Awards Season 2025: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions

So, it's Hollywood's Biggest Night - the 97th Academy Awards. Conan O'Brien will be taking up hositing duties for the first time; I was surprised that it was his first Oscars gig as he's the kind of person you would have thought would have done it before. Hopefully he'll be more Jimmy Kimmel and less David Letterman. It's only a few hours until we find out!

As regular readers will know, it has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture). I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. Last year, I got 5 out of 6, picking Lily Gladstone for Best Actress instead of Emma Stone. Will I do as well this year?

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

The supporting categories re where I am the most confident, mostly because both have been consistent. Across all major Supporting Actress categories, the runaway winner has been Zoe Saldaña for her role in Jacques Audiard's musical comedy crime drama Emilia Pérez. For her performance as Rita, the lawyer who helps drug lord Manitas with his plan to disappear and transition into the titular Emilia, she's won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice, and SAG Award and will almost certainly be adding the Oscar to her impressive haul tonight. Despite the controversy surrounding the film (caused by leading lady Karla Sofía Gascón's previous tweets), Saldaña has remain unscathed and has remained dignified in her discussion of the controversy. Despite Emilia Pérez leading the field with a whopping 13 nominations, I think Saldaña is probably going to be the film's highest-profile win (although a Best International Picture win could also be potentially on the cards). 

Best Supporting Actor:  Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Like Saldaña, Culkin has been the runaway winner in the Best Supporting Actor categories (including the Independent Spirits' gender-neutral Best Supporting Performance category) for his impressive turn in Jesse Eisenberg's beautifully observed comedy-drama A Real Pain. Culkin steals every scene he's in as the troubled but charismatic Benji, on a tour of Poland with his tightly-wound cousin David. The power of his performance is undeniable. It'll be a major upset if Culkin isn't the winner this evening. 

Best Actress: Demi Moore (The Substance)

With no disrespect to any of the other nominees, the Best Actress race has been between Demi Moore and Mikey Madison, and frankly either name could be read out tonight. But I think Demi Moore will be taking home the Oscar. She's majorly impressive as fading star Elisabeth Sparkle in Coralie Fargeat's gloriously grotesque Grand Guignol body horror, conveying so much of the character's inner angst and turmoil with very little dialogue. Plus, I also think that Moore has a lot of good will in Hollywood, and a lot of people who would want to reward her for this third-act renaissance in her career (much like they did with Brendan Fraser for The Whale). The only thing that may go against her is the Academy's notorious snobbishness about genre films (and horror in particular). But I think they'll be making an exception here tonight. That said, Mikey Madison wouldn't be an undeserving winner for her bravura turn in Anora. 

Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Personally, I would love to see Ralph Fiennes win for his superb turn in Conclave but I don't think that's going to happen. With the exception of the SAG Awards (who threw a lovely little curveball by naming Timothée Chalamet as Best Actor), Brody has been the major winner of Best Actor categories. I personally found The Brutalist a slog to watch, a bit too sterile and hard-going (and, full disclosure, I didn't actually finish the three-and-a-half-hour magnum opus) but Brody's performance as architect László Tóth was strong. So I think he stands the best chance of getting a second Oscar to help balance out the mantelpiece. 

Best Director: Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

This is another one where it could come down to two different names, which are Brady Corbet and Sean Baker. Looking on a purely technical level, on what each filmmaker has done to achieve their vision for their respective films, I think it's more likely that the Academy will go for Corbet (despite the DGA plumping for Baker). By filming in VistaVision and also having to create a radically different era (similar to what Christopher Nolan did in Oppenheimer), I think Corbet will take home the gold tonight. But don't be surprised if Sean Baker gets called up to the stage instead. 

