Episode Transcript
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Hi everyone, Radhika Jones here, Editor-in-Chief
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Fair. Hello
1:41
and welcome to Little Gold Men, the
1:43
award season podcast from Vanity Fair. I
1:46
am delighted and proud to introduce
1:48
him as Academy Award
1:50
winner. And the Oscar goes to.
1:54
The winner. It's a tie. little
2:00
girl, but you can't
2:02
speak from the telly you never know. My
2:05
little girl, I just
2:07
want an Oscar. I
2:17
am Katie Rich. I'm here for this, our final
2:19
episode before the 96 Academy Awards with Richard Lawson.
2:22
Hello. With David Canfield.
2:24
Hello. And with Cara Warner. Hello.
2:27
This is our Predictions episode.
2:29
We are going to put our heads together
2:31
and predict what will win all of the Oscars on
2:33
Sunday night. David and
2:35
Cara and I wrote our predictions at bf.com. You
2:37
can read those as well, although I don't think
2:39
it's a spoiler because sometimes we disagree with each
2:41
other, as I think you might hear in
2:44
the conversation ahead. But before
2:46
we dive in, I did want to say thank
2:48
you so much to everyone who submitted their voice
2:50
memos about their Oscar viewing traditions. Hopefully you listened
2:52
to Tuesday's episode in which we played a lot
2:54
of those. There were a lot that came in
2:57
that we just didn't have time to include. We
2:59
recorded too early. But we've listened
3:01
to all of them. They are really delightful. Richard, you and
3:03
I were kind of watching the emails come in together, and
3:05
our listeners are just great, and I wanted to say that
3:07
on the air too. Not to encourage
3:09
like an onslaught of email, but we see
3:12
every email. And
3:14
we read them and we listen to them. And
3:16
we are delighted by them. And then also
3:18
thank you to everyone who's participating in our Oscar pool.
3:21
Go check that link on Sunday night. You'll be able
3:23
to see your standings update live. I
3:26
will certainly be checking it. I haven't made my picks
3:28
as I record this. So if you have the link,
3:30
if you're signed up and haven't made your picks, please
3:32
do that. And if you received
3:34
a leak and you haven't clicked it yet, sorry, we're full.
3:37
We would really like to expand it next year.
3:40
Really, the response has been fantastic. So those of
3:42
you who are joining us, feel lucky. You got a
3:44
spot that not everybody did. And hopefully you can join
3:47
us on Sunday night. And if you
3:49
see a predictor named test case, that's me, and I
3:51
can't figure out how to change my name. What
3:55
is my name? I don't even know. It's
3:57
a test case too. I'll
4:00
go back and check and see if I can help you out. But
4:03
when you win and you won't be allowed to
4:05
win, that way test case can win and make off
4:07
with all the rest. That's how I do. I do
4:09
a lot of scams that way. Yeah.
4:12
Okay. On with the
4:14
predictions part of the episode. As
4:18
usual, I think in years past we started
4:20
with the shorts because of course we discussed them in
4:22
depth a couple weeks ago. So
4:25
we can go through them fairly quickly. I
4:27
think we tried to make some predictions about
4:29
what we thought would win when we discussed
4:31
these. And the only one I
4:33
remember feeling fairly certain about was best documentary
4:35
short. I feel so pretty
4:37
strong that the last repair shop is going to
4:39
be the winner here. So I feel like someone
4:42
disagreed when we had this conversation. Do you
4:44
guys remember? Well, Kara and I thought Nai
4:46
Nai and Waipo would win maybe. But
4:49
I've read one of those anonymous ballots
4:52
and they picked the last repair shop. So I'm like,
4:54
okay. The motor told me they're voting for last repair
4:56
shop. That's going to win. Beware
4:59
of the anonymous ballots if anyone remembers my
5:01
Penelope Cruz prediction from a few years ago.
5:04
Yeah, that was based on more than just the
5:06
anonymous ballots. It was, but there are so many
5:08
that have Penelope Cruz and parallel mailers. I agree
5:10
though, Katie, I think the last repair shop is
5:14
just the most well-rounded, particularly in terms of
5:16
what they look for in this category. It's
5:19
always hard to predict because we're often wrong,
5:22
but it just felt like a winner to me. Nai
5:24
and Waipo, well, one of my personal
5:26
favorites in the category, it just
5:29
feels a tad slight for how
5:32
they tend to vote here. I
5:35
think if anything, they would probably go with an
5:37
ABCs of book banning or something like that if
5:39
they went in another direction. So I think it's
5:42
issue-driven from someone from a peer in Sheila Nevins
5:45
that may be a little drier, but
5:47
still feels important. Yeah, I felt like
5:49
you both did a great job of convincing
5:52
me my initial instinct was maybe not correct
5:54
because I don't know the history of the category.
5:57
But Last but not least, my favorite.
6:00
hearing that you guys said, well, you know, they look for
6:02
an actual full arc of
6:04
a story and they love something in LA. So
6:07
they do. They really do. I'm
6:09
comfortable with that one. David,
6:11
you wrote our predictions for Best Animated Short, which I
6:13
don't think I had realized how tough of a choice
6:16
it was until I kind of watched you wrestle
6:18
with what you considered the top two contenders. Maybe
6:20
I'll let you kind of explain the stakes there.
6:23
A study in extremes. Yeah,
6:27
I was between Letter to a Pig,
6:29
which is very arty and
6:32
ambiguous and confusing
6:35
at times and War
6:37
is Over inspired by the music of John and
6:39
Yoko to give it the full name, which
6:42
is none of those things. And
6:45
I think fits into a certain niche
6:48
of slightly
6:51
saccharine, slightly overbearing,
6:55
short winners. But
6:57
Letter to a Pig also has the theme of
6:59
the Holocaust as pretty central
7:02
to it. And as
7:04
we've seen with the Academy, that can
7:07
implore a little bit more attention
7:09
being to be paid. And so
7:11
I do think that in
7:14
this case, because it is
7:16
also a very thoughtfully and
7:18
intricately made short, that
7:20
that could take it over the top. But I
7:22
think I'm not confident in that. I
7:24
think War is Over is going to take it just
7:26
because you had said that the whole Academy, the voting
7:29
body can vote on this one, right? And
7:31
I think people that maybe didn't
7:33
see them, if they see John
7:35
and Yoko, maybe they have warm feelings and
7:38
are like, oh, they should win. But who knows?
7:40
I agree. That's a decent point. If they even if
7:42
they didn't watch them, they're just like, I like them. Let's do
7:44
it. I agree with you, Kara. I
7:47
have to diverge from our official selections
7:49
on this one. I
7:51
think I'm set up. I mean, after the Kobe
7:53
Bryant thing, one, you are, I just don't like
7:55
they just they like celebrity. They
7:57
like easy kind of sentiment. Letter to a
7:59
Pig. Pig is beautifully made and
8:02
in blending, I believe,
8:05
actual video footage and animation and
8:07
it's really interesting. But Wars
8:10
Over looks like a Pixar movie. It's
8:12
a very easy message of war is
8:14
bad and then you have the celebrity names at
8:16
the end. I think I'm
8:18
also going to go with Wars Over for the, I don't
8:20
want to be cynical because I don't like it. It's not a
8:22
cynical movie for all the things that you can say about it.
8:26
But yeah, I think the boy and
8:28
the pig and the fox and
8:30
the mole and the boy, there's
8:32
no hair in that one, whatever that one was. We
8:37
want to use that as a model. I think that's
8:39
a safer one to go with. Yeah. Sorry,
8:42
David. You can be smug and right.
8:44
Who knows? Yeah, I'm going to be
8:46
smug, pretentious and hopefully right. I'm
8:48
not sick with letter to a page. Well,
8:52
Cara, you took over writing for live action
8:54
short and wrestled with someone who's
8:56
been accused of being smug and pretentious, but
8:58
I would argue it's not, which is Wes
9:00
Anderson, who is a... My peer. It's
9:02
definitely a couple of celebrity names in this
9:05
category. He's definitely the biggest one and you
9:07
predicted he might win it all. Yes.
9:10
When I went back and kind of dug into, I
9:12
didn't realize how many times he's actually been
9:15
nominated and so I think this is a
9:17
case where people, especially maybe because
9:19
the voting body is like, well, we
9:22
don't love, love his features enough to
9:24
give it an Oscar, but he
9:26
made a short film and it's charming.
9:28
So I think he's
9:30
going to get an Oscar here, even though I agree
9:32
with our favorite and out of fortune was a
9:35
tremendous live action short. That was very
9:37
moving and had some surprises, which I
9:39
really loved. And
9:41
then one thing about the Wes Anderson is it
9:45
was fun to kind of dig into his history. He
9:47
kind of started with a live action
9:49
short, debuted at Sundance in
9:51
1993, Bottle Rocket. So
9:53
I thought that was a fun little tidbit. I'm like, oh, you know, kind of
9:56
full circle. If he's... Yeah. If
9:58
he came onto the scene with a short, the... people did love.
10:01
He can win an Oscar for one. Yeah. I
10:04
do feel like the cynical choice in this
10:06
category is the after. It's backed by Netflix.
10:08
It's got a big stir in it and
10:10
David O'Yellowo. It's kind of sad and emotionally
10:13
pummeling in a way that things
10:15
often tend to be in winners. Like Henry
10:17
Sugar is a very elaborate, is so technically
10:19
accomplished, but it what it's about
10:21
is like, I don't know what is it about? Like
10:23
you can weigh your money if you get the chance.
10:25
What is it about? Sometimes that can be a challenge.
10:27
I think I would, I think I will predict Henry
10:29
Sugar for myself as well because I don't want to
10:31
be cynical in this case, even though I was in
10:33
the other ones. But the after
10:36
would maybe be the smarter money, but
10:38
I'm torn. I don't think that, I
10:40
don't think you're cynical though. Like I don't
10:42
think that's a cynical choice, right? People do love
10:45
a more famous actor emoting in a short
10:48
song. I don't think that's too cynical. I
10:50
predicted Night of Fortune because maybe
10:52
that was more hope-dicting I guess.
10:55
But in that one anonymous palette
10:57
that I've read, they
10:59
brought up an interesting point which is that the
11:01
short film categories are viewed by some as a
11:04
launching pad for new filmmakers and that Wes
11:06
Anderson doesn't really belong there because he's very
11:09
established. You know, you think about
11:11
filmmakers who have won shorts in the past.
11:13
David Frankel, director of Devil Wears Product, is an
11:15
Oscar winner for a short film. I
11:19
know I was thinking maybe they would want
11:21
to go with that. So maybe the after
11:23
is a better pick because it's English language.
11:25
But Night of Fortune is the one, as
11:27
we talked about on our shorts episode, like
11:29
it's the most complete film I think of
11:31
the five. So I'm saying
11:33
that they're gonna choose artistry over
11:36
anything else and vote that. It's
11:39
an unusual dynamic for this category. I
11:41
mean I would also predict Henry Sugar
11:43
just because it is in
11:45
such a league of its own among this group
11:48
for many reasons. But it's interesting because I think
11:50
we all have different alternates. Like I feel like
11:52
Red, White, and Blue is the
11:55
film that would make
11:57
the most sense as an upset because it is the
11:59
most... clearly issue-driven and the
12:02
clearest kind of counter programming to Henry
12:05
Sugar. We've talked a lot about the
12:08
Academy's relationship with history,
12:11
with opinion of Wes Anderson.
12:14
And this is an interesting test of that for a
12:16
number of reasons. This one might
12:18
be of the shorts, the one I'm most
12:20
interested to see what actually triumphs. Like it's
12:22
not even ... I mean, obviously,
12:24
if Wes Anderson wins an Oscar, it'll be a moment
12:26
of celebration. And thank God it's on the telecast this
12:28
year. Something like when Risa Med won his Oscar in
12:31
Live Ocean Short and nobody saw it happen. And
12:34
then if he doesn't, it'll be very interesting to see what they go for
12:36
instead. Okay, we'll
12:38
move on to Best Original Score. I
12:40
wrote our prediction for this, but I'm
12:43
imagining you guys will agree with me that
12:45
Ludwig Gorinson will win his second Oscar for
12:47
Best Original Score for Oppenheimer. Do
12:51
I need to make my case? Does that score ever
12:53
stop? I mean, it's the whole movie. I
12:55
mean, same with editing though, and we'll get to that too.
12:58
The experience of Oppenheimer is being kind of like
13:01
strung along on this like unbroken narrative
13:03
with the editing and the score kind
13:05
of working in concert together. You really can't
13:07
imagine the movie working without both of those
13:09
things. Yeah. I mean, this is
13:12
... I'm a huge movie score nerd. And
13:15
this is ... I mean, I'm still
13:17
psyched Laura Carpman got a nomination here
13:19
because that score is really lovely.
13:22
And yeah, it's a great category. John Williams
13:24
has not won as many Oscars as we think he has.
13:27
Was it five? Yeah,
13:29
just five in the Oscar's
13:31
category. I think he's been nominated
13:33
over 20 times, at least. I got
13:35
in the way of John Williams' facts better. John
13:38
Williams has been nominated more than you think because
13:40
they split it up into like comedy and drama
13:42
score for a while. And he's got some song
13:45
nominations. It's a lot of nominations. I think
13:47
he's the most nominated person, right? I think
13:49
it's like he's about to catch up to
13:51
Walt Disney maybe. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
13:53
Go for it, John. Yeah, but
13:56
this is great. All these, you know, worthwhile
13:58
scores to listen to, but yes. Yes, you're,
14:00
aren't we? We, you, we're all right. Yeah.
