Oscar Season 2024-2025; Final Predictions; Musicals Duel In Sound Design and Visual Effects; Multiple Ridley Scott & Ape Projects Go Head-To-Head; Films On Both Sound and Visual Effects Longlists Look For An Edge

On this episode of ACADEMY ANONYMOUS:

• How many photo-real animal work can the Visual Effects branch spotlight
• Is there room for both Weta's dystopian apes and dancing ape on the Visual Effects five
• Is the Ridley Scott name on the long list enough to carry “Gladiator 2” into a nomination
• Can “Twisters” and “Alien: Romulus” capitalize on their distinct settings and effects to distinguish themselves from the rest of the lineup
• Alex Garland looks to crash the Visual Effects category again after previously winning with “Ex-Machina” and reaping a nod from the Visual Effects Society with "Civil War"
• “Wicked” favored for a nod by pundits but not the traditional kind of work visual effects artists fall for, especially with the musical “Better Man” outperforming it at the VES
• Will Disney finally lose out on a Visual Effects nomination - their first since the category expanded in 2010? Or is Shawn Levy and his production company their “ace in the hole”?
• Can “Wicked” and “Emilia Perez" coexist in Best Sound, the first time for multiple musicals in the category since 1968
• Can one-time Best Picture favorite “Blitz” use BAFTA nod to capture at least a single nod at the Oscar
• “A Complete Unknown” to continue Sound branch’s love for musical biopics and James Mangold projects
• “Dune, Part 2” bolstered in Sound by its Visual Effects nomination
• How a spot on the VFX longlist has bolstered the chances of “Gladiator 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and “Alien: Romulus” to steal a spot as a Best Sound nominee
• Can “The Wild Robot” find favor in the Sound branch - where few animated titles and only Pixar have been before?
  
  

Episode Transcript

Jules (00:14):
hey, welcome back to academy anonymous, I'm jules and
this is joseph.

Joseph (00:19):
Now let's tackle the next category, our final
predictions for visual effectsright, and this is one of the
more popular categories, I wouldassume, amongst general movie
going right individuals movies Iactually saw movies.
I actually saw movies that madea boatload of money so let's
start talking about well.
First of all, we have a shortlist, so that's really helpful

(00:41):
it's very helpful actually, sowe have a few titles to pick
from I guess sometimes I wishthat all the categories had a
short list.
It would make predicting alittle easier it would make it a
little bit easier, but thattakes away part of the fun,
right?
Yeah, so I think we're both inagreement that the favorite here
to win, and certainly a lock tobe nominated, is dune part two.

(01:03):
Certainly, that's from warnWarner Brothers, and it has
Double Negative working on it.
So I think that's a shoe inhere, right?
Double Negative the productioncompany, yeah, double Negative
responsible, I think, forheading the visual effects there
.
So I think we got four spotsleft it's worth talking about.
Who got into the BAFTA.

Jules (01:24):
Exactly.

Joseph (01:24):
And the BAFTA nominees were Doom Part II, of course,
and then you had Better man fromParamount Pictures.
Yes, you had Gladiator II fromParamount Pictures.
You had Kingdom of the Planetof the Apes from 20th Century
Studios and Wicked fromUniversal.
I think it's good to note thatBAFfta has had a bit of a streak

(01:47):
recently, I think for the pasttwo years.
Four of their five visualeffects nominees cross over into
academy award nominees, right.
So I think if you want to usethat list as more or less as a
base, it might be beneficialyeah up to my eye, the film that
is probably the spottiest thereis probably wicked I don't know

(02:12):
if you agree.

Jules (02:13):
I 100 agree with that.
After seeing the film Icertainly feel that one of
wicked's weaker spots is thevisual effects category.
I think there are visualeffects elements in that film
that are well done.
And then I think there arevisual effects elements in that
film that are less well done anda bit shoddy, that have a place

(02:51):
in Elphaba's story and hercoming of age.
I think the goat is done prettywell, but I think there was a
couple other animals that Ithought were done less well.
I remember Elphaba having thisnumber in a cornfield, I think,
when she's fantasizing aboutfinally meeting the wizard and
she's running across what seemslike a cornfield and I just

(03:11):
thought that looked reallyshoddy.
And so there are elements themonkeys in the end with the
wings.

Joseph (03:19):
Oh yeah.

Jules (03:19):
There are certain angles where they look well done, other
angles where they look less so.

Joseph (03:23):
And we've got monkeys galore here.

Jules (03:25):
Yeah, absolutely, and so.

Joseph (03:27):
They'll be comparing monkeys.

Jules (03:28):
Exactly.

Joseph (03:29):
Exactly, absolutely.
That's a good point.
Which is my favorite monkey andwhich is my least favorite
monkey?
Right, exactly.

Jules (03:34):
And so I think there are just enough elements in Wicked
that make it a less competitiveentry into this category.
I know a lot of people expectit to be in because it's going
to get an eye for best picture,but I actually think this is one
category where it can easilyget snubbed.
I think we saw that important.

(03:55):
You know we saw that happen inthe visual effects society,
where it was snubbed for themain category For a lot of
categories really.
Exactly, and that wasn'tsurprising to me.
I know several people weresurprised by that snub.
Um, I wasn't again.
There are elements in that film, visual effects wise, that are
just not up to par with some ofthese other films that are in

(04:16):
contention here, and so I thinkwicked is kind of weak in this
category and I expect it to notget nominated here.
What do you think?

Joseph (04:25):
I mean.
Well, here's what I think.
I think that visual effects,beyond being everything we've
already stated, it's also acategory where you'll find a lot
of titles being nominated andpossibly that being their only
nomination the visual effectsbranch, I think.
First of all, they vote bybake-off, so they're not
necessarily watching the entirefilm, right, even though I'm

(04:46):
sure most of them have.
It's their industry and theseare very popular films.

Jules (04:50):
And a quick point about that.
I'm pretty sure that, becauseof the situation with the LA
wildfires, I'm pretty sure therewas no bake-off this year.
I'm pretty sure.
Don't quote me.
I'm not a hundred percent sure,but I think I remember reading
something like that well, thatwould be very interesting.