Best Picture: Anora

So if I'm picking Corbet for Best Director, why do I think Anora will Best Picture? Well, I'm not sure and- to be honest- The Brutalist would be a more "traditional" Best Picture choice. It's a Big Weighty Film(TM) but I'm wondering if it's just a touch too glacial and austere (not to mention long; it's got an intermission FFS) to have captured the hearts of the Academy at large. However, if I'm honest, I'm simply playing the numbers game. Anora won at the Independent Spirit Awards, the Critics Choice, and- crucially- the PGA. Now I know the PGA is never a 100% accurate barometer but the tide has shifted to Anora as awards season has continued. It's a contemporary, funny, ferociously foul-mouthed comedy-drama about the whirlwind (but ultimately doomed) romance between a brassy exotic dancer and the feckless son of a Russian oligarch. It's got heart, a lot of laughs, and some great performances. It'd be a worthy winner, albeit a slightly different one. 

So there are my predictions. What do you think?

For the second year, ITV and ITVX will be broadcasting the telecast in the UK, starting at 10:30PM GMT with the ceremony due to start at midnight. I'll be watching. Will you? 

I'll let you know my thoughts on the ceremony as soon as I can once it finishes.

Awards Season 2025: Independent Spirit Awards and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

More awards season nonsense took place over this past weekend, so here are the results from those two star-studded events.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

On Saturday 22nd February 2025 , the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards- recognising films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system- took place.

Here's a full list of film winners. 

Best Feature: Anora

Best Lead Performance: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Best Supporting Performance: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Maisy Stella (My Old Ass)

Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) 

Best First Screenplay: Sean Wang (Didi)

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boyss

Best Editing: September 5

Best First Feature: Didi

Best International Film: Flow

Best Documentary: No Other Land

John Cassavetes Award: Girls Will Be Girls

Robert Altman Award: His Three Daughters

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1 million, whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

Anora was the big winner of the evening, with three awards. A Real Pain and Didi both won two. 

Anora is really starting to make strides; with its wins at both PGA and DGA, and Mikey Madison's surprise BAFTA win, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that there might be an "upset" come next Sunday. 

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SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Sunday 23rd February in a ceremony which streamed live on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell. 

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Conclave

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

The Fall Guy

Unlike last year's Oppenheimer sweep, this had a bit more of an "all shall have prizes" feel about it (which is pretty much the theme of this year's awards season; whilst the same performances might be getting recognised a lot, they're all coming from different places so it's good to have that variety). 

I'm really pleased to see Conclave win the Best Cast award, as it is a superb ensemble. Timothée Chalamet's win chucks a nice little curveball, although it feels unlikely that the Academy is going to follow suit (Adrien Brody's probably going to have another Little Naked Gold Man). Best Actress now feels like it's a two-horse race between Mikey Madison and Demi Moore, whilst I think we can safely say the supporting categories are as locked in as they can be. 

The stone-cold icon that is Jane Fonda was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and gave a barnstorming acceptance speech in which she said “Empathy is not weak or ‘woke.’ And, by the way, ‘woke’ just means you give a damn about other people”. Yassss, queen! 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, we are getting down to the sharp end of awards season 2025, with just the Razzies and the Oscars to go next weekend. 

Awards Season 2025: Critics Choice Awards Winners

Surprise awards season news! 

This passed me by, until I saw some of the winners announced on social media, but yesterday (Friday 7th February 2025) saw the 30th Critics Choice Awards handed out. 

Hosted by Chelsea Handler for the third year in a row, they honoured the best of film and TV in 2024 across 37 categories. Originally due to be handed out on 14th January, the awards were postponed twice (first to 26th January and then to a TBC date in February) due to the L.A. wildfires. Unsurprisingly, and rightly so, many of the acceptance speeches thanked first responders and emergency service personnel for their hard work. 

Here are a full list of the Critics' Choice Awards movie winners: 

Best Picture: Anora

Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Best Actress: Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Acting Ensemble: Conclave

Best Director: Jon M. Chu (Wicked)

Best Original Screenplay: The Substance

Best Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

Best Comedy: A Real Pain and Deadpool & Wolverine (tie)

Best Foreign Language Film: Emilia Pérez

Best Animated Feature: The Wild Robot

Best Score: Challengers

Best Song: "El Mal" (Emilia Pérez)

Best Production Design: Wicked

Best Editing: Challengers

Best Costume Design: Wicked

Best Hair & Makeup: The Substance

Best Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Best Cinematography: Nosferatu

Best Young Actor/Actress: Maisy Stella (My Old Ass)

Emilia Pérez, The Substance, and Wicked were the big winners of the night, each taking three awards apiece; behind them are A Real Pain, Conclave, and Challengers with two each. 

