The Big Picture - The 2026 Oscar Nominations: Snubs, Surprises, and WTFs

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Sean and Amanda break down all of the Oscar nominations and share their major takeaways, including 'F1' (sillily) sneaking into Best Picture and ‘Sinners’ shattering the all-time nominations record, and highlight their biggest snubs. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbin. And this is the big picture and conversation show about the 2026 Academy Award nominations. It's 7.52 a.m. It's two hours and 22 minutes after we learned what's going to be nominated for the Academy Awards. How do you feel right now? Good morning. It's way earlier that I'm used to wearing eye shadow.

But here we are. You look great. Thanks so much. I feel good. Honestly, these are both historic nominations in the first. sense that Sinners got 60 nominations, the most ever. Casting was added this year, but still 15. Still would have broken the record.

It's Sinner wins, big time, or Sinner gets a lot of nominations. Anyway, we'll get to that. And then also these nominations were a bit kooky, and I got to be honest, I like it. Yeah, I thought they were a pretty good collection. They're a good, but a little, okay. Pretty interesting. One of the things that popped in my mind this morning is that the Academy Awards continues to be an amazing paradox in that the body still continues to exhibit,

I think, ultimately the best taste of any award show and any precursor historically, but also still does really weird stuff. And sometimes it's unpredictable, and sometimes it's just a little bit odd and doesn't feel right. So you mentioned Center's 16 nominations. This year we have this kind of bundle, this heavy grouping of heavily nominated films, which we talked about yesterday in our live predictions, IG, I don't know what you want to call that.

58-minute excursion into Andor requests. And and-or puns? Yes. So six films of A-plus nominations. The next highest nominated film is, of course, one battle after another with 13 nominations, which hit everywhere except one critical place, which we will talk about in this conversation.

Frankenstein got nine. Yeah. Marty Supreme got nine, although missed in a couple of spots that I expected it to. Sentimental value got eight, and Hamnet also got eight. What do you make of this like heavy grouping of films? Well, as we discussed yesterday, it's a top heavy race.

And we've felt pretty certain about the top five or the top six since December. I guess things have been moving in and out a little bit. But December, that was very clear. And then it was really just like throwing darts at a dartboard for the last four. And it does feel like the last four nominations also have a bit of like a dartboard feel to them. You know, we discussed yesterday that maybe this is a year where the old school just five nominations could have fit and made things a bit more interesting. But on the other hand, I do think that that would have some below the line consequences. And if you only had five, then maybe the secret agent wouldn't have like the, you know, the running that it has here.

I don't know if Marty Supreme would go in the same way. So it's, you know, it's weird. Again, I think that it is a little bit like your funny aunt, like, picked some of the nominations. But there are worse things. Yeah, there are. We had speculated yesterday that there might be as many as five films with 10 plus nominations, maybe even 11 plus nominations. We overstated that. So it wasn't, those films weren't as strong as we expected.

And there were a couple of categories that were incredibly difficult for us to predict. But let's talk about best picture in full because we've spent months and months power-ranking films trying to figure out where this race was going. Not to pat ourselves in the back too much, but I think we've had a pretty good handle on this race, especially in the last two months. And here are the nominees, Bagonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, one battle after another, the secret agent, sentimental value, sinners, and train dreams. Now, nine of those 10 films have effectively been in our race for the last few months.

Yes. We added Surat in the last best picture power rankings. It was. It was. It was. We've been holding Bagonia because. Because it's been getting recognized at precursors. And Emma Stone, who was nominated today, though not Jesse Plymins, but Gugonia got in

some other places. It got in an original score. It got in an adapted screenplay. We will discuss that. So the big takeaways from this race, obviously those six films that you talked about were locked and loaded. Sentimental value was as strong as I basically thought the whole time. Yes.

But even though it seemed a little weaker at SAG, at the Globes, at a couple of other places where we expected it to do better. Are you surprised by that at all? No, I believe that I said yesterday on the Instagram Live, which can now be found via Reels. I don't know. Sure. It lives on. Go to my Reels page.

That I think sentimental value is very strong. It's an Oscar movie. And in fact, it was stronger even than I predicted yesterday. But the way that I came to that conclusion was going through all the below the line categories. I mean, like, no, actually, I do think it's going to get each of these support, these acting nominations. I do think it's going to get screenplay. I do think it's going to get this, that, and the other.

So no. not surprised. You, I think in June, maybe July. I saw the film in August. And when I saw it in August, I said, I think this is going to win best picture. You texted me that. We can find it. I think my text messages delete after six months. So I don't know whether I have the receipts, but you do, yeah. That's very Ethan Hunt of you. Never keep any archives. Okay. Understood. I can't say I'm doing the same thing. Unfortunately, please don't find my text messages. Sentimental value very strong here, perhaps a little surprisingly. You could tell when Lewis Pullman and Daniel Brooks came on to announce the nomination.

that in the first category for best supporting actress, when we saw the names El Fanning and Inga I'm Stodd or Lilius, we were like, okay. And El Fanning was the first name, Red. It was. So it set the tempo. You know what? She's been campaigning hard.

She seems to be having a lot of fun at all the parties. I have been saying I think she's terrific in that movie and that scene between her and Stell and Scars Guard near the end of the film where they're sitting in a nook talking before she makes a critical decision in the film. I think is one of the great scenes in that film and one of the best scenes of the year between the both of them. So I'm not surprised to see that happen.

Um, let's talk about F1. Yeah. Well, you fucked up, buddy. It's on you. The thing is, is that most people haven't seen the IG live. So pretty much every note I've been getting today is like, you've been on this. You nailed it. And then, of course, as I always do, at the last minute, after saying for five months that I really

think F1 could get in a best picture, I blinked, I predicted weapons. My rationale was so sound. Right. Which is that the Academy Awards has never nominated three non-English language films for Best Picture Ever. They love to get a couple of popular. popcorn movies in. There's always a film that has a number of below the line or craft strength, like your avatar, the way of water style films. And then I didn't predict it. You got you got halfway there. And we are really, we're going to go back in the archives. I believe it was October

when you started predicting this. It could have been sooner. But to bring people behind the scenes. So the nominations are announced like 530 PST here. So we both wake up. And the communication doesn't immediately start. Yes. And, you know, like for the, you know, you're drinking your coffee. You're just kind of watching in silence or I was watching in silence. I was hooting and hollering after every nomination. And waking up my four-year-old.

Then, you know, and like, there are things I want to tell you, but I'm like, save it for the podcast. Save it for the podcast. Save it for the podcast. And F1 broke the seal. That was when I just was like, lull. I'm sorry. This is you, you just screwed up.

Here's the thing. In 2026, I go with my gut. I have to just go with my gut. I have to stop. I have to stop overthinking this stuff. It's pathetic because I knew, I feel like I knew when I saw F1. I was like, this kind of has the shape of a movie that the Oscars, no matter what has happened in the last 10 years with the voting body.

They love this shit. And Kaczynski has proven himself to be a really, really admired filmmaker, somebody who like brings together craft groups so well. You do not have to tell me. We liked F1 a lot. We talked about it. Okay. All right.

