Oscars shock as lead actress contenders shut out of 2025 nominations

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Early award season favourites Angelina Jolie (Maria), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) and Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) were among the shock exclusions from this year’s Academy Award nominations, announced this morning.

Australian actor Guy Pearce (supporting actor, for The Brutalist) made the cut, as did cinematographer Greig Fraser (Dune: Part Two) and producers Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney (animated feature, for the Australian film Memoir of a Snail).

Leading Australia’s Oscar charge … Guy Pearce in a scene from The Brutalist.Credit: A24

The nominations for the 97th annual Academy Awards were a mixture of surprises and safe bets, perhaps most notable for the inclusion of the year’s favourite film, Wicked, and its stars Cynthia Erivo (in the best actress category) and Ariana Grande (in the supporting actress category).

Keiran Culkin and Jeremy Strong, who played feuding brothers in the critically acclaimed HBO series Succession, will go head-to-head in the supporting actor category, Culkin for A Real Pain, and Strong for The Apprentice. Guy Pearce is in the same category.

But among the dramatic exclusions are Jolie, Kidman and Anderson, all of whom seemed solid bets for the best actress category. The Golden Globes, held earlier this month, did offer an early clue: all three were frontrunners, pipped at the post by Fernanda Torres for her performance in I’m Still Here.

Karla Sofía Gascón, who was nominated in the best actress category, is the first openly transgender person to be nominated in an acting category. Gascón, who stars in Emilia Pérez, was nominated for a Golden Globe and has also been nominated for Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and BAFTA awards.

Snubbed: Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl, Nicole Kidman in Babygirl and Angelina Jolie in Maria.

Snubbed: Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl, Nicole Kidman in Babygirl and Angelina Jolie in Maria.Credit: AP

The best actor category offered a clearer, and safer, field: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice). Notably overlooked, there was no love for Daniel Craig (Queer) or Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain).

Award season is split into two blocs. The first is composed of New York’s Gotham Awards, which gave their best picture award to A Different Man, and the journalist-voted awards: the New York Film Critics (The Brutalist), the Los Angeles Film Critics (Anora) and the Golden Globes (drama to The Brutalist; musical or comedy to Emilia Pérez).

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