Oscars 2025: Is It Too Late to Save Hollywood?
NextGen OscarWatcher: “What Happens Now” Post Election Oscar Analysis
Oscars 2025: Nosferatu Wows Critics in Early Screenings
2025 Oscar Predictions: The Slap Heard Round the World
Oscars 2024: So Trump Won, Now What?
Adam McKay Demands “Extreme Solidarity” For Sebastian Stan
There seems to be a bit of a controversy-not-controversy brewing online. Sebastian Stan has said that he wanted to do a Variety's Actors on Acting but none of the publicists wanted their clients associated with him so he could not do it. I hate to break it to Mr. McKay but welcome to the new normal. This is the...
Viola Davis Will Be Honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes
Oscar winner Viola Davis will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award when the Golden Globes air Sunday, January 5, 2025. The press release follows: LOS ANGELES, California – November 20, 2024 – The Golden Globes® announced that actress, producer and Golden Globe winner Viola Davis has been named the Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree for 2025. Davis earned her first Golden Globe award for Best Supporting...
2025 Oscars: The Buzzmeter – Wicked Drops to Mostly Raves
Welcome to the Buzzmeter, a report every few days of what makes my radar. Universal did it right by slow-screening Wicked to the right people. First, just a handful of "friendlies." Their response was ecstatic. Then, they rolled it out to those we call the "junket whores," we say it with love. And they, too, were ecstatic. By the time Wicked dropped on Rotten Tomatoes, somehow, 2,500 people rated...
NextGen OscarWatcher: The Core Three: Animated, International, and Documentary features
For the next few weeks (leading up to the Golden Globe nominations), the focus will primarily (most likely) be on the categories outside of the top eight that are above the line. Focusing on these three, in particular, is appropriate as they seem to bridge the previous eight and the remaining 16 categories. 1) Animated Feature Voted on by the entire academy, what makes the Best Animated Feature category...
Oscars 2025: Gladiator II Sets Box Office Record in International Sales
One of these two movies, Gladiator II or Wicked, or both, will be getting into the Oscars. They are set to drop on this Friday opposite each other, Barbenheimer style. Both should do very well. I don't know who will win the box office between these two. I could even venture a guess at this point. Barbie trounced Oppenheimer but Oppenheimer won all the awards. It doesn't matter. I...
2025 Oscar Predictions: Clint Eastwood Rising
Despite the many films in release this year, there are just a small handful that are actually good movies. Of course, it's a matter of taste; everyone has their own. I once asked an Academy member years ago how they awarded Best Picture and he said to me, "We pick the best picture." What he meant was that they choose what they like the best. You'd be surprised how...
Oscars 2025: Conan O’Brien Chosen as Oscar Host
Well done, Academy. They chose well. Just when we thought they were down for the count, they picked a really strong host in Conan O'Brien. He's not someone who is not in the bubble of Hollywood. He's smart. He's funny. He won't be too partisan. The Oscars will live to see another day! Bravo. THE OSCARS SET TO AIR LIVE MARCH 2, 2025, AT 7 P.M. ET/4 P.M. PT,...
2025 Oscars: Is Best Actress Now Gascon’s to Lose?
I have heard people say, not just to me privately, but openly on social media that now, because of the election, the transgender and titular star of Emilia Perez, Karla Sofia Gascon, will win Best Actress. The theory goes something like this: because American voters ran from the Left and their policies on specifically transgender ideology (prisons, immigrants, sports, kids), that means that America is now transphobic, and thus,...