There's a definite feel of "all shall have prizes" this time round; there's no one film dominating the awards chatter. Well, that's not strictly true, given the damage limitation the Emilia Pérez PR team are having to do at the moment... It's worth pointing out, however, the winners of these awards have been in place since 10th/11th January, before Karla Sofía Gascón's previous social media posts came to light. I personally don't think Zoe Saldaña has much to worry about; she's the definite frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. But it will be interesting to see if Gascón's previous inflammatory rhetoric dents the film's chances for other categories, most notably Best International/Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. 

I'm pleased to see Conclave getting the Adapted Screenplay and Acting Ensemble awards (it's a stellar cast in a superbly written script). I'm also happy to see Deadpool & Wolverine get a bit of awards love; it was a supremely silly, profane but enjoyable piece of cinema. Jon M. Chu's Best Director win elicited a lot of cheers and applause; I think a lot of people feel he's been unfairly sidelined in the Best Director conversation (in fact, the Critics Choice Awards are his only Best Director nomination in the major movie awards this season). It may be that that gets rectified next year with the release of this year's Wicked: Part 2 (now retitled Wicked: For Good). 

Congratulations to all winners!

Two of the major guilds give out their awards today (Saturday 8th February 2025), so there'll be a post tomorrow with the results of the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) and Producers Guild Awards (PGA). I'm expecting good news for The Brutalist in both sets of awards. Call it a hunch. 

Awards Season 2025: Academy Award Nominations

 

As reported earlier this afternoon, here are some of the official nominations for the 97th Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

A Complete Unknown

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

I'm Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

BEST ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora) 

Demi Moore (The Substance) 

Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov (Anora) 

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

With regards to my predictions, I got 29/35 (83%).

Emilia Pérez leads the way with a whopping 13 nods. The Brutalist and Wicked are joint second with 10 apiece, and Conclave and A Complete Unknown in joint third with eight each.

A couple of interesting surprises here, with the inclusion of A Complete Unknown's Monica Barbaro for Best Supporting Actress and James Mangold for Best Director (although I was a little disappointed to see Edward Berger not get the nod for Conclave). Karla Sofía Gascón becomes the first openly trans actress to receive an acting nomination in Oscars history (Elliot Page announced his transition a few years after getting nominated for Juno). I'm frustrated at the inclusion of Sebastian Stan, only for the subject of the film and not for anything to do with him as an actor. The felon in the White House will no doubt have something to say about this. Considering he actively hated the film when it was released, the fickle and capricious shyster is probably going to change his tune and gloat about it. FFS. 

I was pleased to see Coralie Fargeat included in the Best Director category, and very pleased for the nomination for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl in the Animated Feature category. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 2nd March 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, hosted this year by Conan O'Brien.

A brief pause in the awards season stuff now for a couple of weeks; we'll pick back up again on 8th February when both the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) and the Producers Guild Awards (PGA) will be handed out.

Awards Season 2025: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

On Thursday morning (23rd January 2025, 5:30AM PT/8:30AM ET/1:30PM GMT), the nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced. This year, the honour of announcing the nominations falls to Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies, Saturday Night, Bottoms) and Bowen Yang (Wicked, Saturday Night Live, Fire Island). 

Due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the nominations announcement had been postponed twice; originally due on Friday 17th January, they were moved to Sunday 19th January, then moved again to this Thursday. 

Since 2003, I have tried to predict who will be nominated in several of the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named. 

