MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / MTFB Predicted Nomination Totals / SAG and DGA Nominations and TFF / IndieWire's 50+ Most Anticipated and TFF

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Before we get to this post's Oscar nomination predictions, The Academy last night extended the nomination voting window by two days and moved the announcement of nominees to Sunday, January 19th due to the L.A. fires.  Now, onto the predictions which seem sort of a small consideration in light of what's going on in Southern California.

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories as well as for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects. These categories were last predicted on Dec. 26th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

Others: A Complete Unknown, Wicked and The Room Next Door.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) The Substance (4)

5) September 5 (5)

Others: Hard Truths, All We Imagine as Light and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1) Wicked (1)

2) Dune Part Two (2)

3) Gladiator II (4)

4) Maria (3)

5) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (5)

Others: Nosferatu, Conclave and Blitz.

BEST MAKEUP/HAIR

1) The Substance (1)

2) Wicked (2)

3) Dune Part Two (3)

4) Nosferatu (4)

5) A Different Man (5)

Others: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Emilia Perez, The Apprentice.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (3)

3) Wicked (4)

4) Gladiator II (2)

5) Better Man (-)

Others: Twisters, Mufasa: The Lion King and Alien: Romulus

MTFB PREDICTED NOMINATION TOTALS

As we look down the barrel, we're only eight days away from Oscar Nomination morning.  As of the latest MTFB predictions, these are your accumulated totals:

I'm expecting Emilia Perez to lead all films with 11 nominations: Best Picture, International Feature, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (x2) and Sound.

The Brutalist (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Brody), Supporting Actress (Jones), Supporting Actor (Pearce), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Production Design.

Dune Part Two (9): Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.

Wicked (8): Best Picture, Actress (Erivo), Supporting Actress (Grande), Production Design, Sound, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.

Conclave (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score.

Anora (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

Gladiator II (5): Best Supporting Actor (Washington), Production Design, Sound, Costumes and Visual Effects.

Nickel Boys (4): Best Picture, Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

A Complete Unknown (4): Best Picture, Actor (Chalamet), Supporting Actor (Norton) and Sound.

A Real Pain (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.

Sing Sing (3): Best Picture, Actor (Domingo) and Adapted Screenplay.

Maria (3): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.

The Wild Robot (3): Best Animated Feature, Score and Song.

The Substance (3): Best Actress (Moore), Original Screenplay and Makeup/Hair.

Nosferatu (3): Best Cinematography, Production Design and Makeup/Hair.

Challengers (2): Best Original Score and Song.

Single nominations for:

The Seed of the Scared Fig: International Feature.

I'm Still Here: International Feature.

The Girl with the Needle: International Feature

Vermiglio: International Feature.

Inside Out 2: Animated Feature

Flow: Animated Feature

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: Animated Feature.

Memoir of a Snail: Animated Feature.

Sugarcane: Documentary Feature.

No Other Land: Documentary Feature.

Daughters: Documentary Feature.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat: Documentary Feature.

Dahomey: Documentary Feature.

Queer: Actor (Craig)

The Piano Lesson: Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

September 5: Original Screenplay.

The Six Triple Eight: Song.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice: Costumes.

A Different Man: Makeup/Hair.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Visual Effects.

Better Man: Visual Effects.

All told MTFB says 11 TFF #51 films land 40 total nominations.

On Monday, I'll have predictions for the Shorts categories and then full predictions for all 23 categories on Thursday the 16th.

SAG AND DGA NOMINATIONS AND TFF

The Screen Actors Guild announced their 2024 nominees for film yesterday via a press release as opposed the originally planned live announcement.  That was scrapped as a result of the massive wild fires that are still ablaze this morning in the Los Angeles area.

In each of the six film categories here were the nominees from TFF #51 films:

Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes/Conclave.

Best Actress: Mikey Madison/Anora and Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez.

Best Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov/Anora, Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain and Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice.

Best Supporting Actress: Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson and Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez.

Best Cast: Anora, Conclave and Emilia Perez.

TFF had no films nominated in the Action/Stunt Ensemble category.

Kind of surprising omissions: Angelina Jolie (Maria) in Lead Actress and Isabella Rossellini (Conclave) for Supporting Actress.

