Pop Culture Happy Hour - 2025 Oscar Nominations

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

This year's Oscar nominations are out, and if you liked Emilia Pérez, Anora, Wicked, The Brutalist, and A Complete Unknown, then you're in luck. As always, there's an eclectic mix of heavy favorites, left-field surprises, and the dreaded snubs. We give a broad sense of this year's major storylines, while also lamenting a few decisions we found baffling.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This year's Oscar nominations are out, and if you liked Amelia Pettis, Anora, Wicked, The Brutalest, and a complete unknown, then you're in luck. As always, there's an eclectic mix of heavy favorites, left field surprises, and the dreaded snubs. And we've got thoughts. I'm Linda Holmes. And I'm Stephen Thompson. Today we are talking about this year's Oscar nominations on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Here with us is our co-host, Glenn Weldon. Hey, Glenn. Hey, Stephen, it's a wonderful night for Oscar. Oscar, Oscar, who will win?

Who will win? Well, we're not going to talk about who will win right now. That's true. We're talking about the nominees. And we're going to run down a bunch of the major categories here. We cannot possibly get to every category. And remember, we're going to bring you our predictions in an episode that'll run closer to March's ceremony. But we did want to give you a broad sense of this year's major storylines while also lamenting a few decisions we found baffling, like the exclusion of the Challenger's score, which I'm still saying.

so mad about. You're getting ahead of me, Stephen. We're going to start with Best Picture. I'm going to run him down. A complete unknown. Timothy Salomey plays a young Bob Dylan. The movie follows his rise in the music world. Anora, Sean Baker's movie about an enterprising sex worker

who marries an immature young man, to say the least. Her new in-laws turn out to be Russian oligarchs, and they're not happy. The brutalist, Adrian Brody, plays a fictional Jewish-Hungarian architect who relocates to the United States after World War II. Conclave is a fun and twisty look at the secretive process, by which a pope is replaced.

Ray Fines plays the Cardinal leading the process. Dune Part 2, Timothy Shalameh returns as Paul Atreides and must now contend with a group called the Harkinans, who have seized control of the planet. Amelia Perez is about a trans-Mexican cartel boss who disappears from the criminal underworld and eventually reunites with her family after creating a new life as a woman. Glenn and Linda particularly love this woman. Oh, stop. I'm still here set in 1970s Brazil when it was under a military dictatorship.

The film tells the true story of a mother dealing with the disappearance of her politician husband. Nickel Boys, the story of two black boys who form an unshakable bond at a segregated reform school in the Jim Crow South. The Substance Demi Moore plays an aerobics instructor who wants to stay in the spotlight so she turns to a strange black market drug. And Wicked, set before the events of the Wizard of Oz, this musical, is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West. It stars Cynthia Arrivo and Ariana Grande. Gang? What did you think of this very eclectic field?

I'm going to just kick us off by saying, I appreciate how few historical dramas, like biopic-style historical dramas are in this field. This is an eclectic field, which includes the substance, among others. I'm delighted to see the substance here. It is the weirdest best picture nomination since, you know, last year with poor things. I mean, I'm going to go into my whole thing. about how in years past, it wasn't so long ago

that a weird body horror movie like the substance would never have gotten a best picture nom. It would have gotten a screenplay non because that's usually where they kind of relegate the weird stuff. But, you know, the fact that this is getting such mainstream buzz and yeah, I'm delighted

to see it here. It's probably indicative that the Academy has taken steps to skew its voter pool a little younger and a little bit more diverse because I don't think the stayed old white dudes of past years would have let that in. Yeah, I was delighted, too. I am a big fan of Demi Moore. You know, I love a new chapter. I was really hesitant to watch this because I have a like a squick issue sometimes. But I really did find it powerful and interesting. There are definitely some things on here that I, you know, was not a fan of. As you said, I am not an Amelia Perez person. I don't get it. And I say that as a person who who loves a musical, but not this musical. You know, I think Wicked is a good, splashy movie. I'm happy about that.

I certainly really like and admire the Brutalist, even though it's a tough film to watch. I think Conclave is fun. Conclave is a fun movie. I think once you accept that this movie is not a super serious Pope movie. I'm so glad it's not. That's one of the best things about it. Yeah, absolutely. But what it is is kind of a, you know, gossipy kind of movie.

I think once you get past that, it is a really fun movie. I really liked Nickel Boys. I was very glad that made it in. But there are other ones. I know we all here, I think, are fans of challengers. Yeah. The Luca Guadagnino movie that did not make it in. And I was sad about that.