BEST PICTURE

A Complete Unknown

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

Nickel Boys

Sing Sing

The Substance

Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

BEST ACTRESS

Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora) 

Demi Moore (The Substance) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov (Anora) 

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

As we now have 10 Best Picture nominees (in addition to the 20 for acting and 5 for directing), I will be happy with any score over 20. Last year, it was 29/35 (83%)

I'm confident with eight of my Best Picture choices. There's a chance that September 5 and/or A Real Pain could get a nomination; if that does happen, then it's Sing Sing and/or Nickel Boys which would lose out. 

With Best Director, I'm confident on four of my choices, with a question mark over Coralie Fargeat. The DGA threw a bit of a curveball nominating James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), and Denis Villeneuve has stayed in the conversation with his nominations for Dune: Part Two at both BAFTA and the Critics' Choice Awards. We all know the Academy's (perceived?) snobbishness towards genre films, specifically horror, so they may be reticent to award it to Fargeat. Hell, they might go completely left-field and nominate Jon M. Chu for Wicked and give us all a shock! 

With Best Actor, my only query would be Daniel Craig. He might lose out to either Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) or to Hugh Grant (Heretic). Of the two, I'd hope it would be Hugh Grant who gets the nod, not just for "Brit solidarity" but also because it would negate my need to have to see a film about the convicted felon who's currently taken up residence in the White House. I might end up having to see it anyway for Jeremy Strong's performance (if my predictions come true), but at least then I could skip any scenes he's not in. 

In my mind, there's a solid core of four actresses for Best Actress (Erivo, Gascón, Madison, and Moore) with a fifth place to be filled. I've gone with Pamela Anderson, given her nod at the SAG Awards - plus there's something quite poetically beautiful about having two major stars of the 1990s getting a return to the limelight despite having been previously dismissed as "popcorn actresses" and (slightly unfairly) derided at the Razzies - but it could easily be either Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Angelina Jolie (Maria) or Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here). 

In the run for Best Supporting Actor, I can safely tie on three nods (Borisov, Culkin, Norton). The rest of the field has been very fluid, so it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to see Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing), Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) or maybe even Jonathan Bailey (Wicked) getting nominated. 

For Best Supporting Actress, I'm only really confident about two nods: Ariana Grande-Butera and Zoe Saldaña. I loved Conclave, so I'm probably a bit biased but I'd love to see Isabella Rossellini get her first Oscar nod for playing the stoic Sister Agnes. I'm following SAG's nominations in my choices for Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Deadwyler, although they also pulled a wildcard by their nomination of Monica Barbaro for playing Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown. She may still get the Oscar nod, with Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), and Margaret Qualley (The Substance) all part of the conversation and all receiving multiple nominations from other awards bodies. 

We might be in for some "upsets", some "snubs" and some "shut-outs" on Thursday morning. But that's all part of the fun of awards season. Plus it's a nice little distraction from *gestures wildly" all of this. 

As usual, I'll get a post up as soon as I can on Thursday afternoon with the official nominations. 

But before we get there, there's a nifty little stop ahead and time for some puncturing of Hollywood egos (which may or may not be deserved) with the Razzie Award nominations due tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd January). 

Awards Season 2025: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA), and Producers Guild Awards (PGA) Nominations

As I noted at the end of the blogpost yesterday, there were still a couple of the guild award nominations due to be announced, having been postponed from their original announcement dates due to the LA wildfires. Well, with little fanfare, they have both now been announced. 

WRITERS GUILD AWARDS (WGA)

This year's nominees for the WGA Awards were announced yesterday afternoon (15th January). Here they are:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

A Real Pain

Anora

Challengers

Civil War

My Old Ass

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

A Complete Unknown

Dune: Part Two

Hit Man

Nickel Boys

Wicked

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Jim Henson: Idea Man

Kiss The Future

Martha

War Game

I don't ever try to predict any of the nominees for the screenplay categories, but I do have an interest on which scripts get nominated. Last year, the WGA announced their nominees and winners outside of the usual awards season window, so I didn't end up including them in my countdown (for anyone interested, the winners were The Holdovers for Original Screenplay, American Fiction for Adapted Screenplay, and The Pigeon Tunnel [about John le Carré] for Documentary)

However, the WGA Awards aren't as good a predictor as some other guild awards because of the eligibility criteria to be nominated for one. Eligibility for the Writers Guild Awards is restricted to screenplays that were written under the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement or under related agreements from affiliated international guilds.

