T'was The Night Before Oscars...

And all eyes are on GOLD

Ok so yeah I’m the weirdo that gets more excited on Oscar’s Eve than I do on Xmas Eve! Well before I somehow wangled my way onto the Oscar’s red carpet for the first time 15 years ago as TV3’s rookie entertainment reporter, trusty talented TV3 red carpet cameraman Billy Paine doing all the heavy lifting - physically and emotionally - I was the kid glued to the Oscars on the telly. I’d make my bets and lament my failures while celebrating EVERYTHING.

I’ve covered 7 Hollywood Oscar weeks in total, crossing live to 3News, Campbell Live and The Project from the red carpet just as Kathryn Bigelow trumped her ex-husband for Best Picture AND Best Director for Hurt Locker and kiwi Kim Sinclair toasted us all with his brand new Oscar for his work on Avatar.

Billy and I toasted the filmmakers behind Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire as they excitedly celebrated beside the pool at the Hollywood Roosevelt. All Hail the kiwis as cameraman John Fleming and I grabbed Taika for a quick pre-Oscars chat as he was boarding his limo for the red carpet (and went on to WIN one of course for Jojo Rabbit!) and instantly becoming a meme coz I’m such dick ha ha! #NewZealandIsSoProudRightNow

@newshubnzKiwis are so proud of you, Taika Waititi! 👏👏👏 #fyp #foryoupage #oscars #taikawaititi #newzealand #nz

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My last LA Oscars was 2023 and it was Everything Everywhere All at Once and I loved every single minute. A huge crew of amazing journalists and crews from all across the world crossing live for all time zones and the buzz was INTENSE there’s nothing like it! And all in the celebration of ONE thing: the MOVIES.

So anyway, enough naval gazing back to the good ole days coz the Oscars ain’t going nowhere and I’ll never stop being this excited! The poor buggers in the RNZ newsroom better reach for their noise cancelling headphones as I’ll be in all day Oscars Day anchoring the live updates online with all our red carpet reckons and the as-it-happens from the ceremony - send thoughts and prayers and log onto rnz.co.nz to follow along should you dare :)

This Oscars season has been a damn rollercoaster of a thing. 13 nods for Emilia Perez and the crowd went WILD; Wild with WTAFs (with the standard quelle horreur from the usual pitchfork wavers who haven’t even seen the film). But the massive fall-out from the Karla Sofía Gascón clusterF has tainted an already rocky road for the French film (which I loved by the way) and Netflix confirming this week that the controversial and history-making Oscar Nominee will definitely attending the awards will make for some spicy red carpet interviews.

What I want to see is Zoë Saldaña rightfully ascend the Oscars podium for Best Supporting as she is phenomenal in this film.

Anora has risen up through the flames of the Emilia Perez wreckage and I am so not sorry about it - this film is fantastic and I’d love to see it win the Oscar.

ANYWAY, better hit publish on this thing before I bang on for hours as is my way! Huge congrats to all the WētāFX team on their sensational awards season and their not one not two but THREE Oscar nominations for three of the five films in the Best Visual Effects category. I’m picking Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes for the win - although odds on fav looks like Dune: Part 2 might be the film to beat ;)

Here’s your list of Nominees and as is customary, I’ve initialed my picks for the winners on the day.

Happy Oscars Day y’all!!

KRxx

🏆 BEST PICTURE

"Anora" KR

"The Brutalist"

"A Complete Unknown"

"Conclave"

"Dune: Part Two"

"Emilia Pérez"

"I'm Still Here"

"Nickel Boys"

"The Substance"

"Wicked"

🎭 BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody, "The Brutalist" KR

Timothée Chalamet, "A Complete Unknown"

Colman Domingo, "Sing Sing"

Ralph Fiennes, "Conclave"

Sebastian Stan, "The Apprentice"

🎭 BEST ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo, "Wicked"

Karla Sofía Gascón, "Emilia Pérez"

Mikey Madison, "Anora"

Demi Moore, "The Substance" KR

Fernanda Torres, "I'm Still Here"

🎭 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Monica Barbaro, "A Complete Unknown"

Ariana Grande, "Wicked"

Felicity Jones, "The Brutalist"

Isabella Rossellini, "Conclave"

Zoe Saldaña, "Emilia Pérez" KR

🎭 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov, "Anora"

Kieran Culkin, "A Real Pain" KR

Edward Norton, "A Complete Unknown"

Guy Pearce, "The Brutalist"

Jeremy Strong, "The Apprentice"

🎬 BEST DIRECTOR

Sean Baker, "Anora". KR

Brady Corbet, "The Brutalist"

James Mangold, "A Complete Unknown"

Jacques Audiard, "Emilia Pérez"

Coralie Fargeat, "The Substance"

📝 BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

"Anora" (Sean Baker) KR

"The Brutalist" (Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold)

"A Real Pain" (Jesse Eisenberg)

"September 5" (Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David)

"The Substance" (Coralie Fargeat)

📖 BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

"A Complete Unknown" (James Mangold and Jay Cocks)

"Conclave" (Peter Straughan) KR

"Emilia Pérez" (Jacques Audiard)

"Nickel Boys" (RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes)

"Sing Sing" (Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar)

🎥 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

"The Brutalist" KR

"Dune: Part Two"

"Emilia Pérez"

"Maria"

"Nosferatu"

👘 BEST COSTUME DESIGN

"A Complete Unknown"

"Conclave"

"Gladiator II"

"Nosferatu"

"Wicked" KR

🌍 BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

"I'm Still Here" (Brazil) KR

"The Girl With the Needle" (Denmark)

"Emilia Pérez" (France). KR

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" (Germany)

"Flow" (Latvia)

🎞️ BEST EDITING

"Anora"

"The Brutalist"

"Conclave" KR

"Emilia Pérez"

"Wicked"

💋 BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

"A Different Man"

"Emilia Pérez"

"Nosferatu"

"The Substance" KR

"Wicked"

🎼 BEST SCORE

"The Brutalist" (Daniel Blumberg)

"Conclave" (Volker Bertelmann) KR

"Emilia Pérez" (Clément Ducol and Camille)

"Wicked" (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)

"The Wild Robot" (Kris Bowers)

🎤🎼 BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"El Mal" from "Emilia Pérez" (Clément Ducol and Camille) KR

"The Journey" from "The Six Triple Eight" (Diane Warren)

"Like A Bird" from "Sing Sing" (Abraham Alexander andAdrian Quesada)

"Mi Camino" from "Emilia Pérez" (Camille and Clément Ducol)

"Never Too Late" from "Elton John: Never Too Late" (Elton John, Brandi Carlile,Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin)

🏛️ BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

"The Brutalist" KR

"Conclave"

"Dune: Part Two"

"Nosferatu"

"Wicked"

🎧 BEST SOUND

"A Complete Unknown"

"Dune: Part Two" KR

"Emilia Pérez"

"Wicked"

"The Wild Robot"

💥 BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

"Alien: Romulus"

"Better Man"

"Dune: Part Two" (looks odd-on fav)

"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" KR

"Wicked"

🐭🎨 BEST ANIMATED FILM

"Flow" (I really want Flow to win.. but reckon voters will go for The Wild Robot)

"Inside Out 2"

"Memoir of a Snail"

"Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl"

"The Wild Robot" KR

🎤📰 BEST DOCUMENTARY

"Black Box Diaries"

"No Other Land" KR

"Porcelain War"

"Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat"

"Sugarcane" KR