Listen, so you were correct and we've, except then you weren't. And I was not. You don't and you never had the strength of your convictions. I thought it could have been a good VP nomination. But I just, I want to speak to F1 for a second, which I really admire the work of Joseph Kaczynski as documented on this podcast. This is silly. Like this, I'm sorry, this is a silly nomination.

It's fine. I understand we want to honor the box office. You know, it's big and it is very loud. I think it shows you something that makes to me the Oscars different from all the other shows. Yeah. Which is that the Oscars is voted on by this big group of people, many of whom work. in ways that don't just include acting and writing and directing. All the people who are voting for sound and editing and visual effects, these people vote

on Best Picture. And so they have a tremendous amount of admiration for what he does there. Now, script-wise, I don't think F1 is that strong. Performance-wise? It's okay. It's not my favorite Brad Pitt performance as we talked about. But that's not the only thing that goes into making movies. So I'm not going to, like, denigrate that movie when you look at the history of Best Picture.

Because there have been so many, best picture. Of course, of course. Best Picture nominees that are like elegant dramas that are boring as shit. And F1 is not boring. Excuse me. What? They are beautiful. And they also,

a lot of craft goes into that. We can go through the most boring best picture nominations at some point in the future. But to me, it's, it's an interesting nomination that shows balance, basically. Now, do you think that Neon overplayed their hand in trying to get three or four non-English language films into this race? I mean, what is overplaying their hand? I don't know. They got two in.

They did get two. And they got four out of five an international feature. It's a small company. I think sentimental value is incredibly strong. It is. So I don't think you could say that they, you know, spread the wealth at the expense of one film. I, like. Well, maybe no other choice, but sure.

Well, sure. Yeah. That sucks. Which was blanked completely. Totally blanked. What a mistake. And you wonder whether they saw that coming because of like the release date schedules. It's funny.

I felt like that film got a lot of campaign support. from neon, and Park Chanwok and Li Bin Han were out a lot over the last couple of months. Yeah. And that has resulted in really good box office for that film. But for whatever reason, and maybe it has something to do with the WGA issue that Park Chanwick had last year, I'm not sure what it is. But the Academy is not into his films. He's never been nominated. He's never been an international feature.

That movie is one of the most acclaimed films of the year. It was my third favorite movie of 2025. And it's not here. It's like probably the second biggest complete snub. Today, there is another one that was completely snubbed, which is Wicked for Good. And, you know, I think we're probably quietly delighting a little bit in that. Because that movie stinks. And I didn't think Wicked One was very good. And it obviously did quite well in crafts at the Oscars last year. And this year, it missed in some key categories.

It missed in categories that it won last year. No song nominations. No Ariana Grande, no Cynthia Revo. Nothing. I'm relieved. We just, we don't have to pretend that we care about this or that there's like hidden merit and whatever, which there is. And it was rewarded for the merit last year. Right. And the new installment was not very good. And we don't enjoy that musical. Is there anything else happening here in Best Picture that surprised you or that you took note of? You know, obviously there was a moment where it felt like Surratt could get in. Right. There, you know, obviously no other choices in here. Blue Moon didn't make it. And when I saw the original screenplay nomination for Blue Moon, I thought, oh, here we go. Maybe this could happen.

Maybe that could be in a slot where, like, the secret agent might go, for example, but the secret agent made it. The secret agent is pretty strong here. You never doubt Brazil. Okay. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that's when I knew that the secret agent was definitely going to make it into best picture. Yeah. I still don't totally understand that because sentimental value. I mean, this, casting is not best cast, right? Right. It's casting.

It's the act of casting. It's the work that goes in. Yes. As someone helpfully explained. Yes. in the comments. Cast Inc. That being said,

Sentimental Value has four Best Acting nominations but did not get casting. That's kind of strange. Including a legitimate discovery in Inga Ip's daughter, Lillis. So I,

you know, I think it's really cool that the Secret Agent got Best Castes because it is, there's an ensemble quality to it and there are a lot of smaller parts,

Donia Sebastiana, you know, not nominated as supporting actress, but that they found a lot of people. Yeah, like there's a lot of cleverness in it. Udo Kier, you know, the late Udo Kier, having that small role as the German man living in Brazil. Like there's obviously real invention.

I'm not trying to denigrate the casting and secret agent. It's very good. It's a new category. We don't understand how they make the decisions. There's a bake-off element to it, apparently, where they do a presentation. But, you know, we only have these five nominations to glean from. Do you think those bake-offs should be made public? Yeah.

I feel like they should just go on the YouTube channels. Yeah, why not? I don't feel like it would be a good thing. I'm not sure. I mean, just keeping things secret and away from the public. I guess so. It could be letting them, letting the public decide what were the best bakeoffs

and then measuring that against what gets nominated. That's two people's choice awards. Right. You can like, we can, you know, make the process available. No, I don't mean we would get a say. Right. Just that we could criticize them for choosing the wrong thing based on the quality of the bakeoff.

You know, we do that anyway. Okay. A couple things about the studios in Best Picture, Netflix got two films. just really nice to see train dreams. That was another dream that I've been holding on to for 12 months since I saw the film.

Today is, of course, the first day of the Sundance Film Festival. The last time it will be in Park City. I saw this movie one year ago. I was really moved by it. You saw it 11 months later. You were really moved by it's a beautiful film. It's just a straight-up good Best Picture nomination.

It's a really good film made by really good people, and I'm really happy about that. Frankinsign less so, nevertheless. Focus has two nominations here. Warner Brothers has two nominations here. for the first time in a very long time Searchlight does not have a movie. Testament of Anne Lee also fully blanked

unfortunately that was a late addition to their best picture lineup after films like rental family and Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere didn't click with audiences or voters. And is this thing on? And is this thing on, right? A movie that has been forgotten already. Not by me.

You know, a fairly even balance. You don't love the idea of Netflix buying Warner Bros. And then having four Best Picture nominations. but I guess we'll talk about that more in the future. No, but we were also talking about a world in which neon had four nominations. Not to both sides it, but these things can still be a little random. Yes. How many nominations did Paramount get?

Hmm. Zero? Zero. Let's talk about snubs. Yeah. Snubs, of course, a word that is... This is a place for our feelings. It's a word that is lacking in describing what we mean.

I'll give you an example. Probably the most... notable and most mocked race was in best actress, where Chase Infinity has been in that race for a very long time for her role in one battle after another. She didn't get in. No. Kate Hudson got in. Yeah.

Her Song Song Blue, a movie that I like. Yes. And a performance that I like. Yes. But I think I like Chase Infinity more. However, as I mentioned to you yesterday, Chase Infinity is not a leading performance in that movie. She's an ending performance. She's the most critical person at the end of the film.

but she's in roughly one-third of the so as previously stated i do not care about category fraud this is all made up the voters may have though everything that we're doing here yeah the voters may listen with respect to you and your opinions with respect to almost famous to 10 things not 10 things i had to lose a guy in 10 days yeah uh which is not aged well just FYI are you just going to start naming all of kaths's movies fabletics yeah which do you know what fabletics uh is uh is that her line of workout wear. Yes, it is. Sure.

