Anonymous Oscar Ballot #1: Voter champions ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Flee,’ calls the Academy and producer’s show changes “ridiculous”
The Oscars are right around the corner, and it’s time to get a taste of what some of the voters have been championing.
Below is an edited conversation I had with a member from the Executives branch. Before we dive into some of the main categories, this member had some thoughts about the Academy’s current efforts to shorten the ceremony:
“I would be more open to the idea of what they’re trying to do if I felt like they were going to fill that time in some way that was actually going to make the Oscars better, but I can’t even imagine what that is. I think that what they’ve been trying to do over the years and I’m gathering that this is with lots of pressure from ABC is to turn the Oscar ceremony into some variety show that, frankly, isn’t what people want from the Oscars. If you’re going to watch the Oscars, you want to see the Oscars. And part of what makes it special is what’s unscripted, the reactions that people have both in the audience and up on stage.
If they were to tell me that they were not going to cut off any speeches anymore, and they were going to allow everybody their full time and that they didn’t care about trying to rush the show to get it done within three hours, then I would be open to the kinds of changes that they’re talking about. But it seems to me that what they’re proposing is really not going to help at all. Somebody joked on social media and I think this is really true. Do you know anybody who would say, ‘Oh, they’re not giving out the short film awards at the Oscars this year, therefore I’m going to watch it.’ The whole thing is just ridiculous.”
And now, their thoughts on some of the major categories, which were discussed before they voted:
Best Picture
The nominees are…
- Belfast
- CODA
- Don’t Look Up
- Drive My Car
- Dune
- King Richard
- Licorice Pizza
- Nightmare Alley
- The Power of the Dog
- West Side Story
“My personal vote is for West Side Story. I feel like it’s the one film that captures every aspect of what I would hope for in a Best Picture winner in terms of craft, in terms of intent, and excitement. It’s a movie that I suspect is not doing as well among the voters, simply because they didn’t see it on the big screen, but it’s just an incredibly powerful movie that is both a tribute to the original and a kind of enhancement of it in today’s sensibilities. That combination of things, and the fact that it’s so exhilarating on the screen is incredibly rare. I have an enormous amount of respect for a lot of the other nominees, but that’s the film that just blew me out of my seat.
For second choice, I suppose it would be The Power Of The Dog, and I say that only because I feel like while it didn’t have the same kind of visceral impact for me as West Side Story did, I do think it’s an incredibly crafted film and just like Spielberg is an amazing director, I think that Jane Campion is amazing as well.”
Best Director
The nominees are…
- Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
- Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
- Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
- Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
- Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
“I mean, Spielberg makes everything look so easy, it’s deceiving. He speaks visual language as fluently as I speak English. It’s just astounding to me how he pulled together all the craft that was necessary to make that movie.”
Best Actor
The nominees are…
- Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
- Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
- Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom!
- Will Smith – King Richard
- Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
“I would easily pick Andrew Garfield. I feel like the transformation into that character was kind of unbelievable. And I’m saying this as somebody who’s not necessarily been a fan of Andrew Garfield through all of his roles. He really surprised me in terms of how he inhabited that role and brought so much to it.”
Best Actress
The nominees are…
- Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
- Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
- Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
- Kristen Stewart – Spencer
“This is a tougher category for me. I feel like all of them were really great, but it’s hard to actually point to one of them and say that they’re far and away above the others. It’s a testament to how good the performances were this year, that there are five such strong nominees plus several others that didn’t get nominated that could have easily gotten nominated. And I’m just going to say that honestly, at this moment, I don’t know which one I would vote for.”
Best Supporting Actor
The nominees are…
- Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
- Troy Kotsur – CODA
- Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog
- J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos
- Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
“I probably would go with Jesse Plemons but again, I think it’s hard to pick a winner because all those performances are so strong. These are the sorts of things that make me not like voting for awards.”
Best Supporting Actress
The nominees are…
- Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
- Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
- Judi Dench – Belfast
- Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
- Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
“My vote’s probably going to go to Ariana DeBose. As an actress who kind of came out of nowhere and absolutely blew me away, there’s no comparison. The unfortunate thing is that I also think that Kristen Dunst was amazing in Power of the Dog, choosing between the two would be really, really difficult. But Ariana DeBose will get my vote.”
Best Original Screenplay
The nominees are…
- Belfast
- Don’t Look Up
- King Richard
- Licorice Pizza
- The Worst Person in the World
“Interestingly, I think I would go with The Worst Person in the World. In terms of just being fresh and original, it has wild surprises in terms of the twists and turns that it takes. It’s just wholly original.”
Best Adapted Screenplay
The nominees are…
- CODA
- Drive My Car
- Dune
- The Lost Daughter
- The Power of the Dog
“Can I have a write-in vote this time around? The fact that Tony Kushner’s screenplay for West Side Story did not get nominated is unbelievable to me. That adaptation had to have been so fraught with things that could have gone wrong and trying to mess with something that is so revered by so many people, it was both a brave thing to do and I think he really pulled it off. That’s where my heart is, but of these nominees, I probably would go with The Power of the Dog.”
Best International Feature Film
The nominees are…
- Drive My Car
- Flee
- The Hand of God
- Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
- The Worst Person in the World
“This is another really tough category. I loved all five of those movies. And I guess I would say that my vote is probably going to go for Flee. It’s just simply the movie that moved me the most out of those five. Although on a different day, I might have picked The Hand of God or I might have picked The Worst Person in the World. It’s such a strong year, but I think my vote’s going to go for Flee.”
Best Animated Feature Film
The nominees are…
- Encanto
- Flee
- Luca
- The Mitchells vs. the Machines
- Raya and the Last Dragon
“There’s no doubt in my mind that my vote will go for Flee. It’s so funny because it’s likely that Flee’s not going to win anything, but I’m going to vote for it in all three categories. It’s absolutely remarkable and incredibly moving. I don’t remember any animated film ever making me feel so deeply, emotionally, and not the kind of manipulative emotion that you get from Disney movies.
I’m perfectly capable of getting choked up when the score swells and tells me I should feel something. But Flee is in a different category altogether.”
Best Documentary Feature Film
The nominees are…
- Ascension
- Attica
- Flee
- Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
- Writing with Fire
“I feel the same way for different reasons. As documentary films get defined much more broadly in terms of the ways in which filmmakers are using the medium to tell their stories, Flee’s use of animation doesn’t feel like an affectation. The story could not be told any other way.”
Best Original Score
The nominees are…
- Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell
- Dune – Hans Zimmer
- Encanto – Germaine Franco
- Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias
- The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood
“The Power of the Dog is the score that really hit me, even as I was watching it, I kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, I wonder who wrote this score because this is really amazing.’ So that’s where my vote’s going to go.”
Photo: Paul Smith / Featureflash
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