Joseph (05:07):
I believe that they usually gather to watch a
bake-off and they tend to votefavoring movies that are more
innovative, that stand out, andthat's why you'll get a list of
five where, eventually, two orthree of those titles don't
really show up anywhere else.
I think that's something goingagainst Wicked is that Wicked is

(05:28):
going to show up in so manyother categories that you really
have to think is this a moviethat has to be spotlighted for
visual effects?
Now, the visual effects team isabsolutely fantastic.
They've all been nominatedbefore the individuals that
would be credited with thenomination, and that is
something that's definitelygoing for the film.
But I think, as we've both seen, it's not necessarily the most

(05:53):
innovative nor the most visualeffect forward.
I think when you see wicked, youadmire certainly the music, you
admire the sound mix to makethat music as immersive and as
effective, you admire thecostumes and you admire the
production design by NathanCrowley.
I think visual effectsunfortunately falls lower on

(06:14):
that list and due to that, dueto the fact that it's not so
visual effect forward, nor is itvery visual effect innovative,
like something like the Irishman, I think it'll probably end up
missing that nomination, eventhough that BAFTA nomination was
pretty good for it, as you hadsaid at the Visual Effects
Society, it missed a lot ofcategories and certainly the

(06:35):
biggest category and I thinkthat's a little bit possibly
telling where it did getnominated was a category like
Created Environment.
And again I feel like, to acertain degree, that's going to
be singled out with a productiondesign nomination for nathan
crowley right, I'll also saythat the company I believe
that's sort of headlining thevisual effects for wicked is

(06:57):
industrial light and magic andthey're all over this list.
They're immensely responsiblefor gladiator 2 and for twisters
, both on this list.
So I think it's sort of the theweak spot here, nothing very
truly innovative with the goator the bears or the animals, the

(07:20):
extending of the productiondesign of nathanley, even the
flying, which was spectacular.

Jules (07:26):
It was very well done.

Joseph (07:27):
Unfortunately, it's not throughout the entire movie.
It's just in segments, and Ithink that's something that the
branch is probably going to.
They're probably going to lookelsewhere for a more visual
effects forward movie, a moviethat is what you take out of it.
First is the visual effects.

Jules (07:43):
Right, and on that note, since we're talking about
monkeys, let's go to two filmsthat I think stand a very good
chance of getting into thiscategory, and that's King of the
Planet of the Apes and Betterman, and I think those films
both got nominated at the VisualEffects Society for the main

(08:03):
category.
They both got BAFTA nominationsand I think both of those films
are going to be more attractiveoptions for the visual effects
branch.
Even though it is strange tohave two ape films nominated in
this category.
I think it speaks to thestrength of the visual effects

(08:24):
work in both of those films whyI think it's likely that's going
to happen this year.

Joseph (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, we talk about visual effect forward.
You have Wicked, which is amusical, on this shortlist,
which there aren't very manythat make this shortlist.
But then there's also Betterman, right, and we talk about
going into a film and coming outthinking what's the first craft
or below the line artistry thatreally sticks with you and you
got to think that for better manit's possibly the visual

(08:50):
effects.
Again, more visual effectsforward.
They replaced an entireprotagonist right with visual
effects.
Um, and now that you'rebringing up kingdom of the
planet of the apes, not only isit ape to ape, right and again
wicked has a variation of themonkey and the ape going on for
it.
Not only is it ape to ape,right and again wicked has a
variation of the monkey and theape.
Going on for it right not onlyis it ape versus ape, with
better man versus kingdom of theplanet of the apes, but it's

(09:11):
also weta versus weta right andwhat I mean by that is that what
affects is kind of, you know,pushing both visual effects,
artists, artistry behind boththose films.
Is there enough room not justfor two apes that are doing very
different things, one's dancingand one's in the dystopian
sci-fi?
future but they're both from thesame company.

(09:33):
So is there going to be enoughdistinction between both
projects?
Do both projects cancel eachother out?
Right, do both projects arethey?
Can they distinguish themselvesamongst the rest and amongst
each other enough to both landnominations?
As you said, not only were bothof those titles nominated for
BAFTAs, but they really clenchedup at the visual effects

(09:55):
society getting multiplenominations and certainly the
big nomination for visualeffects in a photo, real feature
, right.
So those have to be twofavorites, but they're also two
titles that you know have theirlittle bit of nuance in terms of
something going against them.

Jules (10:10):
Yeah, right and I think also sometimes I wonder if
possibly the fact that betterman did so poorly here in the
states is a factor as to whyeither some voters didn't see
the film or didn't consider itas a must to put on their ballot
.
I just wonder if that sort ofoutside noise like really poor

(10:32):
box office here, because I thinkit did better outside of here
but here that's going to affectpossibly getting a nomination,
which would be a shame because Ithink the film has done well
critically for this filmmakerand I know that there were
several people online that were,you know, thought it was very

(10:53):
unfortunate that the film didn'tdo better, because there's a
lot of work in this movie andagain I just I wonder if that
bad box office will have aneffect, but I also think that
that again the work is strongenough that it can overcome that
I mean, we've seen films likesolo and christopher robin,
these movies that were not, youknow, barn burners at the box

(11:15):
office still get nominatedbecause the work is compelling
enough, or sometimes the project, the legacy project, is
compelling enough, and that'ssomething certainly going for.

Joseph (11:22):
Kingdom of the planet of the apes right then not only
made a great amount of money, ora very significant amount of
money, but we know that theplanet of the apes franchise,
since it's fallen in into thehands of 20th century and, you
know, ever since the firstiteration in 2011, has been
nominated in this category,albeit in just this category it
has never been able to breakthrough anywhere else.

(11:45):
Right?
And this new chapter, ifthere's anything that's maybe
possibly a red flag, is that thedirector has changed, the
writer has changed, the filmwasn't as critically well
received as the others, althoughit did well, and so you have to
wonder is this something thatvoters are going to say, oh well
, I've already seen, I'vealready rewarded with
nominations an entire franchise.

(12:06):
I don't want to go and startnominating them all over again
for this reboot.
Or are they going to feel likethe fantastic work of all three
of those movies which centeredaround Andy Serkis and what was
really cutting edge technologyfor the time, it never won an
Academy Award?
Is that something that's goingto compel voters to keep putting
it on their shortlist?

(12:27):
I will say I've seen the workand I think the work is
fantastic and I think the workis the best I've seen in terms
of this entire franchise, withthe photorealism and the effects
and the simulations.
It's absolutely gorgeous.
It would be a shame if it's notthere, but it could happen,
because beyond, you know, youhave multiple movies coming from
the same studio and multiplelegacy projects.

(12:48):
So let's talk about the sisterproject of better man, which is
another entry here fromparamount pictures, and that's
gladiator 2, which is a hugelegacy project right for the
oscars, absolutely, and I thinkthat that's something that's
going for it.

Jules (13:01):
It's a film that did very just fine critically, even
though it was similar to thereception of the first one.
But in general I think thatfilm landed on a more
disappointment, disappointingnote critically than people
expected and here in the statesit didn't do as financially.

(13:22):
It wasn't as financiallysuccessful as people had hoped,
even though globally it didreally well.
Internationally it did reallywell and I feel that the, as you
were saying, the legacy of itall following the first
Gladiator, which was such a sortof awards magnet for the Oscars

(13:43):
in 2000.
I feel that that's a film thatthey saw and really Scott does
well in this category and that,despite it not matching the
quality for many people, it'sstill safe enough for a
nomination here.

