Oscars Roundtable

With the Oscars rapidly approaching, I checked in with staff writer and publicity head Andrew Rovinsky and co-editor-in-chief Cameron Le to hear their opinions on the Oscar races.

RK:  I wanted to start by asking people their thoughts on this year's lineup. What are the films you're excited about that made it on the list, and what do you think the Academy left out? 

AR: Yeah, I think this year had an amazing set of nine nominees. I'm really excited to see, obviously, Killers of the Flower Moon, and the real surprise I think is Past Lives, which slipped in there. I think the one I'm a little disappointed by is Maestro. I think watching the movie, it's a little stale, it's very Oscar-baity. I really think May-December should have gotten that over Maestro, and I think it would have been a perfect set of 10 nominees in my view. I think another one that could have really gotten it is Spider-Man in the Spider-Verse, the new one. 

CL: I think I would agree, Past Lives was definitely also a surprise for me. I am most excited about Zone of Interest. I thought just on a formal level, it was probably one of the more experimental ones, maybe up there with Poor Things. But yeah, I think it's a really exciting lineup, and this is probably one of the best years for movies since maybe 2019.

RK:  So neither of you in your responses brought up Oppenheimer, which is pretty much the front-runner right now. Do you think that it's also going to take home the Oscar on Sunday, or do you think that there's potential for an upset? 

AR: I mean, I think the upset, I think Oppenheimer's probably going to win first and foremost. If anything upsets it, I think it's going to be The Holdovers. 

RK: Really? 

AR: I think The Holdovers is so appealing to the Oscar voter, and so I think, like, if anything would upset it, I think it would be holdovers. But I don't see another movie that is getting the same wide-critical acclaim that Oppenheimer is. 

CL: Yeah, I unfortunately do think that Oppenheimer is sort of a shoo-in. I wasn't the biggest fan of Oppenheimer–

AR: I thought it was great. It was one of my favorites of the year, so I'm not disappointed, but... 

CL: Yeah, but I feel like it is going to go to Nolan. I think it's sort of like the best film that he's made to be a contender for Best Picture, and I think it's going to in some ways almost be just an acknowledgement of his career from the Academy. There's a lot of other stuff that isn't very Best Picture-esque, but I think they're going to give it to him. But I think there could be other things that might be more deserving. 

RK: Cameron, you made a nice segue into Best Director and kind of making the case for Nolan or making the case for how the Academy is going to award Nolan. But Andrew, I know you might make the case for Scorsese. 

AR: Listen, I would make the case for Scorsese if I didn't think it was going to be Nolan. I think Scorsese or honestly, I think Justine Triet is really good. I think Jonathan Glazer is incredible, and I think, I mean, this director lineup is crazy. But I do think they're going to give it to Nolan, and it's kind of like what they did with Scorsese and The Departed, where it's time, they'll give it to him because they're going to want to acknowledge Nolan finally. And it's deserved, I think. 

RK: Do you think that the Academy would ever, would ever give a Lanthimos film the award?

AR:  I think for Oscar voters in particular, it's always going to get nominated because it's one of those films you hear about and you think is good, and then when Oscar voters watch it, it turns them off. They're like, what is this, like, what am I watching here? I loved Poor Things, it was another one of my favorites of the year, but there's no way the old Oscar voters go for it. 

RK: And Cameron, you talked a lot about really enjoying the zone of interest and being impressed with Jonathan Glazer's direction. Do you have anything to say about Glazer and why you think he, like, had such an achievement? 

CL: Everyone who's directing these big, critically acclaimed motion pictures are, you know, titans of cinema, but I feel like Glazer has stood out as someone who gets the interplay of stunning visuals as well as sound. I'm thinking specifically about Under the Skin, but he's just so good at creating, like, this insane theater experience, and I just remember that the Zone of Interest won me over in the first few minutes. There's this completely black screen, and everyone in my theater thought that the projector wasn't working. But it was just almost like training our ears in a way that I hadn't seen a lot of directors do. I think Glazer just historically does a really good job at making you hear things in a way that doesn't necessarily coincide with how you see them. 

RK: That's a great way to put it. So now I'm gonna move on to the acting categories, and I kind of mashed these together, because a lot of them seem very obvious. The first question that I have is that Best Supporting Actor and Actress seem to be the biggest locks of the night. Would you agree with the Robert Downey Jr. and Da’vine Joy Randolph pairing?

AR:  I think it’s those two choices. I think that Charles Melton would have thrown a wrench into everything, and I think that's honestly the biggest snub. But I think overall supporting actor and actress categories are pretty locked in, and I think they're pretty deserved. 

