Will Amy Adams, Saoirse Ronan and—Gulp—’Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Get Oscar Nominations?
This weekend is July 4, which can only mean one thing: Fall festival announcement season—and Oscar campaign strategizing—is upon us.
The Venice and Toronto lineups, both of which almost always have at least one best picture nominee in addition to the other major contenders, will be fully revealed later this month. But if you read between the lines about which films are “world premieres” versus “Canadian” or “international,” the lineups also hint at projects that might be headed to Telluride (which will keep its selections a secret until the festival begins on Labor Day weekend). In the meantime, we’ll have some confirmations, a steady stream of rumors, and a few twists and turns about who’s going where.
And so far, to outsiders, we have had nothing but surprises.
To start, Toronto announced its first screenings last month, including the world premiere of Night bitch, a dark, magical realist comedy about a stay-at-home mom (starring Amy Adams) who discovers unique transformation abilities that can be found from the title of the movie. (It is adapted from Rachel Yoder2021 Novel by.) Directed by Marielle Heller, who has achieved three critically acclaimed plays at the festival (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), the film is being distributed by Searchlight, one of the most trusted awards vehicles of the year. The formula for big buzz seems obvious.
However, the studio’s most recent Oscar successes, such as Bad things And The demons of Inisherin, premieres at Venice and/or Telluride, higher-profile events that could produce arthouse contenders from rapturous critical response and relatively moderate audience reactions. (Other notable fall 2024 contenders, Jesse Eisenberg‘S A real pain, debuted at Sundance.) On the other hand, some of Searchlight’s successful TIFF films have been well received despite not being critically acclaimed—see Jojo Rabbit And The Eyes of Tammy Faye—even if they go on to win big Oscars. We’ll see if Night bitch, production begins in 2022, falls into that category, but one thing’s for sure: With Adams scheduled to receive the Oscar-nominated TIFF Tribute Performing Artist Award, consider the six-time nominee back in the race after a series of setbacks (including Dear Evan Hansen, The Woman in the Window And The Elegy of the Mountain People).
The same may be true for Saoirse Ronan, who has earned four Oscar nominations by the age of 25 but has hit some roadblocks recently, with her most recent films being just average. See How They Run And Enemy. (She also received great reviews for her Sundance premiere. The escape, looking for distribution in the US.) I’ve been hearing for months about Apple putting its weight behind Blitz, Steve McQueenRonan’s poignant drama starring a mother searching for her missing son in World War II-era London has finally been confirmed. But again, contrary to expectations, the film will skip those early prestigious festivals—as well as Toronto. Instead, it will open the BFI London Film Festival as its world premiere. While that premiere was certainly a big hit for the October event and a thematically sensible move for a film steeped in the city’s history, McQueen’s best awards success came at its Telluride premiere (12 years a slave)—and London openers rarely emerge as major Oscar players. See last year Salt burn or 2022 Matilda the Musical; Despite seemingly being backed by significantly different campaign budgets, neither side ultimately won any Oscar nominations. Apple is certainly hoping Blitz to turn that page.
