The Storylines:
When looking at the top of the nominations table, there is no doubt what the major storylines of this Golden Reel Awards is. This nominations ceremony was dominated by three films: Elysian, Blind Faith, and The Crucible. You know that song: “must be the season of the wiiiiitch”? Well, at LRF, it must be the Season of the Cuuuuult (well, still “witch” for The Crucible, I guess). Why am I singing so much in this edition?
The domination on display from these like-minded (yet totally different) films is staggering. In any other season, The Crucible would probably be the top-nominated film at 8. But this isn’t any other season. The 10-line had only been crossed once before (Buried Child did it in Season 11) but, somehow, Elysian and Blind Faith both accomplished this feat. A major component of this is the acting categories. Blind Faith also tied Buried Child’s record for getting nominations in all four major acting categories.
Both films were nominated in the Best Ensemble and they still might lose out on that one to a film I’ve yet to discuss: Teslin, Yukon. This is another film that had a respectable showing, notching nominations in three acting categories and a Best Picture nod. But it is firmly in the shadow of the three films above it. This could mean it goes home empty-handed or it is in a prime spot to play a spoiler if the votes get split. Because, honestly, there is no clear favorite in a lot of the major categories. As the ceremony commences, we should get an idea of who the academy liked but, until then, this is anybody’s ball game.
While a lot of films got at least one nomination, the wealth was not spread much in the big categories. 82% of the four big acting nominations belong to the four Best Picture nominations. That is insane. This also means that the Best Original Story category is particularly strong (which is always nice for the studio) but the Best Adaptation is on a down year. It is easily The Crucible’s year.
This top-heaviness is interesting when thinking about the season as a whole. While this ceremony might be highlighted by these “cult films”, the thirteenth season was dominated by the Box Office. We saw entries into arguably four of the biggest five biggest franchises in studio history: Halo, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, and Batman (Booster Gold ended a season too early, it seems). It was only the second time in studio history that the Worldwide Box Office crossed $8 Billion - that’s a lot of money.
Before my break-downs begin, I want to make a special shout-out to a feat achieved by Rooney Mara. I believe she is the first actress or actor to be nominated in the Lead and Supporting categories in the same year. Congrats!
The Surprises & Snubs
Surprise: Rooney Mara - Speaking of Rooney, her double nomination is a bit of a surprise. Her part in The Crucible was acclaimed but not so much But What Am I?. It is clear that the voting academy likes the actress.
Snub: Paul Dano - Perhaps what makes Rooney’s nomination most surprising is that the star of that film was not recognized. On one hand, you could say that Dano’s role is awards-friendly but, on the other, it is an offbeat film that isn’t always represented at awards shows. But like I said, Mara and even director Michel Gondry’s nomination certainly makes this a stranger case. Chalk it up to yet another strong Best Actor field.
Snub: Hex - Superhero films rarely run rampant at awards shows so this isn’t exactly a shocker but I thought this film might be able to do something. It was nominated for Best Adaptation, which I’m sure Dwight Gallo will be pleased with, but I thought Brad Pitt, Chan-wook Park, or even Kelsey Asbille might land a shock nomination for this superhero western.
Surprise: Mass Effect 3 - Part 2 - Speaking of the weaker Best Adaptation field, it was was nice to see the capper(?) of this iconic LRF franchise get some writing recognition for the first time. You could say that this is perhaps a lifetime achievement for Overton’s franchise.
Snub: The Tournament - Production Design - I felt the look and design of this film was one of its stronger suits so I was bummed to see it miss out on this category.
Surprise/Snub: Best Supporting Actress - Even outside of Mara’s nomination, this category was hard to predict. Sarah Gadon, recently revealed as having one of the highest salaries of the season, getting nominated for Blind Faith was a little surprising given her relatively limited amount of screen time (although she is basically the star of the first quarter of the film). Given her reputation and perhaps having the showier role, I would have expected Laura Dern to get the nomination from that film. And Edie Falco, one of the stronger parts of A Following, was another name on the outside looking in.
Snub: Tom Cruise - This is another one that could have been an achievement award for a legendary franchise (not that he already has one of those). And, no, I didn’t say which category I thought he got snubbed for.
Previous Winners:
Alden Ehrenreich - This guy is no stranger to the GRAs at this point. LRF’s marquee star has now been nominated for Best Actor four times, winning once before for Death Dream.
Seth Overton - This marks the third time Overton has been nominated for Best Adaptation for a movie based on a video game, although his only win in the category came for Blackbird, which was based on a short story.
Eric Bana - This is an interesting one. Bana previously won Best Villain in Season 11 for The Stand in what is essentially the same role he played in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. I’d say that’s a GRA rarity.
Russell Crowe - Speaking of Best Villain, Crowe is a frequent guest in this category. He has won it twice before for Blood Meridian and Kite. He was also double nominated in Best Actor for those films.
Previous Nominees:
Russell Crowe - But he has never won that category. Will the third time be the charm for this legendary actor?
Allison Tolman - While not a household name, this marks the second time Tolman has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress after Bad Education in Season 6. This is also the third time she has appeared in a cast nominated for Best Ensemble - a good-luck charm, perhaps?
Lucas Hedges - The Blind Faith nominee makes a return to the ceremony after being nominated for his performance in Mo Buck’s only directorial outing, Letter to Myself.
Jeremy Saulnier - After making his first film for the studio since Blood Meridian in Season 2, Saulnier is now two-for-two in landing nominations for his work at LRF. And here's an interesting bit of insider news that I gathered from my studio sources: Saulnier was actually the original choice to direct Blind Faith until he turned it down for a chance to work with John Malone. Did he make the right decision? Only time will tell.
The Newcomers:
Best Director - Outside of Saulnier, every other director in this field is new to the GRAs. Lowery is the only one to have previously worked at the studio, having made his debut two seasons ago with Martian Manhunter. Michel Gondry feels like the outsider here as the other three are on the younger side and seem to work in similar genres. At 42, this is the youngest average age for the category since at least Season 8 (and maybe longer than that, it is hard to know as I couldn’t find Kogonada’s age).
Adrien Brody - It was a bit surprising that this was Brody’s first nomination as he has had a nice bounce-back career-wise here at LRF.
Jimmy Ellis - In his nomination with John Malone for Best Original Story, Ellis joins the select group of writers who have been nominated for that category. Ellis’s career to this point has been relatively split between original work and adaptations.
Lon Charles - Conversely, the career of Charles has skewed heavily towards original stories as of late (a category he has been nominated five times for). The Crucible marks the first time he has been nominated for an adaptation.
Best Actress - Outside of the aforementioned Mara, this category features three first-time nominees. Theron has worked steadily at the studio, getting her first nomination after three leading roles. This is Weisz’s second appearance after The Carpet Makers while Woodley made her debut for the studio this season (after missing out on the acclaimed lead role in Maria back in Season 1).
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