Considerations
Covering the annual film industry awards races, with sharp commentary on the pictures, the players, the money, and the spectacle. by Tyler Coates
-
What Powered Sinners‘ Record-Breaking Haul of Oscar Nominations
One of the great things about living in Los Angeles is that the awards shows start and end at reasonable hours. The trade-off is that the Oscar nominations are announced at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am Pacific Time (timed so that the east coast-based morning shows can carry the news), and I’m already thinking way too much about them before the sun has even come up. But, at last, we have our 10 best picture nominees in Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners and Train Dreams—a solid lineup if… Read more
-
Why Hedda, Roofman, and F1 Could Still Crash the Oscar Party
Today is the last day of Oscar nominations voting, which brings an end to “phase one” of campaigning. With the noms being announced next Thursday, January 22—at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. PT—there will be barely enough time to relax before things kick into full gear once again. Now, I can’t imagine being an Academy member and waiting a whole week to fill out my ballot. But unlike us pundits, most voters haven’t spent the last few months obsessively tracking dozens of movies they did not work on. Academy members are hopefully busy making other movies! I can also… Read more
-
Considerations: The Regional Festival Road Trip
Filmmaker‘s Awards Season coverage launches for the Fall with the return of Tyler Coates’s Considerations newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday or find it online here every Friday. — Editor I spend the bulk of my time in September and October driving across Los Angeles to watch movies. It’s not something I feel like I can complain about—I love the movies!!!—but it is a lot of work, particularly for someone who lives on the east side of the city. I’ve spent so many hours in the Wilshire Screening Room in Beverly Hills, and thus just… Read more
-
Considerations: Some Final Predictions
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. This is my final Considerations of the season—a somewhat bittersweet statement to write. It’s been a lot of fun covering this wacky and wild Oscar season, even as I (along with so many other folks I’ve spoken to over the last few weeks) am also extremely ready for it to be done. But with voting closing on Feb. 18, we’ve basically reached the end of the line for campaigning. And what a season, one that… Read more
-
Considerations: Anora, Acting Frontrunners and Other Post-Weekend Fallout
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. While this Sunday was the Super Bowl (and, because I’m always rooting for Bradley Cooper, I’m thrilled the Eagles won), Saturday was just as important for the awards race. If you had asked me on Saturday what would win best picture—and many people hounded me for an answer—my reply would have been: “I don’t know!!!” Hours before both the Directors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards, NEON hosted a toast to Anoraand Sean Baker… Read more
-
Considerations: The Gascón Press Tour
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. In October, I told (warned?) a publicist friend that it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw some old-fashioned, Weinstein- and Rudin-style opposition campaigning this Oscar season. Back then, the prominent narrative was that the field was wide open without a clear frontrunner, and most of the studios and marketing agencies were operating with smaller budgets. By this time last week, the only controversies were about the use of AI to perfect the Hungarian accents in… Read more
-
Considerations: Phase 2 Begins
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. It rained in Los Angeles this weekend, and the way the phrase “we needed this” became a meme felt like a collective awkward laugh followed by a sigh of relief. For the past few weeks almost everyone has been on edge, many mourning massive losses from the fires in the Palisades and Altadena. Wind advisories meant our go-backs were still packed, phones facing up in case of Watch Duty notifications. (Oh, and a lot of… Read more
-
Considerations: Who’s Leading the Acting Races?
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. This is the most important week of Oscar campaigning, the conclusion to what we collectively refer to as Phase 1: A slew of guilds announce their nominees this week (including the DGA, PGA and SAG, plus sound editors and mixers, art directors and cinematographers), and the Academy opens nominations ballots on Wednesday before closing the voting window on Sunday. (As such, campaign spending pauses from the end of voting until the nominations are announced on… Read more
-
Considerations: The Best Picture Shortlist
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. It’s my last dispatch of the year—I’ll be back with another newsletter the first full week of January—as the Oscar campaigning unofficially pauses for the holidays. The last major awards event of the year will take place on Dec. 17, when the Academy announces the shortlists for 10 categories: documentary feature, international feature, animated short, documentary short, live-action short, original score, original song, makeup/hairstyling, sound and visual effects. Then, the Golden Globes on Jan. 5… Read more
-
Considerations: More Golden Globes Silly Season
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. We’re now five weeks away from the Jan. 17 Oscar noms, and the last few days have seen which campaigns are working—at least with critics and whoever is voting for the Golden Globes these days. And miraculously, no main frontrunner has emerged in the best picture race, although the sure things are making themselves known. Over the last week, while publications began rolling out their year-end lists, critics in New York and Los Angeles voted… Read more
