Look at Oscar Nominees and Their Film Journeys

New York Times

01-03-2025

With the 97th Academy Awards upon us, let's look at some of the ceremony's nominees and what they told us about their work being honored this weekend.
Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times
Demi MooreBody horror films don't often find their way into the top categories at award shows, but Demi Moore's performance in 'The Substance' has been praised by fans and critics for spotlighting the often harsh and suffocating reality of being an aging woman. The role required 'wrestling with the flashes of my own insecurity and ego,' Moore explained. 'I was being asked to share those things that I don't necessarily want people to see.'
Read More ›
Thea Traff for The New York Times
Isabella RosselliniIsabella Rossellini is a model, an actress, an animal behaviorist and the daughter of the actress Ingrid Bergman. She is also a first-time Oscar nominee at age 72 for playing Sister Agnes in 'Conclave,' the Vatican-set thriller about selecting a new pope. Rossellini is happy to be following in her mother's footsteps: 'I was surprised to cry, but I was so moved — I think for the legacy, because I think my mom would have been so happy,' Rossellini said.
Read More ›
Sam Hellmann for The New York Times
Kieran Culkin
Kieran Culkin has picked up almost every award he has been nominated for as his role as Benji in 'A Real Pain.' The 42-year-old actor says he would rather just be with his family. During the filming in Poland, Culkin took a quick trip to see them. 'I was home for 32 hours … but I just needed to be home and see the kids,' he told us. 'The work is so I can be home, not so I can be at work.'
Read More ›
Dana Scruggs for The New York Times
Ariana Grande and Cynthia ErivoAriana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are almost as known for their tearful interviews and strong bond as for their roles as Glinda and Elphaba in 'Wicked.' When talking to us, Grande summarized their last day on set as 'a nightmare.' She continued: 'We cried every minute, every hour. We both were in a horrible state for a few days.' Erivo is nominated in the best actress category and Grande is up for best supporting actress.
Read More ›
Geordie Wood for The New York Times
Jeremy StrongAfter years of playing Kendall Roy on 'Succession,' Jeremy Strong stepped out of TV and into film in the role of the cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn, in 'The Apprentice,' which gives the origin story of President Donald Trump — and he sees both stories as tragedies. 'I 100 percent see it as a human tragedy, the way that I saw 'Succession' as a tragedy of late-stage capitalism,' he said.
Read More ›
Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times
Mikey MadisonTo get into the role of Ani, a sex worker who impulsively marries a Russian oligarch's son, Mikey Madison read memoirs, watched documentaries on strippers and even attended strip clubs in New York and L.A. 'I was always comfortable, and I also think because Ani was too. To me it was never a thought in my head to be nervous or anything,' she told us.
Read More ›
Andre D. Wagner for The New York Times
RaMell RossIn 'Nickel Boys,' the film directed by RaMell Ross that is nominated for two Oscars, including best picture, the students Elmwood and Turner are sentenced to a reform school in the Jim Crow South. 'Ross heightens the reality of racial trauma without compromising the dignity of those who withstood it,' the New York Times critic Salamishah Tillet wrote in her profile of the director.
Read More ›
Zoe SaldañaZoe Saldaña, who is nominated for best actress, found a different type of joy and fulfillment in her 'Emilia Pérez" role as a Mexican lawyer who helps a cartel boss retire and transition into living as a woman. 'I was doing it for me, and for a long time, I stopped doing things for me,' she told us. Her previous roles in franchises such as 'Avatar,' 'Star Trek' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' gave her job security but limited creative freedom.
Read More ›
Chantal Anderson for The New York Times
Fernanda TorresDecades before Fernanda Torres was nominated for best actress for her role in the Brazilian film 'I'm Still Here,' her mother, Fernanda Montenegro made history, as the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. She lost to Gwyneth Paltrow in 1999. Before Torres received her own nomination she told us 'it would be an incredible story' if she got an acting nod. 'Now, winning — I consider it impossible,' she added.
Read More ›
Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times
Sebastian StanOver the years Sebastian Stan has played a superhero and a few infamous ex-husbands. But the role that got him his first Oscar nomination was as a young Donald J. Trump in 'The Apprentice.' Although several people advised him to avoid the role, he was ultimately able to find a common ground with the man he portrayed. 'I think everything he does is about power,' Stan said. 'There were a lot of times growing up where I felt very powerless over my life.'
Read More ›
Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times
'Flow'Gints Zilbalodis's 'Flow,' an animated, dialogue-free story of animals helping one another through a flood, is the first Latvian film to receive Oscar recognition. When the Golden Globe statue the filmmakers received for best animated film was displayed at the Latvian National Museum, thousands of people lined up to see it. 'People are tired of bad news and maybe this film represents something that feels optimistic and hopeful in regard to the country's self-esteem,' Zilbalodis said.
Read More ›
Geordie Wood for The New York Times
Colman DomingoColman Domingo had just 18 days free in his schedule to film 'Sing Sing,' the true story of a man who was wrongly convicted and sent to prison, where he staged a comedy with a theater group of other prisoners. The performance netted a best actor nomination for Domingo, who performed alongside many actors who were previously incarcerated. 'We'd be accountable to each other for our own expertise,' Domingo said. 'They were experts in a way that I wasn't. There was a beautiful blending for us.'
Read More ›
Guy PearceGuy Pearce's nomination for his performance in 'The Brutalist' hasn't changed his reluctance toward trading in his life in Australia for the allure of Hollywood. 'I've got a sister with an intellectual disability who's teased in the street because she looks different, so the idea of me wanting attention and being famous for no reason is vacuous and meaningless when there are people in the world who are far less privileged,' he said.
Read More ›
Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times
Chantal Anderson for The New York Times
Adrien Brody
It was more than 20 years ago that Adrien Brody won his first Oscar for his role in 'The Pianist,' a 2002 film. This award season, he brought home his first Golden Globe for his role as László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor and Hungarian architect in 'The Brutalist.' When he won that award, he told audiences 'there was a time, not too long ago, that I felt that this may never be a moment afforded to me again .' He is nominated for best actor at the Oscars.
Read More ›
Chantal Anderson for The New York Times
Timothée ChalametTimothée Chalamet has had a big year. After starring in 'Dune: Part Two,' the second installment of the space epic based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, he portrayed Bob Dylan in 'A Complete Unknown.' Both films are nominated for best picture at Sunday's ceremony. 'The great irony of working with a master like Denis [Villeneuve] is it's not some pompous experience,' Chalamet said of his experience on 'Dune: Part Two.'
Read More ›
Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times
Karla Sofía Gascón
Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the title character in 'Emilia Pérez,' has been making less than positive headlines since her unearthed tweets derailed an Oscar campaign. She is still making history as the first openly transgender woman to receive an Oscar nomination. Over the course of filming the musical, Gascón felt so deeply connected to the character she played that 'to remove this character, it's almost like I had to do an exorcism,' she said through an interpreter.
Read More ›