All posts tagged: Oscars

The Possible Oscar Contenders From the Venice and Toronto Film Festival Lineups

The Possible Oscar Contenders From the Venice and Toronto Film Festival Lineups

It’s been six years since a movie that debuted at a fall film festival won the best-picture Oscar. Instead, the past few seasons have seen big studio movies like One Battle After Another or Oppenheimer make it to the Oscar stage without visiting any of the major festivals, while the movies that have emerged from the festival circuit have come from events earlier in the year—like Anora’s trip to Cannes or Everything Everywhere All at Once’s SXSW debut. For a long time, it’s been a firmly held industry belief that releasing your film too early in the year means mounting an Oscar campaign that will be too long, too arduous, and too expensive to pay off. Now that that theory has been dispelled, do fall festivals still hold the same weight in awards season that they used to? Rosalind Eleazar in Misty Green. Merrick Morton/A24 In short: yes. This week on Little Gold Men, the team makes the case for why fall film festivals still matter, especially for smaller movies that need strong word of …

Is ‘The Odyssey’ Now the Oscar Front-Runner?

Is ‘The Odyssey’ Now the Oscar Front-Runner?

Production design (led by Ruth De Jong, who was nominated for Oppenheimer) and costume design (by Ellen Mirojnick, another Oppenheimer Oscar nominee, who oversaw the designing and production of 5,300 costumes for the Greek epic) are also good bets, along with makeup and hairstyling. And with such a rich and star-studded cast, a nomination in the new casting category seems inevitable. With its epic battle scenes and dual timelines, editing (by Jennifer Lame, who won for Oppenheimer) should also be an easy nomination. And those epic battle scenes will probably lead to a nomination for sound. The only craft category that the film will likely miss out on is visual effects. Because Nolan’s films do so much in camera and avoid CGI, they often get skipped over in this category. Oppenheimer, for example, didn’t even make the short list. THE SHAPE OF THE RACE What will be The Odyssey’s biggest competition this year? So much is still yet unseen, but there will be other blockbusters in the race this season—namely, Dune: Part Three. The final …

Ellen Burstyn to Receive Venice Lifetime Golden Lion

Ellen Burstyn to Receive Venice Lifetime Golden Lion

Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The Exorcist) will be honored at this year’s Venice Film Festival with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. Burstyn will attend the 83rd Venice Festival and receive her award at the screening of Flesh Impact, a new short film from director Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Bride!) which stars Burstyn alongside Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sepideh Moafi. “Wow! I not only get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole world. I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms!,” Burstyn said in a statement. “I feel so honored— so happy — so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!” Calling the 93-year-old Burstyn an actress “of rare intensity and truth,” Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera paid tribute to her long and enduring career. Burstyn has been a presence in American cinema for more than fifty years, he said, “bringing depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and transformations in the contemporary woman.” Barbera highlighted Burstyn’s most famous …

Jennifer Garner on “the Most Important Scene I’ve Ever Shot” in Her 30-Year Career

Jennifer Garner on “the Most Important Scene I’ve Ever Shot” in Her 30-Year Career

“That’s more badass than I remembered it,” Jennifer Garner declares while watching an action sequence from her 30-year career for Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection. As it turns out, there’s a lot for Garner to rediscover from her storied career, starting with her breakout role on the hit spy show Alias and going through to her latest project, The Five-Star Weekend, Peacock’s series adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestseller. “Alias was so far outside of anything I had done. No one had thought of me for action. No one had thought of me for a tough role,” Garner says of her pivotal five-season turn as undercover agent Sydney Bristow from 2001 to 2006. Born from an idea that arose during the writing of J.J. Abrams’s prior show, Felicity, Alias introduced Garner to longtime friend Victor Garber, who played Sydney’s CIA-operative father, Jack. “Anything Victor Garber does is iconic,” Garner tells VF. “I kind of feel like his actual daughter and I feel like he’s a real father figure to me. He married Ben [Affleck] and me [in …

Academy Vet Teni Melidonian Exits Role Ahead of Oscars Move to YouTube

Academy Vet Teni Melidonian Exits Role Ahead of Oscars Move to YouTube

Ahead of some big changes coming the Oscars‘ way, the Academy is shaking up its structure.  The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the organization’s CEO, Bill Kramer, announced to members on Wednesday that Teni Melidonian would be leaving her full-time role as chief Oscars officer effective immediately, while continuing on for the next year as a consultant.  Melidonian worked as the primary link between AMPAS and Disney, which has long held broadcasting rights to the Oscars via ABC. Accordingly, Melidonian’s departure is described as a result of a larger personnel restructuring in advance of the Oscars’ highly anticipated 100th ceremony in 2028 and planned move from ABC to YouTube — and from Hollywood to Downtown Los Angeles — the next year, in 2029.  “It is critical that we align our teams in a way that supports both our immediate priorities and our long-term vision,” Kramer wrote. “Planning for these milestones is already well underway, and we believe now is the right time to bring related functions more closely together to strengthen collaboration, efficiency and strategic …