Joseph (14:00):
I think that it's going to stand out enough.
I think it's taking place inRome.
It has a distinction about itcompared to the other films.
I don't know if it's a shoo-in,but I like it here, as you said
, with Ridley Scott behind this.
Ridley Scott, I think the lasttime he was shortlisted in this

(14:20):
category and did not make it atthe end was for Alien Covenant,
and so I think that's a verygood sign.
It got that bapton nomination,as we were saying, but
unfortunately it did not do thatgreat at the visual effects
society.
Um, the company behindgladiator 2 is industrial light

(14:40):
and magic, which also has wickedand twisters.
Funnily enough, twisters gotthe visual effects society
nomination for visual effects ina photoreal feature, but
there's a film that got shut outentirely from bafta and the
bafta long list.
Even so, there's a weak spotthere in that movie as well.

(15:00):
Right now that we've covered thebafta nominees I mean speaking
of the visual effects societynominees the people we have left
to cover are twisters andmufasa right, twisters,
obviously another legacy project.
Never made it to best picture,of course, but everyone knows
how that changed sound designand visual effects back in the
90s.

(15:21):
Another huge box office success, and mufasa, of course, came
out in christmas.
Barry jenkins is directing it.
The first one of was, of course, a nominee in 2019, but it also
brings about this biggerdiscussion to be had, which is
that last year, the visualeffects winner was godzilla

(15:41):
minus one right.
And there's a movie that didnot get nominated for BAFTA and
was not shortlisted at BAFTA andit won the award Right, and it
was only nominated for that onevisual effects society award,
which I believe was for animatedcharacter, and the Academy
Awards also nominated MissionImpossible for the very first

(16:03):
time in franchise history Right.
And so I guess, with that, Iwould say that maybe this branch
is undergoing some changeswhere some usual benchmarkers
aren't as important as they usedto be.

Jules (16:15):
Right right.

Joseph (16:15):
And so the fact that you know Twisters is shut out of
BAFTA and Mufasa is shut out ofBAFTA maybe is not as important,
and vice versa.
Maybe the fact that twisters isa final five nominee at the
visual effects society, as ismufasa, maybe that's not as
important either right, right,that's a really good point this
is sort of a category that lastyear was really surprising to me
and I think is sort of in fluxright, right, I 100 agree.

Jules (16:38):
I think that's a really good point.
Um, I also would say, in linewith what we were talking about
Ridley Scott.
You have Alien Romulus, whichwas not directed by Scott, but
certainly you can't help butthink about Ridley Scott when
you think about the Alienfranchise, and he's a producer

(16:59):
on that film.
I think this film is a darkhorse to make some waves in this
category.
However, I don't doesn't feelright to me to have both
Gladiator 2 and Alien Romulus onthis list.
Again, I think they have acommon thread.

(17:20):
Um, and I don't know, I justI'm not sure that I see them
both making it.
What about you?

Joseph (17:27):
Well, I think it's interesting.
That's yet another title for20th Century Studios, another
legacy project which has beensort of shoddy in terms of the
nominations it reaps, and yetanother entry for Weta, I
believe.
So again, it speaks to thisidea that you know these titles
might start competing againsteach other.
I don't know if they did enoughnew things in this film, and I

(17:49):
think I agree with you, it feelsodd to be nominating a ridley
scott film and a film that isbased on work that really scott
sort of originated so it feels alittle bit odd, I will say that
the last sort of alien adjacentfilm to be nominated for the
visual effects Oscar was RidleyScott's Prometheus Right.

Jules (18:10):
But also the last time Ridley Scott missed in this
category significantly was AlienCovenant.
Alien Covenant.

Joseph (18:16):
Yeah, that's sort of interesting to bring up too.
And then the last title we haveto talk about is really
Deadpool and Wolverine, which ison this list and Mufasa oh, I'm
sorry, I thought I brought upMufasa already.
Mufasa, of course, doing well inChristmas from Disney.
It's original the Lion King wasnominated here.

(18:36):
Barry Jenkins is taking overdirecting now, not Jon Favreau.
Jon Favreau, of course, gotmultiple nominations here.
Sometimes this category and allthe character, all the craft
categories as we'll speak about,sometimes they're judged by the
filmmakers behind them and thefilmmakers leading them.
So john favreau has a leewayhere that maybe someone like
barry jenkins does not right.
But it's doing very well overchristmas and it's a different

(18:59):
company that I'm pretty sure ispushing this film and that's npc
, and so that's interesting.
But again we have this idea ofare there just too many animals
in this category?

Jules (19:07):
That's what I was going to say, that's what I wanted to
bring up the reason that I'm notliking Mufasa, for this is
between this and Better, man andKing of the Planet of the Apes
and even, to a certain extent,gladiator 2 has some animals in
there, yeah, you know, I justfeel like it's too animal heavy,
um, and also wicked has animalstoo, exactly, and so, and also

(19:28):
you know barry jenkins as adirector.
You know his films, uh, forobvious reasons, don't typically
, you know, kind of penetratethis category, right visual
effects.
So I wonder if that's sort ofsomething that might be playing
here, playing out here, you know, his version of the lion king
doesn't get in right, whereas,as you were saying, john
favreau's does um, it's also,you know, uh was a little bit of

(19:50):
a critical misstep.
I wonder if that has somethingto do with it because I do know
that better man did much bettercritically, and so did king of
the planet of the apes, althoughmuch worse box office oh, yes,
yeah absolutely um.
So that was my point that Iwanted to bring up with mufasa
and why I'm a little skepticalwith it.
And then the last film that wewanted to bring up was I mean,
those are all.

Joseph (20:09):
those are all excellent points.
That leads us to deadpool, oneof the biggest films of the year
, certainly in the us the onlysort of superhero film on this
list which has been prettypopular among this category.
It's also backed by Disney.
But here we go again.
You got Weta FX again, and soagain you wonder if this Weta FX

(20:31):
Is just thinning out thecompetition.
And if there's enough room forAnything more than two titles.
We did forget one movie On herethat I actually think is the
one that stands out, the most,which is Civil War.

Jules (20:44):
A24 was able to get Civil War here movie on here.
That I actually think, is theone that stands out the most
right, which is civil war.

Joseph (20:46):
Yes a24 was able to get civil war here.
They have a very compellingvideo of some of the visual
effects breakdown and they'reable to get on this list, which
is surprising or not surprising,I don't know.

Jules (20:57):
I mean, ex machina was nominated here and won I was
gonna say alex carlin has ahistory right of getting into
this category surprisingly rightand going on to win this
category surprisingly somewhatstealing the category from
really scott's the martian andgeorge miller's mad max and
inari to the revenant and so itsort of upset everyone in that

(21:19):
category and funnily enough, itwas able to do that without a
single nomination at the VisualEffects Society Right this time
Civil War is nominated there.

