Pop Culture Pick: My Alternate Oscar Ballot
The Academy should've considered these...
Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, my alternate Oscar picks. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social
Regular readers will recall my column on unusual choices for BAFTA nominations following the announcement of those back in January.
With the 2025 Academy Awards less than a week away now, I’m waving my magic wand once more (or, if you prefer, going all Jeffrey Wright and peering into the multiverse) to come up with some performers and films that didn’t get the love they’re due from Oscar voters.
So while you won’t be seeing representatives of any of these take the stage at the Dolby Theater this weekend, I’d like to imagine that somewhere there is a world where they’re getting their hardware to take home. Actually, one of them would probably end up stealing a trophy...
The Oscars proper happen on Sunday, March 2nd, so we’ll see whether the awards keep to some of the patterns (such as Conclave in the adapted screenplay category) that have been playing out so far. And will there be a big surprise? I’m looking to write more about that next week when we know the outcome.
Meanwhile, on with the alt-Oscars, broadcast from the glittering venue that is the inside of my head!
Image Credit: Magnolia Pictures
Best Director: Josh Margolin, Thelma
Having fallen through the cracks for most Oscar voters this year, Josh Margolin’s little delight deserved much more attention.
Not only does it feature June Squib –– 95 year-old June Squib, let’s not forget –– in her first leading role, it casts her in the mould of a Tom Cruise-style action hero (in this case, a geriaction star) as a pensioner who makes it her mission to track down the money that she was scammed out of.
Margolin, who also wrote the script based on his own grandmother’s experience (it ended with a little less scooter action in real life), has a light touch and guided the supporting likes of Clark Gregg, Parker Posey, Malcolm McDowell and especially Fred Hechinger (as Thelma’s grandson) to excellent performances.
It might not include the same accomplishment as, say, making a three-hour-plus epic on a $10 million dollar budget (as with Brady Corbet and The Brutalist) or wrangling Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan (James Mangold’s trick in A Complete Unknown). But in a year when even Wicked’s Jon Chu couldn’t crack the final list, it was going to be a tough fight.
But having loved Thelma, I’d have liked to see it recognized at least with a nomination.
Here’s what I wrote about the film when it came out.
Image Credit: Amazon/MGM Studios
Best Original Screenplay: My Old Ass
As with Thelma, Megan Park’s charming, witty and wise coming-of-age story didn’t seem to register come Oscar time.
But her writing, so memorably brought to life by Aubrey Plaza, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Maria Dizzia, Alain Goulem and particularly star Maisy Stella, shines through. I preferred the My Old Ass screenplay to at least one of the actual nominees (I won’t say which one).
This beautifully-realised story of a young woman who, during a magic mushroom-spurred trip meets her older self and learns something that will impact her future, is a treat you certainly shouldn’t ignore. And to Park’s credit, she writes teenage characters who actually sound their age.
Here’s what I wrote about the film when it came out.
Image Credit: Bleecker Street
Best Actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Though director Mike Leigh’s reunion with acting powerhouse Marianne Jean-Baptiste after 28 years (she starred in Secrets & Lies and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 1997 Oscars) was surely enough to celebrate alone, Jean-Baptiste’s blistering performance was definitely worthy of more Academy consideration.
Hard Truths is the story of Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) who is a glowering, acid-tongued nightmare who carries old trauma around like a backpack and is always ready to criticize, be it a random shop assistant or her own family.
Her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin), meanwhile, is far more happy-go-lucky, as are her two daughters, no matter what life throws at them. Pansy can’t quite get to grips as to why that is, and to Leigh’s credit, he never completely softens her viewpoint.
Perhaps voters were turned off by the negativity, but it’s certainly a different type of character.
Here’s what I wrote about the film when it came out.
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
Best Cinematography: The First Omen
Arkasha Stevenson’s chilling horror movie was, largely because of its genre, unlikely to see much Oscar love (though The Substance has helped to push that boundary this year). But it was still a great achievement –– scary, gruesome and in its own way, thoughtful. The film is far better than a franchise extension has any right being.
Cinematographer Aaron Morton did stylish, moody work, particularly in the possession scene (which also features a standout performance from star Nell Tiger Free as Margaret, an American novitiate studying in Italy who discovers a terrifying, demonic conspiracy).
Here’s what I wrote about the film when it came out.
Image Credit: Netflix
Best supporting actor: Feathers McGraw as himself, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Sure, this category in reality is pretty much nailed-on as any can be this year –– A Real Pain’s Kieran Culkin has been hoovering up trophies the way a whale gathers plankton (and being fairly funny in his acceptance speeches when he can actually attend).
But for all of his impressive wit and emotional moments in Jesse Eisenberg’s comedy drama, he doesn’t hold a candle to a character that can convey so much emotion with just a blink. Not since the heyday of the silent era has one actor made that much of an impression. And he’s a penguin, to boot.
Yes, Feathers McGraw, the villain in the latest Wallace & Gromit caper (itself up for Best Animated Feature, though surely set to lose to The Wild Robot or Flow), is a masterpiece of precision animation, but despite being claymation, I’m not going to disqualify him. After all, he’s more compelling than most recent Bond antagonists (looking at you, Malek!)
The one danger is that Feathers would probably plot to flood the venue rather than bothering to formally attend, though he does look like he’s already wearing a tuxedo.
Here’s what I wrote about the film when it came out.