14:03
I was fascinating learning about Jerskin Senderix, the composer of
14:05
Poor Things, when writing up this blurb. He's just like
14:08
an English musician who's been in a bunch of bands.
14:10
This is the first time he's ever done the score
14:12
for a movie. It's
14:14
just fascinating to see him next to John Williams, who's
14:16
written the most iconic movie scores of
14:19
the last 50 years. Right. And
14:21
then you're... Oh, sorry, I got to head, Kara. No, I was
14:23
going to say, Jerskin, am I pronouncing? I mean... Not
14:26
a clue. I do not know that. I don't
14:28
know his name, need to learn how to pronounce it. But
14:31
he also, interestingly, composed all the
14:33
music before they even shot the movie.
14:36
That is interesting. Jerskin Senderix represented
14:38
District 5 in The Last Hunger Games.
14:41
Yeah. Sorry, that is a Suzanne
14:43
Collins sounding name, isn't it? It
14:46
really is. You're right. One
14:52
last thing, though, is that Robbie Robertson, who got a
14:54
posthumous nomination for his score for Killers with the Flower
14:56
Moon, you can imagine in a different
14:58
kind of race there being so much sentimental
15:01
power behind this, his collaboration with Scorsese went on
15:03
for so long, you watch The Last Waltz in
15:05
your heart, just kind of breaks a million pieces,
15:07
knowing it's the beginning of this long friendship. And
15:10
the score for Killers with the Flower Moon is really
15:12
fantastic. I don't think that will be enough for him
15:14
to beat something as powerful as the Oppenheimer score, but
15:16
I'm glad it's getting a moment all the same. Okay,
15:20
David, you took on my real beloved
15:22
category original song. I was very generous
15:25
in letting you write about the contenders this
15:27
year. Well, maybe not so much to spend
15:29
this year. Well, I guess that's the question, right?
15:31
It's boiling down to two Barbie songs, and we kind
15:33
of feel like we know where this is headed. But
15:36
do you think there's any possibility for a surprise there? I
15:40
don't. I think this is one case
15:42
where you're not going to see
15:44
votes splitting. You're going to see Barbie just
15:46
at the top of the ticket, top two.
15:51
I'm sure I'm just, Ken will get
15:53
some support, but what
15:55
was I made for is just on another level. It
15:58
has one... Pop Grammy,
16:00
which is very unusual for movie
16:02
songs. It won Best Song. It's
16:05
become the sort of emotional anthem of
16:07
the movie right alongside Dua Lipa's song
16:10
in the more fun category. So
16:12
it just feels like, especially
16:15
since Barbie has lost some seam outside
16:17
of this category, that this is the
16:19
place. It will be honored. It is
16:21
a great song. You
16:23
mentioned Robbie Robertson. I
16:26
am a huge fan of Killers of the Flower
16:28
Moon. I've been generally bummed that
16:30
it's just faded so much outside of Best
16:32
Actress. But a song for my
16:34
people, I'm so thrilled it's nominated here. And I
16:36
feel like it will be a real
16:39
moment on the telecast. And in another year, I
16:42
think it could have had a not to not to
16:44
ask run because it's a
16:47
really powerful song and one that
16:50
I think signals the unique contributions made
16:52
to that movie that came in a
16:54
little bit later in the development process.
16:57
Yeah, we're going to get a lot of good performance. There's
16:59
gonna be a lot of good performances, I think. John Batiste
17:01
is an incredible performer. I assume Diane Warren
17:04
will be on stage with Becky G to perform
17:06
the play. And Hot Songs usually is... The idea
17:08
of Becky G hit the hot curse was so wild.
17:11
With Diane Warren. With Diane Warren. Side
17:13
by side. And I assume, if it was
17:15
a while where I thought they might open the show with I'm Just
17:17
Ken, I now think they're going to save it for as long as
17:19
possible and make everyone keep watching for I'm Just
17:21
Ken. That's my official connection. That's actually smart.
17:23
What will open? What was
17:25
I made for? I don't remember in recent
17:27
memory like a song from a movie sort of
17:30
becoming so ubiquitous so quickly. I
17:33
also love it. I am such a sucker
17:35
for this song. I think it's just gorgeous
17:37
poetry. It makes you feel the feels in
17:40
as many cliched ways as it is.
17:43
And I can't believe that Billy and Finney as young as
17:45
they are can just do what
17:47
they do. Wait a second, Walker. I
17:49
think they should... You know, the first one is going to
17:51
not look as good in retrospect.
17:53
This is one they should win for. It's a
17:56
great win. Diane Word's going to say, oh, it's
17:58
great that these 20-some things have won. It
18:00
was a competitive Oscar. It's
18:02
exciting. Well, especially because
18:04
they won for Spectre and beat out
18:06
Limo La Miranda for the wronging conte
18:08
song. We talked about that at length.
18:11
But the fact that Limo La Miranda doesn't have an Oscar is
18:13
going to get weirder and weirder as the years go by. So
18:15
it would just be so easy if we could just swap all
18:17
that out. Yeah. Also, Mark
18:20
Ronson already has an Oscar for Shallow. So
18:22
it's not like he's losing, but I would vote
18:24
for I'm Just Ken any day
18:26
of the week. Yeah, I think if people are
18:28
considering putting Just Ken on their ballots, the
18:31
one metric to maybe look at is that the
18:33
comedy songs rarely win. They get
18:35
nominated, they perform, blame Canada at the Oscars,
18:37
but it doesn't win. You know, that's
18:39
true. Hey,
18:44
everybody, it's Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson. And we
18:46
host the movie podcast Unspooled, where we
18:48
are exploring the most regarded films of
18:50
all time. That's right. And
18:52
we are going to be looking specifically at the Oscars. That's right. We
18:55
are looking back at best picture winners
18:57
like Amadeus, Sting, American Beauty and Birdman.
19:00
Yeah, Birdman won a Best Picture Oscar.
19:02
Birdman won a Best Picture Oscar. That's
19:04
the newest one. I completely forgot. Plus,
19:07
right before this year's Oscars, we'll be doing
19:09
a preview episode discussing all of the nominated
19:11
movies. That's right. So listen
19:13
to it all on Unspooled, wherever you get your podcast. This
19:17
episode of Little Gold Men is
19:19
brought to you by MUBI, a
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curated streaming service dedicated to elevating
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great cinema from around the globe.
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They have everything from iconic directors
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to emerging auteurs. There is always
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MUBI, each and every film is
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incredible movies streaming anytime, anywhere. Right
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now, they have a film collection for
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Performers We Love, and they are highlighting
19:45
one of this year's Oscar frontrunners,
19:47
Lily Gladstone. So
19:49
I am here with David Canfield to talk
19:51
about how much we love Lily Gladstone and
19:53
especially her film that is now on MUBI,
19:55
Certain Women. David, fond memories there. Fond
19:58
memories. What an introduction. knew
20:00
who she was before that film, but
20:02
it's quite a thing to be in a
20:05
Kelly Rijkart film with Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart,
20:07
and Laura Dern and completely steal it. And
20:09
now we're talking about it to this day.
20:12
You can try MUBI
20:15
for free for 30
20:17
days at mubi.com/little goldmen.
20:19
That's mubi.com/little goldmen for
20:22
a whole month of
20:24
great cinema for free.
20:27
mubi.com/little goldmen.
20:32
Okay, on to production design. Speaking of Barbie
20:34
and where it stands in the race, I
20:36
mean in our, David and Kara and I,
20:38
we did a rundown of the races that
20:41
are so close and we lumped together costume
20:43
and production design because it is in many
20:45
ways poor things versus Barbie and both. But
20:47
let's talk about them separately. Kara,
20:49
you wrote up our production design predictions. What
20:52
are the stakes here? I mean, we
20:54
use the word wrestled and this one
20:57
I really am struggling with because poor
21:00
things has won, I think,
21:02
more of the precursors and it
21:04
is a gorgeously designed
21:06
film. Unique, gorgeous, but
21:09
Barbie. I mean, I just
21:12
want Barbie to win more Oscars than Vessong.
21:16
And I, you know, I think
21:18
in chatting with you all, this
21:20
one, the projected winner here, I leaned a
21:22
little into what I want and hope for
21:25
that Barbie does win. But
21:27
I just hesitated just because poor things is
21:29
really beloved, especially in the craft
21:32
categories. So, yeah, I'm struggling with
21:34
this one. Yeah,
21:36
my brain is telling me it's going to
21:38
be poor things and my heart is telling
21:41
me it's going to be Barbie. So
21:43
I'm right there with you, Kara. The
21:46
math ain't math for Barbie right now.
21:49
Poor things won with the
21:51
Art Directors Guild over Barbie.
21:54
And I feel like Barbie is more of a guild
21:56
movie than Poor Things. So that probably shouldn't have happened
21:58
if it were going to win the Oscars. and
22:00
poor things also in the BAFTA, which we talked about
22:03
a lot, poor things really performed well there. But
22:06
there is something about, something
22:08
about Barbie as a particularly
22:11
American phenomenon, there
22:13
is something in the back of my head that says it
22:15
will do a little bit better at the Oscars and does
22:17
at other awards shows. And that may be very naive. But
22:21
this feels like the category where
22:23
the work was so brilliant and
22:26
so visible, you know, just in
22:28
the marketing alone, that I
22:30
think it could win. I really do. And
22:34
I kind of hope it does. It feels like it's just
22:36
such an iconic, it was
22:38
kind of the look of the movies, right? In
22:40
many ways last year. But again,
22:42
it's just, it hasn't gone its way so
22:44
far. So logically, it
22:46
feels kind of foolish to predict it.
22:48
But that's where I am right now. I feel
22:50
like this is a place where it could surprise. Yeah,
22:53
one other aspect of the argument I added with
22:55
our predictions is just, was
22:57
there anything more delightful than
22:59
the switch from
23:02
Barbie's Dreamhouse to the Mojo Dojo
23:04
Casa house? True. Yeah.
23:07
And is it going to be referenced? You know,
23:09
it just, that was just such a hilarious, and
23:11
it is frequently referenced to this day. Not
23:13
to take away from the amazing European flair.
23:15
I don't know what the architecture is called,
23:17
but it's, but yeah. Oof.
23:20
It's flairy. It's
23:22
been a while since at the Oscars
23:24
we had a movie that had such
23:26
huge pop culture impact. Like I'm trying
23:28
to even think of the last time
23:30
there was something like this widely nominated
23:33
at the Oscars that like inspired TikTok
23:35
trends, as you pointed out, Kara, that
23:37
people are like sharing their own Mojo Dojo
23:39
Casa house. Barbie is just so
23:41
massive in so many of these categories. And
23:43
it makes me really want, despite
23:45
the incredible craft of four things and some of the
23:48
other nominees here, it makes me want them to just
23:50
say like, look, you created something that will be with
23:52
us forever. And it deserves
23:54
to get recognized. It's very
23:56
different than Top Gun, but it's sort of the Top
23:58
Gun of the year. Yeah, yeah,
24:01
but I don't think popgun had the
24:03
same kind of like instantly recognizable iconography You know
24:05
like I don't think it was as but
24:07
it won best set it won best sound
24:09
which was sure it was not assured But
24:12
it did pull something out and that did feel
24:14
like a let's make sure it has a moment
24:16
and Barbie's in a different Position because it is
24:18
winning song But I think Barbie
24:21
could similarly pop in another area that it hadn't
24:23
popped at other word shows I think you're all
24:25
not the tick tock I follow everyone's doing Napoleon
24:27
chic. I mean, it's just You
24:33
You've curated your algorithm well Richard I predicted
24:35
poor things because I
24:37
just think there are enough snoots in the Academy
24:39
that just Don't want to vote for
24:42
Barbie, but I'm probably wrong The
24:45
snoots you're too. I mean, yeah, I'm
24:47
the most worried about them too. Darn it.
24:49
Come on. Yeah I
24:52
am going to split the difference I
24:54
think and say Projection design
24:56
would be poor things because
24:58
like you think of like the visuals of poor
25:00
things you think of those crazy like Lisbon Houses
25:02
all kind of like stacked on top of each other
25:05
maybe more than Costumes and this
25:07
feels like kind of like interesting. I'm not for
25:09
myself. Okay. Yeah, I think Well,
25:12
we'll get to costumes a little bit where we'll have
25:14
this conversation all over again But I'm
25:16
gonna I'm gonna stress about this one for a while
25:18
as which is why we put
25:20
it in the races They're still too close to
25:23
call lineup Okay,
25:25
speaking of that visual effects is another one which
25:28
is such an oddball category because
25:30
Oppenheimer is not present we
25:33
got an interesting listener email kind of suggesting it
25:35
might have been Nolan's kind of Saminess
25:38
about digital effects that made the visual
25:40
effects page be like nope You can't be part of our
25:42
party this year and I have no way to confirm this
25:44
and I would like to do more reporting On it, but
25:47
however it happened Oppenheimer was not the shortlist.
