AVQ&A: What Oscar 2025 shutout should have been nominated?
Before the Academy announces its winners, we highlight some of our favorite films that didn't make the cut, ranging from I Saw The TV Glow to Babygirl.
Though we’ve made our best guesses about who will win, and note who should win at this year’s Academy Awards, it’s not like the year’s best movies were actually all nominated for the things they excelled at. That’s why we’re asking about the forgotten, dismissed, or otherwise underappreciated film workers who weren’t recognized this year in this AVQ&A: What Oscar 2025 shutout should have been nominated?
As always, we invite you to contribute your own responses in the comments—and send in some prompts of your own! If you have a pop culture question you’d like us and fellow readers to answer, please email it to [email protected].
Best Original Screenplay: Azazel Jacobs, His Three Daughters
Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen all give raw, arguably career-best performances as the titular siblings in Azazel Jacobs’ touching His Three Daughters. But the more I think about why this feature from a filmmaker I really like (the low-budget Momma’s Man is wonderful, and it’s a shame French Exit didn’t catch on) hit me so hard, I keep returning to the writing, which pulls off a few feats, like establishing these sisters as very clear types yet blurring those lines and peeling away layers as the story unfolds, creating verisimilitude by underlining the day-to-day tediousness of dying, and deploying a heart-to-heart with their dad (Jay O. Sanders) at the end that’s both narratively clever and emotionally potent. (And speaking of good writing, it was cool to see my favorite novelist going, Exit’s Patrick deWitt, get a shoutout in the credits.) [Tim Lowery]
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Cinema was very sexy in 2024, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the Oscar nominees. It was maybe less surprising for Babygirl to get shut out than Challengers, but for me, Babygirl stung worse. I would’ve given the movie a lot of nominations, personally, but it all hinges on the titular babygirl herself. Nicole Kidman’s performance was so brave and vulnerable. She managed to make Romy funny, severe, tender, sexual, and childlike, all the complicated and contradictory parts of being human so vivid and right on the surface, accessing it all like it was easy. Although the extreme circumstances of Romy’s life play out like a fantasy, the shame and confusion and battle toward liberation all feel real thanks to Kidman’s fearless honesty. [Mary Kate Carr]
Best Supporting Actress: Margaret Qually, The Substance
It’s been incredibly refreshing to watch horror finally get its due at the Oscars. Despite its literal torrents of blood and other assorted viscera, The Substance managed to score five nominations this year—as a star like Elisabeth Sparkle deserves—with one notable exception: half of Elisabeth herself. While Demi Moore deserves all the acclaim she’s gotten for her performance as the actress-turned-fitness-instructor, the movie wouldn’t work without Margaret Qualley’s excellent, outrageous turn as her counterpart, Sue. Qualley should have earned herself a place on the list through her delivery of “Con-trol your-self!” alone, if not her general willingness to throw her whole self, body and soul, into the bit. Best Supporting Actress was always going to be a battle, but it’s getting harder to ignore this gap as the tides continue to shift. The Oscars really should have followed the instructions and respected the balance. [Emma Keates]
Best Director: Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
I’m still baffled by the lack of Dune: Part Two love at the Oscars, but nothing is more egregious than the Denis Villeneuve snub. Again. (Josh Brolin melodramatically agrees!). Villeneuve brought a difficult-to-adapt sci-fi sequel to life by masterfully combining a sweeping scale with a hypnotically artsy style. His singular vision is evident in every shot and in his ability to help actors—particularly Timothée Chalamet—transcend perceptions. (I’m still not over Paul Atreides’ intimate, menacing as hell speech to the Fremen, okay? Or anything sandworm-related.) Best Director is a tough category that saw no nods for deserving talents like RaMell Ross, Payal Kapadia, or Jane Schoenbrun (over a couple of sneaks in there—I said what I said). But it’s truly surprising that the Academy voters continue to overlook Villeneuve’s everlasting contribution to cinema with this franchise. He deserves to be up there. Hopefully, third time’s the charm with Dune Messiah. [Saloni Gajjar]
Few films from 2024 pushed their filmmaker’s holistic vision as successfully as I Saw The TV Glow. Jane Schoenbrun’s blistering bad dream about being stuck in a life, and a body, that is nothing more than a prison—lit by twilight and the neon glow of electronics—works on a textual level. As Maddy (Jack Haven) and Owen (Justice Smith) unpack their relationship with the kids’ TV show The Pink Opaque, and each other, the liminal late nights and half-remembered spaces shared by the two are as unsettling as any Americana captured by David Lynch. But Schoenbrun infuses this hyper-modern text so deeply with their personal preoccupations and experiences, creating a text that’s not just nostalgic and complexly metatextual but also queer in myriad ways, that I Saw The TV Glow also announces a confident auteur wielding their craft and their personality in harmonious tandem. I can’t imagine I Saw The TV Glow made by any other filmmaker, and that’s one of the best things I could say about a director’s work. [Jacob Oller]
Best Cinematography: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys
Cinematographer Jomo Fray’s work goes beyond being the greatest first-person film ever shot. Nickel Boys’ cinematography is revolutionary, creating a cinematic language all its own and making his snub all the more confusing. Sure, there have been first-person movies, but Nickel Boys doesn’t have the lumbering gimmickry of Lady In The Lake or the GoPro-induced nausea of Hardcore Henry. Fray’s work is almost invisible, calling attention to the characters and story, not the filmmaking. Nevertheless, his compositions are astounding and sublimely original, generating depths of emotion sans the techniques filmmakers have used since Fred Ott Sneezed. Fray’s work matches the complexity of Nickel Boys’ characters and their story. In the film’s most potent scene, Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) asks Turner (Brandon Wilson) for a hug—and then a better one. Hattie’s concern, disappointment, and love are apparent from behind his eyes. Though we cannot see him, so is Turner’s. The audience has entirely inhabited this character’s perspective. How many Best Cinematographer nominees can say that? [Matt Schimkowitz]
Best supporting actor: Adam Pearson, A Different Man
There was a moment back in December at the Gotham Awards when it seemed like maybe, somehow, Aaron Schimberg’s remarkable sophomore feature A Different Man might actually be a major awards season contender. It wasn’t, though lead actor Sebastian Stan did deservedly win the Golden Globe for his performance as Edward/Guy. But there has been little love for the film’s excellent screenplay or score, and most bafflingly, for Adam Pearson’s turn in the film’s second half as Oswald. Stan’s performance and the film’s entire arc hinge on Oswald’s emanant charisma and confidence, which Pearson delivers in spades. He is a mirror for both Guy’s envy and self-hatred while still completely his own man. To say that there is no film without Pearson is both true and sells his performance short. He’s not just A Different Man’s muse, but its heart, soul, humor, and a hell of a lot of its talent, too. [Drew Gillis]
