A one-size-fits-all sartorial approach is out of the question for the showmen of “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “Frankenstein” and “Marty Supreme.” But whether the arena is theater, music, science or sports, all wear garments that accentuate their emotional states and prodigious talents — and leave an enduring mark. Here, Oscar-nominated costume designers Ruth E. Carter (“Sinners”), Malgosia Turzanska (“Hamnet”), Kate Hawley (“Frankenstein”) and Miyako Bellizzi (“Marty Supreme”) discuss defining menswear statements with The Envelope.
In Carter’s third collaboration with Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan’s sharply dressed twins Smoke and Stack return to the Mississippi Delta in 1932 to open a juke joint, tapping their gifted blues musician cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), to perform. “You see this style that [old blues players] embodied, whether it’s two-tone shoes, the hat, vest, shirts; all of that was laced into the storytelling,” says Carter. He might be a preacher’s son, but Sammie wears his passion on his blues-infused clothing in the record-breaking “Sinners.” “The vest is patched to show the wear from the guitar strap.”
Before the night goes to vampire hell, all eyes are on Sammie in earthy and gold tones as he sings “I Lied to You.” Artists spanning centuries and continents (including an electric-guitar-playing rocker and a Zaouli dancer) add to the mesmerizing sequence before returning to Sammie. “When we come back to him, we’re coming back to his own force and look,” Carter says.
A sketch of Sammie’s bluesman-inspired costume in “Sinners.”
(Ruth E. Carter)
A final scene set in 1992 shows Sammie (played by musician Buddy Guy) still beguiling audiences. Carter incorporates Guy’s real-life signature polka dots to highlight “this is a real story of the blues, and this is a real bluesman.” Stack’s authentic Coogi sweater (a nod to Biggie Smalls) contrasts with Sammie’s classic tailoring, which doubles as a memorial to his other cousin: “The color blue was an homage to Smoke and the flat cap.”
Clothing is also for remembrance in Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” in which a grieving William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) turns to a meaningful shade in paying tribute to his son during the inaugural run of “Hamlet” at the Globe Theatre in London. “Will, in my head, was imagining, remembering and holding on to the memory of Hamnet,” Turzanska says. “And in a super crude, simplified way, putting the paint and the colors that he remembered onto Hamlet’s character with those brushstrokes.”
Turzanska constructed the players’ costumes from raw linen, using slightly enlarged, period-accurate shapes combined with contemporary latex paint. Using this stage language, Hamlet’s (Noah Jupe) jerkin is “quilted and painted flat,” to conjure Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe): “It was a memory of the vertical stripes.”
There are echoes among the costumes for William Shakespeare, Hamlet and Hamnet in Malgosia Turzanska’s costumes for “Hamnet.”
(Malgosia Turzanska)
Offstage, growing slashes in Will’s leather doublets depict “emotional turmoil.” Still, his turn as Hamlet’s murdered father (the Ghost) is the most overt example. The off-white cloak caked in clay is deliberately drained of all color. Turzanska tested the symbolic shroud (“You put this little harness on”) to ensure Mescal could move freely. Catharsis comes after Will exits the play: “The clay is cracking and falling off. Finally, when he washes it off, we see him break down for the first time and actually cry.”
Not every stage has a paying audience. In Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) reanimates a corpse during a disciplinary hearing demonstration. Clad in red, white and black, the renegade scientist’s sartorial inspiration is not bound to a single era.
“That was the first note from Guillermo [about Victor]. He goes, ‘Dandy, rock star. Look at David Bowie. Look at Prince,” says Hawley. “When we started talking with Oscar, he came in with his Prince stuff. When you look at his performance, you see all those subtleties, the physicality, the swagger.” Piping on the waistcoat is “a kick” to stand out against judges in black.
Hawley embraces “wonderful peacock” 1850s menswear shapes: Victor’s puffed-out chest accentuates the “wasp waist” likening him to a matador. An exaggerated period heel adds flair. “Shoes are what root the actor to the ground and their character,” Hawley says. “It elevates every gesture from there.”
Victor Frankenstein’s costumes in “Frankenstein” were inspired by musicians like David Bowie.
(Kate Hawley)
“Marty Supreme’s” Bellizzi is equally mindful of footwear. Bellizzi “worked with Keds to find the shape” resembling a narrow 1950s sneaker for Timothée Chalamet to wear as ambitious table tennis player Marty Mauser. “When he was training, I would give him a few different sneakers to see what looked good but also what felt good,” says Bellizzi. “Because he had to wear them all day and play in them.”
Marty switches from a sedate black polo shirt and high-waisted wool pants while playing at Wembley in London to an eye-catching pink satin set on tour with the Harlem Globetrotters during a lighthearted interlude in Josh Safdie’s propulsive comedy-drama. “We overexaggerated the pants and the sleeves in the body so it is big and flowy,” says Bellizzi.
By the time Marty arrives in Japan, his everyday suit “has been through the wringer.” Luckily, a rigged ping-pong exhibition match allows Marty to embrace his theatrical talents. “It was an opportunity to show him as someone else. He’s undercover,” says Bellizzi. “He has the cap and the jumper.” Ever the showman, Marty relishes ditching the pretense and his wardrobe onstage, embracing his competitive streak. “He turns it into a bigger situation than it should have been, and maybe part of the surprise is that he’s derobing,” Bellizzi says. “It shows how much passion comes out.” Across venues and centuries, each man’s attire is ovation-worthy.
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t love Timothée Chalamet? I mean, besides the old-timer Oscar voter who recently told me he doesn’t like the young man’s “shenanigans.”
I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. Calico Mine Ride or Timber Mountain Log Ride? That’s a 1A / 1B ranking decision. It all depends if I’ve just eaten a slice of boysenberry pie.
Now … back to Timothée …
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Did you catch any of the screenings during the American Cinematheque’s recent eight-film retrospective celebrating Chalamet’s career? Or perhaps you landed at the motion picture academy’s Samuel L. Goldwyn Theater on Monday when Chalamet was mobbed following a Q&A after a showing of “Marty Supreme” for guild voters.