And Kate Hudson, who seems like a cool hang. She does. She should not be here. Like, I'm sorry. You guys, we're all wilding on this one. This is, it's the wrong kind of Oscar nostalgia, you know, like, remember what everybody. It's like, Shirley's Theron and Monster Light Light, you know?

Sure. I would, no, is what I say to this. I say no. I would have preferred, I think I would have preferred honestly Amanda Seifred over Chase Infinity and Kate Hudson. I would have accepted that. That to me is a totalizing performance. That is a person at the middle of the movie who holds the movie together.

That is a true best actress performance, but that movie obviously is not resonating. I do think, you know, one battle after another got 13 nominations is the presumptive favorite, is our favorite movie of the year. We've barely talked about it this morning. We really stopped talking about it in award season. And I do think that it's unfair to nominate everybody else in the cast and under eight Chase Infinity's performance. She stands up and goes toe to toe with all of these very big performances. And she is the emotional heart of it along with Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't think that you can get the same Leo performance if you don't have Chase Infinity to bounce off of.

So I think it's a bummer. I think those are great points. I agree with you. She's nose to nose with Sean Penn and owning those scenes. So yeah, that's a big one. Yeah. Very little weapons. Just one nomination for weapons.

Right. You know, sometimes. You took your swing. You like to just have a little fun. You took your swing. You know, I liked weapons. You know, you can hear me on this podcast talking about weapons. Really fun movie. When the children run like this with their hands back?

I'll give you my- Which is also how you sleep. I don't know if you've noticed. Or do they run out to the side. Imagine if I slept like this. That would be weird. That would make it hard to share a bed with me. I, among other reasons.

I was going to say, I was like, no experience, bud. I just want to say, I knew this, I knew this in my gut. And the thing, one of the things that I knew. Talk us through it. Talk us through. Let's go. I'll tell you what I, when I said, was second. guessing myself when I was doing the weapons prediction.

Not just for this, but for original screenplay, where I also predicted it and it didn't get in, was Zach Craigor is making Resident Evil. He's not campaigning. They're not doing screenings. He's not out in the world doing interviews, talking about his movie. Because he's making a movie. He's the only filmmaker that is nominated, that, you know,

was up for anything whose film was recognized here, who's in the middle of making a movie. That matters. It really matters how much you campaign, how present you are for this sort of thing. Zach is also a really congenial handsome, cool guy. He would do really well in these environments. But he's just not there.

So I think that that hurt him a little bit. That being said, Weapons is a movie in which an old witch has the flesh torn from her body. So it's also not a classic Oscars film. Sure, but the Old Witch performance was nominated. And that is in part because Amy Madigan has been places. And Amy Madigan is also very loved and it's a little bit. It's like it's her timeline situation.

Very much. And this is, I feel like, the good type of Oscars in Salta. I agree. So I accept that. I would have been happy to see weapons in original screenplay. And I think in Best Picture over F1, for sure. I mean, weapons to me is a better pick than F1 for your box office. Of course, I agree.

And that was my wishcasting is I ultimately just like weapons a lot more. And if it's going to be a new academy, I'd like it to be a little bit more progressive in terms of what it's like kind of box office and crafts love is. But you can understand why F1, as I said, because it's recognizing three other categories here. When was the last time that you watched F-Wan? Oh, I re-watched it when I bought the 4K. Oh, okay. I really enjoyed it.

Okay, good. I mean, I agree with you. It's flawed. I'm not saying it's not flawed. We turned it on while my husband was building the mini-kitchen that Santa brought for Christmas. And, you know, it was not maybe the intended setting in which to watch the movie, but that did expose some rickety elements of it. Yeah. Much like the mini-kitchen, you know, just barely held together.

If you have an 85-inch OLED television. and you're watching it in 4K, it holds its power, I would say. If you're watching it, like, you know, on a VCR, like it's not really going to work. It's not a VCR. You have a VCR at home, right? You have F1 on VHS?

I do. I'm a collector. Let's talk about it was just an accident. Yeah. Because I guess that's the elephant in the room. It's something that I think we both were sort of feeling like could miss in best picture. Yes, I predicted it, but I, you know,

I was like, we'll see. And that was a little bit of wishcasting. I think that this is a shame. I think this is an excellent film that has been kind of just overlooked. Yeah, it's unusual. It's the first Palm Door winner to not be nominated for Best Picture since 2021, when Titan Miss, the movie that never had a chance to be Best Picture. But it did get original screenplay and, of course, got an international feature.

Right. I'm fascinated by the international feature race because you've got secret agent and sentimental value in Best Picture. And yet I could still see a world in which it was just an accident wins that award, in part because it's not in best picture. The sort of like Argo win after the Affleck best director snub kind of thing. That feels like a possibility as an opportunity to get Jafar Panahi on stage just to talk about what's happening in the world and his perspective and his experience as an Iranian dissident.

So it's sad and yet screenplay is that's a good nomination for a film like this. And if this film hadn't kind of been elevated in the public consciousness by the palm door, if a film like it was just, if any Jafar Panahi movie gets an original screenplay nomination, you'd be like, you have to celebrate that. That's a really cool thing. So it's kind of mixed emotions, I would say, about this one. Yeah, I can't game out how it wins is the issue and how you get Jafar Panahi on stage, which I think is something that is important for filmmaking and the world. And I think would behoove the academy. But, you know, original screenplay that comes at the expense of Kugler, which I think really, which is who I'm still picking, though I'm getting a little nervous because...

Oh, I think he's winning. I think he's too... I think that's the only place where they're going to be able to get him on stage. Exactly. But then, you know, where is sentimental value? I guess is Stell and Scarsguard the only win for sentimental value? That feels a little strange. Probably.

So, but don't you think that they're going to want to get Jo Kim Trrier on the stage? I mean, I guess not. I don't know. So... My gut is that Secret Agent will win Internation. I think you're right too. I think you're right too. We'll win supporting actor.

We can get to that category momentarily. And it was just an accident. We'll not have any representation at the show. That's what just happened at the Golden Globes. And part of my crankiness about the Golden Globes was this feels super duper predictive of the Oscars. And that's just less fun. Yeah. It doesn't mean that the Globes has bad taste.

Their taste is too good now. And that's part of why there's like, there are some surprise here. And there's some cool stuff that the Oscars did and some weird stuff that they did. But there's nothing truly stunning because we've now seen. Now, we reserve the right to be totally wrong. We might have a crazy series of results on March 15th. Nevertheless, let's keep going through this. No Guillermo del Toro and best director.

Yeah. I went five for five in director. You did. I did. You did. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I'm proud and excited.

Congratulations, Josh Safdi. This was the opposite for me of what I was trying to do with weapons where it was like I was afraid. Yeah. I didn't think Josh Zafti would be nominated here because. I did because I believed. Well, he got in a DGA, which is of course very strong. And as you said, there's always four out of five that get in there. But in this is this five out of five?

No, because Del Toro was DGA and Trier comes in. The Trir went in over Del Toro, which is fascinating. We've heard a lot. You told you. You did. Sentimental value. You can't rub it in too much. We have misses and we have heads.

