2024 Academy Awards Category Breakdown: What You Can See

I present a truncated version of my usual in-depth category breakdowns. Here’s everything you can see on screen in the below-the-line crafts.

Cinematography

Nominees

The Brutalist

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

Maria

Nosferatu

Only once in the past 19 years has a film not nominated for Best Picture won this award. That was the undeniable Blade Runner: 2049, which apart from being impeccably shot, earned legend of the craft Roger Deakins his first Oscar. And as great and beloved as Ed Lachmann is, the handsome but safe Maria doesn’t quite fit the bill. Meanwhile, Jarin Blaschke’s wonderfully moody work on Nosferatu is the best among these nominees and some of the finest of the year, but that won’t be enough to get it over the finish line.

Paul Guilhaume is here because for a brief moment in time, the Academy was infatuated with Emilia Peréz. That window has closed, though there is some neat camera trickery in the otherwise much-maligned film. For Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser earned his third career nomination. He previously won this category for Dune in 2021 and previously was nominated in 2016 for the underrated Lion. In another year, he might have a shot, but the Dune sequel is starting to feel like a well-liked also-ran in many of these categories.

That just leaves the front-runner, Lol Crawley, whose work on The Brutalist is appropriately bold and stately. It’s the kind of film where you forget it occasionally features close-ups and interiors, as it is so built on its sweeping vistas and grand scale. The format of the film – shot in the long dormant VistaVision – has even been part of its marketing, for what better description of a film is there than that of its format? BAFTA winner Crawley should win this award in a walk.

Will win: The Brutalist

Should win: Nosferatu

Should have been here: Nickel Boys

Editing

Nominees

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

There was a time when an Editing Oscar was an excellent bellwether for a Best Picture win. That has been less the case recently. While the past two years have seen Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All at Once pull off the double act, you have to go back to Argo in 2012 for the time before that. I say all that; now, watch me predict the same movie for both awards. It’s more to provide context that whatever happens when Editing is announced Sunday, it may not necessarily mean anything for the big award.

I believe Anora is going to win this award, which would make Sean Baker just the third director in history to win for editing his own film. The previous two were James Cameron for Titanic and Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity, but Cameron won his award as part of a trio, while Cuaron also had a partner. Baker would be the first to have sole credit. It should be noted that both Cameron and Cuaron also won Best Director, which would bode well for prohibitive favorite Baker.

My favorite work of the year here was Conclave, in which Nick Emerson helps Edward Berger turn a paperback potboiler into a work of high art. The rhythm and energy of the pacing lend urgency to the proceedings while preserving the mysteries at the heart of everything. I will note that Conclave won the BAFTA for editing, but its Britishness most likely pushed it over the top with that group.

At nearly four hours long, editor Dávid Jancsó keeps The Brutalist moving, and in seeing it twice, I never once felt the run time. If you believe Emilia Perez has any virtues – and I actually believe it does – Juliette Welfling’s editing is not one of them, though it does remind of the kind of flashy, over-caffeinated work of recent winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. Finally, Myron Kerstein’s work on Wicked is solid and workmanlike, creating a seamless flow between the narrative and the musical numbers.

Will win: Anora

Should win: Conclave

Should have been here: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Production Design

Nominees

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Nosferatu

Wicked

One thing the folks running the campaign for Wicked have made sure to put front and center is the practical nature of the film’s execution. These are built sets (lit terribly, but it’s not a cinematography award) on real soundstages. The world of Oz exists, and it’s a fascinating, intricate little world indeed. This is not a film I cared for, but its sets are a wonder to behold. I would expect production designer Nathan Crowley, a seven-time nominee, and set decorator Lee Sandales, a three-time nominee, to win their first award going away.

All due respect to the Nosferatu crew – Robert Eggers and Co. never do anything halfway – but the only real competition here is probably The Brutalist. Of course, Brady Corbet’s film is literally about construction and design. If anything can keep the Wicked crew from flying away with the award, it would be this. But, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Will win: Wicked

Should win: Nosferatu

Should have been here: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Costume Design

Nominees

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Gladiator II

Nosferatu

Wicked

I have written a lot over the years about how contemporary films rarely get nominated, let alone win, the Oscar for Best Costume Design. Period pieces and fantasy rule the day. Interestingly, Conclave is a film set in the present day, but one would be hard pressed to call the papal electorate’s garments “contemporary.” In any event, no need to go over that little prejudice again, for I have discovered another.

By my count, since 1967, when the Academy began handing out a single Best Costume Design award (before it had been split into separate color and black-and-white honors), just four musicals have triumphed in this category – Camelot in 1967, All That Jazz in 1979, and the one-two punch of Moulin Rouge! and Chicago in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Four times in nearly 60 years is a stat I find a little shocking.

That said, I expect Wicked to win this year for a couple reasons. First, the iconography of the costumes is key to recreating the world of Oz. Glinda’s flowing pink gowns. Elphaba’s cape and hat. Second, the sheer volume of costumes crafted for the supporting cast and background actors is overwhelming and awe-inspiring. Extra points, as well, for the novel-accurate silver slippers. Leave ruby red to Dorothy.

