Shortly after the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles struck at the heart of the film industry, a beleaguered Hollywood lined up behind Netflix's narco-musical about trans identity “Emilia Pérez” in the Oscar nominations on Thursday.
Jacques Audiard's “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language film filmed in France, dominated with 13 nominations, including best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actress nominated for an Oscar. The film also earned nominations for direction, original screenplay, two of its songs, and for Zoe Saldaña.
Netflix, despite its leading role in Hollywood, has never won the best picture award. Many of its top contenders have racked up a number of nominations, including “Mank,” “The Irishman” and “Roma,” but have gone home with only a handful of trophies.
“Emilia Pérez,” however, may be her best opportunity yet. It became the most nominated non-English language film in history, surpassing Alfonso Cuarón's “Roma,” which earned 10 nominations. Only three films — “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land” — have earned more nominations in Academy Awards history.
Another non-English language film that featured prominently was “Ainda Estou Aqui” (“I'm Still Here”). The Brazilian film by Walter Salles about the family of a politician who disappeared during the military dictatorship was nominated for best film, international feature film and had a mention for its protagonist Fernanda Torres as best actress.
The musical, “Wicked,” the hit adaptation of the Broadway musical, earned almost the same number of nominations. The lavish production inspired by Jon M. Chu's “The Wizard of Oz” earned 10 nominations, including best picture and acting for its stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
“The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet’s VistaVision-shot postwar epic, also picked up an impressive 10 nominations, including best picture, best director and nods for actor Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.
The nominees for best film are the Brazilian film “Ainda Estou Aqui”; “Anora”; “The Brutalist”; “A Complete Unknown”; “Conclave” (“Conclave”); “Dune: Part Two”; “Emilia Pérez”; “Nickel Boys”; “The Substance” and “Wicked”.
In a very open Oscar race, the six most nominated films — “Emilia Pérez,” “Wicked,” “The Brutalist,” “Anora” (with six nominations) “Conclave” (with eight nominations) and “A Complete Unknown” ” (eight nominations) — met expectations. The biggest surprises were “Ainda Estou Aqui” and “Nickel Boys” by RaMell Ross, a drama filmed from the perspective of its protagonists that had been overlooked by many guilds in previous votes.
-Those nominees likely displaced some best picture prospects in “Sing Sing,” “September 5” and “A Real Pain,” though those films earned nominations in other categories.
One of the boldest films of 2024, “The Apprentice” surprisingly scored a pair of nominations, for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. The film dramatizes President Donald Trump's formative years in New York real estate under the tutelage of attorney Roy Cohn. Trump has called those involved with the film “human scum.”
In the best actor category, where Stan and Brody were nominated, the other nominees were Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”). Notably absent was Daniel Craig, acclaimed for his very un-James Bond performance in “Queer.”
Best actress, a category that Demi Moore seemed to have secured for her impressive performance in “The Substance,” also had nominations for Moore, Gascón, Torres, Erivo and “Anora” star Mikey Madison. What is perhaps the most competitive category of the year left out Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”), Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”) and Angelina Jolie (“Maria”).
In the directing category, “The Substance” filmmaker Coralie Fargeat made it into the otherwise all-male group of Sean Baker (“Anora”), Corbet, Audiard and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”). Most expected Edward Berger to be nominated for directing the papal thriller “Conclave.”
“This has certainly been a difficult time for Los Angeles, where many members of our film community work and live. But the past few weeks have proven what we already know to be true: our film industry and Los Angeles are resilient, and for nearly a century, the Oscars have brought us together to celebrate our global film community,” said Academy President Janet Yang. , before the nominees were announced.
Nominations were originally planned for January 17. But after wildfires began burning through Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other areas around Los Angeles on Jan. 7, leaving historic levels of destruction, the academy extended its voting window and twice postponed announcing the elections. nominations.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
