We got our first televised awards show of the season Sunday night as the Critics’ Choice Association revealed its awards, making some shocking picks along the way.
No pick surprised more than the reveal of Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) as the winner of Best Supporting Actor. Benicio del Toro has led the way with critics’ groups all season, itself a surprising flip of early-season expectations that pegged his costar Sean Penn as the frontrunner. If neither of the One Battle boys won, it would have been less shocking for Stellan Skarsgärd to grab the award.
I don’t think this changes the game—I think Elordi is still probably fourth at the Oscars—but it seems Elordi is safely in the top four for an Oscar nomination with Paul Mescal (Hamnet) and Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) battling for the fifth slot.
The other acting trophies went to my new set of expected frontrunners, starting with Amy Madigan in Best Supporting Actress for Weapons. While it wasn’t a shock, it’s an important milestone in Madigan’s path to an Oscar victory. The win puts Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) and Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good) firmly behind the eight ball in the race.
It’s also important that Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) took the Best Actress award after a season that has seen heat rising for Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You). This feels like a two-horse race at best at this point and the Buckley sweep could still well happen now that we are getting into the major awards shows.
It will also help that she gave the best speech of the night, as these early award shows often boost a campaign by endearing the contenders to voters.
With that in mind, all eyes were on Timothée Chalamet as he went up to accept his award for Best Actor for Marty Supreme, an important precedent as the race heats up with Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) and Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) making a lot of noise lately. It wasn’t a great speech—Chalamet seemed very nervous on the stage—but it did undercut his braggadocious image that has been putting many people off throughout the campaign.
There was a little scare for One Battle After Another as it missed in a few early categories, including losing Best Original Score to Sinners and Editing to F1. But it picked up Best Adapted Screenplay on its way to Best Picture along with a Best Director win for Paul Thomas Anderson.
Sinners dominated with 17 nominations, and picked up a win for Best Original Screenplay in addition to Score, and Miles Caton took home the award for Best Young Performer.
Train Dreams surprised with a win for Best Cinematography, which is a nice award to help that underdog keep its course toward a Best Picture nomination.
The Secret Agent also surprised in the International Film category, bolstering its Best Picture pathway and making it the more likely third international feature in the field over No Other Choice.
That’s all for this edition of Poll Position. Until next time, screenagers.