Stephen Fry, Jacob Elordi, And More Invited To Become Oscars Voters

Stephen Fry, Jacob Elordi, And More Invited To Become Oscars Voters

!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’);t.display=’none’,t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’);c.src=”//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js”,c.setAttribute(‘async’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);(new Image()).src=”https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”;cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({“playerId”:”8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”,”mediaId”:”99490c2d-13c1-487f-a4a2-eccb588295ec”}).render(“6a3d1430e4b03bf31982e0af”);}); The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 529 stars, including Jenna Ortega, Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor, and Stephen Fry, to become members. The group, whose eligible members decide who’s the Academy Awards winners and nominees at the Oscars, boasts thousands of members who are divided into 19 branches. If all the invitees take the Academy up on their offer, its voting members will rise to 10,338, The Guardian said. Not all of these members are actors, either. Some are executives or PRs, while others work in the film industry in roles like writing and producing. Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said: “We are delighted to invite this remarkable group of film artists and professionals from around the world to join the Academy. “Through their commitment to filmmaking, this year’s exceptionally talented class has made significant contributions to our global movie industry.” Certain invitees, like Florence Miailhe, Chris Lavis, Oliver Laxe, Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, and Ronald Bronstein, have asterisks next to their names in the invitation …

Academy Invites Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor, More for 2026

Academy Invites Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor, More for 2026

The actors Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor, Bill Skarsgard, Jenna Ortega and Josh O’Connor have been invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as have other notables including new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, filmmaker brothers Benny Safdie (The Smashing Machine) and Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), One Battle After Another casting director Cassandra Kulukundis (who earlier this year became the first recipient of the best casting Oscar), Weapons director Zach Cregger, Marty Supreme producer Eli Bush, Grammy-winning singer/songwriters Sara Bareilles and EJAE, power-managers Aleen Keshishian and Jason Weinberg, top personal publicist Megan Moss and events producer Madelyn Hammond, and rising-star awards strategists Jonathan Epstein, Josh Haroutunian and Emily Lu Aldrich. The list of 529 invitees released Wednesday morning by the Academy — which includes 95 Oscar nominees, 21 Oscar winners and three Scientific and Technical Award recipients — follows classes numbering 395 in 2021, 397 in 2022, 398 in 2023 and 487 in 2024 and 534 in 2025. Academy invitations are the result of a process that begins with sponsorship, not application. …

Real Life UFO Experts Say Spielberg Captures Reality In ‘Disclosure Day’

Real Life UFO Experts Say Spielberg Captures Reality In ‘Disclosure Day’

Above all else, Flowers says he appreciates how the film focuses on characters who try to blow the whistle on government knowledge. “I don’t know what the truth is, but I take the whistleblowers who have come forward to testify under oath in front of Congress seriously,” he says, adding that he hopes viewers take a message of hope and empathy from the film. “And the sense that the damage done from fear and secrecy is far worse than any short-term challenges we might face by having the courage to accept the truth.” For Paul Gutjahr, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington who studies American popular religion, Disclosure Day leaves no question that Spielberg is a “believer” in extraterrestrial life. But he also thinks the character of Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), a former nun who left her convent after a crisis of faith, speaks to Spielberg’s ambitions beyond simply making the case for aliens. Gutjahr notes that the Catholic Church in particular has already made great strides in confronting how its theology might accommodate the …

2026 Annecy Animation Festival Highlights, Lineup

2026 Annecy Animation Festival Highlights, Lineup

Annecy season is upon us. From Sunday, pretty much everyone who’s anyone in the animation world will descend on the lakeside town in the French Alps for the world’s largest animation film festival. More than any other event, Annecy remains the industry’s standard-bearer — a showcase for the biggest studio and streaming projects, a launchpad for independent voices from around the world and, perhaps most importantly, the premier scouting ground for the next generation of animation talent. This year’s edition features six packed days of premieres, panels, presentations and sneak peeks, running alongside the three-day MIFA industry market (June 23-26). Here are your not-to-miss highlights. WORLD PREMIERES ‘Minions & Monsters’ Illumination & Universal Pictures Annecy opens on Sunday, June 21 with the world premiere of Minions & Monsters, the third film in the Illumination/Universal franchise, and the only major Hollywood feature to launch at the festival this year. But there will be a feast of small-screen premieres, including the first two episodes of Bandai Namco Filmworks’ hotly anticipated new Ghost in the Shell anime series, …

Margo Martindale Just Blew Away the Acting Competition

Margo Martindale Just Blew Away the Acting Competition

When Bojack Horseman issues a declaration, it can take the work of millions to undo it. Case in point:“esteemed character actress” Margo Martindale, who was thus anointed by the cult show and now cannot escape its golden handcuffs.  And so you doubted her in The Americans, waited for her to erupt in Sneaky Pete, wanted to erupt at her in Million Dollar Baby, watched her scheme in Justified, rooted for her to avoid an ursine in Cocaine Bear and many other things you have done and will continue to do for an esteemed character actress. But you’ve never seen Martindale in a lead film role, because she’s never had a lead film role. And now that she has, we may need to text Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Because the old moniker no longer applies. “Tour de force gut-punch lead actress” applies.  We’ll call it right here: Margo Martindale deserves an Oscar nomination this year. Yes, it’s only June, but it’s late enough. January would have been late enough. If there are five better performances than the one she gives in the new indie drama The Long Haul, let them announce themselves. …