25:49
It is not nominated So the nominees are
25:51
the creator which has been winning it won
25:53
a lot of visual effects Society Awards It's
25:55
a kind of famously low budget really
25:57
beautifully rendered digital effects film Godzilla
26:00
minus one which is a very similar thing and
26:02
had the benefit of being a hit when it
26:05
opened in December And then kind
26:07
of more standard blockbusters Guardians of the galaxy
26:09
volume three mission impossible dead reckoning part one
26:11
and then tiktok's own Napoleon
26:14
in there Somehow
26:18
not nominated in sound we'll get to that in a minute
26:20
I went with Godzilla minus one
26:22
kind of on a gut feeling only obviously
26:25
the creator has done really well within the
26:27
industry But like the creator is not a
26:29
movie that most people remember at all And
26:32
when you've got the broader academy voting in this
26:34
like I don't think there's really deep wells of
26:37
affection For Guardians the galaxy
26:39
or mission impossible. Obviously, there's respect for Napoleon.
26:41
It's nominated in a few other places Because
26:44
the little minus one was such a
26:46
fun success story, you know, it opened around
26:48
the same time as boy in the heron So is
26:50
these two Japanese films really dominating the US box office
26:52
for a while? I just
26:55
I think in the absence of some really
26:57
compelling narrative that would be just enough to put
26:59
it over the top was the case I made
27:01
I think you're right and I think it has
27:03
the added benefit that one of the nominees Takashi
27:05
Yamazaki also directed the movie So it's
27:07
a way to give the director of this great crossover
27:09
hit but actually I was I was listening to Blank
27:11
Check They're talking about it like did better in the
27:14
US than it did in Japan Yeah,
27:16
and maybe that's just because of population size or
27:18
whatever But like it was a fun story, you
27:20
know to have this Japanese film Do
27:23
so well in the US and that the director happened
27:25
to have done a lot of special effects himself I
27:28
think helps its narrative a bit I
27:31
also think Godzilla Takashi also
27:33
had my favorite like
27:35
moving cute award season moment
27:39
I think it was at the luncheon David can make it
27:41
where Steven Spielberg approached him
27:43
and said he had watched his movie three times.
27:45
Oh, man. I was like, I believe it was
27:47
That's great. That's what you want. Like what I
27:49
I just feel like the reverence for Godzilla
27:51
minus one is great I mean people people really
27:54
love it But uh, yeah that that has
27:56
been my favorite little award season tidbit so far
27:58
because it's like can you imagine? Imagine making
28:00
a movie and Spielberg
28:02
telling you you watched it more than
28:04
once. I really wonder what
28:06
Amblin is setting up for Yomazaki. Like what is
28:08
next movie is going to be? Something
28:11
big I'm sure. Yeah. It's
28:14
a fun category. I think a lot of these movies
28:16
can win. I probably would
28:18
predict Godzilla minus one too. It's
28:21
been fascinating to see the creator on the run that
28:23
it's on just given it was so quiet when it
28:25
was released. I still
28:27
think that winning visual effects
28:29
groups is one thing, but being able
28:32
to win with the whole Academy is
28:34
a much more daunting task. Napoleon,
28:38
on the contrary, is the movie that probably
28:40
the Academy has seen the most, that was
28:42
the most heavily campaigned, is the most nominated
28:45
of the bunch. I think
28:47
it can win too in the same way like a first man
28:49
won, even though it wasn't widely
28:51
embraced. We'll see. I
28:53
think it'll be exciting whoever wins because
28:55
I don't think any of these movies
28:57
are winning anything else. Yeah. That's
28:59
a good point. Okay. I
29:01
mentioned Best Sound where Napoleon kind of mystifyingly
29:04
was not nominated despite all those cannon
29:06
booms. But David, as you wrote
29:08
about in our predictions, there is a little
29:10
bit of suspense here, I think, even though
29:12
Oppenheimer sure is loud and sure doesn't do
29:15
a lot with sound and then a very noteworthy
29:17
lack thereof. But it could get beaten.
29:20
Yeah. I
29:22
am pulling for the zone of interest here. What
29:25
a brilliant campaign. Really
29:28
from the jump, from the moment that movie
29:30
kind of started the Fall Festival rounds, that
29:33
was the narrative that A24 was pushing for
29:36
this movie, the
29:38
use of the soundscape of this
29:40
house being next door to Auschwitz
29:43
and hearing those horrors up
29:46
against this very routine, mundane
29:48
depiction of a Nazi family's
29:50
life. They have so
29:53
consistently sold that story that it
29:55
has taken it very far. It
29:58
is not typical. for
30:00
a German language,
30:03
action-free drama to
30:06
appear in Best Sound. It
30:08
won the BAFTA. So
30:10
it has incredible momentum here. And
30:13
the fact that the branch law report and the way they did is
30:15
a great signal, it's just such an
30:17
atypical winner. And Oppenheimer is such a typical
30:19
winner. So it's very hard to
30:22
imagine it happening, but it
30:25
can happen. And I feel like of the
30:28
phase two momentum swings, The
30:31
Zone of Adventures is one movie that just seems to have really
30:34
taken hold of this voting bloc. Natasha
30:37
Lyonne introduced it at the Producer's
30:39
Guild Awards. I moderated
30:41
an event that Jennifer Lawrence
30:44
hosted. And then, of course, you also
30:46
have this other chunk of
30:48
the Academy who just
30:51
considers this a greatly important
30:53
and timely movie. So
30:56
regardless of us, for
30:58
the reasons why, as we've talked about. So
31:01
I really believe it can pull off an
31:03
upset here. I did predict Oppenheimer
31:05
in the end, because as we've
31:08
seen with Best Picture winners that are as strong as
31:10
it, they tend to overperform. And this is a race
31:12
where it would be surprising if it lost. Do you
31:14
think The Zone of Interest has a ton of nominations
31:16
and a ton of support? Would
31:20
some of the voters in trying to be a
31:22
little democratic with their votes, could this be their
31:24
one win? Well,
31:26
that's the thing is I don't think it's
31:28
the only below the line nomination for the movie.
31:31
And it is going
31:33
to win international feature, which we'll talk about.
31:35
Oh, right. OK. Yes. But that's
31:37
its own kind of thing, right? If
31:40
you want to put your weight behind it,
31:42
it's definitely not winning screenplay. It's definitely not
31:45
winning director. It's definitely not
31:47
winning picture. So this is the place to
31:50
give it a special moment and
31:52
recognize the craft behind it. And
31:55
I will say, I don't know about you, David, or
31:57
Kara, who also do Q&A stuff,
31:59
but like. Like when I did a
32:01
Q&A for Zone of Interest in New York, Johnny
32:03
Byrne was there and he was part of the
32:05
panel. Yeah, I did run with him too. And
32:08
so H24, like you mentioned when you wrote it
32:10
up, like they've really been campaigning it and those
32:12
screenings are for Academy members. And I don't think
32:14
that the sound designers for Oppenheimer has been doing
32:16
that kind of press or that sort
32:18
of campaigning in the same way. And so maybe the
32:20
name is just sticky enough in people's heads. They're like,
32:23
oh, he had really interesting things to say about how
32:25
they did the sound for this movie where sound is
32:27
so important. I do kind of agree
32:29
with you, David, that like that
32:31
the Oppenheimer sweep will take sound with it.
32:33
But yeah, there's a strong case to be
32:35
made that Zone of Interest has just being
32:38
a rare movie that is doing a sort
32:41
of mainstream campaign for a smaller technical category.
32:44
Yeah, I like that. I will
32:46
note that on the team for
32:48
Oppenheimer Sound is Kevin O'Connell
32:50
who has been nominated I think 20 times
32:54
in this category and did not win until Hacksaw Ridge
32:56
in 2017. He had
32:58
kind of one of those infamous Oscar streaks like
33:00
Diane Warren basically. I just
33:03
think it's I think Oppenheimer is going to win. I've been thinking
33:05
a lot about what you said, David, about when something is a
33:07
front runner. People want to vote for it more.
33:09
It's not like they look at their ballot. We've seen this
33:11
again and again. Yeah, like they just go down
33:13
there like, yep, again and again. I mean the exception to
33:15
that, and this is a really different thing, like last year
33:17
was everything everywhere, but all quite on the Western front
33:20
was kind of running away with all those technical
33:22
awards. And Sarah Polly
33:24
stuffed it in the Adaptive Greenplay category.
33:27
I don't know that sound works exactly the same
33:29
way. I think that's the exception you might
33:31
be looking for, but I think it's
33:33
as incredible as the sound and sort of interest is and as
33:35
wise as it has been for them to promote
33:38
it and make it not like some
33:40
delicate little like foreign film, like something
33:42
really massive technical accomplishment. Oppenheimer
33:45
is also a massive technical accomplishment,
33:48
and I think I would stick with that one personally. Yep,
33:50
I think you're right. We haven't had a front runner
33:53
that's also a massive technical accomplishment in a while. Yeah,
33:55
exactly. I mean, I look at a dune from two
33:57
years ago. It
34:00
was... basically every technical award even though the
34:02
directors branch didn't even nominate Denis Villeneuve when
34:04
they seem to lock into one movie and
34:06
they did that with All Quiet to an
34:09
extent last year they just tend to win
34:11
a lot. Man we're gonna get
34:13
to talk about Dune 2 at length finally when we
34:15
do our year ahead off predictions now that I
34:17
finally see it. I cannot wait to talk about
34:19
all the actors we think it's gonna win. This
34:22
season would have been crazy if Dune were still
34:24
in. It would have been really stressful and like
34:26
poor Warner Brothers, I mean poor Warner Brothers whatever
34:28
but like they would have had Barbie and Dune
34:30
2 like all trying to go against Oppenheimer would
34:32
have been insane. I think
34:34
it worked out for the best on many levels. A
34:36
friend who is a in our field
34:39
and close Oscar follower
34:41
texted me and said wow I can't believe that the best
34:43
picture winner came out in March convinced that
34:45
Dune 2 is just gonna win.
34:48
Hey all right say
34:51
I tune in about two weeks we'll
34:53
get through all that. I say nomination
34:55
not winner. Yeah. Carrie you read about
34:58
the hair and makeup category where much
35:00
like Oppenheimer and visual effects Barbie did
35:02
not make the short list for hair
35:04
and makeup which is madness but
35:06
here we are so what do you
35:09
think it's gonna win instead? I
35:11
think this is where Maestro
35:13
gets a trophy. I just
35:16
think that you know
35:18
Maestro is respected and I
35:21
don't think it's gonna win anywhere else and
35:24
the makeup artist the lead makeup artist Kazu Hiro
35:26
I hope I'm pronouncing it right. He
35:30
won for the Darkest Hour
35:32
I believe and bombshell I
35:34
think. Yes bombshell yeah excellent
35:36
memory David. I think
35:39
it's you know it one of the hugest
35:41
talking points I guess no
35:44
pun intended was Bradley's transformation you
35:46
know there was some of the kerfuffle about the nose or
35:49
whatever but you know the
35:51
transformation was a was a selling point for the
35:53
movie early on and the hair and makeup are
35:55
the reason it was effective so
35:58
I think I'm pretty confident in it. predicting
36:00
Maestro here. Unless the Academy
36:03
now hates it, I don't know. What do you guys think? Yeah.
36:05
I wonder if the nose was like, offensive enough
36:07
that people, there was controversy about it. Maybe that
36:09
helps it, because it's like, oh, what movie had
36:12
makeup this year? Oh, right, the nose thing. Just
36:14
vote for that. Mm-hmm. Right. I'm going with four
36:16
things because of the Willem Dafoe stuff. Mm-hmm.
36:20
But I think that you're right, that the
36:22
combination of a talked-about bit
36:25
of prosthetics and a revered
36:28
master in Kazuhiro, like, yeah, I
36:31
think maybe you're right, that, Kara,
36:33
that Maestro just has the juice
36:36
behind it. Yeah, I
36:38
think that the real person factor
36:40
is probably what would take Maestro
36:42
over the top. The work
36:45
is so exacting. And again, Netflix,
36:47
in the same way we were talking about A24
36:49
was an interest, Netflix really centered
36:51
Kazuhiro's work from the very beginning of that
36:53
campaign in part, because of the strikes, and
36:55
there wasn't a lot of other things that
36:57
they could talk about, sadly. But
36:59
still, they very effectively put him to the fore
37:02
of this race. It's very
37:04
close, though. Yeah. I
37:06
think Kara has a very valid point that the
37:08
narrative around Maestro is just, it's gotten
37:10
a little rough. Yeah. And
37:13
that's not to say that people in the academy
37:15
don't like it, but when this kind of thing
37:17
spirals, it just becomes a movie that people don't
37:19
necessarily want to vote for. And
37:21
it happens every year. It
37:23
becomes out of the campaign's hands, I think,
37:26
to an extent. I don't
37:28
know if Maestro's there. That probably will
37:30
be the determining factor. But
37:32
poor things is just in such a fascinating
37:35
spot, like it could win zero or
37:37
it could win five very easily. And
37:39
this is one of those that it's just on
37:41
the edge for. But it would
37:44
be kind of a typical winner because it
37:46
is not biographical when it
37:48
does have a real biographical challenger. I
37:51
think that on Monday, when we do
37:53
our post Oscars episode, we'll have another Netflix
37:55
conversation and how they did this
37:57
year because it is very possible, I think, based on what we've done.