If you witnessed a moment during this weeklong celebration — this Chalamania, if you will — you saw a young man whose talent as an actor is matched only by his genius at promotion.
And yet, there has been a lot of postulating that maybe one of the other nominated actors — Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) and Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”) — has a chance. You know … if things fall just the right way, there’s a path!
I get it. This year’s awards season has felt endless, and the Oscars are still more than three weeks away. Stories must be written, possibilities explored, no matter how remote.
But c’mon. Chalamet has this Oscar locked, just like “Hamnet” lead Jessie Buckley has owned the lead actress trophy since her movie premiered at Telluride in September. Admittedly, the lack of drama isn’t fun or exciting. Pine for an upset if you must, though it might be more fun to just surrender and celebrate Chalamet, a gifted actor and certified movie star who has stockpiled a remarkable body of work over the last decade.
This isn’t to say that you can’t make the case about who should win. DiCaprio continues to be one of our great comic actors and deserves attention just for the master class in phone acting he gives in “One Battle.” Moura carries “The Secret Agent” with an intense, brooding charisma that, one year shy of his 50th birthday, should push him to even greater recognition. Playing the desperate, despairing lyricist Lorenz Hart, Hawke empties his soul and his vocabulary, venting his way through the entirety of “Blue Moon.” And Jordan connects on the biggest swing of his career, playing twin brothers in “Sinners.”
So why is Chalamet winning in a walk? It’s a process of elimination. DiCaprio and Jordan are out as “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” are ensemble films. (Even with the dual roles, Jordan is only in half the movie.) Moura’s work in “The Secret Agent” is sublime, but the Oscars rarely reward subtle acting. (This is a category that has gone to Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Brendan Fraser in “The Whale” and Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker” in recent years.) And Hawke’s nomination is but one of two for “Blue Moon.” Not enough. Even the execrable “The Whale” managed three.
Chalamet already won the Golden Globe for performance by a male actor in a motion picture musical or comedy for “Marty Supreme.” Our columnist predicts an Oscar is next.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Meanwhile, Chalamet is Marty Supreme, the undeniably talented, relentless self-promoter careening toward his goals of fame and fortune with little regard to the damage he is inflicting on others. (That’s Marty, not Timothée.) Marty’s despicable, but also, as played by Chalamet, winningly charming.
No, you’re not supposed to like the guy, which, for voters who, say, blanched at supporting DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” might be a problem. But the academy has changed a lot since Scorsese’s wildly entertaining movie screened for academy members at the Goldwyn and an unnamed screenwriter, seeing Scorsese, DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and writer Terence Winter emerging from an elevator afterward, ran over to them and started screaming, “Shame on you!”
It’s true that not everyone embraces the anxiety-inducing cinema that is the brand of “Marty Supreme” co-writer and director Josh Safdie. Not everyone embraces Safdie himself, after a noisy tabloid story resurfaced allegations of a toxic work environment on the set of the 2017 film “Good Time,” which Safdie directed with his brother, Benny.
But that has nothing to do with Chalamet, who did not work on the movie, or his ferocious, frenetic work in “Marty Supreme.” The biggest knocks against Chalamet seem to be the unorthodox ways he goes about promoting his movie (and himself) and his age (he just turned 30). Historically, the lead actor Oscar goes to men with a few more miles on the odometer. Adrien Brody is the youngest winner, taking the trophy in 2003 for “The Pianist” when he was 29.
But, as noted earlier, things have changed since the film academy began greatly expanding its membership over the past decade. This new academy gave its best picture and three acting prizes to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a bonkers movie that embraced chaos, fingers made of hot dogs and sex toys used as weapons. The new academy just crowned indie auteur Sean Baker king of the world for “Anora,” a Cinderella story about a stripper and a Prince Charming who knows where to score the best ketamine in Vegas.
You think these voters are going to care that Chalamet hasn’t “paid his dues,” an idea that’s patently silly on its surface anyway as this is his third Oscar nomination? He’s the youngest actor to earn three Oscar nominations since Marlon Brando did it, at age 30, in 1954.
By the way, Brando won the Oscar that year for “On the Waterfront.”
The nominated Oscar shorts come in three categories — and a lot of subjects, styles and temperaments. It’s further proof that an award dictated by length needn’t be bound by anything else.
In the live-action category, a mixed bag of approaches — some inspired by classic literature — are burnished by inspired performances. Lee Knight’s “A Friend of Dorothy” may be a tad on the nose about the cultural and emotional impact of a lonely London widow on a closeted teenaged boy. But leads Miriam Margolyes and Alistair Nwachukwu practically shimmer with humor and warmth. “Jane Austen’s Period Drama,” a loving tweak of the writer’s oeuvre from Steve Pinder and Julia Aks (who also stars), is essentially a one-joke calling card to make feature comedies and it should do the job. Its cast is exactly the sprightly ensemble needed to land its what-if laughs.
Two others just miss the mark in terms of bringing their tensions to powerful resolutions yet benefit from who the camera adores. Meyer Levinson-Blount’s “Butcher’s Stain,” centered on a flimsy accusation against a friendly Palestinian butcher in an Israeli market, undercuts its gripping story with lackadaisical filmmaking and an unnecessary subplot, but lead Omar Sameer is commanding. The black-and-white future shock “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” directed by Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh, is an uneven Euro-art bath of unrealized intimacy and casual violence — kissing is punishable by death, slapping is currency — but is given exquisite tautness by the elegant, unrequited swooniness of stars Zar Amir and Luana Bajrami.
A scene from “Jane Austen’s Period Drama,” nominated in the live-action short category.
(Roadside Attractions)
Then there’s my favorite, Sam A. Davis’ likely winner “The Singers,” from Ivan Turgenev’s short story, which pays off handsomely in bites of soulful warbling that briefly turn a barroom’s den of anesthesia into a temple of feeling.
Most of this year’s documentary nominees deal with the grimmest of tragedies, as in “All the Empty Rooms” and “Children No More: Were and Are Gone,” which address the remembrance of children brutally killed. The former film, from Joshua Seftel, follows CBS correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp on an essay project into the bedrooms of kids gunned down in school shootings, their private worlds heartbreakingly preserved by their families. The latter short, directed by Hilla Medalia, witnesses Tel Aviv’s silent vigils for Gaza’s children, protests marked by posters with beaming faces, and sometimes met with open scorn. These are dutiful, sobering acts of mourning — Seftel’s is the probable awardee. You may wish they were more than that, however, considering the issues (guns, war, political intransigence) that created the devastation.
Combat is what drove award-winning photojournalist Brent Renaud, killed in Ukraine in 2022. But his brother Craig’s memorializing of him, “Armed Only With a Camera,” is oddly uninvolving, more an excerpted flipbook of Brent’s far-flung assignments than a meaningful portrait of excelling at a dangerous job. A more affecting real-world dispatch (and my pick, if I could vote) is “The Devil Is Busy,” directed by Christalyn Hampton and dual nominee Geeta Gandbhir, also up for the feature “The Perfect Neighbor.” It observes a day in the operation of a carefully guarded, female-run Georgia abortion clinic as if it were a newly medieval world’s last chance healthcare outpost, getting by on grit, compassion and prayer. You certainly won’t forget security head Tracii, the clinic’s heavyhearted knight and guide.
A scene from “Perfectly a Strangeness,” nominated in the documentary short category.
(Roadside Attractions)
Your chaser is Alison McAlpine’s appealing, aptly titled “Perfectly a Strangeness,” sans humans, but starring three donkeys in an unnamed desert happening upon a cluster of hilltop observatories. The whir of science meets the wonder of nature and this charming, gorgeously shot ode to discovery (both on Earth and out there) makes one hope the motion picture academy sees fit to recognize more imaginative nonfiction works going forward.
Animation, of course, thrives on the thrill of conjured worlds, like the one in Konstantin Bronzit’s wordless (but not soundless) desert island farce “The Three Sisters.” It owes nothing to Chekhov — though there are seagulls — but much to a classically Russian sense of humor and a Chaplinesque ingenuity. Elsewhere, you can watch the overly cute Christian homily “Forevergreen,” from Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears, about a nurturing tree, a restless bear and the dangerous allure of potato chips. The message gets muddled but this eco-conscious journey is charming.
It’s tough to predict a winner when the entrants are this strong, but John Kelly’s “Retirement Plan” feasts on wry relatability, as Domhnall Gleeson narrates a paunchy middle-aged man’s ambitious post-career goals, while the cascade of deadpan funny, thickly-lined and mundanely hued images stress a more poignant, finite reality. In its all-too-human view of life, this is, entertainingly, whatever the opposite of a cloying graduation speech is.
A scene from “Retirement Plan,” nominated in the animated short category.
(Roadside Attractions)
The spindly aged-doll puppetry in the stop-motion gem “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” marks a sly fable of need, greed and destiny, centered on a wealthy grandfather’s Dickensian fashioning of his poverty-stricken childhood in early 19th century Montreal. Filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski find an enchanting balance between storybook allure and adult trickery. Maybe this one steals it?
Whichever the case, the animation that moved me the most is “Butterfly,” from Florence Miailhe, imagining the last, memory-laden swim of Jewish French-Algerian athlete Alfred Nakache, who competed in the Olympics before and after the Holocaust. In the cocooning fluidity of an ocean-borne day, rendered with thick-brushed painterliness and splashes of sound, we travel across flashes of community, injustice, achievement, love and despair. The visual, thematic constant, though, is water as a haven and a poetic life force that feeds renewal.
With yesterday’s Oscar nominees luncheon in the books, the marathon that is awards season is now entering the home stretch. But that doesn’t mean there’s no grist left for the mill, especially when it comes to those — like this week’s cover subject, 73-year-old first-time nominee Delroy Lindo — whose names weren’t necessarily on pundits’ nominations predictions lists.
Through Feb. 26 we’ll be more sharing stories like his, and many others, before Oscar voters cast their final ballots for the March 15 awards. I’ll let my friend Glenn Whipp regale you with tales from his interview with “Sinners” star Lindo when he sends his next newsletter on Friday. In the meantime, read on for more highlights from this week’s issue.
Digital cover story: Wagner Moura
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Basking in the sun outside The Times newsroom ahead of his digital cover shoot last month, Wagner Moura seemed exceptionally relaxed about spending his Tuesday afternoon in El Segundo with a bunch of journalists. But don’t let “The Secret Agent” star’s easygoing personality fool you into thinking he’s aloof in any way.
As contributor Lisa Rosen writes in her profile of the actor, he’s unafraid to draw pointed comparison’s between Kleber Mendonça Filho’s acclaimed political thriller — nominated for four Oscars, including lead actor — and contemporary politics, from disgraced Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to federal agents in American streets.
“This is also a film about infamy, because he’s being persecuted so unfairly,” he tells Rosen, comparing his character’s fate to that of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti. After their deaths, he continues, “lies were spread about them online. It’s so cruel, and so it’s killing the person twice.”
But I don’t think you need to be intimately acquainted with Hawke, who also appeared on an Envelope digital cover last fall, to find him and Kaplow high-caliber raconteurs of the joys, and occasional indignities, of making independent films. “Sometimes you get to set and it’s easy to shape the text to make it more your own. The process here was for me to get rid of Ethan,” says Hawke. “It was to try and match the screenplay. I don’t ever remember working as hard — or [director] Rick [Linklater] being as mean to me.”
As far as hooking the listener to a story goes, Lorenz Hart, the loquacious lyricist that Hawke and Kaplow pay homage to in “Blue Moon,” would be proud.
Inside the race for best editing
(Illustration by Vartika Sharma / For The Times)
Oscar voters have occasionally been accused of making this award about the most editing instead of the best editing, but from the descriptions of this year’s five nominees, I think we can safely say that whomever the winner ends up being, their achievement will have been genuinely outstanding.
As contributor Bill Desowitz discovered from his outreach to the editors of “F1,” “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme,” “Sentimental Value” and “Sinners,” coping with trauma is the surprising through line among the disparate scenes the nominees themselves chose as most pivotal to their films. (Given the volume of the footage some of them waded through, they might be suffering it too.)
AN iconic American actress looks completely unrecognizable after a string of legendary roles and an Oscar nomination.
The star first shot to fame in 1983 as she appeared in Scarface playing Al Pacino’s character’s sister, Gina Montana.
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The now 67-year-old looked incredible as she starred in a string of 80s and 90s hitsCredit: AlamyShe even played Maid Maron in Robin Hood Prince of ThievesCredit: Warner BrosThe star was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her role Carmen in The Colour of Money back in 1986Credit: Getty
Mary’s style is incredibly chic, with the actress often donning shirt’s and over sized blazers.
Years ago, glamourous Mary was often seen on red carpets wearing floor length gowns and posing with her A-lister pals.
Many of Mary’s fans may recognise her from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, where she played Maid Marion – a spy.
While Mary is probably best known for her role in Scarface she also appeared in the 1986 movie The Colour of Money, playing Carmen, which landed her the coveted Oscars Best Supporting Actress nomination.
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Paul Newman and Tom Cruise appeared alongside the star in the movie, which also saw her nominated for a Golden Globe.
Her other movie roles include James Cameron’s science fiction, The Abyss with Ed Harris, she played the attorney daughter ofGene Hackman‘s character inClass Action, co-starred in the 1992 thrillerConsenting Adults and played a fishing boat captain in The Perfect Storm.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio appeared alongside Ed Harris in the science fiction movie The Abyss in 1989Credit: AlamyAs well as her work on a string of Legendary films the actress has also appeared in iconic TV shows including Law & Order: Criminal intentCredit: Getty
The singer was also nominated for a Tony award for Best Actress in a musical back in 2003 for her work in Man of La Mancha.
As well as her impressive career as a movie star, Mary also appeared in many TV shows, the most notable being Without A Trace and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Mary was born in Lombard, Illinois and studied drama at the university. She worked summers at a local theme park to get her through college.
The Broadway star lived in England for over 20 years with her husband Pat O’Connor, who directed The January Man.
Mary and Pat have two sons and they all moved back to the US in the 2010s.
The movie star now works as a professional coach using her years of experience in theatre, film and prime time television.
Mary now spends her time as a professional coach, teaching students using her years of experience in theatre, film and prime time televisionCredit: AlamyBrunette bombshell Mary has been spotted out looking incredibly chic yet completely unrecognizableCredit: Getty
Six months and 16 Oscar nominations ago, Delroy Lindo hopped on a Zoom call with the awards consultants running the campaign for Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying American horror story, “Sinners.” Actors don’t often participate in these meetings. But Lindo had received so much love for his turn as bluesman Delta Slim since “Sinners” premiered in April, he figured, “Why not sit in?” Mostly, he just wanted to ask one simple question: How can we make the most of this moment?
“I don’t know what their answer was, but it seems to have worked,” I tell him over lunch recently.
Lindo starts rapping on the wood table separating us and doesn’t stop until I ask if he’s a man given to superstition.
“Can I tell you where I think it comes from?” he asks. “I’m acutely aware absolutely nothing is promised. There’s no such thing as a sure thing. Anything can happen. So in knocking wood, one is trying to increase one’s chances that the outcome will be what one wants.”
So you’ve been knocking on wood for the last six months?
Now I’m the one who’s laughing, which Lindo appreciates. But he has more to say on the subject.
“You have to understand something,” he continues. “When an actor does a piece of work and it really touches people and has an impact like it did with Delta Slim and ‘Sinners,’ you can’t help but think how it might be broadened. I try to maintain an emotional distance because I have no control over much of it. Awards season.” He shakes his head. “So …” Lindo pounds on the table again. “Knock … on … wood.”
You want an illustration of the unpredictable nature of the acting profession? Lindo and I wouldn’t be at this table talking and rapping and toasting the first Oscar nomination of his long career if one particular cut of “Sinners,” the version Coogler showed him at the Imax headquarters in Playa Vista more than a year ago, had gone out into the world.
Lindo, left, on the set of “Sinners” with co-star Michael B. Jordan and writer-director Ryan Coogler.
(Eli Ade / Warner Bros. Pictures)
If you’ve seen the film, you’ll no doubt remember Delta Slim delivering a monologue in the car riding to the juke joint with Stack (Michael B. Jordan) and Preacher Boy (Miles Caton) where he recalls the lynching of a fellow musician. The scene ends with Lindo breaking into a guttural humming and drumming, expressing pain that transcends words.
When Lindo saw the movie that first time, the monologue had been truncated, and the scene preceding it, where their car passes a chain gang and Delta Slim stands and exhorts the prisoners to “hold your heads,” was gone too.
After the credits finished rolling and the lights came up, Coogler asked Lindo what he thought of the film. Lindo looked at him. “Can we talk, man?” They went outside, and Lindo laid out in his steady, resonant baritone why he thought Coogler needed to reinstate the chain-gang scene, which reveals Delta Slim’s origin story — and surely, since the chain-gang scene is intertwined with the monologue in the car, that should go back into the movie too.
“What Ryan did so brilliantly is he took the time to introduce all of the main characters in their native environments so the audience gets invested in them and what they mean to the community,” Lindo says. “For Delta Slim, those scenes were the fundamental building blocks.”
“The Delta Slim monologue had a lot of ‘Is it in, is it out?’ debate,” “Sinners” film editor Michael P. Shawver says. “But I knew in my heart and soul I was never going let the movie out without that being in it.”
Coogler, it turns out, saw it that way too.
Delroy Lindo.
(Bexx Francois / For The Times)
“I couldn’t imagine making a movie about the blues without giving some deeper context on what that music really signifies,” Coogler writes in an email. “It’s easy to get lost in the rhythm and the artistry of it all, but the blues was born from a lot of pain and adversity in a particular time and place. When I wrote the script, I felt like I needed a living, breathing embodiment of that, and Delroy nailed it.”
“We could have filmed that monologue a thousand different times and it would have taken on new life with each take,” Coogler continues. “The gut-punch way he ends it, going from telling the story of a lynching to drumming along and humming … it’s macabre, sorrowful and beautiful all at the same time. It shows you exactly why Delroy’s such a masterful actor. If you ever needed to give someone the world’s fastest lesson in what the blues is about, he gives it to you right there.”
“God bless him,” Lindo says.
“Working for the camera, we’re at the mercy of the editing process,” Lindo notes. He speaks slowly, deliberately, always choosing his words carefully because language is important to him. It’s his currency.
How does he feel about that loss of control?
“It’s scary,” Lindo says. “One had better make one’s peace with that very quickly. If you don’t, you will get your feelings hurt. It’ll be a problem.”
Asked to pinpoint when he came to terms with that, Lindo remembers “Clockers,” the 1995 Spike Lee crime drama in which he played the intimidating drug kingpin Rodney Little. It was his third collaboration with Lee, following “Malcolm X” and “Crooklyn,” and the two enjoyed a mutual respect and rapport. But Lee still cut three of Lindo’s scenes, which Lindo understood — “kind of, sort of.” Lee was looking at the larger story. Those scenes weren’t essential.
“Making one’s peace with it is not the same as accepting it and being happy with it,” Lindo says, raising an index finger, a gesture he often makes when telling you something he considers important. “It’s just the way it is. It’s a fact of life.”
When talking about his career, Lindo, 73, tells me more than once that “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”
The first time he tells me this we are talking about one of his early lead acting turns, starring in the 1983 Yale Repertory Theatre production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” the story of a struggling Black family dealing with discrimination in 1950s South Chicago. Lindo played the frustrated patriarch, Walter Lee, and won some strong reviews. But he felt like he was the “weak link” in the production. In a GQ profile, it was written that Lindo, born in London, couldn’t convince himself that the African American experience was his to interpret.
“Nope,” Lindo says. “I did not say that.” Again, the index finger. “You’re giving me the opportunity to set the record straight.” He pauses and closes his eyes. “Doing that play, I had an inner monologue playing in my head that cast doubt on my ability to play the part successfully. And it continued and it grew. It became a tape and then an album and then a series of albums. It eroded my confidence.”
“You know what it was?” he continues. “It was a self-esteem issue. It was an issue of me saying to myself, ‘You’re not good enough. You want to do one of the great parts in the theater? No. You don’t have it.’ Now, what’s the root of all that?” Lindo laughs, clasps his hands together and raises them. “The roots of that are food for myself and a therapist.”
But there is a happy ending to the story. Lindo was cast once more as Walter Lee, for a production of “A Raisin in the Sun” mounted at the Kennedy Center in 1986. Lloyd Richards again was directing, indicating to Lindo that maybe he wasn’t as bad as he thought he had been. Richards did tell Lindo that he needed to jettison some of the neurotic choices he was making as an actor.
“Those are the words he used, ‘neurotic choices,’” Lindo says, shaking his head. He pauses. “Man, I’m giving you a lot here. But it’s OK. You know why it’s OK?”
Because you’re enjoying our conversation? I venture.
Delroy Lindo.
(Bexx Francois / For The Times)
“No,” Lindo says. “I’m not particularly enjoying telling you about my failures. But this was an absolute period of growth for me as an actor all because I learned the most important thing: preparation, preparation, preparation.”
For his reprise of “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lindo called musical multihyphenate Oscar Brown Jr. and asked if he could fly to Chicago and pick his brain about life on the city’s South Side in the 1950s. Lindo walked the streets where “Raisin” playwright Lorraine Hansberry lived, steeping himself in what it meant to exist in that place and time. After that, the tape was no longer playing in his head, even when co-star Esther Rolle’s face fell after she realized that Lindo had been cast as Walter Lee. She thought she’d be headlining with Glynn Turman, but Turman had dropped out.
“Eight days, maybe nine into rehearsals, Esther turned to me — and this is when I knew it was going to be all right — and she said, ‘You’re a nice actor,’” Lindo remembers, smiling.
Preparation, preparation, preparation. For Delta Slim, Lindo read books on the blues, listened to Son House, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and immersed himself in the culture of the Mississippi Delta. When it came time to shoot that monologue in the car, he was ready. On the next-to-last take, Lindo improvised, letting music take the place of words. Jordan went with it, turning to Caton in character, saying, “You got that guitar in your hand, don’t you, boy?” Caton begins playing.
“Man, we were all in the work,” Lindo says.
Where did that improvisation come from? I ask.
“It’s the musical manifestation of the pain I’m feeling,” Lindo says. “It’s the only thing I know how to do in that moment.”
It’s the blues.
“It’s the blues, man,” Lindo says. “I’ve heard it said numerous times: That’s where the blues comes from. And as an actor who participated in that moment, communicating that is extraordinary and profoundly gratifying.”
“Frankenstein” star Jacob Elordi, at 6 feet 5 easy to spot from across the ballroom, leaned down to hug Teyana Taylor, a supporting actress Oscar nominee for “One Battle After Another.” Nearby, her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio caught up with Steven Spielberg, who directed him 24 years ago in “Catch Me If You Can,” while “Sentimental Value” filmmaker Joachim Trier huddled with “One Battle’s” Paul Thomas Anderson, a fellow directing nominee. In the middle of it all, songwriter Diane Warren paused to take a selfie, still evidently enjoying the giddy thrill of being in a room full of fellow hopefuls even after 17 times.
In all, 203 of this year’s 230 Academy Award nominees gathered Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the annual nominees luncheon, a brief moment of campaign-free conviviality amid the churn of awards season. As flashbulbs followed the most famous faces, major stars like Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone and Kate Hudson rubbed elbows and shared champagne toasts with lesser-known nominees from categories like animation, sound and live-action short before lining up for the annual class photo.
With the Oscars just weeks away on March 15, the long-running gathering — a ritual dating to 1982 and returning this year after being canceled in 2025 because of the Los Angeles County wildfires — offered the nominees a welcome stretch of easygoing mingling, largely free of competition. The reprieve is short-lived: Voting begins on Feb. 26, when the brutal math of awards season will reassert itself, meaning roughly 80% of them will head home on Oscar night empty-handed.
Kate Hudson, a lead actress nominee for “Song Sung Blue,” at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
For first-time contenders, the luncheon carried a particular rush. Christalyn Hampton, a co-director of the documentary short “The Devil Is Busy,” which follows a day at an abortion clinic in Atlanta, said she was excited to meet “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler, whose period vampire thriller leads the field with a record 16 nominations.
“We’re two African American directors nominated this year — I think that’s pretty historic,” said Hampton, a former professional dancer whose first directing credit has landed her an Oscar nod. “Flying back and forth from Atlanta has been a bit exhausting, but to be in this moment with all these incredible filmmakers — you can’t complain.”
Jacob Elordi, left, and “Sirāt” film director Oliver Laxe — two extremely tall nominees — at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Still, even inside the awards-season bubble, the turmoil surrounding the movie business, the country and the world beyond it was hard to ignore. As attendees tucked into their chicken, more than a few discussions drifted to whether Netflix or Paramount would prevail in their attempts to acquire Warner Bros. and what either scenario might portend for the future of movies.
In her remarks, academy President Lynette Howell Taylor acknowledged the questions many nominees have been asking themselves amid industry contraction, political volatility and global conflict. “The art you create is vital,” Howell Taylor told the crowd. “I know many of us ask ourselves, ‘Should we be doing something else? Should we be doing something differently? Should we be doing more?’ The answer to that is personal. But what I do know is this: What you are doing is not easy and it is so needed.”
Teyana Taylor, nominated for supporting actress for “One Battle After Another,” at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
She praised the resilience of filmmakers who have endured strikes, dangerous political environments and even war zones. “To not make your films, to not tell your stories, is to give in,” she said. “And there is not one of you in this room who has been willing to do that.”
That tension was felt especially sharply by Sara Khaki, co-director (with Mohammadreza Eyni) of the documentary feature nominee “Cutting Through Rocks,” which follows the first Iranian woman elected as a councilwoman in a rural village. The weeks since the nomination, Khaki said, have been both “terrible and wonderful,” as her home country has been rocked by protests against the Iranian government.
Elle Fanning, nominated for “Sentimental Value,” at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
“What’s terrible is what we’re experiencing back home — the internet shut down, worrying about our loved ones,” she said. “What’s wonderful is what’s happening here. So it’s a mix of emotions, really.”
Another Iranian nominee was absent altogether. Mehdi Mahmoudian, nominated as a co-writer of director Jafar Panahi’s drama “It Was Just an Accident,” was arrested this month in Iran after signing a statement condemning the government’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
Actor Wagner Moura, nominated for “The Secret Agent,” and former AMPAS President Janet Yang at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
At each table, nominees were asked to fill out a card with a simple question: “What movie made you want to be part of this world?” After pondering for a moment, “Nomadland” Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, nominated in the directing category for the second time for the wrenching drama “Hamnet,” wrote down Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 1998 film, “After Life,” a quietly humane meditation on memory and meaning that felt closely aligned with her own filmmaking sensibility. The answers, Howell Taylor explained, would be used for “a special moment” during the Oscar telecast.
As in years past, the luncheon also came with a bit of gentle coaching about what to do — and not to do — should one’s name be called on Oscar night, including moving briskly to the stage, keeping remarks to no more than 45 seconds and not leaning into the microphone.
Directors Steven Spielberg, left, and Paul Thomas Anderson at the 2026 Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Above all, Howell Taylor urged nominees to resist the temptation to thank everyone they’ve ever worked with. “You’ll forget someone and you’ll feel terrible,” she said.
Better, she suggested, to focus on what the moment actually means. “You are the show,” Howell Taylor reminded them. “It’s your speeches. This is an entertainment show millions of people will be watching, so let’s make the most of it.”
This coming of age film set in 1950s Mexico City and Ecuador starring a famous Hollywood star has had fans praising it as ‘fascinating’ and ‘leaving a lasting impression’
‘Outstanding’ period drama ‘robbed of an Oscar’ on BBC tonight(Image: A24)
A period drama set in the 1950s and starring a Hollywood actor was ‘robbed of an Oscar’ fans have declared – and it’s being shown on BBC2 tonight.
Queer is set in 1950s Mexico City and Ecuador and the film follows an outcast American expatriate (played by James Bond star Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a much younger man called Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), leading them on a surreal, trippy journey to South America.
The movie premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024, and is based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs.
The film might have almost been overshadowed by Craig’s more prominent roles as James Bond, but fans have had nothing but praise for the star in this film.
Reviews have praised the drama as one person posted on ratings website Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a decent score of 77 percent: “Daniel Craig was robbed a nomination for this role. He’s outstanding in this. A surprisingly funny movie too. Very sad ending that will sit with me for a while.”
Another person shared: “Stars Daniel Craig and Lesley Manville in an A24 Production. Atmospheric period 50s and well-wrought of production design. The lighting and set decoration are a joy to behold, and score is beautiful, moody and modern.
“Perhaps the daring subject keeps it in the media periphery, but I thought this was a well-intentioned, well-crafted period picture about the bold life of a bold man.
“Craig’s performance is as pained as it is exacting, revealing a depth of the actor that i hadn’t seen in his formulaic action pictures.”
“Daniel Craig delivers a performance that’s both sharp and searching, proof that his craft is never on autopilot. Paired with a taut, enigmatic narrative, this film refuses to sit quietly in the corner of cinema—it’s something stranger, bolder, and far more magnetic,” said a third.
A fourth posted: “Really likes this film great acting and directing, I read the book like years ago and it fascinated me as a young fella, putting on screen was well done by the director.”
Another shared: “Very realistic yet conceptual. It was interesting to see how each chapter was narrated in their own way, slowly turning conceptual and almost abstract.”
A fifth wrote: “It leaves a lasting impression. It’s strange, not so much because of the relationship between the two protagonists — which is actually quite common, with one refusing to acknowledge his homosexuality and ending up torturing the other to exhaustion, remaining cold and emotionally indifferent — but because of certain scenes that strongly recall the world of David Lynch.