Joseph (21:28):
It's nominated twice and it's nominated in one category
that you always have to watchout that a film from here sort
of evolves into an eventualnominee, because they're using
visual effects in a verycomplimenting way, as instead of
a very focused way or a waythat you know is catered to
visual effects and that's knowis catered to visual effects and
that's in the category ofsupporting visual effects in a
photo real feature, and so civilwar is nominated there and it's

(21:51):
the only nominee there that iseligible for an oscar nomination
.
It was also long listed bybafta and, as we said, alex
garland has gotten a movie herebefore and this movie is being
sort of backed by this smaller,uh, visual effects house frame
store, which has had somesuccess here before and has

(22:13):
upset competition, I think, whensomething like christopher
robin was able to get in.
So it's not impossible for themto sort of beat the odds.
But if you look at this list,it's a very different film,
right, it's a war film.
It's a contemporary film there'snot a lot of spectacle in it
right a lot of nuanced visualeffects going on, a lot of what
they refer to as invisiblevisual effects, which is

(22:34):
something that the visualeffects branch in general would
rather not exactly, yeahnominate but, there may be
enough innovation possibly insome of their practical effects,
special effects that may becompelling enough and certainly
that is distinct enough yeah, Icompletely agree with that,
everything that you said, and Iwould add, about deadpool and
wolverine, that sean levy as afilmmaker and his production

(22:58):
company, they do well in thiscategory, right, despite being
having, you know, uh, fosteredand created films that don't get
embraced by the visual effectssociety organization.

Jules (23:11):
So, right, deadpool, wolverine, were blanked from
this year's visual effectssociety, but that's not an
uncommon thing for a sean levy,right?
Uh, produced or directed film,right, and so speak a little bit
more to that.

Joseph (23:25):
Well, yeah, 21 Laps, which is the production company
of Sean Levy.
You know they have a veryspecial magic with the Academy
Awards.
You talk about a company thatwas able to produce something
like Real Steel and get anomination there.
In visual effects, without anysupport from the Visual Effects
Society no nominations there.
We're able to get a nominationfor love and monsters right

(23:52):
during the pandemic, right,right, and that upset movies
like welcome to chechnya andmovies like soul and movies like
mank and even comic book filmslike birds of prey, and so
there's a special kind of magicthere.
And even something like freeguy the year right after with
Ryan Reynolds, directed by SeanLevy, 21 laps again no Visual
Effects Society nominations.
But they're able to crack theBAFTA long list and the BAFTA

(24:15):
top five, I believe, and they'reable to walk away with that
Oscar nomination.

Jules (24:19):
And so you just feel like this branch is watching the
Sean Levy, the Sean Levy.

Joseph (24:25):
They have yeah, they have, I think, a very special
admiration or respect for theproductions of 21 Laps.
So I do think it's odd thatthey don't play as well for the
visual effects society, but thathas never been a determining
factor for their ultimate fate.
And so, yes, deadpool andWolverine was blanked, but I
think they are to be takenseriously in this category 100%.

Jules (24:48):
I completely agree so.

Joseph (24:50):
I mean, as we're making our final five, I do think that
there are a few things to keepin mind, because I do think that
they start to point a path tothings you should be looking at
Right.
And so the first thing to belooking at, as we had mentioned,
was the BAPT denominations,right, the first thing to be
looking at, as we had mentioned,was the BAFTA nominations,
right.
So you have Better man Dune 2,Gladiator 2, Kingdom of the
Planet of the Apes and Wicked,and right now BAFTA's on a

(25:11):
streak, and the past few yearsthey've gotten four of those
movies in, when they haven'tthey usually get three in, but
if you look at their long list,which have been very helpful
since they've started publishingthem, you might find up to all
five nominees there and anynominee that isn't there.
It's not impossible for them toget in, but it is possibly

(25:34):
maybe just the one title, and soyou know the nominees.
The other eligible films thatwere long listed by BAFTA
include Civil War, Alien,Romulus and Deadpool and
Wolverine.
The films that were not wereMufasa and Twisters.

(25:54):
Twisters exactly.
So those two films missed theBAFTA long list and that's
something definitely goingagainst them, right?
The second thing to keep inmind is the Visual Effects
Society.
So you know that Dune 2 hadmost nominations, I believe, but
very close you have Better manand Kingdom of the Planet of the
Apes, and the final two spotswere those two movies that were,

(26:15):
as you said, blanked by BAFTAlong list, which is Mufasa and
Twisters.
The other films that werenominated at the BAFTA, such as
Gladiator and Wicked, got onenomination apiece, I think.
Actually, gladiator got two,civil War got two, which was
long listed at BAFTA.
Excuse me, deadpool did getthat one nomination.

(26:38):
But another thing to look atbeside the Visual Effects
Society, where you saw that somefilms did really well and you
had films like Deadpool andRomulus, twisters, I believe,
getting just one nomination.
You know when voters arecasting their ballots, I do
think that they're taking alarger look at what other films

(27:00):
are doing well in othercategories, and so we always
speak to the idea that, for somereason, there's just this
overlap between the nominees forvisual effects and the nominees
for sound as well as the moviesthat are long listed for visual
effects as and the movies thatare long listed for sound yeah,
100and so if you look at the

(27:20):
Academy's long list for bestsound and you examine it, you
kind of start to see a pattern.
Ever since they startedpublishing those lists, and
whatever nominees make it intothe final five for the Academy
of Visual Effects, there shouldbe at least one to two of those
films that are nominated amongthe final five for best sound,

(27:43):
and this year for sure, one ofthose spots belongs to Dune 2.
But you sort of start thinkingabout what the second film could
be if there is a second film,and most times there is a second
film.
Sometimes there can be morethan two films, right, right.
But so you start thinking aboutwhat that other film could be.
That is, a sound nominee thatcrosses over into a visual
effects nominee.

(28:04):
I'll give you an example.
Something like the creator washugely popular at the visual
effects society and somehow itwas able to have enough you know
steam in that category that itwas able to sort of muster a
nomination for sound where ithad very little traction right.

(28:25):
That's another sort of weirdthing that happened last year,
and so, as you start thinkingabout the films that appeared on
both lists, you're left with alist that includes Dune 2,
wicked, gladiator 2, alien,romulus and Deadpool and
Wolverine, and so, as you'remaking your final five, you
should take into considerationthat at least two of those films

(28:46):
right should end up being bothsound nominees and visual
effects nominees.
It can be as little as one, butit tends to be two.
Further and say that last yearwe saw that three nominees from
the academy awards of long listand sound end up being visual
effects nominees in the top five.

(29:07):
And what I'm trying to say bythat is you may have two movies
that sort of bridge the gapbetween being visual effects
nominees and sound nominees, butyou should probably have a
third movie nominated for visualeffects that was also
shortlisted in sound right right, and so from that list that I
gave you, it would be smart toinclude three movies right right

(29:30):
.
So that's something that yousort of notice over time and
maybe you want to use to sort ofcreate your final five right.

Jules (29:37):
I think that's a really good point and that's certainly
a pattern that we've noticed,and it really played out last
year with a surprise nominationsfor um, the creator, and
mission impossible, right,exactly, and napoleon to a
certain degree, I think, whichwas shoulder for sound, but did
not get that nomination.