37:59
what we're predicting is that they would get for best
38:02
live action short for Wes Anderson and makeup and that would
38:04
be it. And they would have spent,
38:06
who knows how much money to get those two
38:08
relatively below the line Oscars. You
38:11
know, I don't know the Maestro post-mortem
38:14
is something I think we've been doing for months kind of in
38:16
slow motion. I don't know how much there is to say, but
38:19
as much as Kazuhiro's work really deserves a win,
38:21
I think there would be kind of disappointing outcome
38:23
for a lot of the people behind Maestro. I
38:26
think it's already disappointing, right? This is the
38:28
saving grace if they can get it. Yeah.
38:32
Although not for nothing, I interviewed the makeup
38:34
designer for Society of the Snow, also a
38:36
Netflix movie. The makeup in that
38:38
movie is pretty incredible. I'm not sure that it
38:40
popped enough to come out here. You know, it's
38:42
not quite an all-quite on the Western front, but
38:45
it would be a very worthy winner if somehow that happened. Okay,
38:49
costume design. Back to poor things
38:51
and Barbie, as suggested
38:54
earlier. The torment continues.
38:56
So when I was talking earlier about, you know,
38:58
thinking of Barbie for costumes and poor things for
39:01
production design, to put it very broadly, I think
39:03
you talk about the iconography of Barbie that will linger
39:05
with us. And I think it is more neon rollerblading
39:08
and a white fur coat and
39:11
pink jumpsuits and all of that more
39:13
than the Mojo Dojo Casa house. I
39:15
think giving Jacqueline Duran an Oscar for
39:17
these costumes is planting a flag
39:19
on culture in a way that the Oscars, again,
39:21
like don't get a chance to do as often
39:24
as they should. I really
39:26
wanted to win. I predicted it to win
39:28
when I read up our predictions, and I
39:30
really wanted to win here more than almost anywhere
39:32
else. Yeah. When I read that,
39:34
I was psyched because I was like, yes,
39:36
I also, you know, I feel that is
39:38
this is probably a question for David or
39:41
the rest of the group. When's the last
39:43
time a more modern film won this category?
39:45
Because I know they just love
39:47
a period piece and flowing skirts. Sure
39:50
do. It's very rare. It's
39:52
either a period piece or it's Black
39:54
Panther. I mean,
39:56
it's just it's really, really rare.
39:59
Barbie is... a
40:01
singular contender. We don't
40:03
have movies like this very
40:06
often as we were just talking about. So
40:08
it changes the equation a little bit, but I
40:10
do think that the work on Poor Things is
40:13
so strong and so up the Academy's
40:16
alley that it does feel to me
40:18
like the trends in
40:20
this category will win out, especially given
40:22
that what we were saying about Barbie
40:25
with production design is also true in costume design.
40:28
Poor Things has started to beat it in a
40:30
number of places. And this feels like
40:32
a category to me where the trend
40:34
lines are even clearer for who would win
40:36
in the end. I was just looking at Wikipedia.
40:38
The last contemporary
40:41
set now thing to win best costume design was
40:43
Mad Max where he wrote. Now?
40:46
Mad Max is set now? Oh God. I
40:48
was making a joke about our dystopian
40:50
time. No, it's literally like it has
40:52
not happened in decades. It
40:54
doesn't happen. But Mad Max
40:56
is what I was going to throw out because Barbie
40:59
is set now sort of like Barbie
41:01
World is kind of as foreign land as the
41:03
world of Mad Max Fury Road. I feel
41:05
like gonzo-ness goes a long way and
41:07
obviously Poor Things has its own gonzo-ness
41:09
as well. But I think like that
41:11
and Black Panther, even Cruella, have rewarded
41:14
things that are kind of over the
41:16
top and distinctive more than like beautiful
41:18
period work. That is maybe
41:20
why Barbie might benefit from that change
41:22
in the Academy demographics over time. Yeah, I
41:24
guess you could make the argument that Cruella, you
41:26
know, it's a lauded costume designer and it's about
41:29
fashion. That helped a
41:31
lot. But also isn't Barbie about fashion to
41:33
some extent? Like, you know, you can buy separate
41:35
fashions for Barbie dolls, you know, in real
41:37
life. Like, yeah, maybe. So maybe
41:39
it's not like it's like the winner for best
41:41
costume design is Manchester by the Sea because Michelle
41:44
Williams's coat is what real ladies in Boston wear.
41:46
You know, like a great coat. But like, yeah,
41:48
this is something kind of. The Boston Oscars really
41:50
went all the way for me. But
41:54
yeah, I think I think you're right that the Barbie
41:56
is yes set in the present tense, but like it's
41:58
also not. I mean, it's. It's its own thing.
42:01
I'm predicting poor things because I think that that
42:04
movie is going to do really well in all of the below-line
42:06
categories. But there's absolutely a strain
42:08
case for Barbie. Plus,
42:10
I think the snoot factor is here
42:12
again. Yeah, noots are out. I mean,
42:16
I love Katie, part of your description,
42:18
which I agree with, is which of
42:20
these films will have
42:22
impacted Halloween costumes for
42:24
decades to come and Barbie. Napoleon.
42:27
They have to be vegan, though,
42:29
for walking. I
42:33
mean, Bela Baxter is a great Halloween costume. I want to
42:35
be clear. I don't think it came out in time
42:37
for most people to have done that. But maybe
42:39
next year, we'll get to Bela Baxter. Put
42:41
your baby in a Bela Baxter costume. And
42:43
it's walking around like Bela Baxter. It's perfect.
42:47
That would be prettier. The long hair would
42:49
be a real tripping hazard for the baby. But you
42:51
know, it's well-priced to pay. All
42:54
right, I'm going to stick my guns on Barbie on this. But
42:56
it is going to be close. I guess I
42:59
believe in the Academy snoot factor. But I
43:01
also sort of believe in a broader
43:04
group of people who would like to
43:07
do right by Barbie. Yeah. Yeah. I
43:09
agree with you on that. I mean, that's what I was saying
43:11
in production design. There is something to
43:13
that. It just depends on where that's going to
43:15
pop. OK, onto
43:17
best editing, which I think is a little
43:19
bit easier to figure out. Despite the presence
43:21
of genuine icons like Selma
43:24
Shunemaker, activity predictor Jennifer
43:26
Lane for Oppenheimer for this one. Yeah,
43:28
as Richard has said on this podcast,
43:30
a posthumous win because no one can
43:33
survive such an effort. A
43:37
line that has stuck with me because it feels very
43:39
true. We haven't seen Jennifer in a while, or I
43:41
haven't. So email the podcast. Tell us you're OK. I
43:44
did just Google her. She appears to be
43:46
close enough to my age that I'm jealous.
43:48
Just, you know, just putting that out there. But she
43:51
looks 90. Yeah, she is. No,
43:54
you found Selma Shunemaker. This
43:58
is her first nomination. She has worked
44:01
with Nolan before. She was
44:03
known for her work with Noah Baumbach before this. So
44:06
it's very exciting and it's very deserved. I mean,
44:08
my God, it's a heroic
44:10
effort to stitch that thing together and
44:12
keep that pace and that sense of
44:14
narrative logic. Pretty amazing.
44:17
I think Anatomy of a Fall is like
44:19
the zone of interest of sound, you know,
44:22
and the zone of interest is in sound.
44:24
Anatomy is kind of editing here. It is
44:26
even further back, but if
44:28
anything were to pull off an upset, I think it is
44:30
the movie that is the most notably
44:32
nominated, the most unusually nominated. It's
44:34
very difficult for international movies to
44:37
get editing nominations. And
44:39
it's a movie where it shows in the work
44:41
again, but I just don't think that there's
44:43
remotely enough there to overtake what
44:46
Oppenheimer accomplishes. I did
44:48
just Google her and learned that she went to Wesleyan, which
44:50
is where I went with the college. Dang! I
44:52
think you should stop. I do. Who
44:54
knows where this is gonna go? Well, but also, like, I don't
44:56
know her, so she's either younger or older than me, and I'm
44:58
just gonna have to figure this out. So, Jennifer, if you're
45:00
listening. She was your freshman year roommate, Katie. If
45:04
you find out she lives in Durham, look in
45:06
the mirror for 20 seconds and just take a
45:08
deep breath. If you edit Oppenheimer, either die or
45:10
go into a fugue, Satan forgets that you ever
45:13
did it. Sorry, Cara,
45:15
I cut you off. No, no, I will say
45:17
I have a soft spot in
45:19
my heart for Laurent. I got
45:21
to interview him with Justine, and
45:23
they have just, I'm sure this
45:26
happens with a lot of editors and filmmakers,
45:28
but they have the most adorable working married
45:30
couple vibe. They've been working
45:32
together for 15 years, and they just, the
45:34
back and forth of their conversation, I think, my favorite
45:36
thing Justine said is that she has a three-hour, 10-minute
45:38
version of Anatomy of Fall that she would do as
45:40
a director cut, and Laurent was like, no, don't let
45:43
her back in this editing room. Post-production
45:45
was crazy. But I'm just
45:47
happy he's here, and I hope for more of
45:49
their films to come, despite that, obviously, Jennifer,
45:52
let's find her and talk to her about this. I'm
45:55
imagining Katie, like Gina Davis, in The Long Kiss Goodnight. She's just
45:57
like in her kitchen, and all of a sudden, instead of throwing
45:59
her eyes. in that movie, she just starts editing a
46:01
film. And she's like, wait a second. I
46:05
want to take nothing away from Jennifer Lane's incredible
46:07
accomplishment. I could not do this under any circumstances,
46:09
but I do want to be friends. Can we
46:11
just, can we make that happen? Yeah. I
46:14
can marvel in real life. Okay,
46:16
on to Best Cinematography. I'm back
46:18
right around the corner to Oppenheimer.
46:21
I wrote up our predictions. I did say Hoyt of
46:23
Anhoytama would win, but David, I did
46:25
want to give it to you because you interviewed
46:27
him with Jordan Peele last year for NOPE, which
46:29
was just one of the most crazy, not crazy
46:31
snubs because I think NOPE got not
46:34
the treatment it deserved around the board. But
46:36
his work on that was so incredible. And it does feel
46:38
nice that when you're later, we're back here being like, yeah,
46:40
he's just going to win an Oscar. Yeah,
46:43
I mean, the general trajectory of
46:45
his career, it is pretty wild. This is
46:47
going to be his first win. I
46:50
interviewed him for Oppenheimer too. You
46:53
can just look at the behind the scenes
46:55
stills of him with this giant
46:57
IMAX camera right in Killian Murphy's
46:59
face. And yet out
47:02
of that, he makes something incredibly
47:04
beautiful and innovative.
47:08
And he has done that with every movie I've
47:10
seen of his. He's just an unbelievable talent. And
47:13
this one feels really overdue. David,
47:15
you said I interviewed him for Oppenheimer too. And I
47:17
sort of was like, what's a sequel? Yeah,
47:19
I heard myself say it that way. Do
47:22
you want to do more? Don't
47:24
give Chris any ideas. I will note that
47:27
when I wrote this up, I realized all
47:29
of the nominees would be first time winners,
47:31
including people like Rodrigo Pareto. And Matthew Vicky.
47:33
I mean, those are two huge names in
47:35
the industry. Huge names. Yeah. Ed
47:37
Lachman. Ben Ruggierin. I
47:40
know. Yeah, all of these people hopefully
47:42
will win someday. But it certainly is. Hoyt
47:44
has turned. And what a beautiful head of hair
47:46
on that man. I can't wait to see how
47:48
he styles it for the Oscars. The Lachman nomination
47:50
is fun because it's like, oh, right. The trades
47:52
people who do the same work are the ones
47:54
doing the nominating. You see that
47:56
with the score, the American Fiction score that
47:58
Cara mentioned. It's fun when one of
48:01
those things happens where it's like, no, we on
48:03
the inside know how good El Conde loved, you
48:05
know, or whatever. Yeah. That's a
48:07
great point. Yeah. And I feel like that
48:09
happens every year. There's some cinematography nomination that we
48:11
just totally miss because it's a movie that's not
48:13
like fully on our radar. And then afterwards you're
48:15
like, oh yeah, okay. That
48:18
guy. That makes sense. People on or
48:20
listening to this podcast may not know just
48:22
how close the Russo Brothers film Cherry
48:24
was to a cinematography nomination. Really? But
48:27
it was very close. It got a Guild
48:29
nomination. It had a
48:31
lot of support in that branch. You're the first person
48:33
to mention that movie in about two years. Since
48:37
the Austin- Tom Holland just sat up at a
48:40
cold sweat somewhere. Okay.
48:49
Let's go on to best documentary feature. Kara, you are our
48:51
in-house expert. You watched all of the films. For a piece
48:53
that you did for us, it's kind of on a guide
48:55
to what they're about and kind of the broader social
48:58
consciousness of all of them. Which
49:00
is interesting because some of the films we thought would
49:02
be nominated like American Symphony and the Michael J. Fox
49:04
movie were a little bit more celebrity-driven and didn't make
49:06
it in. So this is a heavy
49:09
hitting lineup. But I think with one
49:11
pretty clear winner. Right? Yes. Yeah.
