After a few days of postponement due to the fires that ravaged Los Angeles County, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed Thursday the nominations for its 97e ceremony. Twice awarded at Cannes, Jacques Audiard’s musical thriller Emilia Perez clearly dominates, obtaining 13 nominations, including those for best film, direction, adapted screenplay, supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña, and, above all, best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, first trans woman nominated in this category.
The films The Brutalist (The Brutalist), by Brady Corbet, and Wickedby Jon M. Chu, follow with 10 nominations each. Conclaveby Edward Berger, and A Complete Unknown (A complete stranger), by James Mangold, collected 8, respectively.
And Dune : Part Two (Dune, part two) has 5 nominations and is in the running in the best film category (Tanya Lapointe is cited as producer), the absence of Denis Villeneuve in the best director category is quite inexplicable.
Note that the Quebec filmmaker was not selected in this category either for Dune : Part One. However, as several specialists have noted, we are perhaps in a scenario similar to the Lord of the Rings saga, by Peter Jackson, which won the day with the third opus of the trilogy. In other words, Denis Villeneuve’s overall achievement could be recognized through his future Dune : Messiah. To be continued.
On the other hand, in this last category, we are delighted to find Coralie Fargeat for The Substance (La Substance), also in the running for the Oscar for best film. Moreover, the figurehead of this die-hard allegory on ageism and internalized misogyny, Demi Moore, is the favorite as best actress. And for good reason: a star who is reborn playing a fallen star, it’s hand-made for the Academy.
Surprises
The absence alongside Demi Moore of Nicole Kidman, for Babygirland Angelina Jolie, for Mariais notable. Although with Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here [Je suis toujours là] ), which could cause a surprise, the 2024 vintage was extremely competitive among actresses.
This further applies to the female supporting roles: Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Ariana Grande (Wicked), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), and Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Perez) are all justified in being there, but Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl [La dernière danseuse de cabaret]) would have deserved it just as much.
-Among the men, we will note the absence of Daniel Craig, who was expected to be the best actor for Queerby Luca Guadagnino. There are, however, some good surprises, starting with the nominations for best actor for Sebastian Stan, as young Donald Trump, and best supporting actor for Jeremy Strong, as mentor Roy Cohn, for The Apprenticed’Ali Abbasi.
We can bet that the American president, who had not hidden his annoyance at the very existence of the film whose title refers to his late reality TV show, will not be delighted.
That being said, the Oscar for best actor risks being played out between Adrien Brody, magnetic as an immigrant architect in The Brutalistand Timothée Chalamet, truer than true as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
Date changes
It will be recalled that the almost 10,000 members of the Academy began voting on January 8. The voting process was scheduled to end on January 12, but due to wildfires in Southern California, where a significant number of members live, the deadline was extended to January 17.
January 17 is the date on which the nominations were initially supposed to be announced. For the account, the actress Rachel Sennott (Bottoms ; Saturday Night) and actor Bowen Yang (Fire Island ; Bros) offered an unveiling of the nominations, an often high-sounding, amusing and rhythmic exercise.
The Oscars ceremony, for its part, will be held on March 2. The evening will be hosted for the first time by comedian Conan O’Brien.