A real pain with Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg. Yeah, I really liked a real pain a lot. Like, I get that it's not like a radical movie. It's like a road movie with a couple of people talking mostly. But I loved that film. I thought it was really well done. It makes me a little bit bummed that that didn't get in. And especially Sing Sing, which is one of my favorites of the year.

delighted Coleman Domingo got nominated. Little sad the movie did not get nominated in this category. To your point, Stephen, this is an eclectic list, but it is in terms of topics. It's pretty standard Oscar, Best Picture Oscar stuff, because they all deal in very different ways at a slant with big, heavy, sociopolitical themes in different ways. But Challenger's didn't. A, Challengers came out way back in April. I think that's the problem. That's the problem.

But yet Dune, which came out in March. made it in. Now, maybe, I just think Challenger is the kind of small, intimate, sexy, sweaty movie that just doesn't get best picture attention. That's a snub, a good old-fashioned snub. I really appreciate, Glenn, you bringing up that even a lot of the movies that feel left field here still have an Oscarsiness to them. I mean, it's interesting. The substance, which is such a wild, gnarly, grody movie, still is hitting a lot of themes that are playing very much to, an Oscars crowd. This is very much a film that underlines its themes, and those themes include like aging and the exploitation of actresses. Sure, but they can't have thought that at the time. Nobody started making this movie being like, it's going to get nominated for Best Picture. I just don't believe it. Yeah. And one last note about Amelia Perez, that is going to go down in history as the Green Book

of this year. This is a very ham-fisted trans-stor. if you have never met a trans person, this is the film that's going to resonate with you and make you think you know trans people. And just to give it its props, it earned 13 nominations. It sets the record for the most nominations for a non-English Language film

for this film to nearly tie the record 14 nominations that films like Titanic and La La Land and freaking all about Eve got, that is, something is way off here. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, that's about. picture. Next up, actress in a leading role. I'm going to run down the nominations again. Cynthia Arrivo for Wicked. Arrivo plays Elfaba in the origin story about the Wicked Witch of the West.

Demi Moore for the Substance. Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor who turns to a mysterious black market drug to stay young. Fernanda Torres, for I'm Still Here, Torres plays a mother and activist whose life is upturned when her politician husband goes missing during the military dictatorship in Brazil. Mikey Madison for Anora. Madison plays a New York sex worker who marries the son of Russian oligarchs. And Carla Sophia Gascon for Amelia Perez. Gascon plays the titular Amelia Perez, a trans-cartel leader who leaves the criminal underworld to begin a new life. What are y'all's thoughts?

I mean, props to Gascon, the first openly trans person of any gender to be nominated for an acting Oscar. That's a record. Elliot Page was not yet out as trans when he received his acting nomination for Juno back in 2008. That's the distinction here. good for her. The performance that leaps out at me most here is Mikey Madison's in Anora. I wasn't familiar with her before. I had not seen better things, but boy, I'm familiar with her now. I'm going to be seeking her out. Yeah, I understand for sure why people like this performance so much. I was, again, somewhat mixed on that movie, but I absolutely understand the appreciation for her work. That performance in Anora is mesmerizing. This is one of the categories where there also is a performance I have not seen yet, which is a performance I have not seen yet, which is a performance. is Fernando Torres and I'm still here. But I am always glad to see the embrace in major categories of films that are not in English. In general, I think that is a good trend. Also, I loved

Demi Moore. I have loved Demi Moore for a long time and thought she was a good actor. I'm delighted for her. And, you know, Cynthia Arrivo probably is nominated here largely for the last 10 minutes of Wicked, which I think is fine. And listen, she did the thing. So yeah, this is a solid batch. Again, not an Amelia Perez person, but, you know, solid batch of nominations, I think. Right. And we should probably mention one of the misses here, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, in the Mike Lee film Hard Truths. Glad I know you are a big fan of that performance. Yeah, I mean, that character is so difficult to watch and so unpleasant such that it makes the film nearly unwatchable.

But it turns out that nearly is all important there. The nearly is all in Baptiste performance because even as you know you would cross a room to get away from this person if you met her in real life, you are still fascinated by her. And that's all in the Baptist performance. And it's a shame that that got not noticed today. Yeah. All right. Next up, actor in a leading role. We've got Adrian Brody for the Brutalist.

Brody plays a visionary Hungarian architect who moves to America to rebuild his life after World War II. Coleman Domingo for Sing Sing. Domingo plays an incarcerated man who finds purpose by acting in a theater group. Ray Fines for Conclave. Fines plays the Cardinal who is managing the process of finding a new pope. Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice. Stan plays a young Donald Trump establishing his career in real estate and his relationship with attorney Roy Cohn. And Timothy Shalomey for a complete unknown.