I just sentimental value as all. I mean, that's what I meant by now. Yeah, no, it was, it's very strong. But I'm really happy for Josh. Obviously, this was an extraordinary effort by them to get this movie made, movie success. They've got to be feeling like they, they played this right all the way down. The late release date, the Timothy Shalami marketing thing.

the way that Safdi's been selling the movie publicly has been very successful. When Best Supporting Actress was announced and Odessa, a Zion missed. Yeah. And then Daniel Lopatin missed in score. Which we're going to get to. We will talk about it. I was like, oh, no, they're not going for Marty. Marty's going to get like three nominations.

And that didn't turn out to be the case. No, it worked out. It worked out really well. They got editing. They got screenplay. Josh got in a director, you know, aside from obviously shall- costume design. Costume design.

A lot of interesting spots for that movie. So it's kind of where it's strong and where it's not strong was kind of fascinating. But obviously PTA, Cougler, and Chloe Zhao has been kind of locked in place for many months. And Trier is a good one. I think Trier, who was nominated for screenplay in 2022 for the worst person in the world, I think the filmmaking of that movie was a little bit overlooked. And I think there's like a kind of montage-oriented style that he has developed over time. It is really interesting. So I'm really happy about that nomination as well.

But, you know, none of, you know, the Park Chan works, the Jafar Pani's, Del Toro's missed, what do you make of that? Anything notable around that? Because Frankenstein did pretty well. Yeah. I mean, he got screenplay. Frankenstein has plenty of representation. And it is also, like, among the crafts, all the people, you know, it's handmade.

They spent so much time. They did. We've heard a lot about that. So I'm rolling my eyes, but they did spend a lot of time. And so I think it was honored where it's honored. and then people made interesting choices. I feel pretty comfortable with it. It's interesting that the movie is recognized

for having a good screenplay but not for being well-direct, not as well-directed. You have 10 slots for screenplay. That's what it is. Okay, we already mentioned no other choice, totally blanked. Sorry, baby, totally blanked, was disappointed by that.

Thought there was an outside chance. Did we both predicted it in an original? We did. And Ava Victor did not get in. We believe in the power of Julia Roberts. Not quite, yeah. Maybe if it was a little sooner. She could have gotten more people to see that film.

I mentioned Daniel Lopatten not getting in for Marty Supreme. Yeah. Let's talk about original score. Sanctions. Uh, my guy Jerskin Fendrix got in for Bagonia. Yeah. And it appears that he took the one spot that could have been held for Daniel Lopatin for Marty Supreme. So no Marty Supreme.

This comes a year after no Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for challengers. Yes. This body, this voting group is on notice. It's past notice. Well, I mean, let's talk about what's happening here because Surat was not nominated either. Yeah. And what that tells you is, is that electronic music is not where this group leans. This voting group is a classical group.

The idea of Alexander does plots work for Frankenstein being recognized here after many, many nominations. Yeah. You know, obviously Ludwig Ernst and I think kind of like makes that complex, you know, because he's using a lot of different styles and he's going to win in this category. And he's a total master. Sure. Yeah. But, you know, this sucks. Well, you mentioned no challengers and no Sarat and no Lopatin.

And I don't, I actually don't know. Like, as film scores, like kind of like the shape and tone of them change over time, how can the body maybe more adequately reflect the shifting styles is something that's interesting. On the other hand, like train dreams isn't here either. And that's a kind of like more traditional score that you might find. Bologna is a weird score. It is very orchestral. very string-based, very

a lot of brass, but it's still weird. Right. It's more you know, Philip Glass, John, and like very much, more avant-garde. Like modern avant-garde still classical, as opposed to, you know, people who used to be on pitchfork. Right. Yeah, I would have liked to have seen a little patent. Who should still be on pitchfork? I don't really know what's going on on pitchfork. Pitchfork, you have to subscribe now?

It couldn't tell me. I think it's owned by Condon asked, which still will not give me an all access pass. So despite the free work that I have done for them for going on 15 years. I'm not sure if they're totally aware of that free work. The fact checkers are, they call me. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. Pitchfork, I used to write there.

I wrote there for years. Six years, seven years? Yeah. Great experience. I wouldn't be where I am today without pitchfork. Yeah. Different ownership. I think this is an abomination.

that Daniel Lepadden was not. An abomination. I'm this, I wrote in all caps. Original score committee, you are on notice. Okay. You guys got to have some meetings. It's my favorite score of the year. Okay. Interesting that Johnny Greenwood still hasn't won and pretty much has no chance to win this year. And this is, to me, this isn't my favorite of his scores, which I've mentioned in the past. Okay, let's talk about documentary real quick. So this is a hard category to predict. Yes. We did our absolute best and we're still pretty wrong. Okay. Yeah. You've put this in snubs, and I put it under what the fucks. Right. So is it a snub or is it a what the fuck?

Well, because I just, and it was the last one, and all I wrote was whatever is going on with a documentary branch, comma, again. I find it hard to have a strong opinion about this because I haven't even seen two of the nominees here. And so I'm not going to pretend as though I have a definitive point of view about it. I do think Laura Poitris's cover up, her portrait of Seymour Hersh not being here is unfortunate. I'm not surprised that it didn't get in ultimately because it feels more like what gets left out now. Seymour Hirsch is not Michael J. Fox,

but it is a portrait of a man and a well-known person. And the branches is just not as interested in that as it is issues-oriented or kind of dramatic portraits of the world in struggle. And so the nominees in this category are the Alabama solution, which I predicted.

Come see me in the good life. which neither of us predicted, which is on Apple right now if you want to watch it. Cutting through rocks, which I have not seen. Yeah. Which neither of us predicted.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin, which you predicted. I did. And then the Perfect Neighbor, which is probably the most watched documentary of the year is on Netflix. Netflix probably struggled to get two candidates in alongside,

cover up. And Perfect Neighbor is interesting. I think we probably should have a conversation about it and maybe this whole category. It's a movie that when I first saw it I really liked it. And a film that candidly, the more I read about it and the more

criticism I read about it, the more misgivings I had about it, approach. I think it's simultaneously a very vital and important film, but one in which it's the way in which it was made makes me a little queasy. And so maybe we can save some space for that in February to talk through it a little bit more. It does feel like it is the frontrunner in this category because of the number of people who will have seen it. It is very watchable in a way that some of these others. And now this category leaves the branch and everybody will vote for it. Right. So something like cutting through rocks will probably have less views ultimately. than something like the perfect neighbor. But we shall see. So the WTF nature of it is, I'm generally agree with you, which is just like, I don't know how to predict this race.