Lots of strength for A Complete Unknown and Wicked.

The complete set of SAG nominees are linked here.

Meanwhile the Director's Guild of America (DGA) named its five nominees for Outstanding Directing for 2025 yesterday as well.  Three TFF #51 directors were nominated: Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez, Sean Baker/Anora  and Edward Berger/Conclave.  The other two nominees are Brady Corbet/The Brutalist and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown.

At present, the Producers Guild is set to announce their nominees on Friday but that could change due to the fires as well.

INDIEWIRE'S 50+ MOST ANTICIPATED AND TFF #52

IndieWire published its list of 50+ films that they're most excited about for 2025 last week and from the list here are the films that, on their face, seem Telluride-friendly:

The Bride/Gyllenhaal

Bugonia/Lanthimos

Marty Supreme/Safdie

Die, My Love/Ramsay

Father, Mother, Sister, Brother/Jarmusch

Frankenstein/Del Toro

Materialists/Song

The Phoenician Scheme/Anderson

Untitled Baumbach

The complete article is linked here.

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Golden Globe Winners and TFF / MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / BAFTA Longlists and TFF / National Society of Film Critics and TFF

 GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS AND TFF

The Golden Globe Awards for Film and Television were handed out last night and here are your winners with TFF films/performers in Bold.

Best Picture (Drama): The Brutalist

Best Picture (Musical or Comedy): Emilia Perez

Best Director: Brady Corbet/The Brutalist

Best Actress (Drama): Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here

Best Actor (Drama): Adrien Brody/The Brutalist

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Demi Moore/The Substance

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy): Sebastian Stan/A Different Man

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain

Best Screenplay: Conclave

Best Animated Film: Flow

Best Non-English Film: Emilia Perez

Best Original Score: Challengers

Best Original Song: El Mal/Emilia Perez

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement: Wicked

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today as well as Original Score, Original Song And Sound. These categories were last updated on Dec. 23rd.  An actor's/film's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Ariana Grande-Butera/Wicked (2)

3) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (3)

4) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (4)

5) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Margaret Qualley/The Substance and Aunjanue Eillis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (2)

3) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (3)

4) Yura Borisov/Anora (4)

5) Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown (-)

Others: Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and Stanley Tucci/Conclave.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Conclave (2)

2) The Brutalist (1)

3) Emilia Perez (3)

4) The Wild Robot (4)

5) Challengers (5)

Others: The Room Next Door, Wicked and Blitz.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) El Mal/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez (2)

3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot (3)

4) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight (4)

5) Compress/Repress/Challengers (5)

Others: Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper, Never Too Late/Never Too Late and Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece.

BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) Wicked (2)

3) A Complete Unknown (4)

4) Gladiator II (3)

5) Emilia Perez (5)

Others: Blitz, Deadpool and Wolverine and The Wild Robot.

Comments:  Slight change in Supporting Actor as Edward Norton ( A Complete Unknown) enters my top five for the first time.  Conclave and Brutalist flip flop at the #1 and #2 spots in Original Score.  A Complete Unknown moves up a spot in Best Sound. 

BAFTA LONGLISTS AND TFF

The British Association of Film and Television Arts announced their longlists for all of their film categories for 2024 on Friday.  The step is the pass through for any actual BAFTA nomination.  18 TFF films were mentioned in at least one category with TFF #51 films pulling a collective 66 mentions. Emilia Perez and Conclave leading all films with 15 and 14 mentions respectively.  All told TFF films earned Here's the film by film breakdown of BAFTA longlist mentions:

Emilia Perez (15): Best Film, Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Supporting Actress (Gomez), Supporting Actress (Paz), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Casting, Costumes, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Score and Sound.

Conclave (14): Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Adapted Screenplay, Casting, Cinematography, Costumes, Editing, Score, Production Design and Sound.

Anora (9): Best Film, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Supporting Actor (Eydelshteyn), Original Screenplay, Casting, Cinematography and Editing.

The Apprentice (6): Best Film, Actor (Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong), Original Screenplay, Casting and Makeup/Hair.

