On Jan. 23, the 2025 Oscar nominations were announced. “Emilia Perez” led the way with 13 nominations, with “The Brutalist” and “Wicked” not far behind with 10 nominations each. As with other years, there were snubs and surprises in many categories. After sitting with the nominations for a couple of days, I want to discuss what I found to be the biggest snubs and surprises at this year’s Academy Awards nominations.
Snub: The Fall of Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino had an amazing year in 2024. With the mainstream success of “Challengers” and the fall festival favorite “Queer” making its rounds on digital platforms, it was projected that at least one of Guadagnino’s films would show up on Oscar nomination morning. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. The biggest gut-punch was “Challengers” missing a nomination for Best Original Score, which was not only a cultural phenomenon in 2024, but won the Golden Globe in the same category. Guadagnino is a familiar face to the Academy, with his film “Call Me By Your Name” winning Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2018 Academy Awards, so these snubs are particularly mind-boggling.
Surprise: James Mangold in Best Director
The Best Director category is tricky to predict every year. With Greta Gerwig’s 2024 snub for “Barbie” over international contenders “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” and Denis Villeneuve missing out for “Dune” over “Drive My Car”, it’s clear that the Academy tends to favor lower-profile films in the category. That being said, it’s shocking to me that James Mangold made it in. “A Complete Unknown” is an incredibly high-profile film about a widely-known singer. This was an extreme surprise, especially since the film made it into the category over box-office juggernauts like “Wicked” and “Dune: Part 2.”
Snub: “Nickel Boys” in Best Cinematography
“Nickel Boys” is one of my favorite films of 2024. Not only is the story gripping from start to finish, but the filmmaking pushes the boundaries of how a drama is presented on screen, and that is mostly due to its cinematography. The film is shot through the POV lens of the two protagonists, with the camera acting as their eyes. This decision builds sympathy in viewers, as the audience is put directly into the shoes of the characters, seeing and experiencing everything that they are going through. For a film that was recognized in the Best Picture line-up, it’s baffling that the cinematography was not also acknowledged with a nomination.
Surprise: "The Wild Robot" In Best Sound
It’s incredibly difficult for an animated film to break into any category outside of Best Animated Film. Last year’s “Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse” is a perfect example. It was predicted to get into categories such as Best Original Score and Best Sound, but was snubbed in favor of other live-action contenders. Only two animated films in the past 15 years have made it in the Best Sound category, “Soul” and “Toy Story 3,” making the nomination of “The Wild Robot” a complete surprise. The film also got in over major sound spectacles such as “Gladiator II,” “Blitz” and “Alien: Romulus,” which only added to the surprise factor.
Snub: “Sing Sing” in Best Picture
“Sing Sing” is one of the best films of 2024, but had one of the worst release strategies. Premiering in 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival, A24 acquired the film and held it for 2024 in hopes of awards. After having an extremely small launch in July and August of 2024, the film caught nearly zero traction from the mainstream. Because of A24’s strange release strategy, it wasn’t shocking to see the film missing from the Best Picture line-up, but it saddened me, as it’s one of the most human and emotional films of 2024. I don’t blame the Academy members for its exclusion as it had such a low visibility, I fully put the blame on A24.
Surprise: “I’m Still Here” in Best Picture
The Academy very rarely puts more than one international film in the Best Picture line-up. Last year was the first time that two international films, “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” made it in the same year. With “Emilia Perez” racking up nominations and breaking records within various awards bodies, it seemed that there was no other international film that was going to come close to its popularity. Although “I’m Still Here” has great critic and audience scores, its appearance in the Best Picture category was possibly the most shocking nomination in any category.
“I’m Still Here” had next to no love in the Oscar precursor awards, only receiving International Feature nominations and a Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Drama for Fernanda Torres. The film didn’t receive a Best Picture nomination at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, Producers Guild Awards or the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, all of which are major indicators of what gets into the Best Picture category within the Academy.
After the Critic’s Choice Awards on Feb. 7 and the BAFTA awards on Feb. 16, I'll share my predictions on who will win each category at the 2025 Academy Awards.
Trevor Stucker (he/him) is a senior majoring in Applied Film and Journalism. This is his third year writing for The Campus Citizen.
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