Oscars 2024 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

On a wing and a prayer, The Gotham Awards took a chance the SAG-AFTRA Strike would end by the time the November 27th ceremony was scheduled. Their faith paid off.

If you had listened to the media industry pundits on Sunday, June 18th, Disney and Pixar had another disappointment on their hands. Peter Sohn’s “Elemental,” just the second Pixar film to open directly in theaters since the end of the pandemic, earned just $29 million in the U.S.

In case you were wondering, there was no beef between Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne. The actor and filmmaker collaborated on 2004’s “Sideways,” an art-house breakout that earned over $100 million worldwide and five Oscar nominations including Best Picture (Payne and Jim Taylor won for Adapted Screenplay).

There is a sequence of scenes in Andrew Haigh‘s acclaimed drama “All of Us Strangers” that will surprise both straight and queer audiences, but it’s not what you think. Sure, there is another buzzworthy sex scene between stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal for a fall movie season seemingly full of them.

There is no need for anyone to delicately dance around the reactions to “Saltburn.” Director and screenwriter Emerald Fennell is well aware her follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Promising Young Woman” is, for lack of a better phrase, somewhat polarizing. In fact, after speaking with her late last week it’s clear those sorts of passionate reactions (throw this writer into the growing “love it” camp) are exactly what she’s going for.

On Thursday night, Oscar season was in full swing and Hollywood was, dare we say, busy. Among the numerous events and screenings was a press and industry reception for “The Holdovers” in Century City.

Give him another few decades and Ludwig Göransson may surpass the legendary John Williams in overall Grammy nominations. The Swedish-born composer, songwriter, and music producer has not even turned 40 and already has 14 Grammy nominations in just six years.

After a slight uptick in ratings for the 95th Academy Awards, it wasn’t a surprise when The Academy announced this afternoon that Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the 96th ceremony. Kimmel will join an impressive group of at least four-time emcees including Bob Hope (19 times), Billy Crystal (9 times), Johnny Carson (5 times), Whoopi Goldberg (4 times), and Jack Lemmon (4 times).

LOS ANGELES – On Monday night, two of history’s greatest filmmakers sat across from each other on stage for a conversation about one of this year’s Best Picture contenders. When those directors just happen to be Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, you sort of have no choice but to sit through all three and half hours of “Killers of the Flower Moon” again to experience it.

There are many stories of overnight success in Hollywood. But, for the most part, it’s often a long slog to get that big break.

There are many stories of overnight success in Hollywood. But, for the most part, it’s often a long slog to getting that big break.

It’s hard to believe that after 27 feature films, Ridley Scott still has yet to win an Oscar. He came closest at the 73rd Academy Awards, where his 2000 film “Gladiator” won Best Picture and Russell Crowe won Best Actor.

There isn’t a director-editor relationship in Hollywood more fruitful than Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker. The pair have worked on every single one of Scorsese’s films since 1980’s “Raging Bull,” and first worked together on Scorsese’s 1967 debut, “Who’s That Knocking On My Door?” That’s twenty one movies in all, with Schoonmaker winning Oscars for Best Editing for three of them: “Raging Bull,” “The Aviator,” and “The Departed.” READ MORE: ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ Review: Lily Gladstone Is Devastating In Martin Scorsese’s Indigenous Epic [Cannes] But despite Schoonmaker’s three Oscar wins, a record for female editors, Scorsese only has one: for Best Director on “The Departed.” And as far as his longtime editor is concerned, he deserves many more than that.

As news broke that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP had come to an agreement and Hollywood would finally be heading back to work again, Harris Dickinson and Zac Efron were walking the red carpet of the premiere of their latest film, “The Iron Claw,” in Dallas. As an A24 release, “Iron Claw” was able to sign an interim agreement with SAG so the pair, along with their co-stars Jeremy Allen White and Staney Simons, have been some of the few actors able to promote their films.

If you’re searching for a proven precursor for the International Film Oscar race or even potential Best Picture nominees, look no further than the European Film Awards. Recent Best Film winners include Academy Award favorites such as “Triangle of Sadness,” “The Favourite,” “Cold War” and “Another Round.” This year, the European Film Academy, which determines the nominees and winners, has put the spotlight on three 2023 Cannes Film Festival breakouts: Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” from director Justine Triet.

The decade of crazy award season schedules continues. After two years of COVID-related delays and virtual ceremonies, 2023 finally felt somewhat back to normal.

After 25 years of writing in Hollywood, David Hemingson is having a moment. A writer and producer on television shows such as “Just Shoot Me!,” “American Dad,” the cult favorite “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt.

This strike-filled year has been tough for everyone, but in this chaos, some stars are starting to rise. Jacob Elordi had already made a name for himself on HBO‘s “Euphoria.” 2023 has brought critical acclaim for his performances in Emerald Fennell‘s “Saltburn” and stepping into the blue suede shoes of Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla.” Cailee Spaeny landed the first major leading role of her career in “Priscilla” and walked away with the Best Actress honor at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unexpectedly announced new producers for the 96th Academy Awards. It was believed that the 2023 production team of Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner would return to give the telecast consistency as it continues to rebound from a COVID pandemic ratings plunge.

John Carney loves music. And he loves music in his movies.

There may be few actors walking red carpets or pounding the award season pavement at post-screening receptions, but the 2024 Oscar season is (almost) in full effect. Guild members that can attend screenings are filling seats and directors and (now) writers are enjoying a spotlight like never before.

If you want to win Best Picture, you usually need a screenplay win to do it. Over the last 20 years, 14 Best Picture winners also won Original or Adapted Screenplay.

Usually, it’s the Adapted Screenplay category that is super-competitive and the Original category that’s completely wide open.

If the Best Supporting Actor race is mostly settled, the 2024 Best Supporting Actress campaign is decidedly not. There are two very likely nominees, Emily Blunt who is searching for her first nomination ever for “Oppenheimer” and Danielle Brooks, who is bringing her Tony Award-nominated turn in the musical version of “The Color Purple” to the big screen.

The question regarding who will win the 2024 Best Supporting Actor trophy won’t be known for months. It’s a tight race and there are already four “almost” guaranteed nominees: Robert Downey, Jr.

And then there were three. Yes, the Best Actor Oscar for 2024 is seemingly a three-way race for the win between Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), and the almost billion-dollar bomber, Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”).

It may only be the end of September, but the race to land a Best Director Oscar nomination may be over before it starts. That’s partially due to the massive critical and commercial success of both Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Throw in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ already lauded Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner “Poor Things” and cinema maestro Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and, well, there might be just one slot left.

In a different timeline, you might be talking a lot more about “Cassandro.” And, frankly, you should. Roger Ross Williams‘ feature directorial debut found strong reviews out of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was set for a bit of an awards season burst at Telluride.

Perhaps the French selection committee knows something we don’t, but they turned the race or the International Film Oscar on its head today. Instead of selecting Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner, “Anatomy of a Fall,” a likely Best Picture nominee, the group picked Tran Anh Hung’s sublime but terribly re-titled “The Taste of Things” (still known as “The Pot-au-Feu” in the rest of the world) instead.

In a minor surprise, a 2024 Best Supporting Actress frontrunner has decided to submit for the exceedingly more difficult lead category, Best Actress. As leaked, er, reported by Variety, Lily Gladstone will now compete for Best Actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Previously a lock for a nomination in the Supporting Actress field, she’s now at risk of being shut out in one of the most competitive races this Oscar season.