The Netflix movie musical Emilia Perez led the Academy Award nominations yesterday, giving the streaming service another shot at its first best-picture trophy, followed by historical drama The Brutalist and box-office smash Wicked.
Emilia Perez, the Spanish-language story of a Mexican drug lord who transitions to a woman and starts a new life, earned 13 nominations. The Brutalist, a three-and-a-half-hour tale about a Holocaust survivor and architect chasing the American dream, and The Wizard of Oz prequel Wicked picked up 10 nods each.
All three films will compete for the coveted best-picture prize at the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood on March 2.
A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as a young Bob Dylan, dark romantic comedy Anora and papal selection drama Conclave also landed in the best-picture race. The other nominated films were the science-fiction blockbuster Dune Part 2 Brazilian political docudrama I’m Still Here, racial drama Nickel Boys and horror movie The Substance.
Nominations for the film industry’s highest honours were announced yesterday in Beverly Hills as the Los Angeles area, the heart of the movie business, grappled with ongoing wildfires that devastated parts of the city. A new blaze erupted on Wednesday.
Netflix has never won best picture despite nominations for such films as Roma and The Irishman. The streaming service releases its movies in theaters for only a limited time, enough to qualify them for awards consideration.
Awards pundits said there was no clear frontrunner for the top movie honour. Marc Malkin, senior culture and events editor at Variety, predicted a tight race between Wicked, Conclave and The Brutalist.
Wicked and Conclave were released by Comcast’s Universal film division while The Brutalist was distributed by independent studio A24. “Everyone loved Wicked,” Malkin said, and Conclave has picked up steam with strong word-of-mouth buzz from audiences. With The Brutalist, “when you look at Adrien Brody’s acting in that movie, and you look at the movie as a whole, it’s pretty incredible,” Malkin added.
In the best actress category, Emilia Perez star Karla Sofía Gascón made history as the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an acting Oscar.
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