49:14
I really enjoyed exploring this category a little bit
49:16
more because we had talked about before with the nominations
49:19
and I think David, of course, helped educate me that
49:21
this branch has become
49:24
a little bit more international and it
49:26
was a surprise to everyone that none
49:28
of the American films were nominated. However,
49:30
this group of nominees, I happily
49:33
put myself to the task to watch them all. They
49:35
are pretty
49:38
intense but so
49:40
important. I think 20 Days
49:43
of Mary Bowl really does, is the front-runner
49:45
here. It is. It
49:48
is a harrowing watch. I
49:50
don't use that word lightly. It is an
49:52
incredible feat that these
49:55
really brave journalists decided to keep their
49:57
cameras rolling the entire time in hospital.
50:00
in battlefields like when this city was
50:02
under siege, they were trapped so they
50:04
couldn't, they just kept the cameras running and
50:06
they were really the only people that were sending dispatches
50:09
from this horrific event.
50:11
So it's a pretty incredible piece
50:13
of filmmaking. And another
50:16
moment that I think is stuck out of this award
50:18
season is that Chernov,
50:20
I cannot pronounce his first name, I really
50:23
apologize for that, but he won the DGA
50:25
for his film as well and on the
50:27
day that he accepted that award, he said
50:29
that his hometown was now being attacked
50:32
and bombed. So it was just like one
50:35
of those things that's just so
50:37
powerful and also pretty
50:39
tragic. But the
50:41
other four nominees are equally incredible
50:44
in kind of shining light in very
50:46
specific ways in different parts of the
50:48
world, like things that are incredibly
50:50
important and devastating
50:52
that deserve the attention. So
50:55
I highly recommend watching all five of
50:57
these. Yeah, they're all
50:59
pretty available. Most of them are
51:01
able to watch at home, right? Yes.
51:04
Yeah, most of them, I think. I predicted
51:06
20 days as well. And I think that
51:08
it's interesting that if it wins, it's
51:11
the second movie in a row after Navalny
51:13
to be a sort of hard
51:16
look at current Russian foreign policy,
51:18
let's say, or in
51:20
domestic policy as well in Navalny's case. Yeah,
51:23
and I think that it just has the
51:25
kind of like emergence boom behind it. Whereas,
51:28
you know, like Four Daughters was on my best
51:30
of the year list. It's really great. It's really
51:32
interesting. It's documentary, but it's
51:34
also kind of staged. And it's,
51:36
you know, but I just think that
51:38
like for the kind of really like you are
51:40
there quality of 20 days, it's
51:43
just, it's unbeatable. Yeah, and Four
51:45
Daughters did win the Independent Spirit Award. It
51:47
definitely has a lot of love in the fact that it kind
51:49
of premiered at Cannes. But again, all five of these are
51:51
really different and
51:55
incredible in different ways. Last
51:57
year, Navalny came up kind of at
51:59
the last. It seemed like
52:01
it was going to be between all the beauty at the bloodshed
52:03
and fire of love. And that
52:05
is a win that has quite
52:07
unfortunately, I think, resonated
52:11
given recent world events. So
52:13
I think that that probably only bolsters the case
52:16
for Twin Days and Marry a Pole to really
52:18
just continue what this brand,
52:20
what this category has been honoring and
52:23
spotlighting specifically. OK,
52:26
let's move on to animated feature
52:28
where I think I'm going to
52:30
disagree with what David predicted in our predictions, but
52:32
acknowledging it was a tight race. So, Dave, won't
52:35
you lay that for us? Yeah,
52:38
this this feels like perhaps
52:40
the clearest test
52:42
this year of just
52:45
how international the academy has
52:47
gone, because it's very split
52:49
between Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse
52:51
and the boy inherent. And
52:54
I think most years at
52:56
this point, I would probably predict Boy in the
52:58
Heron. It's won a few
53:00
key awards, including the BAFTA and the
53:03
Golden Globe. It was a box
53:05
office hit in the US. It
53:07
had this narrative of being Miyazaki's final film
53:10
that seems to be now more of a
53:12
maybe, but still very well could be. And
53:15
I think voters are aware of that. And
53:17
then on the other side of it, you have, I
53:19
think, for this
53:21
category, unusually popular acclaimed
53:25
and broadly appealing film in Spider-Verse.
53:27
And that's that's where it gets
53:30
tricky. Spider-Verse won PGA and it
53:33
also won the Emmy Award. It
53:36
was a box office phenomenon when
53:38
it came out. When did it
53:40
come out? Long time ago. Late
53:43
May, early June. Yeah, yeah,
53:45
yes. The beginning of summer. That's
53:47
right. And and for
53:50
me, this this came down to like, let's
53:53
presume because this is a case in
53:55
most categories that many voters have not
53:57
seen either movie or.
54:00
least a good chunk of them haven't and they're gonna
54:02
watch them on their portal at home. I
54:05
see Boy and the Heron stumping more
54:07
voters than Spider-Verse and
54:09
I see Spider-Verse because it's already
54:11
so well liked. I
54:14
think I wrote what I wrote was it has a higher
54:16
floor than Boy and the Heron and in a race this
54:18
close that kind of made the difference for me. I
54:21
would love to see Boy and the Heron win and
54:23
I would love to see the Academy go in a
54:26
different direction than where they usually go in the animated
54:28
race and they really can win.
54:30
I think I'm being a bit cynical. As someone who likes
54:33
Spider-Verse, I'm not mad about it but I think I'm being
54:35
a bit cynical here by saying I don't think they'll quite
54:37
take that leap. When I was trying to predict this for
54:39
my ballot, I was like,
54:41
well Miyazaki, he wins every time. No, he's
54:43
been nominated four times and only won once
54:46
and I think that like... And it
54:48
was four like straight away. It was four
54:50
double. And I think his movies, why people
54:52
love them is that they're very idiosyncratic, they're
54:54
strange, they are at times like Boy and
54:56
the Heron hard to follow, you know? And
54:58
I wonder if that is kind of a hindrance
55:01
for it in this case. On
55:04
the Spider-Man side of things which I ultimately predicted, I
55:07
do wonder if because the movie
55:09
ends, sorry spoiler alert, on
55:12
a real cliffhanger because it's really part one of
55:14
two or I go to the middle of a
55:16
trilogy, I wonder if people
55:18
will be like, maybe we'll wait to vote for the, you
55:20
know, like kind of Return of the King winning everything, not
55:22
Two Towers or the first movie. But
55:25
I don't know, I still think that the,
55:27
just the animation itself, forget the plot, forget
55:29
all that of Spider-Verse is
55:32
unique and I think people will kind
55:34
of go for that. I landed
55:36
on that half of a movie thing as a ding
55:38
against it as I say. You know what, like it's
55:40
good, it's an accomplishment. We already gave it to the
55:43
first one. Like we have a chance to give Miyazaki
55:45
possibly his last opportunity for an Oscar, not that I
55:47
think he will show up or is all that bothered
55:49
by any of this and God bless him for it.
55:51
And you know, Spider-Verse was
55:53
a huge hit, it's really popular, it does
55:55
have that like that PGA populist streak going
55:57
for it and I admit I am sorry.
56:00
selectively choosing where I think Academy Snobbery
56:02
exists and doesn't exist. But
56:04
I just feel like I just a teeny
56:06
bit of extra snobbery. This is not a
56:08
super strong reason to give it to the
56:10
second Spider-Verse movie when there's a third one coming
56:13
and I do think there is a strong reason
56:15
to give it to Miyazaki and that's why I
56:17
would go there. Most cynically if they had really
56:19
hammered home it is Miyazaki's final film but
56:22
then when I reviewed it from Toronto
56:24
it was like it's a beautiful send-off
56:26
to Miyazaki and then Miyazaki was like
56:28
I'm not done. But
56:31
that really is the point. I mean I
56:34
think that narrative if that were a bit
56:36
clearer and stronger it would have a more
56:38
obvious path but he's like no cynically I
56:40
do agree. It is interesting to think
56:42
of that and also Kill to the Flower Moon because
56:44
it's like we knew that was Martin Scorsese's last film.
56:46
It'd be like wow well he's like what a conclusion.
56:49
He himself steps on stage in his final film but
56:51
Scorsese's the same way. He was like no man I'll
56:53
keep making movies as long as you let me. And
56:56
may they please continue doing so for as
56:58
long as possible. Yeah. A broader point though
57:00
Katie I know you
57:02
said you're being selective with Academy
57:05
Snobbery and where it's going to pop up. We
57:07
have to be because this is the group that
57:09
can give Drive My Car, Best
57:11
Picture Director and Screenplay nominations and Jessica Chastain,
57:13
Best Actress for Tammy Faye in the same
57:16
year. Stay Sure Cam. It's just
57:18
hard. You should throw the car over. I
57:23
love Jessica Chastain but that movie is not art
57:25
house. It's
57:27
no Zone of Interest I say
57:30
that much. Exactly. Yeah well
57:32
yeah I guess speaking of Zone of Interest, Kara
57:34
you predicted international feature for us and
57:37
it sort of seems like a simple choice
57:39
despite some strong contenders in there. Yeah
57:41
I just the love for
57:43
similar to the momentum for Anatomy of
57:46
a Fall I think that the
57:48
Zone of Interest has I mean they're both Best
57:50
Picture nominees but this one
57:52
has Zone of Interest has dominated the
57:54
conversation in this category. Not
57:57
you know not to take anything away
57:59
from the nominees. because people do really love all those.
58:02
I have not seen the teacher's lounge. That's still one that
58:04
I need to do really good. It's really good. I
58:06
know. And a good time. I
58:08
mean, it's tense, but like it's not
58:10
20 days in Mario Paul. Give it that. It's not
58:13
a good time for the teacher. It is a good
58:15
time for the audience. There you go. I know that's one. But
58:17
I feel like there was a lot of love for that one too, but
58:19
the zone of interest I think
58:21
has dominated this category
58:23
in the precursors as well and
58:26
again, has a lot of support and
58:28
reverence. I think
58:31
France is very unbothered, but we
58:33
would have had an all-timer race to the finish between
58:35
zone of interest and the enemy of a car here.
58:37
I know. And we were denied
58:40
it. I was thinking the exact
58:42
same thing. Potential spoiler, I guess maybe
58:44
perfect days, but I think... Box
58:46
office hit. Yeah. I
58:48
think zone of interest is just so far ahead of the other movies.
58:51
It is. I
58:53
think society just now at one point looked like it could
58:55
be a sort of all quiet slow burn,
58:58
but I think that movie is so miserable to
59:00
watch. I mean, in a good way because it's supposed to be
59:02
that people are turned off. It
59:05
really is a tough one. Perfect
59:08
days is my favorite of this category. I
59:10
mean, zone of interest is an incredible achievement,
59:12
but chilling. I think
59:14
Richard had in his initial review is like
59:16
an understatement, but perfect days. What a joy.
59:19
Yeah. Yeah. And
59:21
we looked at each other and finished and like,
59:23
that was so delightful. Yeah. I
59:26
think I've done this before on this show, but I keep
59:28
doing it. Look up on Box Office Mojo. Perfect days has
59:30
made $20 million around
59:32
the world. It's incredible
59:34
what a huge hit this is. For
59:36
a movie where not a lot happens, that's
59:38
really impressive. But anybody can
59:40
see it. I would recommend perfect days to
59:42
anyone who can tolerate subtitles really. And
59:45
I think that bears that in the box office. Do you
59:47
guys know that a zone of interest made more in the US
59:49
than tar? Wow. What? Yeah.
59:51
Our houses are back. Our
59:54
houses are back. It's hard not an easy set, but I
59:56
would say easier than zone of interest. I mean, Cape
59:58
Blind Chet, who would think could... bring in more
1:00:00
than Sondra Huler. Zone of
1:00:02
Interest, so Perfect Gaze is just under $20
1:00:05
million worldwide and Zone of Interest is just over it.
1:00:07
Man, what a
1:00:09
lovely thing to see. I didn't realize tar
1:00:11
didn't have that. I saw tar so late
1:00:13
in that season. It was the year of
1:00:16
the art house collapse. It
1:00:18
was horrible and I remember women talking
1:00:20
kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed
1:00:22
and pushed. I don't even remember when
1:00:24
it came out. I could not even
1:00:26
approximate its box office for
1:00:29
you, but I'm sure it was very low.
1:00:31
But all of Lydia's conduct concerts have been
1:00:33
sending out. Oh,
1:00:35
my stroke counter for a minute. Oh,
1:00:39
God. Okay, now we're heading into, are these
1:00:42
top lane, are screenplays top lane categories? I never
1:00:44
remember where we draw the line.
1:00:46
They're considered among the big five, right? It's
1:00:49
above the line. It's actually a technical term because
1:00:51
it's like the pre-production categories. Yeah, we actually had
1:00:53
a listener question about that, David, and I don't
1:00:56
know if now is the detour to take it,
1:00:58
but I am very curious about above versus below
1:01:00
the line since I never knew that definition. Oh, right,
1:01:02
because I had said casting was above line, which
1:01:04
it is. Yeah, it's when that work
1:01:07
shows up at that point.
