Emilia Perez leads the nominations for this year’s Oscars – breaking the record for the most nominated non-English language film in the history of the awards.
The Spanish-language musical, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, stars Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascon – who is the first transgender woman to be nominated in an acting category.
It has 13 Oscarnominations in total, including best picture. This breaks the record of 10 nods for a foreign language film set by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001, and equalled by Roma in 2019.
Image: Adrien Brody and British star Felicity Jones are both nominated for The Brutalist. Pic: Universal Pictures
Post-war epic The Brutalist and blockbuster musical adaptation Wicked follow with 10 nominations each, while papal thriller Conclave and Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown have eight.
All are up for best picture, alongside Anora, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys and The Substance.
In the acting categories, Gascon is up for best actress against Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, Anora newcomer Mikey Madison, and Golden Globe winners Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres, for their performances in The Substance and I’m Still Here respectively.
Image: The Substance star Demi Moore follows her Golden Globes win with an Oscar nomination. Pic: Mubi
Moore, who has won critical acclaim for her portrayal of a fading Hollywood star who takes a mysterious substance to create a younger self, said her first Oscar nomination was “an incredible honor” and that the last few months had been “beyond my wildest dreams”.
“Truly there are no words to fully express my joy and overwhelming gratitude for this recognition,” she said in a statement sent to Sky News. “Not only for me but for what this film represents. I am deeply humbled.”
Acknowledging the fires that have devastated LA in the past few weeks, she added: “This is a time of incredible contrasts and right now, my heart is with my friends, family, neighbours, and community here in LA.”
Timothee Chalamet‘s portrayal of Dylan in A Complete Unknown has earned him a nomination for best actor, alongside Sebastian Stan, who is shortlisted for his performance as a younger Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
Image: Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain. Pic: Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures 2024
Image: Mikey Madison in Anora. Pic: Neon/Augusta Quirk
Adrien Brody, who plays a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War in The Brutalist, is also in the running, alongside British star Ralph Fiennes, for Conclave, and Colman Domingo, for the true story prison drama Sing Sing.
In the supporting actor category, Golden Globe winner Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) is up against his former Succession co-star Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice), along with Yura Borisov (Anora), Edward Norton, (A Complete Unknown) and Guy Pearce (The Brutalist).
Image: Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in Wicked. Pic: PA
Image: Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in The Apprentice. Pic: Briarcliff Entertainment
US pop singer Ariana Grande gets her first Oscar nomination in the best supporting actress category, for her performance as Glinda the good witch alongside British star Erivo’s green-skinned Elphaba in box-office smash Wicked.
In a post on Instagram after the nominations were revealed, the star shared a childhood photo and said she was in tears. “Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition,” she wrote. “I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise.”
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Grande is up against British star Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), and Saldana for Emilia Perez.
The shortlist for best director includes Sean Baker (Anora), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez) and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown).
Image: Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Pic: Searchlight Pictures
Who missed out?
For Irish-language rap trio Kneecap, who released their debut album and starred in their own biopic last year, the nominations didn’t go their way.
The Kneecap film has been a success during the awards season so far, with 17 nominations in categories at the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards and six BAFTA nominations.
It was also in the running for potential Oscar nods for best international feature and best original song, for Sick In The Heard, but it wasn’t to be.
Other stars left out after being predicted as potential nominees include Denzel Washington, for his performance in Gladiator II, Angelina Jolie, for Maria, Nicole Kidman, for Babygirl, Danielle Deadwyler, for The Piano Lesson, British star Daniel Craig, for Queer, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, for Hard Truths.
Pamela Anderson, who received Golden Globe and SAG nominations for her performance in The Last Showgirl, also missed out, as did Selena Gomez, who stars alongside Gascon and Saldana in Emilia Perez.
Musicals, horror, and an open race – welcome to this year’s Oscars
Expect to hear a lot about the rather mad Mexican-noir musical Emila Perez over the next month. It’s a film that is as unpredictable as this year’s Oscars race.
It tells the story of a Mexican gangster who undergoes gender affirmation surgery. Not only has it set a new record with 13 nominations – making it the most nominated foreign language film ever – it also sets the tone for what’s shaping up to be quite an unusual year, with no one obvious runaway success story.
There’s plenty to make a song and dance about with no shortage of nominations for music films and musicals – blockbuster Wicked is up for 10 awards, while Timothee Chalamet’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown is up for eight.
It’s been 22 years since a musical won best picture – Chicago beat The Pianist in 2003. Interestingly, The Pianist star Adrien Brody picked up the award for best actor in that year – and is now nominated again this year for his performance in The Brutalist. Could we see a similar picture unfold on March 2?
Unusually for the Oscars, horror films get a good showing this year – vampire gothic Nosferatu is up for four awards, and arguably Demi Moore has to be a frontrunner off the back of her Golden Globe win for The Substance, a gory take on society’s unattainable beauty standards.
What can we expect on the big night? Well, despite some pretty incredible singers, such as Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, in contention – the academy bosses have said they’ll be shifting away from live performance to instead, rather cryptically, “celebrating songwriters”.
Given the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, there is a determination in the city of dreams to showcase its beauty and resilience. From Emilia Perez to Wicked, Hollywood will certainly be singing.
This year’s announcement was originally scheduled to take place on 17 January, but was pushed back twice due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Winners will be announced at the star-studded Academy Awards ceremony, which is due to be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday 2 March.
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