Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard’s musical about a Mexican gangster who transitions to escape the mob, has broken the record for the most Oscar nominations earned by a film not in the English language.
The film took 13 at the announcement on Thursday – three more than both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001 and Roma in 2018.
The recognition of its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, marks the first time an out trans actor has been nominated for an Oscar; Elliot Page was nominated for Juno in 2009, 11 years before he transitioned. Audiard’s film was also shortlisted for supporting actress (for Zoe Saldana), director, picture, adapted screenplay, international feature, editing, cinematography, make up and hair, original score and twice for original song.
Meanwhile The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half hour epic about a Hungarian architect, played by Adrien Brody, who moves to the US after the second world war, took 10 nominations, as did Wicked, the box office smash adaptation of the Broadway show.
James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown came away with eight nominations, as did Edward Berger’s papal thriller Conclave. Only one of the 10 films nominated for best picture was directed by a woman – Coralie Fargeat’s controversial body horror The Substance – and Fargeat was also the only female screenwriter with a solo credit across the 10 scripts in contention.
There were a number of surprises in the leading actress category, with industry veterans Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie snubbed for their turns in Babygirl and Maria.
Instead, Demi Moore now becomes category frontrunner, having built up considerable momentum since her Golden Globe victory earlier this month. Both she and Gascón will face Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Mikey Madison for Sean Baker’s sex worker romance Anora and Fernanda Torres, who stars in Walter Salles’s real-life story of a Brazilian abduction, I’m Still Here.
Neither Hugh Grant nor Daniel Craig repeated their Golden Globe nominations to land a place in the final five leading actors. Alongside Brody, Timothee Chalamet is up for his turn as Dylan, alongside Ralph Fiennes for Conclave and Colman Domingo for prison drama Sing Sing. The inclusion of Sebastian Stan for unflattering Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice can be interpreted as an early critique by Hollywood of the returning president.
Kieran Culkin leads the pack of supporting actor nominees for his turn in Jesse Eisenberg’s Holocaust tour comedy A Real Pain, while Emilia Perez’s Zoe Saldaña similarly looks like an increasingly sure bet in the supporting actress race. Denzel Washington, however, failed to secure his 11th nomination for his showstopping role in Gladiator II.
-This year’s nominations were delayed twice to allow more time for the 10,000 voters – about 60% of whom live in Los Angeles – to see films and cast their ballots after the California wildfires. Voting closed last Friday; it remains unclear what impact the subsequent row over the use of AI in The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez will have.
Both films used the technology for voice-cloning: the former tweaking the Hungarian accents of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, the latter enhancing the singing voice of Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón.
Speaking after the revelation, The Brutalist director Brady Corbet defended his stars, saying: “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own.”
A letter from the Academy’s CEO, Bill Kramer, and president Janet Yang, sent to all members on Wednesday, confirmed that the ceremony will “celebrate the work that unites us as a global film community and acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.”
“We will honour Los Angeles as the city of dreams, showcasing its beauty and resilience, as well as its role as a beacon for film-makers and creative visionaries for over a century,” they continued. “We will reflect on the recent events while highlighting the strength, creativity, and optimism that defines Los Angeles and our industry.”
The Academy also announced that it would “move away” from live performances during the broadcast in favour of honouring the songwriters, whose involvement has long been felt to have been minimised in the ceremony.
This year’s Oscars will take place on 2 March, and will be hosted by Conan O’Brien. The Bafta awards take place a fortnight earlier, on 16 February.