You might have heard. He plays Bob Dylan. What do you all think? I mean, I wasn't always, you know, an Adrian Brody guy. but man, I like this performance and the brutalist. Yeah, I did too. It's so human and layered.

And there's a scene where we have a point of view shot. Somebody steps up to him while he's working away at a drafting table and he just turns to the person and looks at them with such tenderness. And I was like, oh, there's the Oscar nom right there. Yeah, I was a fan of this film, too. My favorite nominee in this category

is Coleman Domingo and Sing Sing, which, as I already mentioned, his movie I really love. As people know, a bunch of this cast is made up of formerly incarcerated. people who were part of this theater group and are playing in the film essentially versions of themselves. And Coleman Domingo was brought in as a more traditionally established actor. And the rapport that he had with that cast was wonderful. I'm very fond of this movie for a bunch of reasons.

And I love Coleman Domingo and we'll watch him in literally anything. Oh, anything. I feel like this movie had this really slow rollout and kind of got a little bit lost in the shuffle for some people. If it got lost in the shuffle for you, seek it out. It's wonderful. Shalome, listen, evoked Bob Dylan adequately, I think. I was not blown away by the movie, but he took on a very, very difficult part. And once I started to hear a lot of discussion of how much time he spent preparing to do the performances, I was worried that we were going to be looking at a Bradley Cooper learning to conduct situation.

But I did think this paid off much better than that. I hugely respect that he did the singing. Listen, that's a gigantic thing to bite off. And props to him, even if it wasn't my favorite movie. Yeah, I definitely don't think we should look past how badly it could have gone. And I think that's one thing that's sometimes worth taking into consideration, where if this person messes this up, you have ruined the entire movie. Yes. And he, beyond, does not mess it up.

Safe to say, that is the case with a complete unknown. Yeah. And, like, safe to say, he does. He acquits himself extremely well. And also to the point where, like, when he's brought in to host S&L, they also have him as the musical guest. I think that speaks to how much he committed himself to this. And I'm glad y'all like this Adrian Brody performance in The Brutalist. It's definitely a very Oscars-type, big sweeping performance.

But he brings a lot of humanity to that performance. I do think this is a strong field. We should acknowledge a couple of the people who were considered contenders who did not get nominations. including Jesse Eisenberg in the wonderful A Real Pain. I think he is really, really great in that movie. It's the less showy performance, but it's kind of similar to what a giant fan I was of Tom Cruise and Rain Man. And he didn't wind up being the one who got awarded for that. Dustin Hoffman did, which fine, absolutely.

Get it. The Oscars are what they are. But he was sort of holding that movie up in a lot of ways just as much. And in the same way, the Kieran Culkin performance is so, I think really is fabulous. We'll talk about it more later. But Jesse Eisenberg is doing some really wonderfully nuanced, I think, work here without which the movie could not exist and without which the Culkin performance could not exist. He's the linchpin. He's the structure of the movie.

You need him desperately. And you need him to not overshadow or even attempt to overshadow, which he doesn't do. And there are those who would say that Sebastian Stan was nominated for the wrong movie. Yeah. I have not seen The Apprentice, but his work in a different man has been highly, highly acclaimed. I think there is a world in which people thinking about this nomination might think of it as just Sebastian Stan's year at the movies, and he's getting nominated for that. He's been a terrific actor for a long time. I'm very glad to see him nominated.

I haven't seen The Apprentice yet. Yeah. So we'll just leave it at that. So we're going to talk about supporting actor, supporting actress, and best directing. but first let's take a quick break. Welcome back. Next up, we're going to talk about actor in a supporting role. I'm going to run down the nominations.

Edward Norton for a complete unknown. Norton plays singer-songwriter Pete Seeger. Guy Pearce for the brutalist. Pierce plays the wealthy and prominent industrialist who enlists Adrian Brody's character to build a lavish community center. Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice. Strong plays lawyer Roy Cohn, who develops a relationship with a young Donald Trump. Kieran Culkin for a real pain. Culkin plays the adrift Benji, who goes on a Holocaust

tour of Poland with his cousin. And you're a BoriSoft for a Nora. Borysoft plays a Russian henchman. Let's talk about this very eclectic field. Okay. So the first thing that I want to talk about a little bit is category fraud because I love Kieran Culkin's performance in a real pain, but in no way is it a supporting performance. That is a movie with two leads. And it is a real bummer to me that they put him in this category, presumably to avoid having the two leads compete with each other. And then Jesse Eisenberg wasn't nominated anyway. So in some ways it doesn't matter. I understand that the category fraud thing sometimes feels like it is only interesting to industry people and journalists. But in this case, for example, I was talking about Sing Sing

