Would you vote for âOppenheimerâ?
How close does your house have to be to falling over the edge of a cliff to be deemed âtoo dangerous to occupyâ? How close can you park to a fire hydrant without getting a ticket? How much money do you have to make before you can afford to have kids in SoCal?
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whippâs must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Iâm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelopeâs Friday newsletter. In case you were wondering, the answers to the above questions are: 1) Alarmingly close! 2) 15 feet (unless youâre in Santa Monica or Hollywood, then itâs probably more like 15 yards and 3) If you have to ask, maybe start with a dog?
Letâs look at whatâs going on as we inch ever closer to the Academy Awards ...
Quiz: Is âOppenheimerâ the best picture?
Christopher Nolanâs âOppenheimerâ grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide and has been hailed by critics and awards season voters alike, making it the overwhelming favorite to win the Oscar for best picture. Nolan himself took the Directors Guildâs top honor last weekend.
Would (will) you be voting for it? I devised a super-scientific quiz to take to imagine a future and learn if that future will horrify you.
Sample question:
Favorite woman in a Christopher Nolan movie:
Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, of course (10)
Any female character that isnât dead, so ... I guess Emily Blunt? (7)
There are women in Christopher Nolan movies? (0)
How do you think youâd score? Take the quiz and find out!
Jeffrey Wright wonders whatâs next
Jeffrey Wright finished shooting âAmerican Fictionâ two Septembers ago and immediately, happily transitioned to becoming what he calls his daughter Junoâs âexecutive assistant,â helping her navigate her way through college applications and all the other stresses of a high school senior year. When she went off to school in the fall, Wright thought heâd feel liberated, that heâd enjoy, as he puts it, âa new phase of freedom.â
âBut I realized that Iâve been doing the father thing for 22 years now, and I think Iâm finally good at it,â Wright says, punctuating the thought with a laugh. (He also has a son, Elijah, with ex-wife Carmen Ejogo.) âBeing a father has kind of been the primary thing Iâve been ... and now I miss it.â He pauses, as he does often in conversation. Wright is a man who considers every word. âYeah ... I wonder whatâs next.â
Wright and I talked about next steps, surfing, Neptuneâs Net and the passage of time over lunch not too long ago, which, unfortunately, was not eaten at a fried fish hangout overlooking the Pacific. But, perhaps, another time. You can read our conversation here.
Looking for more in-depth coverage on all things Envelope?
Shop our collection of The Envelope magazines today.
Annette Bening and Paul Giamatti are âdueâ Oscars. Who else is on the list?
How many Oscar nominations do you need to earn before youâre considered âoverdueâ for a win?
Is Annette Bening, who earned her fifth nomination this year for her portrayal of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, overdue? What about Carey Mulligan, now nominated for a third time, for the poise and strength she brought to âMaestroâ? Maybe? Can you be overdue if you havenât yet turned 40? What about 30? (Asking for Saoirse Ronan, who has already collected four nods without winning.)
And consider Paul Giamatti, celebrated for his sharp, sad turn as a miserable prep school teacher in âThe Holdovers.â Heâs 56 (same as Mark Ruffalo, another overdue actor), and this is just his second Oscar nomination, his first as a leading man. Thatâs a scant rĂ©sumĂ©. But Giamatti owns three individual Screen Actors Guild awards, an Emmy and three Golden Globes, making the Oscars feel like the outlier. He wasnât even nominated for âSideways,â a travesty that makes Giamatti not only due but in line for a belated apology from the academy.
The Oscarsâ âoverdueâ narrative is not the same as the career achievement campaign push that three-time nominee Robert Downey Jr. is getting this year for âOppenheimerâ or that Jamie Lee Curtis benefited from last year when she won the supporting actress honor for âEverything Everywhere All at Once.â
And the narrative often doesnât work, particularly when tied to a movie that doesnât pop with voters. Angela Bassett lost to Curtis last year, though many believed it was âher time.â (Was she ever going to win for a Marvel movie?) And Glenn Closeâs much-anticipated coronation didnât come off as planned when she lost to Olivia Colman for âThe Favouriteâ in 2019. Closeâs nomination was the only one her movie, âThe Wife,â received. Colmanâs film earned 10.
But if the timing is right, Oscar voters are more than happy to reward a legend when itâs their time. Who else is long overdue for a moment on the podium? I put together a list in a recent column, alphabetically ordered.
Did I miss anyone?
Feedback?
Iâd love to hear from you. Email me at glenn.whipp@latimes.com.
Canât get enough about awards season? Follow me at @glennwhipp on Twitter.
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whippâs must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.