Joseph (29:55):
But it did get that visual effects nomination right,
and then you'll also see somemore overlap, for example in
something like the Annie Awards.
Again, the connection betweenthe animation community and the
visual effects community is veryintricate very intertwined and
so when they have a category ofyou know best character
animation, I believe in a liveaction film.

(30:17):
If you get that kind ofnomination, it could also prove
some very broad support.
And some movies that got thatwere movies that were not
shortlisted for the AcademySound right, and so that
includes again Kingdom of thePlanet of the Apes and Better
man, along with Gladiator 2.
And then I think the last sortof guild that could possibly

(30:37):
provide some overlap is the ArtDirectors Guild, and there's
again, again, a lot of overlapbetween visual effects and art
direction because, you're sortof extending the art direction,
the production design, with theuse of visual effects exactly
and so you should usually get atleast one nominee among the
five visual effects that'll showup for production design, and

(31:00):
you'd be surprised how many ofthe nominees for visual effects
top five at the Oscars tend tobe movies that got singled out
by the Production DesignersGuild, the Art Directors Guild.

Jules (31:11):
There was one year recently that I got four right.

Joseph (31:14):
I think so, I think so.

Jules (31:16):
Right.

Joseph (31:16):
And so the films this year that was sort of
highlighted by the Art DirectorsGuild that are also shortlisted
for the oscars, includegladiator 2, dune 2, alien
romulus, civil war twisters ison there and, of course, wicked
a couple of films that didn'tmake it were better man and

(31:36):
kingdom of the planet of the apright.
So that may also be a factor.
I would probably suggest maybeborrowing three to four out of
those art directing nomineesfrom the Guild and sort of using
those or placing those amongyour visual effects top five.

Jules (31:52):
Yeah, I think those are excellent points.
There's certainly a crossoverbetween all those departments
and branches, and just artistryand filmmaking as a whole is
such a collaborative experiencethat you're going to have these
branches speak to each other,these departments speak to each
other and I will say one lastthing, which is right now.

Joseph (32:16):
The consensus has sort of excluded a film like Deadpool
and Wolverine.
You know, there's a film thathas done really well at the
Sound Guild, was shortlisted forsound at the Oscars, was
longlisted for visual effects atthe BAFTA, is made by 21 Laps,
is not at the Art DirectorsGuild, nor did it do very well

(32:38):
at the Visual Effects Society,is not at the Art Directors
Guild, nor did it do very wellat the Visual Effects Society,
but it's really the only filmthat's repping the Walt Disney
Motion Picture Alongside Mufasa,right alongside Mufasa.
So I will say that, from whatI've seen, I think we haven't
observed Disney miss anomination here I'm referring

(32:59):
specifically to the Walt DisneyMotion Picture Company since
2009, I believe Right, even inone of the rare years where the
visual effects branch, you know,decides to forego anything that
originates from comic books orsuperheroes, like 2015, where

(33:21):
they didn't nominate Age ofUltron or Ant-Man, disney is
still sort of repped by StarWars.
You know Disney either, betweentheir live-action remakes,
their superhero films, theirMarvel films, their Star Wars
properties, between all that,disney has always mustered at
least one nomination in thiscategory, again since 2009, and

(33:46):
again.
2009 was the last year thiscategory was held to just three
nominations right right, and so,ever since it's expanded to
five, disney has found a way tobe on this list.

Jules (33:57):
Right, right, so I think that's a really good point.
I think that's something thatyou know you have to keep in
mind for sure.

Joseph (34:03):
I think right now, both Mufasa and Deadpool and
Wolverine are not popular picks,but I think that there is
something to be said about thepower of Disney in this category
, right.

Jules (34:14):
I think you're 100% right and to that note, I would say
that my predicted five forvisual effects at this point
would be dune, part two, kingdomof the kingdom of the planet of
the apes, better man, glidertwo and, for the reasons you
just stated, deadpool andwolverine.
A disney movie, yes, and alsothe overlap between visual

(34:37):
effects and being shortlistedfor sound and, as you were
saying, the Disney movie repping.
Disney, as well as the SeanLevy, does really well in this
category and beats the odds timeand time again.

Joseph (34:52):
You also have three movies that were long listed at
the Academy for Sound, becauseyou're putting in Dune 2,
gladiator 2 and Deadpool RightRight for sound because you're
putting in right dune 2,gladiator 2 and deadpool right,
right.
And then I think you also havemaybe two titles that were at
the art directors guild right,because the other three weren't.
So maybe there there's possiblya little bit of a weak spot

(35:12):
right, but, like I said, there'sso many different.
You know stats in this category.
You know that's the fun thingabout stats is one of them has
to fall but, the rest are goingto stay intact.
It'll be interesting to seewhich way this goes.
I think it's interesting thatyou're going again with the
bafta, picking up four nomineeswhich is they've been on a
streak right so I think I likeyour four as well.
I think I would go with dune 2,gladiator 2, better man, kingdom

(35:39):
of the planet of the apes, andI think for the fifth spot I'm
really tempted right now toselect possibly civil war,
because it's just so differentfrom the others.
It picked up those twonominations, sometimes the
winner of that supporting visualeffects category.
At the visual effects societycan sort of differentiate itself
enough to, you know, steal anomination, see the last

(36:02):
nomination.
Right, right, I think framestore has been able to do it
before, but you know the disneystat is very compelling right
and I think what better way thatto say goodbye to the deadpool
character, or possibly the ryanreynolds era of the deadpool
character, than to finallynominate deadpool something.
And we know Deadpool is popularenough because it's doing well

(36:23):
in these sound guilds and I dolike that.
That gives you the three soundmovies from the Oscar long list
for best sound in visual effects.

Jules (36:35):
And I think, like we mentioned, Alex Garland is
certainly someone to watch outfor in these surprise visual
effects nominations space, right, so I think that's who I would
go with is.

Joseph (36:49):
I would finish with Civil War, but my spoiler is
certainly a Disney movie, and Ithink Deadpool might be the one.

Jules (36:55):
Right, I think maybe my spoiler is possibly Alien
Romulus or mufasa, one of thosetwo right all right.

Joseph (37:02):
Well, that's our dive and our final predictions for
visual effects and again, we'llbe posting these online on our
twitter page, so just follow uson twitter if you want to see
what our final predictions are.
All right, so let's startlooking into sound design, and
we have another long list herethat could help us figure out
the nominees, help us narrowdown the field, right?
So let's start taking a look ateach of these titles and start

(37:24):
talking about pros and cons,where they've shown up before
and you know where they're at atthe race right now.
So let's talk about, first ofall, the.
The long list included dune 2,wicked, a complete unknown.
Emilia perez, gladiator 2,blitz, alien, romulus, the wild

(37:47):
robot, deadpool and wolverineand joker 2.
I think we can all agree thatjoker 2 should not factor in
here right, so we can almost getrid of that one right.
I think that in this categoryreally there are three locks
right pershivas locks, andthat's dune part two that's

(38:08):
wicked, and that's a completeunknown yeah, all three of them
fit the character of a nomineehere to a t.
You have the massiveblockbuster visual effects film
in dune 2.
You have the musical in Wickedand the musical blockbuster at
that, also shortlisted forvisual effects, which isn't too
bad.
And then you have the sort ofmusical biopic, sort of musical,

(38:31):
not musical film in A CompleteUnknown, and that's, I think, a
very easy nod for it to pick up.