earlier, Clarence Macklin, who is one of the guys who plays like a version of himself in Sing. It also helped out with the script and did a lot of work on the film should have been nominated in this category as a supporting actor. And he's not. And one spot in this thing was taken up by Kieran Culkin in a real pain who is not a supporting actor and Clarence Macklin is. It frustrates me in that way just because I love Kieran Culkin. I'm not going to say I don't think he should have been nominated, but I don't think he should have been nominated in this category. Borioff is an interesting one because to me he's asked to hold up the entirety of the compassion. anyone shows for anyone else through the entirety of that film, which is a very heavy load.

It's not completely clear at the beginning when you first start to see him how important he is to the way that the film unfolds. I think that's a really difficult role. I was certainly very glad that he was there, and I think he's excellent in it. And Guy Pearce has a long career of doing great, solid work, but he's made some weird choices over the course of his career. I think if he gets some props here, that's good for him, man. Yeah. Yeah, I really like Guy Pearce. career overall. This is not my favorite performance of his. I think this performance is going big in a way

that didn't entirely work for me. It's a little mustache twirley. It's a great mustache, though. But I do think they also get at the point that somebody like this can be very appealing at the beginning of your association with them. And I think he does a good job of sort of showing how that might be the case. It's a big performance. Yeah. You're a Borisov. I'm so glad he's nominated here. He was certainly expected to be, but this is not necessarily the kind of performance that always gets Oscar nominations. The fact that there is a quietude to this performance, that he's doing so much acting with small glances, with small acknowledgments with eyebrows and stuff. This is a really measured, terrific performance, and I'm really glad to see it nominated here. And, you know, we've been

talking about this category for a minute. We haven't mentioned Edward Norton as Pete Seeger. Even, Linda, I know you're not a big fan of this movie. I like this movie more than you did, and I particularly, we'll get to Monica Barbaro in a second. I really loved Edward Norton in this film. I think he evokes such piece-seagerness in a way that is crucial, the fact that this movie is not just about Bob Dylan, and it takes a moment to actually be about other musicians

who kind of serve as foils for Bob Dylan. And I think Norton, this could have been such a caricature. Yes. could have been such an uninteresting performance. I think he's terrific. Yeah, I do too. This is my favorite thing about this film, is this performance. I have spent a lot of time in my life listening to Pete Seeger and watching Pete Seeger

and saw Pete Seeger perform. It felt almost kind of homey to me to hear, you know, somebody evoking, somebody who is so meaningful to me. But I think that as we talked about a little bit with Borisov, although those are very different performances. Very different. He brings a lot of the kind of the gentleness. to the film and a lot of the kind of emotional complexity, I think.

All right. Next up, actress in a supporting role, Ariana Grande for Wicked. She plays Galinda the Good Witch. Felicity Jones, for the Brutalist. Jones plays the wife of a famed architect who reunites with him in America. Isabella Rosalini for Conclave. She plays a strategic nun who works at the Vatican. Monica Barbaro, for a complete unknown. Barbara plays singer-songwriter Joan Baez as she navigates her relationship with Bob

And speaking of category fraud, Zoe Saldanya for Amelia Pettis. Saldania plays a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader find a new identity and life. This was a very crowded field going in. There are any of probably 10 performances could have been credibly nominated here. These are the five we got. What did you think of this field? Well, look, if you're one of those people who's complaining about the presence of Isabella Rosalini on this list, oh, she's only in it for five minutes.

She only makes a few expressions. I mean, yeah, she drenched. She drenched. She drenched. She totally judy drenched. I'm fine with it because there is not much that she's on screen, but it's important that everybody is deathly afraid of this character and you see why. In just her few minutes on screen, it's also Isabella Rosalini. I mean, I'm not complaining about that. Yeah. Ariana Grande had a great comic turn.

I think this is a really good pick. I think she was a lot more fun than certainly I was expecting her to be. She's surprised. A lot of people, she surprised me. I, again, Ariana Grande has no business in this category. She's a co-lead. That is very silly. If there have ever been co-leads, there are co-leads in this movie.