1:01:09
Wow, fascinating. Okay, so here we
1:01:11
are in Adapted Screenplay, which I
1:01:13
took on. I do ...
1:01:16
suspenseful categories we'll have. We'll
1:01:19
get to Best Actress, but in terms of the top
1:01:21
major categories, it's really up there. I
1:01:24
went with Cor Jefferson for American fiction,
1:01:26
kind of with my fingers crossed behind
1:01:29
my back saying it could be Barbie or
1:01:31
it could be Oppenheimer. Those all feel like
1:01:33
plausible outcomes from this, and I'm very surprised to
1:01:35
say Oppenheimer because I feel like for
1:01:38
a long time we were like, well, Christopher Nolan wrote the
1:01:40
screenplay. He's going to win director, not to spoil our
1:01:42
predictions, but come on. But
1:01:44
as we've been saying, as David pointed out, a
1:01:46
front runner can kind of build up steam to
1:01:50
make sure it's ... Yes,
1:01:52
and the adaptation of Oppenheimer is
1:01:54
really phenomenal. I don't think you have
1:01:56
to have read American Prometheus to kind of understand
1:01:59
what a ... of adaptation it is.
1:02:01
Barbie is less of a feat of adaptation because
1:02:03
it's kind of taking a concept more than a
1:02:06
story, but the script for Barbie is remarkable in
1:02:08
so many ways. It is a huge part of
1:02:10
its power as a pop culture juggernaut. But
1:02:13
then American Fiction, as we have said,
1:02:15
I think last week, talking about the
1:02:17
BAFTAs, fits that model of the big
1:02:20
breakout talent winning for a screenplay award.
1:02:22
It overperformed with nominations. It
1:02:24
won't win anything else except
1:02:26
for this, unlike Barbie. And
1:02:29
that might be why I would go
1:02:31
with it in addition to kind of a sense
1:02:33
of momentum. I
1:02:36
think a screenplay win for Barbie would have felt likely
1:02:38
or if it weren't for those snubs, if it weren't
1:02:40
for the, you know, the sense of people kind of
1:02:42
being ready to move on for it. It's really hard
1:02:44
to gauge the desire to give
1:02:46
Barbie what it deserves versus saying, okay, okay,
1:02:48
you have enough. And I think with a
1:02:50
really clear alternative in
1:02:52
American fiction, as someone who, like
1:02:55
Greta Gerwig was with Lady Bird, is like a big
1:02:57
exciting voice in the industry, it feels
1:02:59
like an easy spot for that to
1:03:01
win instead. Not easy, but plausible.
1:03:04
I think, and I don't mean this in
1:03:06
any sort of pejorative sense, but I think
1:03:08
that American fiction has the added benefit of
1:03:10
it flatters the audience. It makes people feel
1:03:13
smart and erudite and like they're having a
1:03:15
sort of like entertaining cultural lesson, you know,
1:03:17
so it has this kind of, and Barbie
1:03:19
also has that obviously, like it's about big
1:03:21
social things, but I think American
1:03:23
fiction hearkens back to like James L. Brooks
1:03:26
and movies like that. It feels old fashioned,
1:03:28
but also kind of strikingly
1:03:30
new. And it's exciting in
1:03:32
a way that, you know, Barbie is exciting too,
1:03:34
but it was exciting last summer. And I
1:03:37
think that it just maybe lost all the
1:03:39
momentum here. And Cora Jefferson has won the
1:03:42
Spirit Award. He's been kind of on a
1:03:44
nice little run recently. So I
1:03:46
agree with you, Katie. Yeah, these
1:03:48
are strong arguments. I agree with you all. If
1:03:51
Cord or Barbie's Greta
1:03:54
knows sneak out of an Albee site.
1:03:58
I am also on the American fiction
1:04:00
train here. It's one also, basically
1:04:02
everything. And yeah, one at one
1:04:04
BAFTA, that for me
1:04:06
was like, I will not predict anything else
1:04:09
because it wasn't nominated anywhere else at BAFTA.
1:04:11
They didn't care for it. And
1:04:14
the fact that it had surged to that extent
1:04:16
in this race, why wouldn't
1:04:18
the Academy Fallsuit when it overperformed the nominations
1:04:20
with them? It feels like that is a
1:04:24
natural legacy for this movie. I think it really
1:04:26
is a classic kind of breakout
1:04:29
screenplay winner like you were saying, Katie. Something
1:04:32
that it took me a while to see, to be honest.
1:04:35
But I'm pretty firmly on that train. And
1:04:38
look, Hollywood loves Gawker writers. Just love
1:04:41
them. I mean,
1:04:43
Richard, will the Gawker alumni send up like
1:04:46
smoke signals to each other when one of
1:04:48
your own wins an Oscar? Yeah, something's gonna
1:04:50
happen. I mean, the big leader, you know,
1:04:52
we used to have in the office of
1:04:55
Nick Datton, put up TV screens that was
1:04:57
a leaderboard of writers traffic. So like, if
1:04:59
your name was like, number one for the
1:05:01
day, you were really excited. So if Cord
1:05:03
Jefferson wins an Oscar, he's number one forever.
1:05:06
That's it. He won. I
1:05:09
do think that no matter what, I mean, if no
1:05:11
one wins, I think I would not begrudge
1:05:13
to him at all. Like I said, it's a feat
1:05:15
of adaptation. I think they'll be like, all right, this could be
1:05:17
back. Okay. But I think either Cord
1:05:20
Jefferson or Greta Gerwig and Noah Bobback
1:05:22
winning would be a thrill because
1:05:24
of the suspense here. So maybe there's a
1:05:26
benefit to it being so tight, even if you would like
1:05:28
all of them to win. Okay,
1:05:31
from one married couple in
1:05:33
the race together to another one, David, would
1:05:35
you like to explain how anatomy of a
1:05:37
fall became the odds on favorite here? And
1:05:40
who might beat it anyway? We can maybe
1:05:42
thank the Golden Globes. Thank
1:05:44
you, Golden Globes. They
1:05:46
put Justine Tre and Arthur Harari
1:05:48
on their stage for screenplay. At
1:05:50
the time, it was a thrilling
1:05:52
surprise. And ever since then, it
1:05:54
has just marched its way toward
1:05:56
this award. It won the other
1:05:58
televised Award for BAFTA.
1:06:01
It feels like the place to
1:06:03
honor this movie. And we'll talk
1:06:05
about actress in a little bit.
1:06:07
I have some thoughts there. Spoiler
1:06:09
alert. But
1:06:12
I do think that most
1:06:14
voters are aware that this
1:06:16
is where it can easily
1:06:18
win a competitive Oscar and the Academy loves it.
1:06:21
So I think that the support will go there.
1:06:23
At this point, I
1:06:25
do think it's kind of a done deal.
1:06:27
But it is worth noting that this
1:06:29
is a really, you know,
1:06:31
fresh and rich category with
1:06:33
movies that I think that these voters
1:06:35
really like. Past Lives won the Spirit
1:06:38
Awards for Best Teacher and
1:06:40
Best Director for Celine Song, who also wrote
1:06:42
the movie. And that can
1:06:44
signal just some
1:06:47
level of momentum. I think it was pretty assured
1:06:49
to win those, but still in
1:06:52
the same kind of places as women
1:06:54
talking, Best Picture nominee with only a
1:06:56
screenplay nominee alongside it. So that will
1:06:58
definitely help it get some votes for the big fans
1:07:00
of that movie. And then
1:07:03
there's the holdovers, which has
1:07:05
always been percolating. It's always been around.
1:07:07
It's very well liked. My
1:07:10
conspiracy theory is that if Alexander Payne had a
1:07:12
writing credit on this movie, it would be more
1:07:14
competitive, which is, you
1:07:16
know, obviously of no, no fault of
1:07:19
David Hemingstine, the writer who wrote a
1:07:21
lovely screenplay. But I think it would make
1:07:23
it easier for people to vote for
1:07:25
the film and vote for an Alexander Payne film. It
1:07:29
is funny to me that the holdovers are such
1:07:31
a like a writerly, funny,
1:07:33
eloquent script that it feels like should
1:07:35
be a really strong front runner. But
1:07:38
it's a testament to what we've been
1:07:40
saying for months. This is a great
1:07:42
year. There's not really bad nominees anywhere.
1:07:44
And really great movies can just become
1:07:47
also rants because there's too much competition.
1:07:50
I think what's fascinating is that of
1:07:52
this category, which also includes Maestro, a heavily
1:07:55
campaigned film that is a Best Picture nominee
1:07:57
in May, December, which deserve far more than
1:07:59
the this nomination, Anatomy
1:08:02
of Fall is the strongest
1:08:04
overall contender in this five.
1:08:06
And that is a really
1:08:08
remarkable, steady trajectory for this
1:08:10
movie since Cannes. It has held to
1:08:12
such an amazing degree. Then that's
1:08:14
not something that I think any of us would have
1:08:16
thought a few months ago when you had holdovers and
1:08:18
past lives looking as strong as they were. Yeah.
1:08:21
I don't feel like Justine and
1:08:23
Arthur have leaned into the fact that
1:08:26
they are a married couple who
1:08:28
wrote a really interesting movie about
1:08:30
a fractured marriage. Interesting is
1:08:33
like a small word for what
1:08:35
they meant to accomplish. A challenging,
1:08:37
I would say magnificent. But
1:08:40
I would love to, because I think people kind
1:08:42
of joke about working with their partners in this
1:08:44
business. And the fact that they work together and
1:08:46
it was about such
1:08:48
a charged topic I think is
1:08:50
pretty delightful. And on the
1:08:52
cynical side, the big climactic fight is in English.
1:08:56
I think that helps. Also, it happened
1:08:58
on March 4th, which is the day before
1:09:00
we were recording this. I saw someone tweet
1:09:02
that it was, you know, happy, happy, happy
1:09:04
with a fall fight day. Is that the new
1:09:06
Mean Girl thing? Exactly. It's a new
1:09:08
Mean Girl thing. It would be
1:09:11
great to see Greta and Noah
1:09:13
and then Justine and Arthur present
1:09:15
or accept their awards back to back. It's
1:09:18
not at all impossible. Okay,
1:09:24
we're up to the acting awards. Maybe we
1:09:26
can make this quick. There
1:09:29
is no reason that Robert Downey Jr. will not win
1:09:31
Best Supporting Actor. I mean,
1:09:33
it would be very lovely to see many of these
1:09:35
people win instead. I think it's a great group of
1:09:37
nominees, as we keep saying over and over again. But I
1:09:41
don't even feel bad about like Ryan Gosling not
1:09:43
winning for Barbie. You know, there's something undeniable about
1:09:46
Downey here. I would
1:09:48
love to go back to our Oppenheimer episode because I
1:09:50
feel like this is something we really clearly
1:09:53
predicted. Oh, yeah, I could be wrong, but
1:09:55
it just was it's the one category like
1:09:57
months and months and months ago that we
1:09:59
were like. Yeah, that's probably gonna happen right and
1:10:01
then there was a little bit of doubt when the
1:10:03
Melton stuff was happening and I and I Think I'll
1:10:05
speak for myself. I sort of talked myself into a
1:10:07
weird like wait, is that gonna happen? But
1:10:10
no downie jr. Won this
1:10:12
Oscar today the movie period. Yeah,
1:10:14
I will say Controversial opinion
1:10:17
or a hot take potentially I saw Oppenheimer so
1:10:19
late as I've talked about catching up on my
1:10:21
words movies so the hype
1:10:23
train for downie jr. Was well on
1:10:25
its way at the gate and I Wasn't
1:10:28
as dazzled by his performance as the
1:10:30
rest of the people in this category
1:10:32
I have to say now but his
1:10:35
campaign was It's
1:10:37
been strong. He's been like so game for everything
1:10:39
the whole time. I mean, I don't hate at all
1:10:41
that he's gonna win, but I The
1:10:44
other performances here. I'm just like, oh they
1:10:46
were they were they I preferred them He
1:10:48
didn't need to run the strongest campaign, but he
1:10:50
ran a hell of a campaign Yeah, it is
1:10:53
in a way the culmination of
1:10:55
what has essentially been a 16 year
1:10:57
comeback, you know and
1:10:59
it's insane to think that you know, like 16
1:11:02
years like he's been a huge movie star since Iron Man
1:11:04
won But like and he was the Iron Man what
1:11:06
was 16 years ago, unfortunately, which but we're all
1:11:09
26 Yeah, I guess somehow But
1:11:11
you know what I mean? Like it's just like okay,
1:11:13
so he did the huge commercial thing He's been kind
1:11:15
of self-deprecating about that on this award circuit. Yeah, and
1:11:18
now they get to say like Welcome
1:11:20
back to like being a real capital a actor
1:11:22
like you were in the old days, you know,
1:11:24
and yeah I just that's hard to beat and
1:11:28
As his buddy Mark Ruffalo pointed out
1:11:30
on this very podcast He
1:11:32
Robert does a lot of stuff behind the scenes
1:11:35
for other people in this business. So again, I
1:11:37
have I have zero I mean, he's always been
1:11:39
great. But yeah, you know who deserve more of
1:11:41
a run here Robert DeNiro Yeah,
1:11:43
so good in that movie. Yeah, one of the
1:11:45
performances of his career. I think yeah
1:11:47
I mean speaking of people who don't need to
1:11:49
campaign like he doesn't need to campaign but he didn't
1:11:51
and then like it seems like You
1:11:55
know like the man's got other things to do he got
1:11:57
mad that he couldn't talk about Donald Trump and then
1:11:59
he Like, all right, you guys in February.