Jules (38:38):
Right, absolutely.
And so really it's the last twospots that we're trying to
figure out.
I think a film that makes sensehere is Gladiator 2.
Right, it did get that BAFTAnomination for best sound design
.
What about the Guild?

Joseph (38:58):
Right.
So I mean, well, since you'retalking about Gladiator 2,'s,
start by saying the bathnominees and maybe that helps
give us a benchmarker here.
The bath, the final five.
The nominees included wickedand dune 2, which we think are
locks, as well as blitz andgladiator 2.
That final nominee was thesubstance, which was snubbed

(39:21):
here unfortunately it's noteligible.
So, as you said, gladiator 2,possibly a movie that's going to
get that final spot.
If you look at the other guildawards beyond the bafta to sort
of give you an idea of whereeveryone stands, there's a
couple of really good ones.
There's many remember the soundcategory, sort of yeah, they

(39:43):
united unified into one category, but there are multiple guilds
for it, um, one of the mostprominent ones, one of the most
telling ones, is the cinemaaudio society right, which is
for the sound mixers, and sothis year they shortlisted a
complete unknown, which we'recalling a lock.
They did wicked, which we'recalling a lock, and they did
Wicked, which we're calling alock, and they did Dune II,

(40:03):
which we're calling a lock RightNow.
Their final two spots went toGladiator 2, as you were saying,
and it went to Deadpool andWolverine right Right, which is
maybe surprising in the sensethat it did not get long listed
at BAFTA and certainly notnominated at BAFTA.
So Gladiator 2 is in the BAFTAnominees and it's in the Cinema

(40:25):
Audio Society nominees.
The other big sort of industryaward for sound designers to
look at is the Motion PictureSound Editors accolades, and so
they have multiple categories.
So it's interesting to see whichfilms got multiple nominations
and, if I'm'm correct, the filmsthat sort of led nominations

(40:45):
were due to no surprise when itwas, uh, selected for sound
editing for music, dialogue andeffects and also deadpool and
wolverine which was shortlistedfor the same three, and so those
led with three apiece, and thenafter that you had a couple of
movies with two apiece, and theyincluded Wicked, which again

(41:07):
we're calling a lock here formusic and for dialogue, which
are really good, two really goodnominations for that film, as
well as A Complete Unknown,again sort of a sister piece
here, the musical, non-musicalbiopic thing, nominated for

(41:28):
sound editing, music anddialogue as well, and
interestingly, enough.
Alien Romulus for dialogue andeffects also got a pair of
nominations.
Of course some people weresurprised to see Alien Romulus
on the Academy's long listanyway, but it was very
revealing to see it listed inmotion picture sound editors.
Another film that picked up acouple of nominations and I say
that with an asterisk was emiliaperez, which is in the long

(41:48):
list for the academy, was on thelong list for bafta, although
it did not get a nomination, andit pulled out a nomination at
the motion picture sound editorsfor music it is a musical and
for international film, which ispossibly a little less
important although I do thinkthat something like the zone of
interest figured in there lastyear right right

(42:10):
but it was uh sort of shut outfrom the cinema audio society.
Uh, being a musical, that maybe a little bit surprising.
And then I I'll give a lastlittle shout out to a recent
organization called theassociation of motion picture
sound, which has only recentlystarted rewarding films, and
three of the films that theyhighlighted this year included

(42:32):
eligible films, wicked dune twoand a complete unknown, and I
think that speaks to how thosethree titles are pretty cemented
in there that's even with acomplete unknown being snubbed
from the bafta from the bafta.
And so that's what you have tounderstand is that a complete
unknown was long listed by bafta.
But wherever it was long listedit always ran at the best sixth

(42:53):
.
Six, yeah, and that means itwas behind movies like gladiator
2, behind movies like blitz andbehind movies like the
substance for the bafta, for thebafta right.
But I think that we've seenthis category sort of in flux
and I think I've referred tothis a little bit in visual
effects too, which is alwayskind of interesting to see.
But you saw mission impossibleget in here for the first time

(43:15):
last year for the franchise,alongside visual effects, and
there wasn't a lot of lead up tothat nomination, I believe, and
certainly that wasn't the case,or that was the case for a film
like the creator, which endedup being nominated for sound
design as well last year, rightafter doing so well at the
visual effects society but notdoing really well at the cinema

(43:36):
audio society or the motionpicture sound editors, so it
might have even been shut outfrom those awards.
But it goes to speak to thisconnection that there is between
the visual effects category andthe sound category, and so you
should definitely, as you'remaking your final list, you
should definitely have one filmfrom the visual effects category
cross over into this soundcategory.

(43:58):
It should be one, but it couldbe as many as two.
I remember in the year 2022,the race was so calcified and so
strong, really, that you had upto four movies from visual
effects show up in sound.

Jules (44:10):
So it's not out of the question.
Well, we definitely have Dune.

Joseph (44:13):
Yeah, we definitely have Dune so that's at least one,
but it could be that this yearyou're seeing possibly one or
two.

Jules (44:18):
I found it interesting that Blitz made the BAFTA long
list.
I think that's a film that forsome reason I feel like is going
to land somewhere in the Oscarnominations, even if it
underperformed overall thisawards race.
So I think this isn't a badcategory for it to pop up and

(44:40):
show up.
So that's where I'm at withthat film.
What do you think?

Joseph (44:45):
well, I I think it's one of the few categories that
blitz was able to manage towrestle a nomination in at the
baftas.
I think it's quite interestingbecause it sort of stands apart
from the rest of the field.
You know it isn, it isn't a warfilm.
It's a World War II film, thosetend to do well in this
category.
The team isn't as highlyrecognized as some of the other

(45:07):
teams, certainly not the onesthat feel the movies that feel
locked in this category, but Ido feel that it brings something
different it's inclusion here.
I do also think that one thingthat we should talk about as
we're finalizing this list wetalk about the connection and
the overlap between your visualeffects nominees and your sound
nominees, and nowhere was thatmore evident last year than when

(45:29):
you saw the creator get intothis category where it possibly
should not have, and certainlynot over things like Kills of
the Flower Moon or somethinglike Ferrari, or something like
ferrari or something likenapoleon possibly.
But there's also a strongconnection between the original
score category and the soundcategory and we talk about how

(45:49):
these artists you know they'renot just looking at the films
sort of shortlisted or that are,you would imagine call their
attention more, call theattention of sound designers
more.
They're looking at other filmstoo and again, the oral art in
cinema involves score and that'swhy motion picture sound
editors is a category for musicwork right and so there should

(46:11):
be at least one film from youroriginal score category inside
your sound design category, andsometimes there's more.
But you have to look.
You have to go all the way backto 2006 to find a year when no
film on the original scorecategory crossed over into sound
yeah, or landed in sound.