But also Amelia Pettis, I mean, Zoe Saltania in this category is ridiculous. I was just going to say, also Zoe Saladanya, who is another person who I have really enjoyed the kind of the expansion of her career, happy for her, delighted for Ariana Ana Grande. Again, she's a co-lead. Perhaps if she had been correctly nominated in lead, you might have gotten a nomination for one of the other really deserving actual supporting performances like Angino Ellis, who is in Nickel Boys and is wonderful. She has one scene in particular, which just has to hold the screen very firmly on her own for a significant period of time as a character that you don't necessarily know real well before that. She's wonderful in it. I also think it's interesting that the Demi Moore performance, which is real big and the substance, has been, I think, given its due a little bit more than the Margaret Qualley performance, which is... Yeah, but she's really good. Not quite as, like, big and grody, but it is also, I think, really smart. She is a terrific young actress.

If you have not watched Made on Netflix, she is in... She is fantastic in that. Yeah, I'm kind of all over the place on this. particular field. I love Felicity Jones. I tend to really love her when she turns up. I wasn't that crazy about this performance in The Brutalist. This is a little bit the historical wife. Yeah. To me, it's where the movie starts to go off the rails when she shows up, which is not her fault. But at the same time, I think I'm higher on this Monica Barbaro performance than maybe Linda is. I mean, to me, that's also, figuratively speaking, that's also historical wife, woman who exists mostly as a

reflection of this guy, which bothers me in this case because Joan Baez, you know, is and was at that time a very important performer and writer and figure in folk music in her own right, and was not mostly a person who stood around looking at Bob Dylan. And that bugged me a little bit, I guess. I don't necessarily think she's bad. It's just not the kind of role that I love. Yeah, and I come back to some of the same stuff we were saying about Timothy Schelleyer. though, she does a marvelous job doing her own singing here. I think this was maybe a little bit of an underwritten role that she transcended the writing of. I really love this performance and felt like she brought an edge to it that it needed.

All right. Finally, we are going to talk about the field of best directing the nominees are Brady Corbe for the Brutalist, Coralie Faragea for the substance, Jacques Odiard for Emilia Perez. James Mangold for a complete unknown and Sean Baker for Anora. This gives you maybe somewhat of a sense of what the front runners are for Best Picture, am I right? Yeah, and also good job

in all those French pronunciations. Corbe, Fauchet, O'D the Yardde. It's a pretty French feel this year. Mangold Becker. I am so happy for Sean Baker. This is the first time he's actually gotten any kind of recognition. He's been churning out great work.

He got four nominations this year for Anora. So, yeah, good for him, and he's a guy in Pullenipore. Yeah. To me, sad. about Ramel Ross, who directed Nickel Boys. Sure for Nickel Boys. This is not a category we're covering,

but they also didn't nominate the cinematography for Nickel Boys, which I think is bizarre. It's, again, formally a really interesting film. I would have certainly nominated him over, I don't want to keep ragging on Amelia Perez, but that's how I feel. But, you know, there's none of these, I mean, I'm delighted by the Farja nomination for the substance.

Again, you know, horror directors not commonly nominated for Oscars in present day. And that movie, again, is another one where if the directing doesn't work in that film, the whole thing goes to hell. Because it has a very tricky tone it's trying to do. It has a very tricky structure it's trying to do. So I'm delighted by, you know, I'm delighted by that nomination. I really am too. I mean, the film is very flawed, but, I mean, her direction is so striking. It is such a great film to look at. So I'm really, really, really glad that she made this field. This, you know, certainly was obviously given that there are 10 nominees for Best Picture. Obviously, this is going to be a crowded field. There are going to be a bunch of films that could have easily been strong contenders here. I'm a little surprised to see James Mangold in this category over someone like a John M. Chu for Wicked or like Denny Villeneuve for Dune Part 2. Remember, Villeneuve didn't get nominated for Best Director for Dune Part 1 either, even though talk about a heavy, lift. Yeah. I mean, it's

surprising. And Mengold is, you know, a journeyman. He's been churning stuff out as well. But, yeah, I mean, he's getting his props now. Good for him. But, yeah, I did miss Villeneuve in this particular field. So this is, of course, just the beginning of our month and a half long discussion of a bunch of these films.

We want to know what you think about the 2025 Oscar nominations. Find us at Facebook.com slash PCH. That brings us to the end of our show. Linda Holmes, Glenn Weldon. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you, Ben. you. We want to take a moment to thank our pop culture happy hour plus subscribers. We appreciate you so much for showing your support of NPR. If you haven't signed up yet, want to show your support and listen to this show without any sponsor breaks, head over to plus.npr.org slash happy hour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Hofsefathema and Mike Katsif and edited by Jessica Reed. And Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all tomorrow.