The Contender Tracker
Conclave
Emilia Perez
The Brutalist
Dune 2
A Real Pain
Sing Sing
Wicked
Gladiator II
Nickel Boys
September 5
Saturday Night
The Substance
Hard Truths
All We Imagine as Light
The Piano Lesson
Inside Out 2
Best Actor Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Daniel Craig, Queer
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Paul Mescal, Gladiator II
John David Washington, The Piano Lesson
Peter Sarsgaard, September 5
Best Actress Mikey Madison, Anora
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Angelina Jolie, Maria
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Perez
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Demi Moore, The Substance
Lupita Nyong'o, A Quiet Place Day One
Kate Winslet, Lee
Zendaya, Challengers
Jodie Comer, The Bikeriders
Anya Taylor-Joy, Furiosa
June Squibb, Thelma
Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Denzel Washington, Gladiator II
Stanley Tucci, Conclave
Samuel L. Jackson, The Piano Lesson
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
John Magaro, September 5
Paul Raci, Sing Sing
Best Supporting Actress Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Rachel Sennott, Saturday Night
Best Director Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Edward Berger, Conclave
Denis Villeneuve, Dune 2
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Tim Fehlbaum, September 5
Ridley Scott, Gladiator II
Jon Chu, Wicked
Jason Reitman, Saturday Night
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Payal Kapadia. All We Imagine as Light
Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing
Luca Guadagnino, Challengers
George Miller, Furiosa
Adapted Screenplay Conclave
The Piano Lesson
The Life of Chuck
Nickel Boys
Dune 2
Inside Out 2
Furiosa Original Screenplay The Brutalist
A Real Pain
Anora
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Emilia Perez
The Substance
Challengers Cinematography The Brutalist
Dune 2
Gladiator II
Conclave
Wicked
Furiosa
Best Editing Conclave
Anora
The Brutalist
Gladiator II
Saturday Night
Nickel Boys
Dune 2 Production Design The Brutalist
Dune 2
Saturday Night
Gladiator II
Conclave
Furiosa
Sound Mixing + Editing Wicked
Dune 2
Saturday Night
Gladiator II
Twisters
Furiosa
Costumes Wicked
The Brutalist
Dune 2
Gladiator II
Conclave
Furiosa
Visual Effects Dune Part Two
Twisters
Gladiator II
A Quiet Place: Day One
Deadpool & Wolverine
Alien: Romulus
Wicked
Furiosa
Dune 2
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Original Score The Brutalist
The Room Next Door
Conclave
Blitz
Challengers
Emilia Perez
The Piano Lesson
Inside Out 2
The Wild Robot
Original Song
Makeup and Hair Wicked
Furiosa
Maria
Gladiator II
The Piano Lesson
Conclave
Dune Part 2
Animated Feature Inside Out 2
Flow
Wild Robot
If
Despicable Me 4
Documentary Feature Will & Harper International Feature
Live Action Short
Documentary Short
Animated Short
Predictions
Interviews
Emmy-Nominated Writers Sam Means and Meredith Scardino on ‘Home Alone’ Doorknobs and the Puppet We Never Met in the ‘Girls5eva’ Episode ‘Orlando’
Awards Daily talks to Girls5eva writer Sam Means and writer/showrunner Meredith Scardino about their Emmy-nominated episode "Orlando." Girls5eva writers Sam...
Double Emmy-Nominee Jonathan Pryce On Embracing Grandfatherly Roles in ‘The Crown,’ ‘Slow Horses’
Actor Jonathan Pryce received two nomination at the 2024 Emmy Awards. His bid for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series...
Laura Dern & Jayme Lemons On the Undeniable Hope Beneath the Comedy of ‘Palm Royale’
Palm Royale has an inescapable charm, but there are so many issues bubbling beneath the surface. Come for the incredible...
Director John McDermott on the Story of How Electric Lady Studios was Created in his Documentary ‘Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision’
Grammy nominated Director John McDermott is a proud Jimi Hendrix completist. When we met on Zoom, John’s background was three...
Costume Designer Carol Case On Adding Dashes of Humor In the Darkness of ‘Fargo’
Noah Hawley's Fargo tore through this year's Primetime Emmy nominations with a snarky vengeance. Racking up an impressive 15 nominations,...
Safowa Bright Bitzelberger On Costuming the Rise of The Cocaine Godmother for Netflix’s ‘Griselda’
When I finally sat down to catch up with Netflix's wildly popular limited series Griselda, I was amped to chart...