"Hamnet" wins the People's Choice at TIFF. Can it win Best Picture?
Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 11:34PM by Nathaniel R
HAMNET © Focus Features
With TIFF wrapping up today, it's time to update the Oscar charts (which we will be doing soon). Chloe Zhao's adaptation of the acclaimed novel Hamnet, historical fiction about the Shakespeares and the loss of their son, has the won the coveted People's Choice Award. While this prize has historically been very prophetic in regards to future Best Picture runs, Hamnet didn't need it per se; it's Oscar appeal was already ample given the subject matter, pedigree, rising stars, and ecstatic critical response. (We're super excited that Chloe Zhao will be able to follow Jane Campion in becoming only the second woman to score multiple nominations in Best Director. That might even happen twice this year with Kathryn Bigelow in the mix for A House of Dynamite) The runners up for the coveted People's Choice prize are slightly wilder cards in terms of Oscar gold...
First runner up Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein which can certainly boast pedigree with its Oscar winning auteur. His last live action feature, Nightmare Alley did well with nominations, despite being something of a fast fade in terms of audience and critical response. But how will voters respond to yet another Frankenstein adaptation? There have been over 400 films that have been inspired in some way by Mary Shelley's gothic tale though of course far fewer than that are direct adaptations. They may love Del Toro, but Frankenstein inspired features have very rarely had awards appeal apart from Yorgos Lanthimos' non-adaptation but Frankenstein influenced Poor Things (2023). The last true prestige adaptation, Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), scored only a single nomination with both Oscar (Makeup) and BAFTA voters (in Production Design) though of course early reactions were not as positive as they've been for Del Toro's take on the material.
Second runner up was Rian Johnson's third Knives Out film Wake Up Dead Man. The first two films in the Knives Out franchise were both nominated for Screenplay but nothing else despite buzz (shortlived) for various performances and worthy / showy Production Design in the second film. This time around Josh O'Connor and perennial Oscar bridesmaid Glenn Close are scoring the 'best in show' reviews but will that mean anything to the acting branch who tend to steer clear of sequels? We suspect that the third film might come up empty handed... unless it can score in the brand new category for Best Casting!
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Reader Comments (8)
Great post,lots of content and easy to digest writing.
Hamnet - this year's Conclave,does well with nominations but in the end beaten by something more timely and a director more due,Buckley may win Best Actress though.
Frankenstein - correct they've never gone for this tale,I actually adore Branagh's big swing version,he's never looked finer on screen and HBC steals the film,maybe a production design and make up nod but that's about it.
Knives Out 3 probably not unless Close starts getting career honours.
The Wicked thing is so lousy.
If you want 7 hours to tell your story, make a miniseries. Don’t torture the definition of what a movie is, how awards season works, what audiences expect when they sit down in a theater. We indulged the first attempt to pass this theme-park viral marketing scheme off as “cinema." This is not Kill Bill, this is an uneven mess.
The category fraud alone—I object when someone gets a fraudulent nomination once. Much less twice in two years for the same performance in the same project.
Let’s hope the AMPAS comes to their senses this time around.
I didn’t see that many films at TIFF this year. I know that as awards season goes on, highly marketed hyped crap will occupy space and deaden the soul.
BUT - this seems to have been the TIFF mood (this is such a fun festival, with an enthusiastic crowd) for deserving award consideration.
Hamnet: Best Picture, Actress (Buckley), Actor (Mescal), Adapted Screenplay, a raft of technical awards for this good looking, well paced film, that likely no other fiction film will match in emotive power.
Frankenstein: Best Picture (absolutely), possible director (Del Toro), Adapted Screenplay, and every technical award category. Maybe even Supporting for Elordi. Stunningly gorgeous.
Wake Up Dead Man: Best Picture, possible director (Johnson), Actor (O’Connor), supporting Actress (Close), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score.
Rental Family: Best Picture, Actor (Fraser), Original Screenplay, possible Supporting for Mari Yakamoto and Akira Emoto. Such a good film. It’s sure to be derided for its strengths (such as sincerity and thoughtfulness).
Hedda: Best Picture, (deserves to be considered) director (DaCosta), Actress (Thompson), Supporting Actress (Nina Hoss), Adapted Screenplay, visual technical categories. Propulsive, eye-catching, hot, with an artistic pedigree.
Why do I think Wake Up Dead Man will get more awards attention than the previous 2?
It has a serious and timely subject, that it gets right into.
And to be cynical, the co-lead this time is a white male (O’Connor). O’Connor has got a lot of admiring attention the last few years. I’ve never liked O’Connor very much, but he’s great in this, and if even I can be won over, now there’s a crowd of admirers.
And Glenn Close is fabulous. My god, can that woman act. Weak sauce like Paltrow and Blunt aren’t even in the same league. The Supporting Actress category is empty, except for Nina Hoss (in Hedda).
I agree with McGill that supporting actress is empty so far. Might now I would rank Grande and Blunt in the top spots. I was originally very skeptical of their chances, but nothing has emerged to challenge them for these spots yet. Maybe an open category lets people like Madigan or Close get in since true support might get them in if the rest of the year sees a lack of passion.
Maybe Tessa Thompson can also get into best actress? The category also seems open outside of Buckley and Reinsve. Again, if there is passion behind a performance even from a smaller portion of voters, that might make all the difference.
Just a hunch that the other woman director in the race is not Bigelow, but Kaouther Ben Hania for The Voice of Rind Hajab.
Btw, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, Alfonso Cuarón are all executive producers. I think it won't stop at International Film. The directors branch will support it.
I don't see how PTA's Battle can miss
+Picture
+Director
+Screenplay
+Editing
(black supporting actress, maybe)
specially after the Anora Baker sweep.
While those possibility of Glenn Close finally snagging an Oscar has whet my interest, the recent decisions of the Academy have definitely soured my enthusiasm on what was once a highlight of my film going year.
Celebrating the pedestrian Anora, elevating box office bank rolls like Will Smith and Brendan Fraser to the rarefied air of Best Actor, and ignoring cinematic legends to use the honorary Oscar as a makeshift consolation prize for Angela Bassett and Diane Warren are a sad commentary on the state of affairs at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Is the Oscar still relevant? I am unsure.