(46:32):
It landed in sound.
It's very, very rare you lookat something like 2007, for
example, and there were a lot ofdisqualifications that year.
But if you look at the scorecategory you'll find some
surprising names, and one ofthem was when Marco Beltrami got
his first nomination for a filmlike 310 to Yuma, which is a
western, and at that point Idon't know how long it had been

(46:53):
since we'd seen a western in theoriginal score category.
And again, there were a lot ofDQs.
Remember that's the year thatjohnny greenwood got
disqualified for there will beblood, yeah but I always think
that nowhere is it more evidentthat there's a bridge from sound
to score than when you see 310to yuma a western, you know
western movies which do well inthe sound category.

(47:15):
it's able to sort of bridge thegap and jump into original score
, and all that to say is andwe'll talk about it later but we
have an original scoreshortlist and there's very few
titles that can cross sort ofthe can sort of end up in both
sound and score, and one ofthose titles is Blitz because,

(47:35):
Blitz is shortlisted for HansZimmer score and it's
shortlisted for sound and it gotthat sound nomination at bafta
yeah, and interestingly enough,hans zimmer is a part of the
doom part two score, which isdisqualified, which he got dq'd
for, and so maybe it's going tobe tempting to nominate him for
blitz for the year he had ingeneral right, um, but then

(47:57):
there's another movie.
There's another movie that wehave to talk about, in terms of
a score nominee, possibly a veryfavorite score nominee very
likely that could factor in here.
As we said, we have three locks,we have two spots open.
We've talked gladiator 2, we'vetalked to blitz, both bafta
nominees.
Here's a movie that was notnominated at bafta right but was
long listed, and that's emiliaperez right the musical and we

(48:18):
feel very confident that's goingto be shortlisted for score.
Yes, that be the film thatcrosses over from score into
sound exactly.

Jules (48:26):
I think that's a really excellent point.
That's something that both ofthose contenders have going for,
going for them, I think.
Right now I'm tempted to saythat because Amelia Perez is
such a likely nominee in thescore category that, and
considering who else we'reconsidering, you and I, for the

(48:47):
final five in score, itseemsenders the sound work is.
There's some meticulous soundwork in Emilia Perez, but I

(49:09):
think it's not as comparable tothe sound work that's happening
in some of these other nominees,like Gladiator 2 and Complete
Unknown and Wicked and Dune, andso I feel that that film is on
iffy ground.
I'm not 100% sold that.
To me it feels right for it tobe a sound nominee.

(49:31):
That being said, that statisticof a crossover between sound
and score makes me feel thatit's maybe stronger here in this
category than people think.

Joseph (49:40):
Right, and I agree.
I will say that, on the filmsthat are long listed for the
Academy, amelia Perez, the soundteam, is one of the more or one
of the least decorated, I wouldsay, amongst its designers, its
sound designers.
There haven't been too many ofthose who've been nominated at
the Academy, but again, again,we're talking about an

(50:01):
international production thathas, you know, people involved
from all over and so maybethat's not surprising, but maybe
, for example, that is sort of abarrier to entry to it being
nominated at the cinema audiosociety, where it got outplaced
by deadpool and wolverine.
Right, that could be a factor.
And then the other thing totalk about is is there room for

(50:21):
a second sort of classicalmusical?
When we already have Wickedrunning so further ahead, and
that's not even addressing theidea that we have, as I said, a
sort of non-musical musical inthat biopic of a complete
unknown.
Is there room for anothermusical?

Jules (50:38):
yeah, it's kind of like a musical in and of itself
because there's so manyperformances in that film.
There's so many musicalperformances in that film, um
yeah, right exactly, completelyknown that it's, you know,
almost like a musical, exactlycontender, um, exactly.
So having three of them in thiscategory feels weird to me now
I will say that for my money.

Joseph (50:59):
When I saw emily perez, I did feel like there was a lot
of really good sound editingwork, because you're talking
about this sort of fusionbetween musical and sort of
narco culture, gun culture goingon.
So that's sort of aninteresting mix right.
I feel they could have playedwith it more throughout the film
, but maybe that's somethingthat's going to call the

(51:21):
attention of the sound designers, I think, a record for musicals

(51:43):
nominated for sound, and thatincluded, you know, the best
picture winner, oliver, but Ibelieve you also had movies like
Finian's Rainbow, movies likeStar and Funny Girl.
I believe all of those filmswere nominated for sound at the
same time, so that was dominatedby sound.
But 1968 feels like such a longtime ago.
I think that the industry wentthrough this sort of musical era

(52:07):
again in the 80s when you had,you know, big screen adaptations
of Victor, victoria or Best,little Whorehouse or Annie or A
Chorus Line or Annie or a chorusline, and despite all those
sort of prevalent musicals, alot of which were nominated for

(52:30):
Academy Awards, you really don'tget those movies shortlisted
together in sound anymore, andsometimes you don't get any of
them shortlisted in sound.

Jules (52:37):
And so I do wonder if maybe the industry is a little
bit hesitant of rewarding toomany musicals, too many movies
possibly doing the same thingyeah, but at the same time it
could be, you know, parallelingthe fact that this year we have
those three films wicked,complete, unknown, amita, paris,
two of them which are bona fidemusicals one is one of which

(52:58):
can be considered a musical to acertain degree, being very
locked Best Picture nominees.
So it could be a weird year inthe sense that those three films
have occupied such a space inthe race that it would make
sense to have more inclusionmusical films in this category

(53:22):
this year.

Joseph (53:23):
Yeah, it can be a symptom of the films that are
that are very popular this year.
But I also think, like I said,it's a little bit of a mountain
for Amelia Perez to climb,especially with those other two
films so far, so much furtherahead.
But we do need that score filmon here.
I really do believe that.

Jules (53:40):
Right.

Joseph (53:41):
And the other mountains that there are to climb.
Is not just that.
Blitz is an unpopular film in alot of categories, even in the
BAFTA it only got threenominations.
But you look at something likeWicked, which was shortlisted
for original score.
We haven't had a sort ofBroadway musical adaptation on
the big screen nominated fororiginal score, I believe, since

(54:02):
something like Annie in theearly 80s, and to that point it
got nominated because there wasa whole category dedicated to
original motion picture scorethat was adapted from a
previously existing work and itwould seem like you would need
to create a category just likethat to get the wickeds
nominated right, you know right.