1:12:01
Robert De Niro's reticence to do any sort of
1:12:03
promo was so funny. Years ago,
1:12:06
there was a Tribeca film festival panel, and
1:12:08
it was Meryl Streep, Judd Apatow, Robert De
1:12:10
Niro talking about it was like the 100th
1:12:12
anniversary of Universal Pictures. And
1:12:14
they was moderated by someone from Deadline, and Meryl Streep
1:12:16
last minute dropped out because she had a cold. So
1:12:18
it was just these three guys on stage. And
1:12:21
all the moderator was doing was asking Robert De
1:12:23
Niro questions about the deer hunter. And
1:12:25
it was just so apparent that Robert De Niro was like, I
1:12:28
run this to the museum festival, so that's why I'm here. But
1:12:30
I do not want to be here at all.
1:12:32
And Judd Apatow had to intervene and basically save
1:12:34
the day. Yeah, De Niro
1:12:36
is very preshine, I guess the phrase would
1:12:38
be. But had
1:12:41
he campaigned, I don't think it would have mattered. No,
1:12:43
no. It would be hard for him.
1:12:45
I mean, given that he did nimmit get nominated
1:12:47
for the Irishman, another incredible performance just a few
1:12:49
years ago, it does feel like he's being underappreciated
1:12:53
while still getting nominated. I think that
1:12:55
is a thing. But also,
1:12:57
I think he's fine. He's got it. I will say, Mr.
1:13:00
De Niro did the cover of People Magazine
1:13:02
this season, my friends. Well, then, Karen, you
1:13:04
don't work. You're working for us now. I
1:13:08
know. But I was shocked to see
1:13:10
that come through my social feeds. I'm
1:13:12
like, ah. The campaigns are
1:13:14
happening even if we don't notice them. That's
1:13:16
not the campaign we'd expect from Robert De Niro. No, right? 2020
1:13:18
for him. Well, he married a British boy. I mean, so he's
1:13:20
going to be on the cover of People. OK,
1:13:24
on to Best Supporting Actress. The
1:13:27
supporting categories are so locked in place. David Andre Randolph,
1:13:29
I mean, in a way that I think is more
1:13:31
interesting than Robert Downey Jr. He has the whole comeback
1:13:33
narrative. He is a giant star. We knew he was
1:13:35
going to win from the beginning. I think when the
1:13:38
holdovers premiered at Toronto, we say, wow, she's so great
1:13:40
in this. I really hope they can make a campaign
1:13:42
of that. And then it just never stopped. She just
1:13:44
marched and marched through the whole thing. And
1:13:46
I think if you look at her fellow nominees now, Nia
1:13:50
and the Color Purple are not especially strong
1:13:52
as Oscar contenders. So you see why Daniel Brooks
1:13:55
and Jodie Foster can be overlooked there. America
1:13:57
Ferrera kind of snuck in for Barbie. I think a
1:13:59
very well deserved. nomination, but it's a
1:14:01
smaller part compared to some of the other ones.
1:14:03
And then Emily Blunt's part in Oppenheimer has been...
1:14:05
We don't have Rebecca here. We don't have Rebecca here. I
1:14:07
know. I
1:14:10
think she's terrific in Oppenheimer. I'm obviously an
1:14:12
Oppenheimer partisan, but she's not the most important
1:14:14
part of that movie. You're Jennifer Laim. I am Jennifer Laim. I
1:14:16
made her part what it is. Editing
1:14:18
her with the pleasure. I
1:14:21
think Dave Andre Randolph, you could maybe argue, was a
1:14:23
third lead more than a supporting actress. He's certainly the
1:14:27
biggest part of all the nominees here. So that explains
1:14:29
some of the power of how she's marched through it.
1:14:31
But also she's a great campaigner, a great performance, and
1:14:33
she's just going to win. I
1:14:35
hate to bring in my screen
1:14:37
time fact check, but Jodie Foster is
1:14:39
actually the biggest performance here. I
1:14:42
was just hoping you'd come around to NIAID so we could talk about
1:14:44
it a little bit. But how many of those shots are of Annette
1:14:46
Bening in the water with Jodie in the background like waving? Or
1:14:49
yelling. She yells. She yells. Well,
1:14:52
Jodie Foster also plays all the jellyfish. I
1:14:58
agree with you though, Katie. I think that this is an... The
1:15:01
dominance here is an interesting
1:15:03
story even if it does feel
1:15:05
so telegraphed and done at this
1:15:07
point. It wasn't that way... I
1:15:10
mean, I guess when she won New York Film Critics
1:15:12
Circle, we all just started to realize
1:15:14
that this was unstoppable. It's like
1:15:16
it clicked into place and never budged.
1:15:19
Yeah. And that can happen
1:15:21
certainly, especially in this category.
1:15:24
But I think that the... The
1:15:27
unique thing about her candidacy is
1:15:29
the alignment between every
1:15:31
major critics group and every
1:15:34
major awards... Telemized awards
1:15:36
show. Like if you think of somebody like
1:15:39
Alison Janie for Itania, it couldn't have
1:15:41
been more obvious. But the critics actually
1:15:43
went mostly for Laurie Metcalfe that year.
1:15:45
Or I think even with Laura Dern
1:15:47
and Marriage Story, probably a
1:15:50
more similar case to Robert Denny Jr. It was
1:15:52
in a more scattered field when it came to
1:15:54
what the critics were recognizing. This
1:15:56
one, it's just like every single
1:15:58
person has... has
1:16:00
essentially chosen her. And I'm thrilled for
1:16:03
her. OK. We'll
1:16:05
do Best Actor before we get to the title
1:16:08
card match of this year's Oscars.
1:16:10
I think when Kelly
1:16:12
Murphy won at SAG, David, I think you just texted
1:16:14
me and said, it's over, which
1:16:16
is maybe a simple way of boiling down what
1:16:19
has been a race between him and Paul Giamatti.
1:16:21
But I do mostly agree with you with what
1:16:23
you wrote in our predictions. So I'll let you explain
1:16:25
it from there. Yeah,
1:16:27
I mean, it's extremely rare for an actor to
1:16:29
win both SAG and BAFTA in this category and
1:16:31
then not win the Oscar. I don't even remember
1:16:34
the last time that that's happened. So
1:16:36
as far as I can
1:16:38
tell, it's kind of done. Kelly
1:16:40
Murphy is in the Best Picture front runner. He
1:16:44
has won every notable industry
1:16:46
award. He had
1:16:49
a really strong phase two campaign. I feel
1:16:51
like Universal kicked that into gear at just
1:16:53
the right time. I was very impressed with
1:16:56
that because a lot of the focus in
1:16:58
phase one was on Emily Blunt and Robert
1:17:00
Downey Jr. And it just
1:17:02
you know, it's at this point, it would be
1:17:05
very, very weird if Oppenheimer had
1:17:07
this huge embrace. Its actor
1:17:09
had won all these precursors and then
1:17:11
he lost to Paul Giamatti, who is
1:17:13
wonderful in the holdovers. But
1:17:15
if Paul Giamatti doesn't win with SAG
1:17:17
and that's his group, I
1:17:19
just don't see how this is where
1:17:22
he pulls off an upset. Doesn't quite
1:17:24
compute for me. Yeah, I figured
1:17:26
I mean, I kind
1:17:28
of expected Killian to potentially
1:17:31
just like become our winner.
1:17:33
But I really wanted Paul to win the
1:17:35
SAG just to have one little upset. I
1:17:40
will be reading for Paul Giamatti. I think the I
1:17:42
mean, I think Kelly Murphy will win as well. I
1:17:44
will root for him in general in life. I think
1:17:47
the I said to somebody like I think now Giamatti
1:17:49
wins an Oscar in the next five years. You know
1:17:51
how that happens? Like Colin Firth gets his nomination for
1:17:53
a single band and it wins the next year like
1:17:55
that happens. And I think that he has such a
1:17:57
head of steam behind him. And hopefully the
1:18:00
role will come and make that possible because
1:18:02
he certainly deserves it. Here's
1:18:04
a text message that I sent to
1:18:07
David Canfield and
1:18:09
Rebecca Ford, August 22nd, 2023. How
1:18:15
does he not win? Sorry, Killian.
1:18:17
Who was I talking about? I
1:18:20
was talking about Bradley Fucking Cooper. You were talking
1:18:22
about Bradley Fucking Cooper. No.
1:18:25
So don't listen to anything I ever say on this podcast. I
1:18:28
have no idea what I'm talking about. The
1:18:31
unpredictability of a maestro campaign is not
1:18:33
something that happens. I
1:18:35
didn't know how it was all going to go. I
1:18:38
agree with the Murphy thing. I mean, the stat
1:18:40
alone about BAFTA and SAG, like, yeah, that's really
1:18:42
good indication. And I think that I
1:18:44
don't think that this should be talked about
1:18:46
like, oh, Killian Murphy just got swept up
1:18:49
in the Oppenheimer momentum. I think that like
1:18:51
he stands alone separate of that phenomenon as
1:18:54
a really beloved actor who does a really
1:18:56
interesting bit of acting. It's
1:18:58
fun to see a more like recessive,
1:19:00
quiet performance, you know, potentially
1:19:02
for now, you know, with a big Oscar
1:19:04
like this. Plus, he is
1:19:07
just a little more reserved, which I
1:19:09
think is really charming. You know, I
1:19:11
have enjoyed both sets of speeches along
1:19:13
this trail. Paul's, I
1:19:16
think was the globe that was like
1:19:18
his first moving one. Yeah. Anyway,
1:19:20
but yeah, go forth, Killian.
1:19:23
I was thinking when I was seeing Dune 2 to
1:19:25
bring it up again, there's a lot of IMAX closeups
1:19:27
in that movie as there are in Oppenheimer. And it
1:19:29
made me just kind of reflect on the power of
1:19:31
closeups on Killian Murphy's face in Oppenheimer and how absorbing
1:19:33
they are and kind of what a special effect they
1:19:35
are in and of themselves. And
1:19:38
yeah, as we keep saying, like when a movie is
1:19:40
winning a lot, it keeps winning. And he is
1:19:43
the movie as much as the cinematography or the
1:19:45
editing or the score. And when
1:19:47
you kind of see it, when you see the dust
1:19:50
clear, you're like, oh, yeah, of course he has to win.
1:19:52
So I look forward to seeing his speech. Yep.
1:19:56
Okay, let's do Best Actress. We
1:19:58
have gone back and forth about this. It
1:20:00
is always going to be our favorite category to
1:20:02
talk about. I think even in years when it's not
1:20:04
actually that suspenseful, we're going to gravitate back to it
1:20:06
again and again. But I think very
1:20:09
similar to last year where it was down to Kate
1:20:11
Blanchard and Michelle Yeoh, we are down to Lily Gladstone
1:20:13
and Emma Stone. The Infinity Stones as
1:20:15
they call each other and now I call them. We
1:20:19
predicted Lily Gladstone. Kara, you wrote it. Do
1:20:21
you want to run down why? I
1:20:24
think after
1:20:26
Lily won the SAG, I think that was
1:20:28
what helped solidify this one in my mind.
1:20:32
It's been interesting the whole way through because I
1:20:35
didn't think that Emma would
1:20:37
have ... I mean, I absolutely think
1:20:39
she deserves a nomination and
1:20:41
another Oscar. But I'm
1:20:44
still surprised that the Academy so wholly embraced
1:20:46
poor things. So Lily's
1:20:49
just the heart of that movie.
1:20:52
I think there was a little bit
1:20:54
of conversation about whether supporting or best
1:20:57
actress. But it seems ...
1:20:59
All of it's so legit to me and her
1:21:02
story is great. I
1:21:04
think David, you talked last week about her presence in
1:21:06
the room and how she can come into her own
1:21:08
this season and will hopefully get
1:21:10
to do so much more after this
1:21:12
season and with a win. I
1:21:15
feel like there's a potential spoiler here in Sandra Huler.
1:21:19
Where Gladstone and Stone split a
1:21:21
vote? I just want to take
1:21:23
us back a few years. Here's something I believe
1:21:25
I wrote. The only potential
1:21:28
spoiler here could be if too many voters figure
1:21:30
close a lock and then vote for another personal
1:21:32
favorite like Olivia Coleman. But that seems pretty far
1:21:34
fetched at this point. I
1:21:37
just think going into this category with conventional wisdom
1:21:39
often serves you well, yes. But
1:21:41
sometimes last minute passion
1:21:43
picks can succeed like
1:21:46
they did in Olivia Coleman's. I just think that
1:21:48
if of the five, Huler is really lurking there
1:21:50
for a movie that, like as David said earlier
1:21:52
in this episode, the Academy loves. That
1:21:56
would be an interesting development. your
1:22:00
right care and predicting a lily at the moment. But
1:22:03
not that I don't, I mean listen, we are
1:22:05
craving a surprise, right? Like I would love, give
1:22:08
us some surprises, Sunday. All
1:22:11
extremely deserving, which is nice. Like we
1:22:13
don't have to be bummed if it's,
1:22:15
you know, like a Rami Malek situation
1:22:17
or anything like that. Sure.