This does mean that many screenplays that are eligible to be nominated for the Oscars aren't eligible for the WGA Awards. So, for instance, the screenplays for a lot of movies that have featured heavily in other awards ceremonies won't get a WGA nod: these include (deep breath) The Brutalist, The Substance, Hard Truths, September 5, All We Imagine As Light, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Sing Sing, I’m Still Here, The Piano Lesson, Inside Out 2, The Outrun, Nosferatu, Nightbitch, Saturday Night, Babygirl, and Heretic. Given that there are only five slots in each category (Original and Adapted), there's a lot of these movie that won't get a look-in. But it'll be interesting to see how the Academy goes with it. 

The Writers Guild Awards will take place on Saturday 15th February 2025. 

PRODUCERS' GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

This year's PGA Awards nominees were announced today (16th January). The film nominees are as follows:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

Anora

A Complete Unknown

A Real Pain

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

September 5

The Substance

Wicked

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Flow

Inside Out 2

Moana 2

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures 

(previously announced)

Gaucho Gaucho

Mediha

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa

Porcelain War

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

We Will Dance Again

The inclusion of September 5 and A Real Pain is a bit of a surprise in the "Theatrical Motion Picture" category, as (in terms of Best Picture nods) they only featured as nominees at the Golden Globes but have been absent elsewhere, whereas films such as Sing Sing and Nickel Boys have appeared more frequently (with both garnering Critics' Choice and Independent Spirit Award noms).

However, with the exception of last year, the ten PGA and ten Oscar Best Picture nominees aren't always 100% identical. There's usually around an 80% crossover, which I see potentially happening here. 

Chuffed to see both Inside Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl included in the "Animated Theatrical Motion Picture" category; I thoroughly enjoyed both films. I am intrigued to try and see Flow if I can as it sounds very interesting. 

The PGA Awards ceremony is due to take place on Saturday 8th February 2025.

Congratulations to all nominees!

I think, if all is up-to-date, our next Awards Season stop is going to be the announcement of the Razzie Awards nominations on Wednesday (22nd January). I'm fully expecting to see Joker: Folie à Deux, Madame Web, and Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II (yep, they made a sequel) getting dishonoured. Should provide a bit of levity if nothing else. 

Awards Season 2025: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 78th British Academy (BAFTA) Film Awards were announced this afternoon, by Mia McKenna-Bruce (How To Have Sex, Persuasion) and Will Sharpe (The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain, Flowers)

Here's a selection of the nominees:

BEST FILM

Anora

A Complete Unknown

The Brutalist 

Conclave 

Emilia Pérez

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Bird

Blitz

Conclave

Gladiator II

Hard Truths

Kneecap

Lee

Love Lies Bleeding

The Outrun

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

LEADING ACTOR

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Hugh Grant (Heretic) 

Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

LEADING ACTRESS 

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)

Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

DIRECTOR

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)

A full list of nominees in all categories can be found here.

BAFTA previously announced longlists for all categories, so you can see what was in contention for nominations here.

Conclave leads the pack with an impressive 12 nominations, with Emilia Pérez close behind with 11. The Brutalist has nine.

There's a couple of interesting selections and omissions here. BAFTA tend to skew towards British talent, so it was no surprise to see Marianne Jean-Baptiste in contention for Best Actress or Felicity Jones in the Best Supporting Actress category. It was a surprise, however, not to see Daniel Craig nominated for Queer, which was shut out completely. I don't think this necessarily dents his chances of an Oscar nod, but it feels like an odd choice. In the categories I try to predict, a lot of the same names have come up - so even though this is a year without an anointed frontrunner (ie. no Oppenheimer or Everything Everywhere All At Once), the nominees at least might not be a surprise. 