(54:23):
Even if wicked did make thatshort list of films, I don't
expect it to be able to climbthat mountain and end up with a
top five nomination for originalscore.
If it did, I think it would bequite momentous.
Um, so that would be asdifficult, uh, to see amelia
perez in sound as it is to seewicked in score yeah as it is to
see blitz in either orcertainly in both right and then

(54:46):
the other films to choose from.
In terms of that score overlap.
All you have left is gladiator2, alien romulus and the wild
robot, and probably the mosttempting of those would be the
wild robot.
A lot of people are figuringthat movie in for score, but
there's also a lot of red flagsthere.
I mean, we're living in thismoment where animated films have

(55:09):
sort of been relegated to justanimated film and have not, you
know, crossed over into othercategories as successfully as
they did in the early 2000s,like with ratatouille or the
incredibles, and so there's beensome hesitancy to nominate
animated films there.
The last one that I believe didit in the sound category, I
think, was Soul, right, and itwas nominated for sound and for

(55:31):
score, but it was a pandemicyear, right, and DreamWorks in
particular has never reallycrossed that bridge.
Dreamworks has, I think, onlyever gotten two nominations for
their films how to Train yourDragon, possibly and so the idea
that they're going to be ableto get Animated Feature, which
is a shoo-in and Sound andBridge the Gap into Score might

(55:53):
be a bridge too far for them.

Jules (55:55):
Right, I agree 100%.

Joseph (55:56):
Beyond that, I think that the publishing of the BAFTA
long lists have been incrediblyhelpful in sort of determining
a bunch of nominees in differentcategories, but certainly sound
, I think.
In general, bafta, unlike Oscar, has always had or for the most
part, as far as I know, hasonly had the one sound category.
So they always have to pickfive nominees, whereas the

(56:19):
Academy, you know, for a while,for a long while, they had those
two categories, sound mixingand sound editing.
But since they've joinedtogether the Academy, since the
Academy has unified those twocategories, the BAFTA five
nominees have been veryrevealing as to who the Academy
will end up electing and for themost part, you should see an

(56:40):
overlap of four At least four,at least four.
At least four, and I'm not surethat they've ever been perfect.
I'm not sure they've evergotten a perfect five overlap
with five and five at theAcademy Although excuse me, I'm
wrong In 2017, I think theymight have had a perfect overlap
with Shape of Water, dunkirk,baby Driver, blade Runner, 24.
I think that was a year thatthey were perfect five for five,

(57:02):
but most times they get four.
And as you reference, you know,those five nominees at BAFTA,
with the 10 nominees or the 10slots that were available at the
Academy Awards, at least fourof those films tend to appear at
the Academy Sound category.
So, for example, in 2019,someone that was nominated for
the BAFTA sound category wassomething like Rocketman, and

(57:24):
that was one of the few titlesthat was not nominated for any
of the 10 slots that wereavailable at the Academy.
But the other four filmsnominated at BAFTA did show up
either in the mix category orthe editing category, and since
they've been unified, I thinkyou could count on them getting
around four nominees and withthe long list.
If you examine their long, longlist, I think that there is a

(57:44):
very good chance that you canget all five of their nominees
right, and so, if that's thecase, we already know that
there's a bunch of titles ontheir long list that are
ineligible, and that includes,uh, the substance and conclave,
and so if you're looking attheir eligible contenders from
their long list, you're leftwith Dune 2, gladiator 2, blitz

(58:09):
Wicked, a Complete Unknown,emilia Perez, and they left out
something like the Wild Robot,which could potentially bridge
the gap between sound and score.
So if you look at that, I wouldprobably suggest, as you're
finalizing your five, to look atthat BAFTA long list.
I think that might pave theclearest road to what the final

(58:30):
five would be.

Jules (58:31):
Right.
I think that's absolutely 100%right.
On that note, and consideringall the things that you've
mentioned today, I would saythat my predicted final five for
the Oscar nominations are Dune,part 2, wicked, a Complete

(58:55):
Unknown, the Lox.
I'm going to go with Gladiator2.
I like that.
It got that BAFTA nom and itdid well at those sound
organizations, and then I'mgoing to go with the score
nominee being Emilia Paris, andthe film that I'm most unsure of

(59:17):
possibly landing a spot here ismaybe Blitz instead of Emilia
Perez if it gets that scorenomination.
But since right now I'm bettingthat it won't get that score
nomination, I'm leaving it offthat list and going with Emilia
Perez.
That's my spoiler, though.
Blitz.

Joseph (59:36):
Yeah, that list makes a lot of sense to me.
Sometimes I wonder aboutGladiator 2 if the sound work
was good enough to be nominatedhere.
But at the same time you and Italk about this theory of sort
of complementary, symmetricalnominations.
And so last year when you sawNapoleon get nominated for
possibly a surprising number ofnominations, including visual

(59:59):
effects and costume design andproduction design, one place
where a lot of people had itpegged for nomination was the
sound design category, because Ithink it did do pretty well at
those sound guilds right and itdid.
It missed that nomination, somaybe this is a sort of way to
sort of make up for that.
Um, so I think that my finalfive would be something like

(01:00:19):
doom, part 2, wicked, a CompleteUnknown, gladiator 2.
And that fifth spot, I needsomeone that's going to sort of
bridge score and sound.
I know Emilio Perez is thepopular choice, but I think I'm
going to end up going with Blitz.
I think it's a little bitdifferent, a little less musical

(01:00:43):
, and I think it might be easierto see that movie sort of
retain its BAFTA nominationwhich again it got over a
complete unknown and AmeliaPerez, and be able to pick up a
nomination for someone asrespected as Hans Zimmer.
Then it will be for AmeliaPerez to get its sort of more
unknown sound team, thatnomination for best sound, Right

(01:01:05):
.

Jules (01:01:05):
So I think that's a really good point.

Joseph (01:01:07):
Blitz would be my fifth, but Emilia Perez is certainly
my spoiler.

Jules (01:01:11):
Right, that's why it's my spoiler.
I'm between that and EmiliaPerez, so I have Blitz for that.

Joseph (01:01:18):
Fifth spot and Emilia Perez very close.
That's my spoiler Again.
Fifth spot and Amelia Perezvery close.
That's my spoiler Again.
It could change at the very end.
We'll post final predictions onour Twitter page, but that's
the way I'm seeing it.

Jules (01:01:28):
All right.
Well, that's our dive into ourfinal predictions for Best Sound
.
Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm Jules.

Joseph (01:01:36):
And I'm Joseph.
You've been listening toAcademy Anonymous.

Jules (01:01:43):
And it's been a pleasure.
The music on this episode,entitled Cool Cats, was
graciously provided by KevinMacLeod and incompetechcom,
licensed under Creative Commonsby Attribution 3.0.
3.0 http//creativecommonsorg.

(01:02:06):
Licenses buy 3.0.

Joseph (01:02:13):
Disclaimer the Academy Anonymous podcast is in no way
affiliated or endorsed by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences.