Ouch.
A lot of celebs were feeling a real pain on Thursday morning as the 2025 Oscar nominations were announced. They surely thought the Academy was the brutal-est. Downright wicked.
Many very famous names went noticeably unsaid as presenters Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott read off the rude-awakening roster at 5:30 a.m. in Beverly Hills.
The Hollywood star power was so quiet, you could hear a grin drop.
Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Pamela Anderson, Daniel Craig, Selena Gomez and Denzel Washington — contenders all throughout award season — failed to make the cut.
In their formidable places were a few superb, if lesser-known performers.
If Joan Rivers was still alive and red-carpeting, she might very well ask them, “Who the hell are you?!”
Fresh off her shock Golden Globes victory, Fernanda Torres got into the Academy Awards’ Best Actress category for “I’m Still Here,” and her home country of Brazil went berserk. The woman’s practically Ronaldo now. And her film was the big surprise of the Best Picture lineup.
Also in Actress was 25-year-old Mikey Madison, an emerging star that you should get to know, who is just breathtaking as an NYC stripper in the hilarious, punchy comedy “Anora.”
Madison’s castmate Yura Borisov, a sneaky scene-stealer, took a Supporting Actor slot.
In a move that will shock some and ruffle others, Sebastian Stan got a Best Actor mention for playing Donald Trump in “The Apprentice” — a so-so biopic about the president’s early days in NYC real estate. Stan is good; Stan is also statement.
OK, there were some A-Listers in the mix, too. Demi Moore is the Best Actress frontrunner for the insane body-horror film “The Substance.” And Kieran Culkin of “A Real Pain” is the guy to beat in Supporting.
“Wicked” co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were both nominated. I hereby ban “Defying Gravity” jokes.
But the person mentioned the most was a fictional one: “Emilia Perez” — Netflix’s bizarre Spanish-language, made-in-France, trans musical that scored 13 nods, the most of any film this year.
It’s not an all-time record. “All About Eve,” “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “La La Land” are tied in first with 14 apiece. But “Emilia”’s tally is nonetheless impressive and gives the love-it-or-loathe-it streaming movie a boost.
Le flick has already won the Musical or Comedy Globe, scored a healthy haul of BAFTA nods and has been nominated by most of the Hollywood guilds. Plus, ten percent of voting Academy members are international these days, and “Emilia” went down a treat last spring at Cannes.
That said, I’m not entirely convinced it can go all the way at the Oscars. Though it will take home plenty of gold, including Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana.
With a 33% RottenTomatoes audience score, “Emilia Perez” would be one of the most unpopular Best Picture winners in 97 years of Academy Awards ceremonies. The evening’s victor is rarely so provocative or controversial.
But it has a solid chance. So does Brady Corbet’s 3 1/2-hour drama “The Brutalist,” which along with “Wicked,” came in second place with 10 nods. “Anora” only managed six, but those included the often telling Picture, Director and Editing triptych.
“Conclave,” somewhat surprisingly, fell flat in the Directing and Cinematography areas. So, don’t expect the twisty pope thriller to rise again. That measured enthusiasm could also hurt its terrific star Ralph Fiennes.
Which creates a scintillating head-to-head.
Beyond the juicy Best Picture horserace in which half the nominees could, at this very second, conceivably win, the biggest nail-biter is Best Actor: Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist” vs. Timothée Chalamet in “A Complete Unknown.”
The Bob Dylan film, which American moviegoers are gushing over and is doing quite well at the UK box office, over-performed on Thursday with eight nominations. The major shocker was that it was called out for Best Director, which shows a lot of love for the movie. The Academy’s Director branch can be awfully pinky-out.
I suspect that embrace extends to Chalamet as well. Without him — his increasingly impressive craft and his deserved celebrity status — there’s no movie.
But there’s 41 days to go till the 97th Academy Awards on March 5. And a lot can happen in a month. Just ask January’s Golden Globe nominees Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman.
