After a record-breaking nomination haul from the Golden Globes, Jacques Audiard’s genre and gender-bending crime musical “Emilia Pérez” shows no signs of slowing down this awards season. The Netflix musical may not be going over so well with the online film community X, but it’s currently playing like gangbusters within Hollywood. In addition to its ten Golden Globe nominations, the most for any Musical/Comedy film ever, it scored ten nominations at the Critics Choice Awards. Now, the Academy has released its shortlists for ten of its 23 categories, with “Emilia Pérez” landing on five lists, including two notices for Best Original Song, making for six mentions total (the most of any film this year). With such decisive support from across the industry (including most recently director James Cameron), can “Emilia Pérez” possibly tie – or even break – the record for the most Oscar nominations of all time? It sounds crazy, but it’s not a far-fetched idea.
Eight years ago, “La La Land” scored fourteen nominations, tying the record for the most Oscar nominations of all time. Along with “All About Eve” and “Titanic,” no film has received more than fourteen nominations. It’s an exceedingly difficult thing to do, especially with the absence now of two sound categories–something that might’ve given last year’s Best Picture winner, “Oppenheimer,” the tying record last year. So why would “Emilia Pérez” do what, say, “Oppenheimer” couldn’t do? Last year, Nolan’s film steamrolled the entire season, dominating across the board and winning Best Picture, but no one seriously considered it to break any records.
The question of “Emilia Pérez“ tying this record comes in direct comparison with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land.“Plenty of films have received twelve nominations, and a handful have received thirteen, but to tie the record, “La La Land“ had a secret weapon: Best Original Song. Two original songs in the mix gave the film a leg up to tie this record. Similarly, two songs from “Emilia Pérez,” “El Mal,“ and “Mi Camino“ landed on the Oscar shortlists, and both are widely predicted to receive Academy Award nominations. If they do, the musical will be that much closer to claiming the record.
Even while “La La Land“ tied the record, “Emilia Pérez“ has a few distinct advantages over Chazelle’s film, making the possibility of tying the record even more conceivable. First and foremost, a nomination for Best International Feature is all but guaranteed, something that, of course, wasn’t possible for “La La Land.“ Additionally, “La La Land“ was a two-hander, with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone each receiving nominations, without anyone else from the film receiving any real buzz for an acting nomination. Conversely, while Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña have received the most support, Selena Gomez may join them in receiving an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film, as she did at the Golden Globes. For the question of claiming the record, let’s assume Best Picture, Director, International Feature, Adapted Screenplay, two Original Songs, and all three performers, Gascón, Saldaña, and Gomez, are all safe for Oscar nominations. Gomez is the least likely of those and could miss, but let’s count her in for now. That’s nine nominations so far. What’s next among the craft categories?
More likely than not, “Emilia Pérez“ could secure Oscar nominations in every category where it’s shortlisted. With the showy makeup work shown early on in the film, Best Makeup & Hairstyling seems assured. As a musical with two likely Best Original Song nominees, Best Original Score will surely come along with it. For those same reasons, it has a great chance of being nominated for Best Sound, as it has both music and action sequences to balance out. Adding all of these to the earlier nominations, “Emilia Pérez“ would now be sitting comfortably at twelve Oscar nominations.
Twelve Academy Award nominations would be massive for the Netflix film but still shy of record-breaking or tying the all-time record. It would still need at least two more Oscar nominations to get there. As is often the case for top-tier Best Picture contenders, Best Film Editing is another highly likely nomination it could receive. “Emilia Pérez“ is now widely predicted for a nomination in this category after it scored a nomination at the ACE Eddie Awards, bringing the possible total Oscar nominations to a whopping thirteen. None of the thirteen listed nominations would be a shock, but for the film to tie the record, it would need at least one shocking placement. Is there a category where a shock nomination like that could happen?
It’s not eligible for Best Visual Effects, where it missed the shortlist so that only leaves Best Cinematography, Costume Design, and Production Design as its other possible options. Best Costume and Production Design could happen, but they seem fairly unlikely. The work is good, especially the production design, which was predominantly built on soundstages for most of the film, but contemporary movies rarely receive recognition in those categories unless there are fantasy elements involved, like in “Barbie,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once,“ or “Tenet,“ so that only leaves Best Cinematography. “Emilia Pérez“ would be a long-shot nominee here, but it’s not a crazy idea to imagine the branch going for it. The camera’s movement in the “El Mal“ musical sequence, for instance, is quite specific and is an important element in the dance choreography. There are certainly plenty of contenders that seem to be more suited to the branch’s tastes, but to discount “Emilia Pérez“ entirely here seems unwise, given the apparent love from the industry as a whole.
Do we realistically believe “Emilia Pérez“ will break or tie the all-time Oscar nomination record? Not currently, but it has not seemed this possible since “La La Land,“ back when there were two Sound nominations still available for films to obtain, which prevented “Oppenheimer“ from tying the record last year after it was left off the Best Visual Effects shortlist. All it would take for Audiard’s musical is a single long-shot nomination to get there. Even so, let’s not forget that “La La Land“ still lost Best Picture despite receiving fourteen Oscar nominations. Most nominations do not automatically guarantee a Best Picture win (just ask another one of Netflix’s Best Picture hopefuls with “The Power Of Dog,” which led in 2021 with twelve Oscar nominations). But this would give “Emilia Pérez“ an undoubted leg up in the Best Picture race where many are too quick to assume it’s not contending as much as other Best Picture hopefuls such as “Anora,” “The Brutalist“ and “Conclave.“ It most certainly is, and fourteen Oscar nominations would certainly prove that.
Do you think “Emilia Pérez“ can tie the record for most Oscar nominations ever? How many Oscar nominations do you realistically believe “Emilia Pérez“ will get? Which long-shot nomination could it feasibly get? Please let us know in the comments below or on Next Best Picture’s X account, and be sure to check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