1:22:20
Sorry to Rami, who I think is great in other things.
1:22:23
Great Knopenheimer. Well, he's good at
1:22:25
Knopenheimer. Let me be a partisan, all right?
1:22:28
I don't know if he's in the top 10
1:22:31
of that movie. I
1:22:34
do, I agree with Richard. There's
1:22:37
also this X factor of a lot
1:22:39
of academy members discovering the zone of
1:22:41
interest at the same time that anatomy
1:22:44
of a fall is surging. And Sandra
1:22:46
just being this face of the
1:22:49
international transformation of the academy,
1:22:52
giving two completely different equally
1:22:54
brilliant performances, only
1:22:56
perhaps helpfully nominated for one. Of
1:22:59
them, I think she's going
1:23:01
to get a lot of support. I do not think
1:23:03
it will be enough given that this has been such
1:23:05
a seesaw between the two. I'm
1:23:07
like 51. Well, no, I do think Sandra's like
1:23:10
in a lower, I'm probably like 41, Lily, 40 Emma, 20 Sandra. Well,
1:23:18
why don't you do that math? 19
1:23:20
Sandra, I guess would be 100. There
1:23:23
we go. We've been recording a long
1:23:25
time. My sense of logic is slowly
1:23:27
dissipating. The
1:23:29
reason that I would go with Emma is
1:23:32
that I think that
1:23:34
there is more love for poor things overall that seems
1:23:36
kind of clear by the fact that we've talked about
1:23:38
it so much more just in
1:23:41
this conversation, in conversation
1:23:43
for other wins. She
1:23:46
has won an Oscar
1:23:48
before, but I don't think
1:23:50
that that prohibits voters
1:23:52
from giving people additional Oscars
1:23:54
rather quickly. Just ask
1:23:57
Frances McDormand, who's also won because she was
1:23:59
in the strong movie, Nomadland.
1:24:01
Same with Jodie Foster's second Oscar win, which
1:24:04
happened just four years after her first.
1:24:06
We talked about. Yeah. And I
1:24:08
think the
1:24:11
reason for Lily is, number one,
1:24:13
the narrative is really strong and it's something
1:24:16
that she has been really central to
1:24:19
for that movie from the very inception of
1:24:21
that campaign. Really Smart Move by Apple is
1:24:23
paid off. And it's in
1:24:26
some ways what Best Actress can do, which
1:24:28
is a discovery award.
1:24:31
Lily Glaussen has been in this industry for a number of
1:24:33
years, but for a lot of people watching that movie, it
1:24:36
was like a holy shit, who is
1:24:38
this moment? Yeah. And I
1:24:40
think that that has a, this
1:24:42
is the category, whether
1:24:44
it's even somebody like Brie Larson for Room
1:24:47
where that can happen. So
1:24:49
those are the two sides. The
1:24:51
reason I went with Lily in the end is she
1:24:54
won SAG and SAG is
1:24:56
later, happened during voting. And
1:24:59
so I guess if you want
1:25:01
to sign a momentum, there it is.
1:25:03
But I mean, to me, it's just so close.
1:25:05
Yeah. Plus one question I have, David,
1:25:07
you might answer this is how often does
1:25:09
the Academy like to make history
1:25:11
because there's also that part of
1:25:13
Lily's story, which is excellent. I
1:25:16
don't think you can predict that
1:25:18
way. I mean, I don't
1:25:21
think that they, I think
1:25:23
they actually resist that to be honest with you. Like I
1:25:25
don't think Michelle Yeoh won because of that. I think she
1:25:27
won because she gave a great performance in the mood that
1:25:29
they liked the most, you know, and they
1:25:31
didn't end up liking her that much. Just
1:25:34
use last year's example. So I don't think that they
1:25:36
vote that way. I think
1:25:38
that they can fall in love with a story
1:25:40
and a person on
1:25:44
the trail. And that is sort of
1:25:46
synonymous with making history this year. So
1:25:48
it's a factor,
1:25:51
but I think that it would
1:25:53
have to come down to, you know,
1:25:56
them loving the performance. Yep. I
1:25:59
do wonder if we're in. and for some
1:26:01
internet chaos if Lilly doesn't win. We've
1:26:04
been talking about it internally a little bit. The people who
1:26:07
don't follow it that closely, who don't know that Emma Stone
1:26:09
is right there in the running and
1:26:11
how popular Poor Things is and have been kind
1:26:13
of, so this idea that the Academy could make
1:26:15
history, I don't know how much we
1:26:17
want to base what we predict on Twitter meltdowns. But
1:26:20
it does seem like something that could happen. And I
1:26:22
want to at least be emotionally prepared for it, even if
1:26:24
I think there would be very good reasons for either
1:26:26
of them to win. The Oscars is weirdly, the Academy
1:26:28
is weirdly, I don't want to use the word
1:26:30
good, but they are very adept at
1:26:32
tuning all of that out. You
1:26:35
think about Hopkins beating Chadwick Boseman a couple
1:26:38
of years ago, where the kind of
1:26:40
social sentiment, the popular sentiment was like,
1:26:43
give Chadwick Boseman an amazing actor this
1:26:45
posthumous award. People thought it was
1:26:47
going to happen so much so that they moved that category to the
1:26:49
end of the show and the
1:26:51
Academy. Steven Soderberg specifically. Yeah, I
1:26:54
love Steven's work, but not that maybe. And
1:26:58
then that's not what happened, because a lot
1:27:00
of these Academy voters barely even know
1:27:02
what Google is, let alone Twitter. So
1:27:06
yeah, I think it's hard to factor that in. I mean,
1:27:08
it would be amazing if that history was made on
1:27:10
Sunday, but we'll see. We really
1:27:13
do underestimate that as a crazy Oscar moment. Like
1:27:15
it's sandwiched between Moonlight, La La Lin, and The
1:27:17
Slap. And so it kind of gets overshadowed. But
1:27:19
that was such a crazy thing that happened at
1:27:21
the Oscars. And it happens it wasn't even there. Like
1:27:24
it was such a total mess. They
1:27:27
didn't let him zoom in. I
1:27:29
think he was asleep. Wasn't it like 3 in the
1:27:31
morning in Wales or wherever he was? Anyway.
1:27:34
But you weren't allowed to zoom in.
1:27:36
You had to be in the remote.
1:27:38
I forgot about that. In London. Aren't
1:27:41
we so right? Where Florian Zeller was there at that
1:27:43
place, but Hopkins was like, I'm too old for this
1:27:47
shit. All of us were like prepped to write some
1:27:49
big moving thing too with. Oh,
1:27:51
we all had those three rights ready to go. OK,
1:27:54
I think we can wrap this up and maybe lump together
1:27:56
Best Director and Best Picture since we
1:27:58
expect Oppenheimer to. win both
1:28:01
handily. We were asked
1:28:03
to do kind of an Instagram like state of the
1:28:05
race thing and you'd be like, all right what do
1:28:07
you think is gonna be first place, second place in
1:28:09
these? I was like I don't have the first clue
1:28:11
what would come in second place in either of these.
1:28:13
Like it's so obviously Oppenheimer in both. I don't know
1:28:16
if you guys have a hot take on who could
1:28:18
be a spoiler in either but yeah it's just gonna
1:28:20
be Chris Rinalin and then Emma Thomas. I assume we'll give
1:28:22
the speech for Oppenheimer for best picture. I
1:28:24
think pictured the only spoiler I see at the moment
1:28:26
is zone of interest weirdly. That is
1:28:28
wild. I think that
1:28:30
movie has a lot of momentum. Anatomy of a Fall. Anatomy
1:28:33
of a Fall yes for sure for sure
1:28:35
but I still think there
1:28:37
is some there are older members of the Academy institutional
1:28:39
bias. Anatomy of a Fall is a women's picture you
1:28:42
know I think that unfortunately that is a bias
1:28:44
that exists but I
1:28:46
don't know I think Oppenheimer is far and away
1:28:48
because it satisfies both traditionalists and people who are
1:28:50
looking at the really kind of cutting-edge craft and
1:28:53
it's timely but also historical biopic like
1:28:55
it's it's so many quadrants are being
1:28:58
filled there. I think I would
1:29:00
buy Jonathan Glazer a second place in the director
1:29:02
vote then more than zone of interest on a
1:29:04
preferential ballot in second place. Yeah that's right. Yeah
1:29:06
that's a tough one to pick too is who
1:29:09
would be a second place director. I honestly
1:29:12
don't I don't even know I yeah
1:29:15
I was reading some of the anonymous ballots
1:29:17
because I can't help myself and what striking
1:29:19
is like even if Oppenheimer is not first
1:29:21
on a ballot it's like second
1:29:24
or third maybe fourth it's
1:29:26
just and it is first on
1:29:28
a lot it's it's so far ahead I
1:29:30
don't think that this is a race. Yeah
1:29:32
I gotta get to these anonymous ballots have
1:29:34
been depriving myself. Oh yeah I don't know
1:29:36
if I would go down that road. Here's
1:29:39
my final question do you think Christopher Nolan
1:29:41
will be visibly emotional in any way or
1:29:43
will he handle this as placidly and and
1:29:46
gently as he has everything else? That
1:29:48
is a fun that is a great question. I hope
1:29:50
he's full weeping. It came true. I deserve
1:29:57
this. You know I'm
1:29:59
the in the world. He really
1:30:01
liked winning it all. He just ran
1:30:03
into greatest hits. Same question for
1:30:05
Killian, I think. I would think Nolan might
1:30:07
get more emotional than Killian would be my
1:30:10
best. Oh, you think? I was thinking
1:30:12
the opposite. That Killian might push
1:30:14
sweet non-emotive Killian over the edge.
1:30:16
That's what you always wonder, right? Who's going to break when they
1:30:18
finally get to the finish line? Yeah.
1:30:21
Not break. That sounds bad. Who's going to let it all
1:30:23
out when they finally get to the finish line? I
1:30:25
feel like it's more possible for Killian than for Nolan,
1:30:27
just because Nolan, it's been such a
1:30:30
steamroll. I feel like that's
1:30:32
something very measured, too. She's really stayed on message.
1:30:34
I'd be interested
1:30:36
about that level of emotionality. Of the
1:30:39
four acting winners, Danny
1:30:41
Jr. gives the most movie... I mean, Dave Vines
1:30:43
speeches have been great, too. I don't
1:30:46
know. That's a tough call to make,
1:30:48
actually. I will say, Christopher
1:30:50
Nolan seemed really pleased,
1:30:53
is not the word, but the DGA, he
1:30:55
seemed really, really honored. Yeah.
1:30:57
I think this does mean a lot to him. I
1:31:00
think he's just a kind of measured guy,
1:31:02
and that's part of his success. I
1:31:05
would be interested in, you know, and I'm not part of
1:31:07
Oppenheimer, where they're taking side bets on whether they'll ignite the
1:31:10
atmosphere. I want to see some side bets
1:31:12
on who will cry first, and
1:31:14
then maybe who gets... We can come
1:31:16
up with a magic for most emotional, so that's something else
1:31:18
to add to the list for next week. He's
1:31:22
got his running shoes on. That
1:31:25
does it for today's episode. We'll
1:31:27
be back early-ish. On
1:31:39
Monday, we'll be recording our Innocent Reactions episode
1:31:41
to the Oscars, to the Vanity Fair Oscar
1:31:43
Party, to everything else that happens on Sunday
1:31:45
night. I hope it all goes well. We
1:31:47
hope all of you who wrote us about
1:31:49
your elaborate foods that you'll be eating on
1:31:51
Oscar Sunday, that it all goes well. Please
1:31:54
feel free to send us pictures. Obviously,
1:31:57
we'll be covering the Oscars minute-to-minute on
1:31:59
Sunday night. David and Kara will
1:32:01
be at the Oscars themselves. Richard and I will
1:32:03
be keeping an eye on Vanity Fair's live blog.
1:32:05
Yes, live blog is still a thing and actually
1:32:08
a pretty useful way to follow the Oscars and
1:32:10
follow along with the rest of us. And
1:32:12
if you catch Richard tweeting, you can join me in being like,
1:32:14
Richard, put it in the live blog. Put it in the
1:32:16
live blog. Put it in all that you'll love us for
1:32:19
free. But yes, we'll have a lot to talk
1:32:21
about come Monday. And then we will
1:32:23
have another episode next week just as a scheduling
1:32:25
thing. We'll have our Monday episode and there'll be
1:32:27
another surprise coming on Thursday before we resume our
1:32:30
regular schedule. So please join us
1:32:33
between now and Oscar night and an Oscar
1:32:35
night at vanityfair.com on social media at VF
1:32:37
Awards Insider and on our own. I am
1:32:40
at Katie Rich and Richard. Right.
1:32:42
But on Sunday, I'm just on the live blog. Thank
1:32:45
you very much. And David. David
1:32:47
Canfield, 97. And Kara.
1:32:50
Kara J. Warner. Our
1:32:53
editor and producer is Brett Fuchs. And this
1:32:55
week's awards for the best prediction for what
1:32:57
will win best picture next year goes to
1:33:00
David Canfield. Often number two.
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