The Pop Culture Pundit

It’s that time of year: after an extended voting period due to the LA wildfires, the 97th Academy Award nominations have been announced. Who’s in? Who’s out? Will Timothée Chalamet be singing a Bob Dylan song at the Oscars ceremony? (Probably not, but he will be singing on SNL this weekend!) Here is my analysis of the Oscars snubs and surprises this year. 

No Love for Challengers 

Welp, the Academy completely dropped the ball on this one. Challengers was tragically snubbed in every category, but perhaps most surprisingly it was left out in “Best Original Score,” which it had won at the Golden Globes just a few weeks ago. “Yeah x10?” More like No x100. 

I’m Still Here is Indeed Here

The Best Picture nominees were mostly expected: Emilia Pérez (which leads with 13 noms total), Dune: Part Two, and Wicked all showed up as many pundits predicted. What was perhaps most surprising, however, was the inclusion of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that’s gained some traction in the past few weeks after Fernanda Torres’ shock win for Best Actress–Drama at the Golden Globes. Torres, meanwhile, joins the Oscars’ Best Actress Race, along with Demi Moore, Mikey Madison, Cynthia Erivo, and Karla Sofía Gascón, the latter of who becomes the first openly trans actress to be nominated. 

Best Supporting Actress Surprises 

Remember “Phoenix” from Top Gun: Maverick, the only female pilot who was amongst those to take flight alongside Miles Teller and Glen Powell? Well, the actress who portrayed her, Monica Barbaro, is now an Oscar nominee thanks to her performance as Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown. Some predicted Jamie Lee Curtis or Margaret Qualley would be nominated for their respective roles in The Last Showgirl and The Substance, but alas, the curtain closed on them. Guess Moore and Qualley are not one after all.  

No James Bond, but there is Bucky Barnes 

Many expected Daniel Craig to be nominated for his role in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, but not even James Bond himself could save the film from being shut out. Instead, Sebastian Stan (aka Marvel’s Bucky Barnes) was nominated for his performance as Donald Trump in The Apprentice. In this especially politically-charged year, this could have an increased relevance–after all, Stan did go viral for saying he was unable to do Variety’s Actors on Actors because others were hesitant in discussing his Apprentice role.

The Roy Boys Compete Again

Speaking of The Apprentice, Jeremy Strong was nominated for his performance in the film as Roy Cohn. This makes for a particularly interesting match-up in Best Supporting Actor because his brother on Succession, Kieran Culkin, is nominated for his performance in A Real Pain (and is largely expected to win, which would be funny considering Strong’s character on Succession was always so concerned with being the one to come out victorious). What would be really funny is if Matthew MacFayden was nominated for his turn as Deadpool & Wolverine’s villain, which would bring the Succession boys back together again–except for poor Connor, who is always left out of the narrative. 

Glicked is Not the Next Barbenheimer

Another notable snub in Best Supporting Actor was Denzel Washington, who was largely expected to be included for his role in Gladiator II (but was yet again left out of the BAFTAs last week). Given that Gladiator II and Wicked were advertised as the “next Barbenheimer” for their simultaneous premieres back in November (referred to as Glicked), this concludes the duel with not a bang, but a whimper: Gladiator II only received one nomination, while Wicked received ten. Barbie and Oppenheimer, meanwhile, earned several nominations each. It’s ironic Gladiator “lost” the battle against Wicked considering the film is about, well, battling. But it just didn’t defy gravity enough. 

^{Maybe if Gladiator II was a musical it would have fared better. There’s always Gladiator III! SNL via YouTube.}