This “Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot,” the first in a series that THR will run ahead of Oscar night, reflects the votes — and candid rationales for them — of a male member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 202-person short films branch, as communicated to THR in return for anonymity. THR does not necessarily endorse these views or suggest that they are representative of anything other than this voter’s perspective.
Best picture
I liked Emilia Pérez when I watched it but, even before all the shit that happened [involving lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón], it wasn’t in my top 10. I’d have preferred to see its spot go to Sing Sing, which was underappreciated; or Juror #2, which I really liked; or The Wild Robot or No Other Land, but you know how most of the Academy treats animated and documentary films — no respect. I do like musicals, and Wicked was tight. I’m Still Here was great, and, as we’ll come to, it’s my pick for international feature. I really liked the performances in A Complete Unknown — the fact that Timmy [Chalamet] and Monica [Barbaro] were both really singing and playing the guitar was incredible. Anora was great — the story and the performances were really fun, Sean [Baker] directed the shit out of it — but the others did more for me. The Substance was what I love about cinema at its best. It’s so bold — the story, the sound design, the makeup. They gave the audience an experience. And it’s so rare for the Academy to recognize a horror film, but the fact that this one is kind of about what it’s like to be a woman in Hollywood probably helped more people to connect with it. I loved the first Dune. Dune: Part Two had some weaker story elements — he [Denis Villeneuve] cares so much more about visuals than storytelling, and you can notice that in this one more than the first — and I didn’t think Zendaya was that great in it. But the cinematic spectacle of it was so monumental that I still was blown away. Nickel Boys is so audacious — I’d read the book, and let me tell you, that is not an easy one to adapt, but the way that RaMell Ross did it, with the first-person perspective, was exactly right. But for me, the final two films were incredibly hard to decide between. Going in to The Brutalist, I’d never heard of Brady Corbet and was dreading the [three-and-a-half-hour] runtime, but the way people who had seen it at the festivals were talking about it convinced me to go to a screening really early in the season, and by the end I really appreciated why he did it the way he did it. It’s just an incredible film — beautifully shot, amazing performances, and such a powerful story. But Conclave was so interesting and exciting in a completely different way — and fun, with a little mystery involved. I thought the ending was great — it wasn’t trying to make a point, it was just a perfect reveal. Edward Berger is an incredible director.
VOTE: (1) Conclave, (2) The Brutalist, (3) Nickel Boys, (4) Dune: Part Two, (5) The Substance, (6) Anora, (7) A Complete Unknown, (8) I’m Still Here, (9) Wicked, (10) Emilia Pérez
Best director
I judge this category like one judges an Olympic sport: the degree of difficulty, plus the execution — did you stick the landing? I think this category needs to be expanded to at least eight. Edward Berger, RaMell Ross and Denis Villeneuve should’ve been nominated. How many other directors could’ve done what they did? And why is [A Complete Unknown’s] James Mangold in here but they aren’t? He’s a really good director — he told the story well — but there was nothing special about the way he directed that film. You want to tell me that directing Timmy Chalamet in New York was harder than directing an epic in the desert? Come on. I was torn between Brady and [The Substance’s] Coralie Fargeat, and I ended up going with Coralie. If she wasn’t there, I’d have picked Brady, because the fact that he made his movie look that good with only $10 million is unbelievable. But I just thought about historical absence [only three women have ever won this category’s Oscar] and high degree of execution — she nailed it with that film.
VOTE: Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best actor
I had a hard time with this one. Timmy was probably the easiest one for me to let go. Ralph [Fiennes of Conclave], [The Brutalist’s Adrien] Brody and Colman’s [Domingo of Sing Sing] performances were just so good. I got to hear a lot from the Sing Sing guys, and really liked them, and I think that what Colman did for that movie, on and off screen, was just remarkable.
VOTE: Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Best actress
I was very strongly considering voting for Karla, but when her tweets started coming out I was flabbergasted — I was like, “I can’t believe this person said these things.” And it kept getting worse every day. It quickly became obvious, “I’m not voting for this person. No way.” After that, it was between Mikey [Madison of Anora] and Demi [Moore of The Substance]. Both of them are at the heart of their films, and I loved both of their films. I’m not opposed to voting for new, younger people, when they are amazing. But Demi has been around for a long time, and she absolutely crushed it.
VOTE: Demi Moore, The Substance
Best supporting actor
I thought it was insane that the one guy from Anora [Yura Borisov] got nominated over the other two [Mark Eydelshteyn and Karren Karagulian]. I seriously considered [The Apprentice’s] Jeremy Strong and [The Brutalist’s] Guy Pearce, but at the end of the day I just loved Kieran [Culkin] in A Real Pain.