A Complete Unknown does a nice job of bringing ’60s New York City back to life, while Gladiator II is the sort of gargantuan effort that often gets cited in this category. That includes the original Gladiator, which won this award in 2000. I will also note the period costumes of Nosferatu are gorgeous and almost certainly accurate to their time period. It’s beautiful work, but the film overall lacks the broad support that might carry it to a win.

Will win: Wicked

Should win: Wicked

Should have been here: The Substance

Makeup and Hairstyling

Nominees

A Different Man

Emilia Pérez

Nosferatu

The Substance

Wicked

We won’t spend too much time on this category, which feels like the lock of all locks, at least to me. Pierre-Oliver Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli’s work on The Substance is undeniable. The film is built around reaching that sequence at the end where it goes off the rails, but everything leading up to it is just as magnificent and impressive. The gradual deformation of Elisabeth Sparkle over the course of the movie is key to believing that what happens at the end is inevitable. 

The Academy has never been afraid to reward horror films in this category, including this film’s clearest inspiration, The Fly, which won this award back in 1986. Add to that the fact that this film has the broader stamp of approval of Best Picture and Best Director nominations, and the path to victory seems clear and all but assured.

I will say that while I love the makeup effects of The Substance, my favorite work of the year is the also-nominated A Different Man, a film predicated on the way faces morph and change and what that means for the main character. There is no movie if the prosthetics and makeup work feel off for even one second. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.

Will win: The Substance

Should win: A Different Man

Should have been here: Dune: Part Two

Visual Effects

Nominees

Alien: Romulus

Better Man

Dune: Part Two

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Wicked

It is an absolute travesty that none of the films in the new Planet of the Apes series has won this award. It’s truly inconceivable. I don’t even think Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes represents the best of what that franchise can do, and it’s still leaps and bounds above every other nominee. And like those previous three occasions, it’s still going to lose to a more “prestigious” but less accomplished film, at least in this regard.

Ah, but which more prestigious, less accomplished film? As we’ve gone over in previous years, if there’s a Best Picture nominee in the lineup, that’s usually a safe bet. This year, we have two: Dune: Part Two and Wicked. The first Dune won this award in 2021, and I would tend to lean that way again. The image of Timothee Chalamet riding the sandworm is one of 2024’s great iconic moments and represents so much both visually and narratively.

A lot, however, depends on how popular (no pun intended) Wicked ends up being. Is Wicked 2024 this year’s Dune 2021? As in, is this a beloved spectacle film that made a ton of money at the box office, won’t win Best Picture, but could walk away with the biggest awards haul of them all? There’s also the element of how much voters want to attribute the visuals of the film to its effects vs. its considerable production design. The last movie to win both awards? Yeah, Dune.

Quick note on the others: I wrote about the zero-gravity blood maze in Alien: Romulus in my year-in-review series, and it remains one of the truly draw-dropping sequences of the year. And, Better Man – the Robbie Williams monkey movie – is better (pun intended) than it has any right to be. The effects are at their most convincing when kept on a small scale, and it’s a romp of a watch.

Will win: Dune: Part Two

Should win: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Should have been here: Gladiator II

Emilia Pérez dominates a 2024 Academy Awards nominations announcement short on surprises

The theme of this year’s Academy Awards nominations was: They like her, they really like her. The “her” in this case refers to the fictional character Emilia Pérez and more broadly the film about the cartel leader turned missing persons advocate, Emilia Pérez. Jacques Audiard’s musical melodrama was nominated Thursday morning for 13 Academy Awards, tied for second-most all time with 11 other films, including last year’s Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer.

Of the 14 previous movies to earn at least 13 nominations, nine of those went on to win the top prize, so we have our front runner. In addition to Best Picture, Audiard was nominated for Director, Karla Sofía Gascón for Actress, Zoe Saldaña for Supporting Actress, and the film for Adapted Screenplay, Makeup and Hairstyling, Cinematography, Editing, and Sound.

Taking nothing away from the feat, it is worth noting that two of the Emilia Pérez nominations are for Best Original Song and one for Best International Feature, two categories in which The Brutalist and Wicked were not eligible. Both of those movies received 10 nominations, tying Emilia Pérez among categories in which all three films were competing.

Joining those three features in the Best Picture lineup are Anora, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, and The Substance. The biggest miss is Jesse Eisenberg’s Holocaust dramedy A Real Pain, which was cited in the top category at almost every precursor but couldn’t quite make it over the finish line here. Eisenberg was nominated for his Original Screenplay, and Kieran Culkin was cited in Supporting Actor, where he remains the front runner but perhaps a little more vulnerable now that support for the film appears to be flagging.

Another unfortunate miss in Best Picture was Greg Kwedar’s prison drama Sing Sing, which earned three nominations, including Colman Domingo’s second straight Best Actor nomination. The film also earned a Best Original Song nomination and an Adapted Screenplay nomination. The screenplay citation is particularly enjoyable as it makes nominees of John “Divine G” Whitfield and Clarence Maclin, the real-life figures the movie is based on. They share the nomination with Kwedar and Clint Bentley.