“Knowing what William S. Burroughs’ life was like, it’s clear that the film is very much inspired by his own life experience. Daniel Craig is impeccable. And the music is magnificent.”
Queer airs on Tuesday 10 February on BBC2 at 11pm.
The 98th Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday and Ryan Coogler’s musical horror earned 16 overall nominations, breaking the record for the most nominations for a film previously held by “All about Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016). “Sinners’” nominations include best picture, directing, original screenplay and individual acting nods for stars Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedic political thriller “One Battle After Another” followed with 13 total nominations, which included nods for picture, directing, adapted screenplay and actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ alien comedy “Bugonia,” Chloé Zhao’s tragic Shakespeare drama “Hamnet,” Joseph Kosinski’s racing drama “F1,” Guillermo del Toro’s gothic monster mash “Frankenstein,” Josh Safdie’s ping-pong picture “Marty Supreme,” Brazilian political thriller “The Secret Agent,” Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value” and Clint Bentley’s lyrical period piece “Train Dreams” rounded out the nominees for best picture.
Performers from both “The Secret Agent” and “Sentimental Value” also earned acting nominations, making it another banner year for international features. Other top nominees include “Frankenstein,” “Marty Supreme” and “Sentimental Value,” which earned nine nods apiece.
Actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman announced the nominations at the academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. See the full list of nominees below.
Actress in a supporting role Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value” Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value” Amy Madigan, “Weapons” Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners” Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Actor in a supporting role Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another” Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein” Delroy Lindo, “Sinners” Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another” Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
Adapted screenplay “Bugonia,” Will Tracy “Frankenstein,” Guillermo del Toro “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell “One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson “Train Dreams,” Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Original screenplay “Blue Moon,” Robert Kaplow “It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi “Marty Supreme,” Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein “Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler
Documentary short “All the Empty Rooms” “Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” “Children No More: ‘Were and Are Gone’” “The Devil Is Busy” “Perfectly a Strangeness”
Animated short “Butterfly” “Forevergreen” “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” “Retirement Plan” “The Three Sisters”
Cinematography “Frankenstein,” Dan Laustsen “Marty Supreme,” Darius Khondji “One Battle After Another,” Michael Bauman “Sinners,” Autumn Durald Arkapaw “Train Dreams,” Adolpho Veloso
Costume design “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” Deborah L. Scott “Frankenstein,” Kate Hawley “Hamnet,” Malgosia Turzanska “Marty Supreme,” Miyako Bellizzi “Sinners,” Ruth E. Carter
Film editing “F1,” Stephen Mirrione “Marty Supreme,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie “One Battle After Another,” Andy Jurgensen “Sentimental Value,” Olivier Bugge Coutté “Sinners,” Michael P. Shawver
Live-action short “Butcher’s Stain” “A Friend of Dorothy” “Jane Austen’s Period Drama” “The Singers” “Two People Exchanging Saliva”
Makeup and hairstyling “Frankenstein,” Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey “Kokuho,” Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu “Sinners,” Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry “The Smashing Machine,” Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein “The Ugly Stepsister,” Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg
Original score “Bugonia,” Jerskin Fendrix “Frankenstein,” Alexandre Desplat “Hamnet,” Max Richter “One Battle After Another,” Jonny Greenwood “Sinners,” Ludwig Göransson
Original song “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless” “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” “I Lied to You” from “Sinners” “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!” “Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams”
Production design “Frankenstein” “Hamnet” “Marty Supreme” “One Battle After Another” “Sinners”
Sound “F1” “Frankenstein” “One Battle After Another” “Sinners” “Sirāt”
Oscar nominations landed Thursday morning and you’d really have to be a curmudgeon to complain, what with the year’s two best films, “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” hauling in the most nods. One of these movies is going to win best picture (probably “One Battle”), continuing a nice little streak of top-shelf winners. “Oppenheimer” to “Anora” to “One Battle After Another”? That’s the best run since the early ’90s when “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Unforgiven” and “Schindler’s List” prevailed.
Of course, not everyone is celebrating this morning. “Wicked: For Good”? The complete disrespectation! The latest “Avatar” sequel? More ash than fire.
The Oscars cap their nominees at five per category (with the exception of best picture), leading, invariably, to some surprises and omissions — some egregious, some understandable. For alliteration and search engine optimization, we’ll call these “snubs,” though you’d have to be a true narcissist, say somebody who’d threaten to invade a country because he felt scorned over not winning a prize, to really take it personally.
Fortunately, Hollywood is free of ego, leaving us just to rationally contemplate the academy’s choices and examine the snubs and surprises of the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 15.
Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in “Wicked: For Good.”
SNUB: “Wicked: For Good” (picture) The first “Wicked” earned 10 nominations last year, going on to win two Oscars. Surely, the sequel would be popular too. But the box office was down (more than $200 million globally), the reviews were mostly meh, and academy members took note. Duplicating the first movie’s Oscar haul was going to be a challenge, as some voters would naturally resist rewarding something they had just honored a year ago. And the material posed its own challenges, as the musical’s second act isn’t as fun or focused. But to go from 10 nominations to being completely shut out? What a difference a year makes.
SURPRISE: “F1” (picture) There’s a demographic in the motion picture academy affectionately known as “steak-eaters,” men in the autumn of their years who appreciate a good Dad Movie centered on old(ish) guys who most definitely know best. With membership broadening, this demo has lost a bit of its influence over the years. But the dudes can take a victory lap today, celebrating the nomination of Joseph Kosinski’s swaggering, vroom-vroom sports movie.
SNUB: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (picture) The third “Avatar” movie has grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, which is impressive, though still about $1 billion behind 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” That movie, like the first one, was nominated for best picture. But “Fire and Ash” couldn’t even manage a nod from the Producers Guild, a group that operates from a bigger-the-better mentality. There’s a feeling of fatigue about the franchise, with even creator James Cameron giving the distinct impression that he’s ready to move on. Here’s another signal that it’s time.