The Outrun (5): Outstanding British Film, Direction, Actress (Ronan), Adapted Screenplay, Score,

All We Imagine as Light (3): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Original Screenplay.

A Real Pain (2): Best Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay.'

La Chimera [from TFF #50] (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction.

And TFF films with single nominations:

Bird: Outstanding British Film.

Santosh: Outstanding Debut of a Writer, Producer or Director.

Piece by Piece: Best Children's or Family Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig: Best Film Not in the English Language.

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressberger: Best Documentary.

No Other Land: Best Documentary.

Will & Harper: Best Documentary.

Memoir of a Snail: Best Animated Film.

Nickel Boys: Best Adapted Screenplay.

Better Man: Best Special Visual Effects.

Here's the link to the complete BAFTA longlists.

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The National Society of Film Critics announced their awards for 2024 on Saturday and, as expected, TFF films fared well.  TFF #51 films earned "Best of" status in these categories:

Picture: Nickel Boys.

Direction; Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light.

Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain.

Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.

Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light.

Non-fiction Film: No Other Land.

Cinematography: Nickel Boys.

Other films/performers landed in runners-up spots.  The categories and runner-up status:

Picture: Anora and All We Imagine as Light tied for runner-up to Nickel Boys.

Direction: RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys) was runner-up and Sean Baker (Anora) was second runner-up.

Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora) was runner-up.

Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys) was runner-up.

Actor: Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) was second runner-up.

Screenplay: Sean Baker (Anora) was second runner-up.

Film Not in the English Language: The Seed of the Sacred Fig was second runner-up.

No Other Land also received a Special Citation for Best Film awaiting U.S. distribution.

The complete list of winners from the National Society of Film Critics is linked here.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / THR's Most Anticipated for 2025 / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today as well as Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These categories were last updated on Dec. 19th.  An actor's/film's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (4)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Cynthia Erivo/Wicked (2)

5) Demi Moore/The Substance (5)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Nicole Kidman/Babygirl and Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain and Sebastian Stan/A Different Man.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) The Brutalist (2)

2) Maria (3)

3) Dune Part Two (1)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Nosferatu (5)

Others: Conclave, Wicked Part 1 and The Girl with a Needle.

BEST EDITING

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (4)

3) The Brutalist (2)

4) Dune Part Two (3)

5) Anora (5)

Others: September 5, Gladiator II and Wicked Part 1.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Wicked Part 1 (1)

2) Dune Part Two (2)

3) The Brutalist (3)

4) Gladiator II (4)

5) Nosferatu (5)

Others: Conclave, Blitz and Emilia Perez.

Comment: The Golden Globes are on Sunday.  It'll be interesting to see how they shake out.  Maybe they give us some sense about the how the Oscar wind is blowing.  Oscar nomination voting begins next week on Wednesday, Jan. 8th.  I'll have some TFF Golden Globes coverage here on Monday.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025

The Hollywood Reporter put up their list of most anticipated films for 2025 this week.  from that list there are six films that could be TFF #52 players:

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

The Bride/Gyllenhaal

Bugonia/Lanthimos

Frankenstein/Del Toro

Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

Untitled Baumbach/Baumbach

Here's the complete list from THR.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from The Playlist.

Behind the Scenes of Better Man from Gold Derby.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Gold Derby Best Picture Breakdown and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture Direction, International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Dec. 16th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Conclave  (2)

2) Anora (1)

3) Emilia Perez (5)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Wicked Part 1 (3)

6) Dune Part Two (6)

7) A Complete Unknown (8)

8) Sing Sing (9)

9) A Real Pain (7)

10) Nickel Boys (10)

Others: The Substance, September 5 and Gladiator II.

Comment: Conclave moves to the top spot for the first time.  Sensing some momentum.  Wicked's surge driven by its release and huge success seems to have paled a bit over the last two weeks.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)

5) RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys (5)

Others: Jon M. Chu/Wicked, Coralie Fargeat/The Substance and Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez (1)

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2)

3) I'm Still Here (3)

4) The Girl with the Needle (4)

5) Vermiglio (-)

Others: Flow, Kneecap and Dahomey.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot (1)

2) Inside Out 2 (2)

3) Flow (3)

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (4)

5) Memoir of a Snail (5)

Others: Moana 2, Piece by Piece and Chicken for Linda

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1) Sugarcane (3)

2) No Other Land (1)

3) Daughters (2)

4) Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (-)

5) Dahomey (-)

Others: Will & Harper, Black Box Diaries and Union.