VOTE: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Best supporting actress
I was never as high on Zoe [Saldaña of Emilia Pérez] as everyone else was. I definitely considered [Conclave’s Isabella] Rossellini. But I was just so impressed with Monica in A Complete Unknown. The only other thing I’d ever seen her in was Top Gun [Maverick], and this was like another person.
VOTE: Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Best adapted screenplay
I was open to any of them except Emilia Pérez. The more I thought about it, the more I was torn between Conclave, Nickel Boys and Sing Sing.
VOTE: Sing Sing
Best original screenplay
Anora and A Real Pain are really good scripts, but scripts don’t get more original than The Substance.
VOTE: The Substance
Best animated feature
I was absolutely certain I was going to vote for Inside Out 2 — until I saw The Wild Robot. The Wild Robot’s story, humor, emotion and score are just so strong.
VOTE: The Wild Robot
Best documentary feature
I wasn’t blown away by Sugarcane. I was torn between Black Box Diaries and No Other Land. I ended up voting for No Other Land because it moved me so much. I wasn’t really aware of what was going on over there [in the West Bank], and it’s just so objectively awful.
VOTE: No Other Land
Best international feature
I probably would’ve voted for Emilia Pérez had all that not gone down. After that, it was between I’m Still Here and The Seed of the Sacred Fig, and I just liked I’m Still Here a little more.
VOTE: I’m Still Here, Brazil
Best cinematography
You could take so many stills from The Brutalist and frame them. But I went with Dune: Part Two because Brady was shooting miniatures, but what Denis and Greig [Fraser] did was on a whole different scale and looked absolutely beautiful.
VOTE: Dune: Part Two
Best costume design
It was between Wicked and Conclave for me. I went with Conclave because I’d heard Edward Berger talk about the way they selected the robes and changed certain colors, and it just looked really cool. That said, I wish I’d realized at the time that Paul Tazewell did Wicked, because Paul is a legend.
VOTE: Conclave
Best film editing
There are some really interesting sequences in Anora, like the home invasion in the middle, but I voted for The Brutalist. Some people are like, “A three-and-a-half-hour movie needs more editing,” but I regarded it as two movies split up by the intermission, and I felt that there wasn’t really any fat on the bone.
VOTE: The Brutalist
Best makeup and hairstyling
It wasn’t close for me: The Substance. The way the makeup and prosthetics progress as Demi is aging rapidly, up through the end scene, is just so good.
VOTE: The Substance
Best original score
I write to scores, so I’ve heard all of this year’s nominees many times, and all of them are really good. But [The Wild Robot’s] Kris Bowers deserves it this year. He has deserved it for a number of years.
VOTE: The Wild Robot
Best original song
I don’t think the song choices this year were that great. I was lukewarm on the Emilia Pérez songs [“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”] even before the Karla shit; after, I was like, “I don’t really want to award this movie.” So for me it was between [“Like a Bird” from] Sing Sing and Elton [John: Never Too Late’s “Never Too Late”]. I voted for Sing Sing because, within the context of the film, I thought the song worked, and I wanted to show the film some love. The song from The Six Triple Eight [“The Journey”] didn’t really do anything for me, but I’ve since learned that it’s a Diane Warren song [the names of the songwriter(s) of the nominated songs do not appear on the ballot]; if I had known that, it probably would’ve affected my vote, which is probably what they’re trying to avoid. [laughs]
VOTE: “Like a Bird” from Sing Sing
Best production design
I went with Conclave. They essentially remade the Vatican, which is fucking crazy. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that they were shooting there. They nailed it.
VOTE: Conclave
Best sound
Each nominee is so different, but I went with Dune: Part Two because I think that having to do the sound design for an epic like that is just much harder than it is for a musical [the other nominees are all largely music-centric].
VOTE: Dune: Part Two
Best visual effects
Dune: Part Two. It wasn’t close.
VOTE: Dune: Part Two
Best animated short
Several of them were very good, but I voted for Yuck! because it was really adorable.
VOTE: Yuck!
Best documentary short
I loved Incident and I Am Ready, Warden. I picked Incident because it’s told entirely with surveillance and body camera footage, and yet it’s a complete narrative. It’s not telling you anything; it’s showing you and letting you come to your own conclusion.
VOTE: Incident
Best live-action short
I liked a lot of them, but especially I’m Not a Robot and The Last Ranger. I went with The Last Ranger because it was really well shot, and I was trying to figure out how the fuck they did it.
VOTE: The Last Ranger
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