And I know how to predict like every other race. I've kind of given up predicting it. And certainly, you know, trying to watch everything to make an educated decision. It's too hard. Even with the short list, it doesn't really help. Because you don't know where things are going to go. Like 20,000 meters to Andrivka, the Ukrainian film, like I just assumed that that that was. was going to be there because the filmmaker's previous film was recognized by the Academy and it's a

very powerful, vital movie and it's not here. So it's like, I don't, I actually don't just don't know how to do it. And that's fine. That's actually a good thing, I think, to not have everything be so predictable. Let's talk about surprises. Yeah. Biggest surprise I think is Delroy Lindo. It's wonderful. It's great. One of the best actors alive, a former guest on this show, he came on this show because he was campaigning for Defive Bloods during COVID. And I'd forgotten that. It's a wonderful, interview for long time Spike Lee and Congo fans such as myself, I have a lot of Delroy Lindo stock. I did not think he would get recognized here, but it is a kind of classical Oscar nomination where even if someone is overlooked in precursors, if they have a really strong

body of work and they are really liked inside the industry, they will have a chance. Deloilando is not just been working in film. He's working in television for a long time on what's that show, the spinoff of the C.B. yes show that Julianna Margulies was on. Oh, right. Okay. The good wife, but not the good wife, then the next one with Baransky. Correct. Hold on. I'm like, I'm talking. I just don't watch that show. He's been on that show for a long time. Okay. He's just a, he's a real, the good fight. The good fight, yes. An industry veteran, a terrific actor. My favorite performance of his is probably in the movie

Clockers. He's excellent in centers. He has that great moment where he's telling the story in the car in centers that is like your classic clip real moment. He did come at the expense of some people. You want to talk about supporting? I mean, he came at the expense, quote unquote, of Paul Muskell, which, who will be fine? He will be fine. Yeah. Paul McCartney.

And I hope he'll still be there at the Oscars. I don't really care. Well, I don't know. Jesse Buckley says such nice things to him whenever she's on stage. I would like her to say nice things to me. Sure. I know. He's very, he's reactive.

Like he's a good front or second row Oscar guest. He's a young star. He's a true young star. But he was overlooked here. Yeah. And that's okay. I agree. I think it's okay.

I think it's great that Del Rolando's. And the other people in this category are Benio del Toro, of course, Jacob Alorty, Sean Penn and Stellan Scarsguard. Yeah. Feels like it Lorty versus Scarsguard. And I do feel that the one battle guys are going to be splitting the vote. I think you're right. I think it's a bummer.

It's interesting. You never know, though. You never know. I'll be so excited. if they say Benicia Bel Toro. I might be banging the jump for Delroy Lindo. Okay. Can we make that happen?

Why not? I mean, Sinners has 16 nominations? That's what I'm saying. And Stellans Scarsgaard and Deloerlory Lindo are basically in the same spot. Neither have ever been nominated. They're both in, I think they're both in their 70s. They're both tremendously admired. They've contributed a lot to very discreet movements in cinema.

And this is a long overdue thing. So it's fascinating to see them both in this category together. That's great. This is a good category. I like... It's not the best category. We'll talk about the best category, but it's a really,

really good collection of actors. I really, really like four out of five. Okay. Yeah. You hate Sean Penn? It's not that I hate him. You know, it's great to have someone just like smoking on camera

in the middle of the Golden Globes. Yeah. But I... He just looks like Wiley Coyote like exploded by TNT in every award show and interview he does. I would have used that spot for something else. Okay.

Let's talk about best actress in a supporting role because one of the other big surprises, as we mentioned, was El Fanning getting in there, which I think is a great one. So two nominees in sentimental value in this category alone with Inga. We mentioned Amy Madigan.

We have not mentioned Woonmi Masaku, which you predicted. I did. And I did notice more and more pundits getting around to the idea of predicting her in the last two weeks or so, despite not being, like she wasn't nominated at the Globes.

She hasn't really won very many precursors. Right. I guess she wasn't a critic's choice. And she was nominated at SAG. At SAG, yes. Even though she held on to that, even though SAG just completely ignored sentimental value and seemingly all international were non-English speaking roles. Okay. Whatever, guys.

Do you think that matters? SAG? Well, I know that SAG is effectively not predictive if your film is not in English. And that's fine. We can accept that as somebody who follows this stuff really closely. Is it important? Like, SAG is an American guild. There are international members.

but like I think about this all the time with like DGA and PGA and kind of what is their role in terms of what do they represent because the academy has like tilted this stuff so hard where all of a sudden now you know the secret agent is just like absolutely competing in best picture that never would happen so rarely that's an interesting thing but these guilds then they don't seem they seem more representative of American filmmaking

but not totally where like sometimes they'll tilt in a certain direction on certain things where you'll be like, okay, so like, sentimental value got in at PGA. Mm-hmm. It didn't really make any money

at the box office. It was produced outside of this country. It's obviously a great movie and it's an act of producing, I suppose. Right. Why is that more significant than what the secret agent or it was just an accident?

You know what I mean? Where it's like, there's something kind of confusing about what is really being graded and where and why that I find interesting. It's not a negative. It's just a developing thing that is happening in this space.

I mean, to your question of, does it matter? I think not at all in the sense that these are all made up. Right. What is the purpose of these awards is the purpose to be predictive? Then I think it does, you know. That's not what it's in their mission statements, right? It's to kind of like honor the best in the thing that they do. I guess so.

But why are they honor? I don't know. What is the point of that? You know, the SAG Awards has been touting the fact that they will be on Netflix this year. So they clearly want like the largest audience possible, which would mean a global audience. And Netflix obviously has an international reach. But so if you're going to do that and then pretend that you only have English-speaking, you know, mostly American actors, it's not a long-term strategy, I would say. Well, it jumps out obviously because of the four nominations for sentimental value in acting, including Ellen Inga and Renata Ranzva and Scars Guard.

But to me, the biggest example of it is Wagner Morrow, who is like insects. was on Narcos for years. Like he's been in tons of American productions. He's a very, he's a well-known actor. Yeah. People may not know his name, but people just sitting at home, like clicking tiles and streaming are like, oh, yeah, that guy, you know, like the cartel king from Narcos. So for him to not get recognized in some of those bodies, it's just kind of, it's an

interesting wrinkle in this. And we have similar confusion points with BAFTA. And it's just a reminder that like takes some of these things seriously, but not too seriously. And as I should tell myself, go with my gut when I need to. Tiana Taylor is also obviously nominated in this category. And I thought she was going to win for the longest time. And I'm still leaning Amy Madigan now. Okay. I think that the two sentimental value noms does cancel them out. I do. I agree. So then you've got Tiana and Amy Madigan. The fact that Chase Infinity did not get nominated does not really bode well for how the voters are thinking about the value of

the female performances in one battle after another. Once again, do not. That is not my opinion. I am observing, not endorsing. I disagree vehemently. And. So you said you should at AK Dobbins. You're racist.

You don't understand. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I think you're right that the field might be clearing for Amy Madigan. Diane Warren. I told you. You did. I didn't text you when it happened.

you know, that didn't, the damn didn't even break on that one. I was just kind of like this, this. Another category I'm just like, this is poppycock, it's been poppycock for decades. This is the worst category. I predicted too wicked for good songs for no reason. Like, I don't know why I did that. That was silly. I predicted one.

This is a silly, silly category. And but Golden will win and Golden is one of the only entrance in this category in the last five years that like is true to the spirit, which is a song written for the film itself.

And also penetrated the mainstream in a way along the same lines as like, gosh, I don't even know. Like the hustle and flow theme. You know what I mean? Like,

it's very rare that a song breaks through and people are really into it from this category. Other nominees, so Dear Me from Diane Warren, colon, relentless.

That's a documentary about how Diane Warren is relentless. Yes. Highest to lowest, which neither of us predicted. And in hindsight, I don't know what we were doing there. We probably should have just predicted that

because that's a movie that a lot of people have seen from Spike Lee. Yeah. It's the titular. song from the movie. The film ends with its performance. It's a shiller song.

I lied to you from sinners, which we both had. Sweet Dreams of Joy from a film called Viva Verde, exclamation point, which I had never heard of. Wait, so Hyas to Lois was nominated? I thought I saw Hyas to 9th. I know. And you texted me this earlier and I was like, I was doing my hair and I was confused. Oh, do I have this wrong?

I'm just double checking. Oh, you're right. I've got six here. Yeah, you've got six. Wait, no. Did train dreams make it? Train dreams made it. Okay. Well, I take it back highest to lowest.

All right. Sorry, Highest to Loest. It's the titular song, but it does not get an Oscar. I'm looking at the Hollywood Reporter, Best Original Song List from this race. Okay. And Highest to Lois is on it. And that's where I copied it from. They just had six songs there. Why can the Academy not just release a PDF? Is this, is it because the PDF doesn't exist? You know, this morning, I guess I wasn't actually looking.

A PDF of all the nominations? Yeah. I think that's available somewhere. Well, it's not because everyone is just scrambling, typing things out as fast as possible. That's what this is. This is a mistake made by the Hollywood Reporter that I then made on this podcast. Well, that's because. But seriously, though, let's just go back for a second. Let's rewind by highest to lowest take.

Okay. I thought it made sense that this movie would be nominated because people have seen this movie. It's directed by Spike Lee. Yeah. But it's not nominated. And a song called Sweet Dreams of Joy from Viva Verde is nominated. Sure. What is Sweet Dreams of Joy from Viva Verde?

What is Viva Verde? Thanks so much for asking. Viva Verde. is what I think you mean, not long live green. Not green. Yeah, but Verdi, the composer. Here is what I pulled off of Google. We've been doing Spanish at home, so Verde is on the mind.

Okay, great. An intimate glimpse into the lives of the celebrated opera singers and musicians currently living out their quote unquote third act, while mentoring international music students who live among them at Milan's unique retirement home Casa Verdi, built by Verdi, the composer, in 1896. So did you listen to the song? No, of course not. I mean, it's an operetta.

It's not even a song. I don't even understand. This is a very strange thing. This category is fucking broken. They got it. They should probably just delete it. I have been saying this for 10 years. I completely agree.

It's terrible. They can give it to Golden. Yeah, that's fine. Maybe there should just be like, they should just choose the winner every year. Like, don't even do the nominations. Just choose the winner and be like, hey, it's obviously Golden guys. Like we're not even, you know, Lewis Pullman is like, hey, everybody, good news. I'm able to give out one award here at 530 in the morning.

It's golden. Step right up. That actually is not a bad idea to give out one award on nominations morning. Every year it changes. I have so many good ideas. Not on Good Morning America. Why not? We need to update.

Why are we all up at 530? Like the news cycle is totally different. I'm telling you. Oscars, call me. I've got incredible ideas. We could be giving away best sound to F1 today. We don't have to wait two more months. Then you would be crying.

That's like worse than showing the Sinners Golden Globe score win during the commercials. No, everybody. on the telecast. This is the second biggest morning in the Oscars news cycle. The sound win is going to go completely overlooked when it happens on March 15 because there's going to be 23 other awards given out. If we give it out

on this morning as a treat and it changes every year and we don't tell people what they're going to give out but we tell the nominees so they come at 5.30 in the morning. Come on. This is a good idea. No, it's a terrible idea. God damn it. No, everyone wants to be on the stage. Everybody

wants to be Julia Robert. You know, on stage. Danielle Brooks. Okay. Right? And Lynette Howell Taylor, president of the Academy. I thought that Lewis Pullman and Daniel Brooks did a lovely job. They did.

They did good. That's all. Good job, them. I don't need that many speeches from the Academy president at 5.30 a.m. Make up and hairstyling. Yeah. So you have not heard of two of these films. Well, I googled them.

So now I've done my research. I have heard of both of them that you're referring to. I have seen the ugly step sister. Okay. Which is a Scandinavian, uh, horror. Sure. Reimagination of sense. Cinderella. I mean, I gathered that from the ugly step sister. Yes. That is very gross and good. I think it's, it was a little

oversold to me, so I didn't love it as much. And I actually never got a chance to talk about it on this show. It was in the midnight section on Sundance. It was. It was and it was picked up by Shutter. You can stream it on Shutter right now. It's a good film. Kokuho. Yes. Which is the Japanese film. It was the Japanese entry for international feature this year has had a very strong advocate in the public. And that person is Tom Cruise. Cool. He has hosted screenings and talked about his love for this movie. I haven't seen it. Okay. It is in theaters right now in a precious few theaters.

I think it's playing the Burbank 16. So I'm going to go check it out very soon. Okay. Other films that were recognized in makeup and hairstyling include Frankenstein and sinners, of course, and the smashing machine, which we predicted those other three as we went through. That's, I think this is good. The Marty Supreme Manicure not recognized. And the Marty Supreme Nor did that. Timothy Chalameh's acne, yeah.

But it did make it in costume design, which I'm pleased about. Do you want to talk about costume design quickly? Yeah, Miyako Belisi was nominated for all the incredible stuff in Marty Supreme. Let's see. Well, there's one really odd nomination. On Avatar Fire and Ash? Yes, Avatar Fire and Ash got in there. Frankenstein we knew we would get in, Hadna, we knew would get in, Marty Supreme, we'd hoped would get in,

sinners we knew would get in. So a fairly predictable category, however, Avatar Fire and Ash, like, is this for dressing varang? Yeah. Or undressing varang, as it were? Have I told you about the mindshare that just the words Avatar, Fire, and Ash have in our home now? You have. Like, Knox just, like, whispers it in moments of, like, you know, he's seen the images.

So in that sense, the costumes, which are blue digital makeup, are very effective. Well, I mean, is this also the costumes for, like, the human characters? I guess so. Eadie Falco's like big machine and her camera. Oh, interesting. You think the power loader is being considered as part of her costume. Well, the avatar fire and ash is not listed in production design. Yes. Best machinery is something we should consider here at the Academy Awards.

We're coming up with some goals right now. What else? Where else do you want to go in this conversation? We've talked about the documentary branch. We've talked about costume design. We've talked about all of the acting capital. Except for actor and actress. Let's do that right now.

The best category maybe in the history of the Academy Awards is this year's best actor race. This is as good as it gets for the Academy Awards. It's great. I can't. We have been predicting for the most part this fivesome in part because I think we've hoped it would be the case. We started talking about this way back when sinners came out because we had hoped Michael B. Jordan would get in. And you know what?

He kind of like locked himself into this race and has held in every single precursor. He's won nothing. Yeah. He's won nothing. But he has hung around here. and he's here, of course, as our Timothy Shalameh, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawk, and Wagner Mora. Five great performances, five great movies.

You still think Timothy Shalbay. I don't know. I'm working through it. Wow. I think so. I mean, so what do I think is going to happen or what is my pick? Timmy forever. Don't have the jackets.

No, no, I know your pick. But what else is what's going on inside you? Give us a little bit of your interior monologue. We learned from yesterday. And what we learned from waking up and coming to podcast every day with Sean Fennessee is don't be a coward, trust your gut. And my gut has been saying Wagner Mora for some time. You know, I trust my gut and also the people of Brazil and their love for cinema and their power and their advocacy. So I, you know, I'm trying to lean in to what I believe on the other and the secret agent is strong, you know, relatively speaking.

on the other hand, I'm trying to game out like the next two months. And there are appearances, I guess. There's, you know, tea parties and the Oscars lunch where they all pose and all of that stuff. But I don't know how many opportunities Wagner-Mora has to get in front of as many people as Timothy Shalame has already gotten in front of. And he's not nominated at SAG, aka the Actor Awards. So he won't even get like a, wasn't that when Michelle Yo started to turn the tide against Kate Blanchett? And Jamie Lee Curtis as well. Exactly.

So he won't get one of those. And Timothy Shalame, if he wins at the Actor Awards, will have just given three acceptance speeches in front of people. and I do think that there's a lizard brain aspect to this at some point. So I don't know. On the other hand, I've just been thinking a lot about Olivia Coleman. Lady Gaga, you know, so you never know. Okay, here's where my mind goes as I hear you talk about that.

Okay. If, in fact, Wagner-Mora wins in this category, which is, of course, very possible. And I'm not saying would not be worthy as a win. This will probably go down as one of those kinds of losses for Shalame that we talk about on the rewatchables. All the time, which is like, this was the best chance to recognize this person here. And now a long time may go by before they get a chance.

And the person that I think about is Leonardo to cat. Oh. No. Paul Newman. Oh. Paul Newman in the 1960s, starting in 1959, was nominated for Cat in a Hotin Roof. Yeah. And then three years later, the hustler, and then two years later, HUD, and then four years

later, Cool Hand Luke. Yeah. And he never won. He lost to David Niven, Maximilian Schell, Sidney Poitier, and Rod Steiger. None of those losses are like bad losses. You lost a very famous actors, beloved actors, legendary wins, Potier winning, Maximilian Scheld for Judgment at Nuremberg, a really powerful performance.

None of those are like bad. Yeah. But if you don't recognize the actor at the top of their game in their youth, you might have to wait 25 years. And of course, you'd have to wait a very long time to win for the color of money. And he did win eventually. But the idea of Timothy Shalbbe winning at like 59 is just very funny. Like, will Timothy Shallney ever be 59?

Exactly. It doesn't seem right. Will any of us be alive? No, it's totally possible. Will movies exist? Timothy Shelby could make a movie in 2028 that is one of the best films ever made and he could win for that film. But we've seen this over and over again. And so to game out that thing that you're describing is interesting.

This is how it happens. It's really what I'm trying to say. He has always been the new Leo to me. I mean, just in the, you know, the career rise, which is starting as a, it's a, a, a teen heartthrob and very, very passionate teen fan base expanding, working with a lot of great directors nominated, but not winning. And, you know, they have encouraged the comparisons as well. And certainly now, like, this Oscar race is like, you know, from Leo to Timmy.

But Leo did not win until the revenant. He had to wear like a bear skin. I said to our pal Joanna Robinson, who I saw in person in the office yesterday, wonderfully, it's just so weird, how long. Leo's not competing in this race. It's so weird because he's so present. Unbelievable. But I mean, this is a larger one battle thing.

Once again, it's our favorite movie of the year. It's 13 nominations. We have not really talked about it at all, even in this podcast unless to say, you know, oh yeah, and one battle was nominated. I mean, it's going to win Best Picture and we have a lot of time to talk about that. That's true. And I'm not going to concern troll and say, like, is this, you know, inattention going to extend to Best Picture and I don't think so

And I don't think so either I don't. I got 13 nominations which is now the third most in the history of the Academy Awards. So I think the film is still very strong You know, we can talk about best actress now Given the Chase Infinity snub Because Jesse Buckley Rose Byrne the aforementioned

Kate Hudson, Renata Rinesva and Emma Stone are in here It's been a Jesse Buckley steam roll through the season We've seen this before especially in this race Someone is anointed and they carry it all the way through There have been some diversions from that. You mentioned the Michelle Yeo kind of late surge, given the admiration for her. I'm not sure if there's a candidate here that could do the same.

Roseburn is maybe a little bit less experience than someone like Michelle Yo doesn't quite have the same track record. You could see if it was 10 years later, Roseburn could do that. Yeah. Or if the movie were a tiny bit bigger. Yeah. And I love if I had legs I kicked out. It was in my top five for last year.

I think she's amazing in it, amazing movie. I think even this nomination, as she said, at the Golden Globes when she won for Best Actress in a Drama. Like, it'll get more attention, which is good. But it's not everything everywhere all at once. It's not. Just box office wise,

so. Yeah, I feel like Buckley is pretty much in place there. That's another race where it's like how much can we really talk about this for the next two months. Let's talk very briefly about the screenplay categories. Adapted we both predicted perfectly. Five for five. Bogonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, one battle after another,

and trained dreams. Not as much on the outskirts. it's there. This felt like the single easiest big category to predict. This is the one that they could have just handed out this morning. And I would have been okay with it because PTA is going to get other awards at the Oscars. And it's like, no one needs to spend the money on the outfits. No one needs to spend, you know, two hours in line at security

trying to get in. Like... So you think it's a lock that he's going to win here? For Adapted? You think they're going to try to throw a bone to Chloe Jiao and Maggie O'Farrell? I don't think so. Come on. I don't know. Okay. I don't know.

I do feel that they could just FedEx this to him. I would like to hear his speech. So I don't want them to do that. Let's go back to director then. Do you think that that then means that PTA will win picture director and screenplay? I do. They did it last year. Is there anything wrong with that?

No. Nolan didn't get this, right? He didn't win screenplay, as I recall. Yeah, that's because he wrote the third hour of Oppenheimer. That's incredibly rude. But it is becoming more common. And this is something that was very hard to accomplish for a long time. We often saw splits in director and picture to kind of like award multiple films and delineate the difference between those two jobs, I think, which is kind of hard to parse, but does exist.

As you have said, you don't want producers speaking at the Academy Awards. I guess he is going to win because I don't think that the other nominees are really all that. strong. I would agree. I guess that's the case. Okay, original screenplay. Another very cool category with some very worthy nominees. Blue Moon, it was just an accident, Marty Supreme's sentimental value in sinners.

And we think it's just sinners. As I said, I don't know what they're going to do about getting both Trier and Panahi on stage. What if Marty Supreme wins here? I would be excited, but I would feel very bad. I think that this is Ryan Cuegler's best chance. at a speech and I really want that for him. I think it's really deserving. I think this as a, it's, this is the coolest award always to us.

This always has the coolest nominees. It goes to our favorite filmmakers instead of Best Picture. This is, this is like where the real ones are. And for this film, which is about how white people have stolen black art for a century to then be nominated and win for screenplay would be great if someone else. What would you mean if the white boy of the year? Exactly. Right.

Right. So that's also, you know, I just, let's Ryan Cougler, you know. Like, it's, it's deserving. It's the correct choice. Let's just do it. I can't disagree. Yeah. Briefly, cinematography. Did we predict these perfectly? I think so, yes. I believe we both did, right? Yeah. It's Dan Loutson for Frankenstein, Darius Conjee for Marty Supreme. Our pal David Sims pointed out that Darius Conjee has three Academy Award nominations, one of the greatest living cinematographers, the French Iranian filmmaker. Those three nominations, do you have any idea what they are? Can you even guess at all? No. You know, well known for shooting seven.

Has worked with some of the best filmmakers of all time. He shot on Cut Jems. His three nominations are Evida, Bardo, and Marty Supreme. Weird. It's really good. Michael Bowman for one battle after another, Autumn Durald Arquapaw for Sinners and Adolfo Veloso. I'm feeling Autumn Derald Arquapaw. Feels like she's going to win.

That would be another place where sinners could be recognized. Yeah. You never know. I could see Darius winning here. I could see Michael Bauman winning here. I could see Adolfo Veloso winning here. Train Dreams, that beautiful digital cinematography that is so hard to accomplish.

The other nomination that I'm really excited about is Jack Fisk in production design. I talked to Jack Fiske for the show. You'll hear that conversation very soon. He was not nominated when we spoke, so we didn't talk about that. He's been nominated before. Never won. His work on Marty Supreme is insanely good. Yeah, a living legend.

I don't think he's the leader in the clubhouse for this award. I will stump for this. Who do you think is the leader? Well, the other nominees are Tamara Deverell for Frankenstein, Fiona Cromby for Hamnit, Florenceia Martin for one battle after another, and Hanna Bikler for sinners. Right. I do think Hanna Buechler is leading. I do as well.

And she did win, right? I feel like she won previously for Black Panther. Correct me if I'm wrong. Let's see. Yes, she did. She won. So that's an interesting one. I'd like to see Jack Fis get won before Hanna Bikler gets two.

That's just me. We'll see. I would as well. But this award does tend. It's like not only do they favor period, but like the more period, the better, like the further back in time you have to go. You're right. You're very right. Quickly, film editing.

F1 got in here. Yeah. We expected that. We did. Marty Supreme also got in here. Yeah. One battle after another, sentimental value and sinners. Marty Supreme the only film in which the filmmakers edited the film.

You don't see that too often these days? And we mentioned casting and the confusion about what this category is going to be over time. I'm sure they'll clear that up for us. I'm sure they'll just, they'll release everything straight to YouTube. Question for you.

Just a predictive question for you. How many years will go by before a film is nominated in casting that does not get a Best Picture nomination? Oh, interesting. I mean, that's hard because you have the 10 spots. I mean, Four.

Okay. I asked that specifically because when you look in a category like film editing which is historically very important in the package for a Best Picture winner, F1's there.

Yeah. And it did get into Best Picture. But I wouldn't have predicted that and I didn't predict it. And sometimes a movie will... Even though in your heart you did predict it. Even though I did know.

Okay. Looking at the board in full again and looking at Best Picture before we wrap up here. This is a pretty cool slate of nominees. is definitely, I would say a good morning for the Academy Awards. Nothing like embarrassing. True.

F1 is, there will be some notes. Silly. A little silly. Cookey is my word of choice. A little cookie. Okay. But, you know, as I say about, you know, can't mom and dad have fun? Like, can't the Academy have fun to every once in well?

I guess they can. Yeah, I think so. This is for the dads. That's for the dads. F1 is a dad movie. It's a dad classic instantaneously. And dads can now tune into the Academy Awards. We said that we think one battle is going to win.

It's got the second most nominations. We just mocked three or four potential sinners wins, too. What film do you think will win the most Academy Awards on this night? Let's see. So I have one, two, three for one battle top line. And that's it, right? And do I have any acting? No, right now I'm leaning Amy Madigan.

Do I have anything below the line? Editing? Maybe editing. Maybe and maybe, yeah. So that's four. Maybe cinematography, maybe? No, but I think all of that stuff is going to go to sinners. So sinners, I have definitely score cinematography.

I hope original screenplay. We got to do it. So that's three. Yep. What else? Costume production, maybe. Those are both in play? Yeah.

So that's five, which is over four. So right now I think I'm going, I mean, some of this is just numbers. I was just going to say, here's the thing about being nominated 16 times. You increase your odds of winning more awards. Exactly. They have 16 bites at the apple. And like let's, I don't know how much we're going to talk about sinners on Academy Awards night. And we will talk about the movie again on the show.

Yes. Because we're going to rewatch it and talk through like kind of what's great about it. You'll finally get a chance to see the after credit sequence. Congrats to you. I'm going to watch it all, you know, in full as it was intended. But this is a movie that got really stuck in the discourse funnel. It had box office discourse. It had representation discourse.

It had craft, you know, skill art discourse. Is this movie actually good? You hear that a lot of times now because it's like a vampire movie. And I think that will be a reaction to 16 nominations is like, really, this is the film that absolutely shattered the all-time record for the Academy Awards. some of that is a function of just kind of like what the Academy is right now. Some of it is a function of the number of people who've worked on this film who are now Academy veterans, the Hannah Beeklers and the Viguransans of the world.

Like what did it all mean? What was it all for? Like we participated in all of it, you know? It didn't mean anything. The movie made $400 million. It got 16 Oscar nominations. This is why you, Sean Fantasy, need to stop posting, you know? No.

I will post right through it. Watch the film and then go outside. I think that's actually the question I'm trying to ask is, like, does the posting actually matter? No, it doesn't matter. Because when the discourse starts and somebody posts something annoying and everybody's like, shut the fuck up! That's wrong! And then everybody gets all really bent out of shape about what they heard, what they saw on a social media app. Can you actually win back the day by hard posting through it?

Can Van Lathen win back the day by shouting down the haters? Well, don't you think that some of the, just like the confirmation in every kind of, category is all the rational-minded people being like, stop posting, this was good, and I'm voting for it. Like, it's an individual. So I think the takeaway might be the opposite. So you think posting that, that's great. Look at Timothy Chalmay.

I know. The posting works. I know. We're in an era of posting. Yeah. You know, sentimental value. El Fanning's just been knocking through X.com for months. Look at where it got her.

Thank you to her. Did we even talk about the Mets trading for Freddie Peralta? Everything is going great. Okay. They did it. I don't know who that is. He was formerly the number one starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. Okay.

Who won the most games in the NL Central last year. Yeah. He was traded to the New York Mets last night. Okay. Jack Sanders and I crying, tears of joy. Thank you, David Stearns. You hath saved us. I'm here 5.30 in the morning.

Ready to go. I'm falling apart at the end of this podcast. You did it. Any final takeaways? You need to man up. You need to believe in your truth at all times. We're going back to F1, you know? Yeah, I know.

You need to get some of that sunny energy. You need to stop posting and start believing. I know. And I've got all these young, these young Oscar pundits coming for me. You know, they're all like, they've all been, they've been watching. Yeah. They've been learning. Okay.

And they've been, they've been, they've been one-upping me. They've been like, I listened to Sean. He said F-1. I'm predicting F-1. And then I didn't predict F-1. Yeah. Shameful. Yeah.

There's shameful stuff. Well, we're going to, we're going to keep talking about this award show. How much? I don't know. We'll find out. Together. How often? Who can say?

Thank you to our producer Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. We'll be back very soon in the big picture. See you then.