GOLD DERBY BEST PICTURE BREAKDOWN AND TFF

Oscar prediction website Gold Derby has a fairly lengthy piece focusing on assessing the strngths and weaknesses of what they perceive as the films with the best chances of landing a Best Picture nomination on Jan. 17th.  Their analysis was posted on Dec. 26th.  TFF films that are included in the article include:

Anora

Conclave

Emilia Perez

Nickel Boys

A Real Pain

September 5

Check our the entire rundown here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from The Playlist.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / The MTFB Nomination Totals / Interviews and Profiles: Eisenberg, Baker and Gracey

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories as well as for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects. These categories were last predicted on Dec. 12th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

Others: A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door and Wicked Part One.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (3)

3) A Real Pain (2)

4) The Substance (5)

5) September 5 (4)

Others: Hard Truths, All We Imagine as Light and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

BEST COSTUMES

1) Wicked Part One (1)

2) Dune Part Two (2)

3) Maria (4)

4) Gladiator II (3)

5) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (-)

Others: Nosferatu, Conclave and A Complete Unknown.

BEST MAKEUP/HAIR

1) The Substance (2)

2) Wicked Part One (3)

3) Dune Part Two (1)

4) Nosferatu (4)

5) A Different Man (-)

Others: Emilia Perez, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and Maria.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) Gladiator II (2)

3) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (3)

4) Wicked Part One (4)

5) Twisters (5)

Others: Better Man, Mufasa: The Lion King and Alien: Romulus.

MTFB NOMINATION TOTALS UPDATED

At the moment I am predicting 12 TFF #51 films to earn 40 nominations with another four films that could sneak into a nomination.  Also among those 16 films are 20 other possible nominations.  The following totals for nominations and possibilities:

Emilia Perez (11 nominations and another three possibles): Best Picture, Direction, International Feature, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino) and Sound.  Possibles: Supporting Actress (Gomez), Cinematography and Makeup/Hair.

Conclave (Seven nominations and another four possibles): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini),  Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score.  Possibles: Supporting Actor (Tucci), Cinematography, Production Design and Costumes.

Anora (Six nominations): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

Nickel Boys (Four nominations and one possible): Best Picture, Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.  Possible: Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor).

A Real Pain (Three nominations and one possible): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.  Possible: Best Actor (Eisenberg).

Maria (Three nominations and one possible): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.  Possible: Makeup/Hair.

September 5 (One nomination and two possible): Best Original Screenplay.  Possibles: Best Picture and Editing.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (One nomination and one possible): Best International Feature.  Possible: Original Screenplay.

Will & Harper (One nomination and one possible): Best Documentary.  Possible: Song (Harper and Will Go West)

Memoir of a Snail (One nomination): Best Animated Feature.

No Other Land (One nomination): Best Documentary.

The Piano Lesson (One nomination): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Other films with the possibility of a nomination:

The Apprentice: Best Actor (Stan) and Supporting Actor (Strong).

Piece by Piece: Best Animated Feature and Song (Piece by Piece).

All We Imagine as Light: Best Original Screenplay.

Better Man: Best Visual Effects.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from Pop Culture Confidential.

Sean Baker for Anora from Pop Culture Confidential.

Michael Gracey for Better Man from IndieWire.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / The Film Stage's Hot 100 / Interviews And Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today as well as Original Score, Original Song And Sound. These categories were last updated on Dec. 9th.  An actor's/film's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Ariana Grande/Wicked (4)

3) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (2)

4) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

5) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (3)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Margaret Qualley/The Substance and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

3) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

4) Yura Borisov/Anora (5)

5) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

Others: Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and Stanley Tucci/Conclave.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) The Brutalist (2)

2) Conclave (1)

3) Emilia Perez (3)

4) The Wild Robot (4)

5) Challengers (-)

Others: The Room Next Door, Blitz and Wicked.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) El Mal/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez (2)

3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot (3)

4) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight (5)

5) Compress/Repress/Challengers (-)

Others: Never Too Late/Elton John: Never Too Late, Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece and Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper.

BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) Wicked (2)

3) Gladiator II (3)

4) A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Emilia Perez (5)

Others: Blitz, Deadpool and Wolverine and The Wild Robot.

THE FILM STAGE'S HOT 100

A few posts back I ran through The Playlist's 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2025 looking for clues as to possible TFF #52 films.  Today it's The Film Stage's list that I'm combing through.  Here are some films from their list that might be TFF possibilities:

94) The Bride/Gyllenhaal

81) The Twilight World/Herzog

71) Anemone/Day-Lewis

69) Bugonia/Lanthimos

67) Hamnet/Zhao

64) Orphan/Nemes

59) Young Mothers/The Dardennes Bros.

58) Frankenstein/Del Toro

54) The Actor/Johnson

51) Untitled Noah Baumbach (Jay Kelly???)/Baumbach

44) The History of Sound/Hermanus

41) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

35) Jupiter/Zvyaginstev

29) The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Chomet

14) Paper Tiger/Gray

11) Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

8) Die, My Love/Ramsay

7) The Phoenician Scheme/Anderson

5) The Mastermind/Reichardt

2) The Way of the Wind/Malick

The complete Film Stage list is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Ethan Herisse for Nickel Boys from The Hollywood Reporter.

Ethan Herisse for Nickel Boys from IndieWire.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for Nickel Boys from The Playlist.

Pablo Larrain for Maria from Film at Lincoln Center.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / Oscar Shortlists and TFF / Satellite Award Nominees and TFF / WGA Ineligibility / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today as well as  Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These categories were last updated on Dec. 5th.  An actor's/film's  previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Cynthia Erivo/Wicked (-)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

5) Demi Moore/The Substance (-)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Nicole Kidman/Babygirl and Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Other: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain and Sebastian Stan/A Different Man.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) Maria (3)

4) Nickel Boys (-)

5) Nosferatu (4)

Others: Conclave, Emilia Perez and Gladiator II.

BEST EDITING

1) Conclave (5)

2) The Brutalist (1)

3) Dune Part Two (4)

4) Emila Perez (3)

5) Anora (2)

Others: Gladiator II, September 5 and Wicked.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Wicked (2)

2) Dune Part Two (1)

3) The Brutalist (4)

4) Gladiator II (3)

5) Nosferatu (-)

Others: Conclave, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.

Coming up on Monday will be updates for Supporting Acting as well as Original Score, Song and Sound.

OSCAR SHORTLISTS AND TFF

The Academy released the short listed films for 10 Oscar categories last Tuesday.  Here are the TFF films that made the cut by category:

Documentary Feature: Hollywoodgate (From TFF #50), No Other Land and Will & Harper.

Documentary Short: A Swim Lesson.

International Feature: Emilia Perez, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Santosh.

Makeup/Hair: The Apprentice, Emilia Perez.

Original Score: Conclave, Emilia Perez.

Original Song: Better Man ((Forbidden Road), Emilia Perez (Mi Camino), Emilia Perez (El Mal), Piece by Piece (Piece by Piece) and Will & Harper (Harper and Will Go West).

Animated Short: Beautiful Men

Sound: Emilia Perez.

Visual Effects: Better Man.

No TFF films made the Live Action Short List.

SATELLITE AWARD NOMINEES AND TFF

The International Press Academy announced their film and television nominees on Monday.  Here are the results as related to TFF films:

Conclave (8): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor-Drama (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, editng, Production Design and Score.

Emilia Perez (8): Best Actress-Comedy or Musical (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino), Score and Sound.

Anora (6): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Direction, Actress-Comedy or Musical (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Actor-Comedy or Musical (Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.

Nickel Boys (4): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

Maria (3): Best Actress (Drama) Jolie, Cinematography and Costumes.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2): Best International Picture, and Original Screenplay.

The Outrun (1): Best Actress-Drama (Ronan).

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Picture.

Best Documentary: No Other Land.

The complete list of Satellite nominees is linked here.

WRITERS GUILD DEEMS SCREENPLAYS INELIGIBLE

The Writers Guild of America have ruled a number of Screenplays ineligible for its guild's awards including a number of TFF films.  Among those films on the ineligible list are:

Conclave

Emilia Perez

The Outrun

All We Imagine as Light

The Seed of the sacred Fig

September 5

Here's the story from Gold Derby.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from IndieWire.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from Mubi.

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Critics Choice Awards Nominations / Precursor Roundup / New Nickel Boys Trailer / Interviews and Profiles: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Danielle Deadwyler and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture Direction, International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Dec. 2nd.  A film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (1)

2) Conclave (2)

3) Wicked (6)

4) The Brutalist (3)

5) Emilia Perez (4)

6) Dune Part Two (5)

7) A Real Pain (7)

8) A Complete Unknown (-)

9) Sing Sing (10)

10) Nickel Boys (-)

Others: The Substance, September 5 and Gladiator II.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (1)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emikia Perez (3)

5) RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys (-)

Others: Jon M. Chu/Wicked, Coralie Fargeat/The Substance and Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot (1)

2) Inside Out 2 (2)

3) Flow (5)

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (4)

5) Memoir of a Snail (3)

Others: Moana 2, Piece by Piece and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez (1)

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2)

3) I'm Still Here (3)

4) The Girl with the Needle (4)

5) Kneecap (-)

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomey and Flow.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) No Other Land (1)

2) Daughters (2)

3) Sugarcane (3)

4) Will & Harper (-)

5) Black Box Diaries (4)

Others: Dahomey, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story/

CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Critics Choice Association announced its nominees for film excellence last Thursday.  TFF #51 Conclave tied with Wicked for most nominations at 11.  Emilia Perez was right behind at 10.  All togther, 14  TFF #51 films accounted for 48 nominations plus an additional nomination for TFF #50 film Janet Planet (Best Young Adult Performance).

Here are the CCA nominations for TFF #51 films:

Conclave (11): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costumes and Score.

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture, Foreign Language Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino) and Score.

Anora (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Ensemble, Original Screenplay and Editing.

Nickel Boys (5): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor), Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (3): Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay and Best Comedy.

Maria (2); Best Actress (Jolie) and Costumes.

Saturday Night (2): Best Comedy and Ensemble.

September 5 (2): Original screenplay and Editing.

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Better Man (1): Best Visual Effects.

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

Will & Harper (1): Best Song (Harper and Will Go West).

Complete nominations can be found here.

PRECURSOR ROUND UP

I took a look at six prominent Oscar pre-cursor nominations/awards to get a feel for what films seem to be hot as we close in on one month before Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 17th.

Pre-cursors included were:

 

National Board of Review (NBR)

American Film Institute (AFI)

Golden Globes (GG) 

Critics Choice (CC)

Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA)

New York Film Critics Circle (NY)

Two films hit five of these:

Anora: NBR, AFI, GG, CC, LA (winner)

The Brutalist: AFI, GG, CC, NY (winner), LA (Runner-up)

Three films made four to the lists:

Wicked: NBR (winner), AFI, GG, CC

A Complete Unknown: NBR, AFI, GG, CC

Conclave: NBR, AFI, GG, CC

And five films were named by three of the pre-cursor organizations:

A Real Pain: NBR, AFI, GG

Sing Sing: NBR, AFI, CC

Emilia Perez: AFI, GG, CC

Nickel Boys: AFI, GG, CC

Dune Part Two: AFI, GG, CC

What's next are the Guilds.  Producers, Directors, Screen Actors and Writers being the primary ones to look at.

Dates for each of these nominee announcements are:

Jan. 8: Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild

Jan. 9: Writers Guild

Jan. 10: Producers Guild

NEW NICKEL BOYS TRAILER

Amazon/MGM released a new trailer for RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys on Friday.  Here it is from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Q+A for Zurawski v. Texas with the directors and actual participants in the lawsuit.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from The Contending.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from Awards Watch.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from APNews.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for Nickel Boys from Awards Watch.

Eric Herisse and Brandon Wilson for Nickel Boys from The Contending.

John Magaro for September 5 from IndieWire.

Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson from The Playlist.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from InSessionFilm.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

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