SNUB: “It Was Just an Accident” (picture) The warning signs were there. Jafar Panahi’s searing (and often funny) social critique of authoritarianism did not fare well on the Oscar or BAFTA early lists. But with the current political climate and the alarming events transpiring in Panahi’s native Iran, it still felt like it’d make the best picture cut. Its absence feels like a big miss or, less charitably, a dereliction of duty.
Stellan Skarsgård, left, and Elle Fanning in a scene from director Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value.”
(Kasper Tuxen/Neon)
SURPRISE: Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value” (director) Trier seemed to be slipping down the ranks of contenders, but voters no doubt appreciated his film’s salty view of Hollywood as well as the way “Sentimental Value” subtly shifted between past and present, hope and hurt. Trier also earned an original screenplay nomination, repeating the success he enjoyed with his last movie, “The Worst Person in the World,” also starring Renate Reinsve.
SNUB: Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein” (director) Scorsese stumped for him, as did David Fincher, George Lucas and Jason Reitman. “It’s a remarkable work,” Scorsese said during a Q&A with Del Toro. “It stays with you. I dreamed of it.” The affable, movie-loving Del Toro has won many fans inside and outside the industry over the years, along with Oscars for directing and producing the 2017 best picture winner “The Shape of Water” and for “Pinocchio,” the enchanting 2022 movie that snagged animated feature. “Frankenstein” isn’t his best work, but Del Toro did snag a Directors Guild nod. And “Frankenstein” itself earned 9 Oscar nominations. The directors branch, though, went with Trier.
SNUB: Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident” (director) Panahi has had quite the year: He won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May and was sentenced in December to one year in prison for “propaganda activities” related to his work. Both speak to the effectiveness of “It Was Just an Accident,” a withering critique of the cruelty and corruption of an authoritarian regime. Panahi did receive his first Oscar nomination, an original screenplay nod.
SURPRISE: Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue” (lead actress) Hudson’s winning turn in this sincere heart-warmer about a husband-wife Neil Diamond tribute act gave the actor her first nomination since her spectacular arrival a quarter-century ago in “Almost Famous.” “Song Sung Blue” had its own lane in this race, appealing to voters starved for the kind of sincere adult drama that studios once routinely made. And Hudson had a number of famous friends — Demi Moore, Reba McEntire and, of course, her mom, Goldie Hawn — hosting screenings and singing her praises. Maybe even singing some Neil Diamond songs. Who can resist? Not voters.
Chase Infiniti in “One Battle After Another.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
SNUB: Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another” (lead actress) Infiniti’s placement in the lead category, clearing the decks in supporting for co-star Teyana Taylor, raised a few eyebrows. She’s only in the movie for about half an hour, and though her character drives the action and ends the movie in spectacular fashion, that wasn’t enough in a category flush with weightier work.
SNUB: Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee” (lead actress) For true believers in Seyfried’s frenzied work in Mona Fastvold’s story of devotion and delusion, it’s hard to shake this one off.
SNUB: Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good” (lead actress) Here’s the rub: The second half of “Wicked” no longer centers Erivo’s Elphaba. When she’s on the screen — and not wearing that sex cardigan — she’s still great, masterfully conveying Elphaba’s vulnerability and sadness. But in a competitive lead actress category, Erivo simply didn’t have the screen time to convince voters to give her an encore nomination.
SURPRISE: Delroy Lindo, “Sinners” (supporting actor) Lindo finally earned his first Oscar nomination, riding the wave of “Sinners’” record haul. His portrayal of the world-weary Mississippi bluesman Delta Slim was central to the movie’s exploration of life in the Jim Crow South and included a powerful monologue that told the story of the lynching of a fellow musician. The movie wouldn’t have been as special without it.
Paul Mescal in “Hamnet.”
(Agata Grzybowska / Focus Features)
SNUB: Paul Mescal, “Hamnet” (supporting actor) He played Shakespeare, but voters weren’t in love. How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless audience.
SNUB: Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good” (supporting actress) Grande functioned as a co-lead in the first “Wicked,” winning a supporting actress nomination last year, and took center stage in the sequel. But her Oscar fortunes waned as “Wicked: For Good” couldn’t replicate the spell the original cast on audiences. It’s possible too that, good as she is at light comedy, some voters didn’t buy Glinda’s transformation after spending nearly the entire movie betraying Elphaba at every turn. With friends like her, who needs enemies?
SURPRISE: Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value” (supporting actress) SAG-AFTRA voters ignored the cast of “Sentimental Value” for the Actor Awards, but the ensemble came back in a big way with the academy. Fanning, playing an A-list American actress navigating the strained family dynamics of the auteur who hired her for his comeback, joined Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Stellan Skarsgård among the nominees.
SNUB: Odessa A’zion, “Marty Supreme” (supporting actress) A’zion’s chances at a nomination seemed to rise along with the success of “Marty Supreme.” She picked up an Actor Award nomination earlier this month for playing Rachel, the film’s chaos-creating schemer. Oh well. Maybe we’ll see her at the Emmys later this year for her tumultuous turn as a Gen Z influencer in “I Love LA.”
SNUB: “No Other Choice” (international feature) Oscar voters have been resistant to Park Chan-wook in the past, ignoring the likes of “Decision to Leave” and “The Handmaiden.” But “No Other Choice,” a humane — and darkly comic — look at ugly things people can do when desperate felt like a potential breakthrough. Park will have to wait … again.
Bobb has fallen down the pecking order at City after the January arrival of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth.
“I know there are rumours, I know there are talks,” manager Pep Guardiola said on Saturday after City’s win over Wolves.
Asked if Bobb wants to leave the club, Guardiola replied: “I think so.”
Bobb, who has also had interest from Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, has featured 15 times for City this season without scoring.
He last played on 17 December against Brentford in the Carabao Cup, when he hobbled off injured inside the opening 20 minutes.
Fulham have lost only one of their last seven Premier League games under Silva and sit seventh in the table following their 2-1 win over Brighton on Saturday.
Bobb has featured six times for Norway this year, helping them qualify for this summer’s World Cup, and would unite with compatriot Sander Berge at Craven Cottage.
He missed almost the whole of last season after fracturing a bone in his leg during training in August 2024.
