There is still time, Academy members. But not much.
If you have been procrastinating or still trying to squeeze in some last-minute films, it is now time to put your pencils down. Voting officially ends at 5 p.m. PT today.
The various campaigns have been busy this week since ballots have been in the hands of the just under 10,000 or so eligible voters since Monday. Campaign strategists are clearly not leaving anything to chance, and it is almost comical to see how many bookings they could get on late-night shows right up to Thursday night.
This week, Jimmy Kimmel Live! started out Monday with Sinners Best Actor hopeful Michael B. Jordan; had the Sinners trio of Raphael Saadiq, Miles Caton and Ludwig Göransson perform that film’s shortlisted song “I Lied To You” on Tuesday; welcomed One Battle After Another Best Actress contender Chase Infiniti, plus Ed Sheeran and an all-star band (including John Mayer) singing his F1 Best Song semifinalist “Drive” on Wednesday (which was sent out virally the next day); and welcomed Hamnet‘s newly minted Golden Globe and Critics Choice winner Jessie Buckley on Thursday, the night before ballots were due. She was against Sentimental Value Golden Globe Supporting Actor winner Stellan Skarsgard on Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Secret Agent Globe Lead Actor winner Wagner Moura on The Daily Show last night, just 24 hours after Sentimental Value director Joachim Trier appeared on the same show.
ABC
Not to be outdone, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Arden Cho and Ahn Hyo-seop re-created some of their voice-over acting from Best Animated Feature (and Best Song) frontrunner KPop Demon Hunters on Monday, right after the film’s Globes victories. On Wednesday, after Is This Thing On? star Laura Dern’s appearance (she had just won the Movies For Grownups Lead Actress award over the weekend), One Battle After Another Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor appeared and also showed her musical talents performing with Lucky Daye.
(L-R) Robert Downey Jr and Timothée Chalamet
Todd Williamson / January Images
Meanwhile if you think the Q&A circuit and receptions would be slowing down in the short voting window, think again. Robert Downey Jr. moderated a conversation with Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet on Wednesday In Los Angeles, while his co-Oppenheimer Oscar winner Cillian Murphy was chatting it up for voters in London with Hamnet’s Paul Mescal.
(L-R) Cillian Murphy and Paul Mescal at a special screening of ‘Hamnet’ in London
Max Cisotti/Dave Benett
And when I headed into a sparsely attended 3D Imax early press screening of Chris Pratt’s new film Mercy on Tuesday night at the Grove, I noticed a long line of people snaked all the way up and around the staircase across the lobby. I asked the Mercy PR team what all the excitement was about. “It’s for Song Sung Blue,” one of them replied. Later I found out it was an FYC event with none other than Oscar winner and mother Goldie Hawn interviewing her Golden Globe- and Actors Award-nominated daughter Kate Hudson after a screening of that film. If mom can’t pull in a few extra votes at this point, then who can?
(L-R) Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson
Focus Features/ Getty
That same day as I was driving in to my screening listening to MS Now (the place I go to for political talk), there was John Slattery guesting on Ari Melber’s show The Beat talking about the relevance and pertinence of his movie Nuremberg in an appearance clearly designed by Sony Pictures Classics to get that fine movie (it was on my Deadline Top 10 List) some heat as voting continued. Over the weekend, I ran into SPC’s Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, who were excited by the film’s strong showing on the BAFTA longlists, despite the fact that sadly it has failed to gain much traction elsewhere (it did make makeup and music score shortlists for Oscars).
“I am telling you that if there is a surprise at the Oscar nominations it just may be Nuremberg,” predicted a hopeful Barker. I would love to see that even if pundits are not expecting a surprise like that. It is an important movie too many critics dismissed. They shouldn’t have, especially in these dark times.
Tessa Thompson
Amazon MGM Studios
A PR strategist for Tessa Thompson’s Best Actress campaign also is keeping the flame burning for her performance in Hedda, sending along photos from last week’s gathering for Thompson and the movie at Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s house with numerous AMPAS voters in attendance, along with a last-minute invite on Tuesday for their “final tastemaker” of phase one event that night hosted by Colman Domingo at Castillo Del Lago mansion on Mulholland.
That house, aka The Hollywood Castle, designed exactly 100 years ago in 1926 and once owned by Madonna, has apparently become a go-to place this season to lure Oscar voters, although it is a far cry from the business another Hollywood Hills residence, The Ross House, continues to get for similar screenings and receptions. On Saturday night, Focus Features threw a party at Castillo del Lago for its entire Hamnet gang, inviting voters and press to attend the soiree hosted by Sir Ben Kingsley. I didn’t make it there, but my friend, 90-year-old Oscar-winning documentarian Arnold Schwartzman, was among Academy voters in attendance, and he nearly became an in-house resident as he emailed me details of the dangers of attending FYC events:
“It was a perfect film and event until it was time to leave for home when we were informed that the elevator had malfunctioned, and the only way out of the castle was down several long flights of a spiral staircase,” he wrote. “Due to my recent disability I was presented with the option of staying in the castle over the weekend (reminiscent of the film The Man Who Came to Dinner) or being carried down the stairs on a chair. On taking the latter, we finally made it home — All’s Well That Ends Well!”
Glad you made it out, Arnold. He did get a nice note from fellow Brit, Sir Ben, that said, “Sorry I didn’t get to greet you. As host, I was barely able to circulate from my designated spot. Also, as host, I regret not having the privilege of carrying you down the stairs.”
Focus Features
Word is Schwartzman wasn’t the only guest there with elevator problems. Apparently, Paul Mescal also got stuck in it for a bit.
Don’t you just love Oscar season?
Get those ballots filled out, stragglers.