steve Buscemi says, ‘No, no,’ and they stand there and watch and laugh as she tries to escape. It’s so horrifying. It’s so cruel. … Peter Stormare is a serious actor, he was Ingmar Bergman’s Hamlet, he’s a serious actor.”
Still, the best performance arguably belongs to Frances McDormand in her first of three Oscar wins before “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) and “Nomadland” (2020). Voted the American Film Institute’s No. 33 Greatest Movie Hero of All Time, Marge surprisingly doesn’t even show up until a full 30 minutes into the film.
Not only does McDormand master the Midwest accent for zingers (“I think I’m gonna barf!”), she outsmarts her male colleagues (“I’m not sure I agree 100% with your police work, Lou”) and brings home the bacon to her heart-of-gold husband Norm (John Carroll Lynch).
This gender reversal was way ahead of its time, flipping the script to show Marge receiving work calls in the middle of the night and Norm waking up to make her breakfast.
“She really was [pioneering], but it’s not as if they were making something up out of whole cloth,” Macy said. “That’s the reality of most working families and that’s what they wrote and that’s what’s great about it,” Macy said.
Their relationship is the thematic core of the movie, summarized by Marge in the police car finale: “There’s more to life than a little money.” The answer to that question comes in the final scene where Marge and Norm sit in bed awaiting the birth of their child. A soft lullaby plays as Marge delivers the film’s final line: “Two more months.”
It’s the perfect punctuation on a masterfully directed film by Joel and Ethan Coen, the former of whom became the first filmmaker to direct his wife (McDormand) to an Academy Award.
Few filmmakers have ever crafted such a signature atmosphere, capturing the quirky accents of the Upper Midwest and the isolation of frigid landscapes with red blood painted on white snow, all backed by the epic drums and tragic violins of Carter Burwell’s score.
“It happens in Minnesota every once in a while, you get a brown January,” Macy said.
“We got up there and there wasn’t any snow, so they immediately started renting all of the snow-making. … The lads had to keep driving farther north to find snow and they finally did … but normally that time of year the snow would be waste high. … Deakins’ initial thing of the Oldsmobile coming up over that hill in that white out, ahh, it’s just stunning!”
The setting includes statues of Paul Bunyan, whose ax foreshadows a murder. The Coens brilliantly use transitions (cutting from Buscemi’s TV to Marge’s TV), visual storytelling (taillights disappearing during a car chase), black comedy (home invasion), and mise-en-scène (high angle of a parking lot as Jerry finds himself at a crossroads).
Note how they film Jerry at work, shooting through vertical blinds of his office window like jail bars closing in on him.
“There are no accidents,” Macy said.
“The purpose of technique is to bring out your subconscious. Did they choose that shot because it looked like jail bars? One could say, ‘Yes, they chose that shot.’ Did they say to themselves, ‘Hey, it looks like jail bars,’ I don’t know, but that’s what art is. These iconic images come out and I think sometimes the artist had no idea what it was doing. John Lennon said ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ is not about LSD.”
Macy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Cuba Gooding Jr. in “Jerry Maguire,” while “Fargo” lost Best Picture to “The English Patient.” I told him that I thought the latter was ridiculous as “Fargo” is superior.
“I will back you on that,” Macy said.
“If you’re in one of the top categories and you get a nomination, that’s real, you can take it to the bank that you did a good thing. As to who wins, that’s a little capricious, but I’ll tell ya, it was not a good year to get an Oscar nomination because there were a bunch of great films out that year! ‘Sling Blade’ was out that year, ‘Jerry Maguire,’ I mean the list goes on and on, it was a great year for films.”
Today, the legacy continues in the acclaimed FX series “Fargo,” which just wrapped Season 5.
“I think it’s great,” Macy said. “I watched the whole first season. That was Billy Bob [Thornton] right? I thought, man, he should have paid them; he was having so much fun. I thought that was a fabulous season, then I’ve seen bits and pieces of all the other season. They’re ripe characters, it’s a ripe part of the country, it was a great series.”
Still, as great as the TV series is, there’s no topping the original Coen Brothers flick.
“It’s just a lovely, lovely script,” Macy said. “It’s so simple and, as you say, profound at the same time — and it tells a walloping good story, one of the best stories that the brothers have ever told, I think.”
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘Fargo’ with William H. Macy at Warner Theatre (Part 2)
Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:
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