2025 Oscar Nominations: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Leads with 13, Smashes Non-English Language Film Record
Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, the audacious trans musical extravaganza about a drug lord boss who changes their sex to escape the cartel and protect her family, leads the 2025 Oscar nominations for the 97th Academy Awards with 13 nods, setting multiple records along the way.
The film smashes the previous record for total nominations for a non-English language film, which was previously held by 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and 2018’s Roma (also from Netflix). Titular star Karla Sofía Gascón, nominated for Best Actress, became the first out trans performer to be nominated for an acting Oscar. Emilia Pérez led the Golden Globe Awards wins with four earlier this month, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best International Film, and is nominated for 11 BAFTA Film Awards and 10 Critics Choice Awards.
Up next with double digit totals are A24’s The Brutalist and Universal Pictures’ Wicked with 10 apiece. Both are vying for Best Picture, Supporting Actress, Film Editing, Original Score and Production Design. The $10 million dollar budgeted 3h35m epic The Brutalist brings to life the story of a Hungarian architect who escapes the Nazis for a life in America and is a film director Brady Corbet had been trying to make for over a decade. This is the third directorial effort from the former actor. Wicked, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical about the life of Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West, was one of 2024’s biggest blockbusters, earning over $700 million worldwide and with a sequel, Wicked: For Good, coming out later this year. Among its 10 nods, Best Actress nominee Cynthia Erivo becomes the first Black British actress to receive a second nomination. Erivo was previously nominated for Best Actress for portraying Harriet Tubman in 2019’s Harriet.
Focus Features’ papal thriller Conclave earned eight nominations but for a second time director Edward Berger missed out on a Best Director nomination after the same fate fell him for 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front, a Best Picture nominee and winner of four Oscars. The film did scoop up nods for Ralph Fiennes as Best Actor and first ever nomination for Isabella Rossellini, whose mother, Ingrid Bergman, won three Oscars. Searchlight Pictures earned eight nods for James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with Timothée Chalamet as Dylan. This is Chalamet’s second Oscar nomination after 2017’s Call Me By Your Name. New star Monica Barbaro snagged a Supporting Actress nomination for her work in the film as folk legend and Dylan paramour Joan Baez.
Joining Brody, Fiennes and Chalamet in the Best Actor lineup was Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, portraying a long-incarcerated inmate attempting release from prison and the head of its theatrical stage shows as a part of rehabilitation. Domingo is the only returning acting nominee from last year. He was nominated for Best Actor for his role as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Rustin. The final Best Actor nominee was Sebastian Stan, playing none other than Donald Trump during his rise as a real estate mogul in New York City in the 1970s and 80s in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice.
In the highly competitive Best Actress category, Gascón and Erivo were joined by 1980s and 90s icon Demi Moore in The Substance, earning the first Oscar nomination of her career. French director Coralie Fargeat snagged a directing nomination, making her only the 10th woman in Oscars history to do so. Mikey Madison was one of Anora‘s six nominations (four of which went to writer/director/editor Sean Baker) and Brazil’s Fernanda Torres triumphed for Sony Pictures Classics I’m Still Here, directed by Walter Salles. The film received a nomination for International Feature Film and was one of the morning’s biggest shockers as a part of the Best Picture lineup. Torres’ mother, Fernanda Montenegro (who has a small part in the film) was nominated for Best Actress for 1998’s Central Station, a film also directed by Salles.
Earlier this week, the Academy announced they will eschew the Original Song numbers and that the March telecast will “acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.” The Academy Awards nominations announced today came after voting had been extended twice because of the ongoing wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people, destroying entire cities and towns in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena regions of the county.
The 97th Oscars will be held live on ABC March 2 from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and hosted by Conan O’Brien and for the first time, it will also be available to stream live on Hulu.
Here is the complete list of nominations, commentary and more to come.