The nominees for the 2025 Rising Star award - the only BAFTA awarded by public vote - have also been announced: this year's nominees are Marisa Abela (Back To Black), Jharrel Jerome (Unstoppable), David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Nabhaan Rizwan (Station Eleven). Find out more about them, and cast your vote here.

The 78th BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out in just a month's time (on Sunday 16th February) in a ceremony to be hosted once again by the rather marvellous David Tennant. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

Understandably, given the scale of devastation happening in Los Angeles at the moment as the wildfires still burn, the nominations for several of the major awards have been postponed:

• Both the Producers Guild Awards (PGA) and the Writers Guild Awards (WGA) have pushed their nominations announcements back; no firm date has been given for either yet, but they are expected at some point this week. 
• The announcement of the Oscar nominations will take place on Thursday 23rd January 2025; this will now be a virtual event. Whilst the date of the nominations has been moved, the Oscar ceremony is still scheduled to be held on Sunday 2nd March.
• The Razzies have also shifted their nomination date to Wednesday 22nd January 2025, to keep step with the Oscars. 
• The Critics Choice Awards ceremony is now scheduled to take place in February, on a date to be confirmed. 

The blog will be updated with these nominations and results as they happen. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the fires, with particular gratitude towards the first responders and emergency service personnel working tirelessly to help contain the fires. 

Awards Season 2025: Golden Globes Winners

Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully the festive season has been fun, relaxing and stress-free for you all, and 2025 has started off on the right foot. 

Last night (Sunday 5th January 2025), the winners of the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, for both television and film. were announced, in a ceremony hosted by Nikki Glaser, who was the first solo female host in Golden Globes history. It was broadcast on CBS in the US. 

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): The Brutalist

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Emilia Pérez

Best Director: Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Best Actor (Drama): Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Sebastian Stan (A Different Man)

Best Actress (Drama): Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Screenplay: Peter Straughan (Conclave)

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Challengers)

Best Original Song: "El Mal" (Emilia Pérez)

Best Foreign Language Film: Emilia Pérez

Best Animated Feature Film: Flow

Cinematic And Box Office Achievement: Wicked

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Viola Davis

Emilia Pérez was the big winner of the night with four Golden Globes; the only other film to win multiple awards was The Brutalist, taking home three. Despite multiple nominations, Anora, The Wild Robot, A Complete Unknown, Gladiator II, and Dune: Part Two all went away with nothing.

After last year's host, Jo Koy, got roundly panned for his MCing stint, critical opinion has been much kinder to Nikki Glaser who made for an engaging and funny host. However, I think the best part of the evening was Demi Moore's powerful and touching acceptance speech where she explained that, despite being in the movie business for 45 years, she was described by a producer in the 1990s as "a 'popcorn' actress... I made that mean that this wasn't something that I was allowed to have, that I could do movies that were successful, that made a lot of money, but that I couldn't be acknowledged." I have a feeling that the Golden Globe for The Substance is only the first in several acknowledgements she will get for this daring and ever-so-slightly-fucked-up movie.  

There were a couple of surprises in the winners this year, particularly Flow, a Latvian film featuring no dialogue, beating Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot for the Best Animated Feature award, and Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres taking the Best Actress (Drama) award ahead of Hollywood heavyweights like Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton and Kate Winslet for her performance in Walter Salles' political drama I'm Still Here. 

I was pleased to see the Best Screenplay award go to Conclave, as I thoroughly enjoyed that movie.

Up next for awards season, we get a 2-4-1 on Wednesday (8th January) with the announcement of not only the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards nominations, but also the Directors Guild Award (DGA) nominees. 

Awards Season 2025: Critics' Choice Awards Nominations

This afternoon (Thursday 12th December), the film nominations for the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards were announced. 

Here are a selection of their nominees:

Best Picture

A Complete Unknown 

Anora 

The Brutalist 

Conclave 

Dune: Part Two 

Emilia Pérez 

Nickel Boys 

Sing Sing 

The Substance 

Wicked

Best Director

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Jon M. Chu (Wicked)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)

Best Actor

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Hugh Grant (Heretic) 

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)

Angelina Jolie (Maria)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Supporting Actress

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Margaret Qualley (The Substance)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominees can be found here. 

