‘Emilia Pérez’ tops noms with 13; ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Brutalist’ land 10

ACADEMY AWARDS

Karla Sof’a Gascon stars as the title character in a scene from “Emilia Pérez,” which landed 13 Oscar nominations. SHANNA BESSON — NETFLIX VIA AP

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By Jake Coyle

The Associated Press

In the wake of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles that struck at the heart of the movie industry, an embattled Hollywood lined up behind the Netflix narco-musical about trans identity “Emilia Pérez” in Oscar nominations Thursday.

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language, French-made film, dominated the nominations with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar. The film also landed nominations for directing, original screenplay, two for its songs and for Zoe Saldaña’ s supporting performance.

“This recognition is a celebration of the global world we live in,” Audiard said in a statement.

“Emilia Pérez,” though, may be its best chance yet. It became the most nominated non-English language film ever, surpassing Netflix’s own “Roma,” which landed 10 nominations. Only three films — “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land” — have scored more nominations in Academy Awards history.

Another musical — “Wicked,” the smash Broadway adaptation — came away with nearly as many nominations. Jon M. Chu’s lavish “Wizard of Oz” riff collected 10 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

“The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet’s postwar epic filmed in VistaVision and released by A24, also came away with a commanding 10 nominations, including best picture, best director and acting nominations for Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.

The 10 nominees for best picture are: “Anora”; “The Brutalist”; “A Complete Unknown”; “Conclave”; “Dune: Part Two”; “Emilia Pérez”; “I’m Still Here.”; “Nickel Boys”; “The Substance” and “Wicked.”

In the best actor category, where Stan and Brody were nominated, the other nominees were Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”). Most notably left out was Daniel Craig, acclaimed for his very un-James Bond performance in “Queer.”

Best actress, a category that Demi Moore has appeared to have locked up for her full-bodied performance in “The Substance,” saw nominations for Moore, Gascón, Torres, Erivo and the star of “Anora,” Mikey Madison. Arguably the year’s most competitive category, that left out Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Pamela Anderson, (“The Last Showgirl”), Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”) and Angelina Jolie (“Maria”).

In the directing category, “The Substance” filmmaker Coralie Fargeat managed to crack into the otherwise all-male group of Sean Baker (“Anora”), Corbet, Audiard and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”). Most had expected Edward Berger to be nominated for directing the papal thriller “Conclave.”

Supporting actor was led by Kieran Culkin, the favorite for the award, for his performance in “A Real Pain.” The other nominees were: Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Strong. Supporting actress nominations went to Grande, Saldaña, Jones, Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”).