Best Picture
- Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, and Sean Baker) – NEON
- The Brutalist (Nominees to be determined) – A24
- A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold, and Alex Heineman) – Searchlight Pictures
- Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman) – Focus Features
- Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Denis Villeneuve) – Warner Bros
- Emilia Pérez (Pascal Caucheteux and Jacques Audiard) – Netflix
- I’m Still Here (Nominees to be determined) – Sony Pictures Classics
- Nickel Boys (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Joslyn Barnes) – Amazon MGM
- The Substance (Nominees to be determined) – MUBI
- Wicked (Marc Platt) – Universal Pictures
Best Director
- Sean Baker, Anora
- Brady Corbet The Brutalist
- James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
- Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Actor in a Leading Role
- Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
- Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Actress in a Leading Role
- Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
- Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
- Mikey Madison, Anora
- Demi Moore, The Substance
- Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Yura Borisov, Anora
- Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
- Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
- Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
- Ariana Grande, Wicked
- Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
- Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
- Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Adapted Screenplay
- James Mangold and Jay Cocks, A Complete Unknown
- Peter Straughan, Conclave
- Jacques Audiard (in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius & Nicolas Livecchi), Emilia Pérez
- RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
- Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (screenplay and story) and Clarence Maclin and John “Divine G” Whitfield (story), Sing Sing
Original Screenplay
- Sean Baker, Anora
- Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist
- Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
- Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, & Alex David, September 5
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Film Editing
- Sean Baker, Anora
- Dávid Jancsó, The Brutalist
- Nick Emerson, Conclave
- Juliette Welfling, Emilia Pérez
- Myron Kerstein, Wicked
Cinematography
- Lol Crawley, The Brutalist
- Greig Fraser, Dune: Part Two
- Paul Guilhaume, Emilia Pérez
- Ed Lachman, Maria
- Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu
Production Design
- The Brutalist (production design: Judy Becker; set decoration: Patricia Cuccia)
- Conclave (production design: Suzie Davies; set decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)
- Dune: Part Two (production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Shane Vieau)
- Nosferatu (production design: Craig Lathrop; set decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)
- Wicked (production design: Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Lee Sandales)
Costume Design
- Arianne Phillips, A Complete Unknown
- Lisy Christl, Conclave
- Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Gladiator II
- Linda Muir, Nosferatu
- Paul Tazewell, Wicked
Original Score
- Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist
- Volker Bertelmann, Conclave
- Clément Ducol and Camille, Emilia Pérez
- John Powell and Stephen Schwartz, Wicked
- Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot
Original Song
- “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez (music by Clément Ducol and Camille; lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille, and Jacques Audiard)
- “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight (music and lyrics by Diane Warren)
- “Like a Bird” from Sing Sing (music and lyrics by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)
- “Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez (music and lyrics by Camille and Clément Ducol)
- “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late (music and lyrics by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Bernie Taupin)
Sound
- A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey, and David Giammarco)
- Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, and Doug Hemphill)
- Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz, and Niels Barletta)
- Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson, and John Marquis)
- The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo, and Leff Lefferts)
Makeup and Hairstyling
- A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto, and Crystal Jurado)
- Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier, and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)
- Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader, and Suzanne Stokes-Munton)
- The Substance (Pierre-Oliver Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli)
- Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, and Sarah Nuth)
Visual Effects
- Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin, and Shane Mahan)
- Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, and Peter Stubbs)
- Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer)
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, and Rodney Burke)
- Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk, and Paul Corbould)
Animated Feature Film
- Flow (Nominees to be determined)
- Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)
- Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)
- Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nominees to be determined)
- The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann)
Documentary Feature Film
- Black Box Diaries (Shiori Itō, Eric Nyari, and Hanna Aqvilin)
- No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham)
- Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska, and Paula DuPré Pesmen)
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius, and Rémi Grellety)
- Sugarcane (Nominees to be determined)
International Feature Film
- Emilia Pérez (France) – directed by Jacques Audiard
- Flow (Latvia) – directed by Gints Zilbalodis
- The Girl with the Needle (Denmark) – directed by Magnus von Horn
- I’m Still Here (Brazil) – directed by Walter Salles
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany) – directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Animated Short Film
- Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)
- In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)
- Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)
- Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)
- Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)
Documentary Short Film
- Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)
- I Am Ready, Warden (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)
- Incident (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)
- Instruments of a Beating Heart (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)
- The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington)
Live Action Short Film
- A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)
- Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)
- I’m Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)
- The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)
- The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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