In addition to Domingo, the nominees for Best Actor are Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Ralph Fiennes for Conclave, and somewhat surprise nominee Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice. Stan has been out on the town, stumping hard for a movie some felt got short shrift because of its subject matter. He’s excellent in the film, so good for him for making this happen, even if I might have preferred he get in for his work in A Different Man (itself nominated for Makeup and Hairstyling).

In Supporting Actor, Jeremy Strong joins Stan in representing The Apprentice. He’ll compete alongside Culkin, Yura Borisov for Anora, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, and Guy Pearce for The Brutalist.

Both The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown showed up in Supporting Actress, as well, giving each film three acting nominations across the same three categories. Monica Barbaro represents A Complete Unknown, while Felicity Jones is the nominee for The Brutalist. Also cited are Saldaña, Ariana Grande for Wicked, and Isabella Rossellini for Conclave.

In Best Actress, along with Gascón, we have Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Mikey Madison for Anora, Demi Moore for The Substance, and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here. Torres had been an outside contender, but the Academy clearly loved this film, which in addition to Picture, is also nominated for International Feature.

One of the big surprises of the morning was Conclave, which garnered eight nominations across just about every major category, including two acting nominations, Editing, and Adapted Screenplay, which it very well could win. However, director Edward Berger missed out in the directing category, taking some of the wind out of this film’s sails.

Much of that wind, as it were, was transferred to A Complete Unknown, which also picked up eight nominations, including one for director James Mangold. Mangold will compete alongside Audiard, Sean Baker for Anora, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Brady Corbet for The Brutalist. I would call Corbet the front runner after his Golden Globe win, but if voters really love Emilia Pérez this much, the direction is probably that film’s saving grace, so I don’t see how Audiard doesn’t win. But, we’ll get to predictions in a few weeks’ time.

Interestingly, all five Director nominees are nominated for their screenplays, as well – Baker, Corbet, and Fargeat in Original and Mangold and Audiard in Adapted. Mangold and Baker are actually triple nominees as nominated producers on their films. For all we know, Corbet, Fargeat, and Audiard could join them since, as of this morning, the nominated producers for five of the Best Picture nominees shockingly have not yet been determined. This has happened before, but never to this level.

Fargeat is now the ninth woman to be nominated for Best Director and, interestingly, the second consecutive French woman to be nominated, following on the heels of Justine Triet’s nomination last year for Anatomy of a Fall. A woman has been nominated for Director in four of the past five years with two wins in that span, but the numbers still heavily favor men, so we’ll continue to cite this disparity until it ceases to be a disparity. It also is worth noting that all five nominees this year are white.

So, that’s what happened. The question, then, as Bob Dylan himself might say, is: How does it feel? Personally, I’m delighted at the inclusion of Nickel Boys in Best Picture, though baffled by its exclusion from Cinematography. RaMell Ross’ film features some of the most breathtaking and inventive photography of any film this year, so that’s a bummer.

I wish A Real Pain and Sing Sing could have made it to the finish line in the Best Picture race. The Eisenberg film may have peaked too early – it had a long race to run from Sundance – and A24 completely botched the Sing Sing release strategy. It’s an odd mistake from a studio that is generally pretty savvy. It was a miscalculation to release the film in June, then not make it available for home viewing, either via streaming or DVD, and instead wait for nominations time to re-release it in theaters.

In the era of streaming, I’m all for innovative approaches to film releasing, but for a film that clearly was positioned for major awards contention, I don’t see how making it practically unavailable for nearly six months builds buzz. The film re-released to theaters last Friday, the original date for the nominations announcement. So it seems obvious the strategy was to put it back in theaters at the exact moment it could capitalize on the Oscar nominations they assumed it would get. Except, they did none of the work to garner those nominations. (To clarify, I’m referring to the studio and its awards consultants; the cast and crew made a beautiful movie and were all over town selling the hell out of it.)

My greatest joy of the morning comes in the double nomination in International Feature and Animated Feature of the Latvian animated film Flow, from director Gints Zilbalodis. I wrote about this film for my Top 10 Moments of the year column, and spoilers, I’ll be writing about it again for my Top 10 Films. It’s such a gorgeous, special film, and I hope more people check it out as a result of these nominations.

There are a few other coulda, shoulda, wouldas that we could talk about – the complete shutout of The Piano Lesson and specifically Danielle Deadwyler is unfortunate, as is the snub of Marianne Jean Baptiste for Hard Truths – but that’s enough for this morning.

We’ll be finishing up the 2024 Year in Review this weekend with the aforementioned Top 10 Films column (all but two of which were nominated in at least one category today), then in February, I will have my category-by-category breakdown of all the nominees.

As it stands, Emilia Pérez is your front runner, with The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown seemingly in the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. It seems like Netflix is making Emilia Pérez happen by sheer force of will, as I have not spoken to one person nor read or listened to one critic who likes this film, let alone loves it with the passion these nominations suggest. But, stranger things have happened.