Podcast: Oscar Season Finale (and Career Futures)

It's all over but the post-mortem and the huge sigh of relief that another awards season is over. Team Experience has a multiple time zone conversation to talk about the 95th Academy Awards and the season in general: Nathaniel in NYC, Ben Miller in Texas, Chris James in Los Angeles, and Baby Clyde in London. Hope you enjoy and do carry on the conversation in the comments, wherever you are.

1 hr and 10 minutes
00:01 Intros & Oscar parties
05:00 Length of the season / staying power of Everything Everywhere All At Once
19:00 Original Song performances / Acceptance speeches
33:00 The internet turning on Jamie Lee Curtis
38:00 Career futures: Paul Mescal, Hong Chau, Stephanie Hsu, Austin Butler, Colin Farrell
46:00 Miscellania: Kidman, Malala, Kimmel
1:02:00 Final thoughts - which acting nominee returns first? 

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify or download the attachment below. 

Goodbye to the Oscar Season

Oscar Volley: Biopic Breakout or Heartfelt Comeback in "Best Actor"?

Team Experience has been teaming up to discuss the various Oscar races. Here's Christopher James, Abe Friedtanzer and Nathaniel R...

CHRIS: It's been a while since Best Actor was the most exciting and unpredictable race of the evening. Heading into last weekend, it was truly a three man race between Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin). Now that both BAFTA and SAG have made like Brendan Gleeson and passed over Farrell, I sadly feel like he has dropped out of contention for the win. Of the nominated five, he was my personal vote. He knows how to dramatize Pádraic's hurt, while also finding the comedy in his tragedy. With just the crinkle of an eyebrow, he communicates such emotional vulnerability, a level to which we don't often see men rewarded for showing.

The race is now a photo finish with BAFTA/Globes winner Austin Butler and SAG/Critics Choice winner Brendan Fraser. This mirrors the 2011 Best Actress showdown, where Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) had both BAFTA and Golden Globes wins and Viola Davis (The Help) took home SAG and Critics Choice prizes. In the end, Streep won, which is hopeful for Butler. However, the SAG/Critics Choice combo was a successful path to victory for Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) last year, so Fraser is certainly not out of the running...

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Nom Reactions Pt 1: Brilliant Acting, Good Surprises, Underperformers & "Snubs"

As is our habit we polled the team here plus some friends of the site about their Oscar nomination reactions and wanted to share those little blurbs with you! Would LOVE to hear you answer the same questions in the comments. Here's the first set of questions. 

Andrea Riseborough in "To Leslie"

1. Fav Acting Nomination?
2. What Shocked You the Most on Oscar Nom Morning (in a Gleeful Way?
3. Share your 'Ode to a Snub' 
4. Any Theories as to why ______ underperformed?

Would LOVE to hear you answer the same questions in the comments. But first here are our answers...

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New Trivia via the 95th Oscar Nominations!

By Nathaniel R 

JUDD HIRSCH, record-breaker!

It used to be that Oscar experts were few and far between but now you throw a rock and you hit one! Are you wielding elaborate spreadsheets to track things at home? If so we salute you in solidarity and ask for your help in fleshing this out. We will add to this list as new trivia occurs to us or is told to us by you (or others) but for now here’s some “firsts” and rarities and other interesting factoids from the nominations for the 95th Oscars...

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Who could surprise *without* SAG/Globe precursors on Tuesday?

The following article is reprinted from The Many Rantings of John with his permission. We have attempted to lure him to joining The Film Experience but we had to share this wonderful stat-fascinating piece! You should also follow him on Letterboxd. (Consider this piece a companion of sorts to Chris's piece on statistically who might still be vulnerable despite love from the precursors)

Sipping Oscar tea

by John T.

Every year since 2006 at least one nominee for the Oscars was not highlighted by either the HFPA (the Golden Globes) or SAG-AFTRA, and becomes the "shock" of the morning.  At this point in the season, predicting the Oscars is something of a slog because so much is "decided" so trying to guess who will be this nominee becomes quite fun.  

Here are the people from the past ten years who fit this bill:

2021: Penelope Cruz, Jesse Plemons, JK Simmons, Judi Dench, & Jessie Buckley
2020: Paul Raci & LaKeith Stanfield
2019: Florence Pugh
2018: Marina de Tavira & Yalitza Aparicio
2017: Lesley Manville
2016: Michael Shannon
2015: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Hardy, & Mark Ruffalo
2014: Bradley Cooper, Marion Cotillard, & Laura Dern
2013: Jonah Hill
2012: Quvenzhane Wallis, Emmanuelle Riva, & Jacki Weaver

Usually the types of nominees that get in under this designation fall into one of two categories...

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