Conclave and Wicked lead the pack with 11 nominations apiece; Emilia Pérez and Dune: Part Two have 10, whilst The Brutalist gets nine. 

As is usual, there's a lot of the same names coming up in the various awards bodies. Of course, nothing's ever certain until the nominations are announced but you can definitely see the way the wind is blowing for this awards season. Still time for some interesting curveballs though before we get to the Oscar nominations. 

The 30th Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out on Sunday 12th January 2025. Broadcast on The CW, Chelsea Handler will return for hosting duties for the third year running. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

Awards nonsense pauses over the next couple of weeks so everyone can enjoy the holidays. We'll be getting back on the awards trail in early January, with the Golden Globes being handed out on 5th January 2025. 

Awards Season 2025: Golden Globes Nominations

Today (Monday 9th December 2024) saw the announcement of the nominees for the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, with Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project. The Office, Inside Out) and Morris Chestnut (Boyz N The Hood, The Best Man, Kick-Ass 2) doing the honours. 

The awards are now administered by Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge Industries, following the disbanding of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in June 2023. A group of voters consisting of 334 journalists representing 85 countries selected the nominees. Upon taking over from the HFPA, the decision was made to keep the split between drama and musical/comedy categories (as had been the HFPA's tradition). 

Below is a selected list of the film nominees:

Best Picture - Drama

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune Part 2

Nickel Boys

September 5

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy

Anora

Challengers

Emilia Pérez

A Real Pain

The Substance

Wicked

Best Director

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light)

Best Actor - Drama

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

 

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)

Hugh Grant (Heretic)

Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night)

Jesse Plemons (Kinds Of Kindness)

Glen Powell (Hit Man)

Sebastian Stan (A Different Man)

Best Actress - Drama

Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)

Angelina Jolie (Maria)

Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)

Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door)

Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)

Kate Winslet (Lee)

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy

Amy Adams (Nightbitch)

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Zendaya (Challengers)

Best Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Supporting Actress

Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)

Margaret Qualley (The Substance)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominations can be found here.

OK, before I get too far into it, I just want to point out one thing. There may be a new team heading the Golden Globes but the HFPA's naughty little habit of category fraud is still alive and well. Whilst I am pleased to see both Hugh Grant and Demi Moore recognised for their bravura performances (you can file this directly under "don't hate the player, hate the game"), I would argue that neither Heretic (thriller and psychological horror) nor The Substance (body horror and psychological drama) are musicals or comedies; you could maybe get away with an argument that The Substance (and possibly Nightbitch) could be classed as "black comedy". I don't get the thinking behind it at all. It's giving off The Tourist and The Martian vibes for those who remember those years. 

I'm really pleased to see both Daniel Craig and Ralph Fiennes recognised. I was initially unsure whether Queer (on its title alone, let alone its content) would figure, but I'm glad it did. Similarly, I'm chuffed that Conclave has got as much love as it has; it's a well-made film, expertly acted and beautiful to look at. This year's Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award nominees include Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Wicked, and (surprisingly) Alien: Romulus. Also, in case anyone is wondering what September 5 is ('cause I sure was), it's a historical thriller which follows the ABC Sports broadcast team who find themselves covering the hostage crisis which unfolded at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

Emilia Pérez leads the way with an amazing 10 nominations; The Brutalist (a biopic of architect László Toth) is second with seven, and Conclave has six. 

It was also announced that the brilliant Viola Davis will be the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award (for "outstanding achievement" in film), whilst Ted Danson would be getting the television equivalent with the Carol Burnett Award. 

The Golden Globes will be handed out in a ceremony on Sunday 5th January 2025, to be broadcast live on CBS with Nikki Glaser (Trainwreck, I Feel Pretty, Good Clean Filth) taking up hosting duties. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

So, next up on the awards season trail, and our last stop before the Christmas holidays, will be the Critics' Choice Awards who will announce their nominees this coming Thursday (12th December 2024).