CL: I agree. From what I've seen, I think they're probably set in. But I would just shout out Mark Ruffalo. 

AR: Shout out Mark Ruffalo. I agree with that. I loved him in Poor Things. 

RK: I think I'm a little bit disappointed in the Robert Downey Jr. sweep. I think that this was a year where we had really good comedic performances, and the Oscar never goes for them.  I'm a Ryan Gosling fan. I thought he was very good in Barbie, that's like my hot take of the night. I also thought Mark Ruffalo was, like, incredible. He was so good in Poor Things, and I feel like the Academy says “No, we're gonna choose the serious black and white Robert Downey Jr. performance.”

With Da’Vine Joy Randolph, I don't know if there's any really big contender that she's snubbing. I like Danielle Brooks, but a lot of people didn't even see The Color Purple.

AR: It was just too late to get in there.

RK: Okay. We have to talk about the best actress race. I think of all the acting categories, this one is the most up in the air: Lily Gladstone or Emma Stone? 

AR: It's completely up in the air, I think Lily Gladstone deserves it in the end. I think Emma Stone's performance is probably the best of her career, but that just shows how good Lily Gladstone is and how much Lily Gladstone deserves it. However, this is a category where I do think Barbie was snubbed, I think Margot Robbie's performance was incredible.

RK: Greta Lee was snubbed. 

AR: Gretta Lee too, but I also think either of them. I mean, this Annette Benning movie, I've never seen it. I don't know very many people who have seen it. 

RK: My mother. 

AR: Did your mom like it? 

RK: I mean... It's such a mom movie. 

CL:  Honestly, I didn't love Past Lives, but I did like Greta Lee's performance. And I'm kind of so-so on Emma Stone's performance. 

RK: And the best actor, do we have opinions? 

AR: Best actor? I mean, I think it's Cillian. Like, I think, if I remember correctly, I mean, what are the nominees it's... 

RK: Giamatti and Cillian Murphy are the main two.

AR: Yeah, Giamatti and Cillian Murphy. I don't know who else I would put it. I don't, I can't think, snubs off the top of my head for best actor. I think Cillian Murphy. 

RK: Oh my God. Jeffrey Wright. I love Jeffrey Wright. 

AR: Oh, Jeffrey Wright for me too. He could sneak in there with a little steal, but I think it's likely to go to Cillian Murphy, especially if the rest of the night is going for Oppenheimer. 

RK: Okay. So now let's get into my final category, which is Adapted and Original Screenplay. So I think in general, I think this year's lineup is really good, but it's also really boring. I think the same films have been sweeping. These categories feel different.

AR: Well, hold on. They're missing a pretty important one in there: Killers of the Flower Moon. Which is crazy. 

RK: Andrew, it is a stacked lineup. Oppenheimer, Poor Things, American Fiction, the Zone of Interest, and Barbie. 

AR: I think you cut Barbie for Screenplay. Killers of the Flower Moon is an incredible screenplay based on an incredible book. 

CL: I haven't seen Killers of the Flower Moon, but I would also take out Barbie. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it needs to be an adapted screenplay. 

And Original Screenplay isn't quite as stacked, but it's still pretty impressive with Past Lives, Anatomy of the Fall, May December, The Holdovers, and Maestro sneaking in. What do you think of this?

AR:  I don't know why Maestro is in there, but Anatomy of the Fall is an incredible screenplay. And if, you know, if this was a just world, I think it would go to Past Lives or Anatomy of a Fall.  

So the final question that I have for both of you and Andrew might have hinted at this, so what's your most controversial opinion on the Oscars these years? 

AR: One of mine was Greta Gerwig–I don't think it was a [director] snub. I'm not taking out Jonathan Glazer, I'm not taking out Yorgos [Lanthimos], I'm not taking out Nolan or Justine [Triet], and I'm definitely not taking out Scorsese. So it's unfortunate, but I think that's my big hot take. Another big one for me is that I think Killers of the Flower Moon should win an Oscar. I think it's just a brilliant movie, and every performance is good.

CL: I don't think that Oppenheimer should get Best Picture. I don't even think it's his best film. I'm like a Tenet fan, which is controversial, but yeah, not a big Oppenheimer Best Picture guy. 

RK: I'm also kind of an Oppenheimer hater. Well, I didn't hate it. It was fine. I think it was a little bit bloated, and I didn't like the framing. Robert Downey Jr. doesn't work that much for me because I just didn't like his part of the film. I think my other hot take is the more that I think about it, I'm kind of a “Sandra Hüller for Best Actress” person.