Oscar Volley: "Best Supporting Actress" is a fun, fantastically chaotic Free-For-All!

The Oscar Volleys continue. NICK TAYLOR and ERIC BLUME discuss the ever volatile race for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Amy Madigan in WEAPONS | © Warner Bros.

NICK:  Hello Eric! I’m writing you the day after the Actor Awards announced their winners. Amy Madigan took their Supporting Actress prize for her pristine turn in Weapons, while Wunmi Mosaku can add Sinners’ Best Ensemble award to her shelf. It’s a three-way race between them and Teyana Taylor’s commanding turn in One Battle After Another, and I for one couldn’t be happier. Hell, Inga Ibsdottir Lilleass and Elle Fanning are better also-rans than most of the past decade’s undisputed champions.

After several years in a row of middling lineups, this is the best Supporting Actress field since 2020, maybe even 2016. There aren’t even any leads (or categorically ambiguous) to dampen our fun. In a year with plenty of outside contenders and tantalizing non-starters, all five women earned their nominations fair and square, without feeling preordained. I’m still debating if Taylor or Madigan will go all the way, and while I ponder the fate of all things, let me ask you: How do you feel about this category, Eric? Where do you think the winds are blowing?

ERIC:  Nick, I agree wholeheartedly that this is the best field we've had in many years, not a lame performance in the bunch!  Which is why I'm personally a bit dismayed that the two performances I feel are the strongest (Sentimental Value's Inga and Elle) are the two that seem out of the running for a win...

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All Four Acting Categories -- Some Fun Through Lines & Connections

by Nathaniel R

Elle Fanning made her acting debut opposite Sean Penn in I AM SAM (2001) - both are up for Supporting Oscars in March 2026

When we're looking at Oscar trivia we're often focused on individuals. Once that's done it's fun to widen the view a little and think about the year's twenty nominated thespians as a unit. So here are some connections and percentages of note...

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Will "One Battle..." or "Sinners" Tie or Break Oscar Records?

by Nathaniel R

Can One Battle After Another defeat the Oscar Nomination Champs?

When France's Spanish-language trans musical Emilia Perez scored 13 nominations last January I felt an impending dread. The dread spoketh so... "If even this bizarre and divisive non-Hollywood film nearly broke the all time nomination record (14), then it's only a matter of time before it falls!" This is a terrifying development for those of us who cherish the spreading of wealth. If you love more than one or two movies a year it's downright heartbreaking. To date in Oscar's nearly century-long history, only three films have scored 14 nominations across available Oscar categories: All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). This season honoring the films of 2025 One Battle After Another and Sinners will try to join or surpass them. The first new category in ages (Casting) could help them match or break that record. But will they pull it off?

Since we've just updated every single Oscar chart with late December predictions, it seems like the ideal time to investigate. Let's do that after the jump...

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Oscar Volley: Best Supporting Actress has a lot of wiggle room

The Oscar Volleys are back! Today, Cláudio Alves and Nathaniel Rogers discuss Best Supporting Actress...

Teyana Taylor is Nathaniel's frontrunner for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER | © Warner Bros.

CLÁUDIO: It's that time of the year again, the beginning of the awards season proper, and all the punditry that comes with it. So, let's talk predictions. After all, it can't be reviews and festival coverage at The Film Experience all of the time. Because we're actressexuals at heart and lovers of actressing at the edges, it seems appropriate that the first of these volleys would be about Best Supporting Actress.

And let me tell you, having just returned from the London premiere of Wicked: For Good, still reeling from Diane Ladd's death, two thoughts are at the forefront of my mind. Ariana Grande is going to be a force to reckon with this season, as she sinks her teeth into an expanded and, in some ways, deepened version of Glinda. Nevertheless, it's hard to consider her case without thinking about what the late great Ladd was so adamant about fighting - CATEGORY FRAUD…

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Diane Ladd (1935-2025)

by Cláudio Alves

INLAND EMPIRE (2006) David Lynch | © StudioCanal

This past Monday, cinephiles worldwide were met with the news of another painful loss. Diane Ladd died at her home surrounded by loved ones, including her daughter, Laura Dern. She was 89 and leaves behind a remarkable body of work that spans from the 1960s Roger Corman cheapies to the 2020s American indies, a panoply of TV projects dating back to the medium's genesis in the post-war era, a rich legacy on stage, and multiple memoirs. Among actressexuals and awards nuts, she's mostly known for her three Oscar nominated performances in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart, and Rambling Rose, the latter of which made her part of a very exclusive club of mother-daughter duos honored by the Academy. 

Let's take a look back at Ladd's career, enjoy some memories of past glory and even celebrate a couple of deep cuts worthy of attention. After all, there's no better way to honor a beloved artist than to appreciate their art…

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