Sex sells, as they say. However, when it comes to the Oscars, only certain depictions of sex or the raw naked human form are what voters gravitate toward. Most notably, there’s a lengthy trend of male performers engaging in full-frontal male nudity, often getting overlooked for Best Actor Oscar nominations. Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Power of the Dog” is one of several performances proving that hanging dong isn’t a one-way ticket to snubbing. Still, many performances containing such physical vulnerability have often been ignored. This precedent casts a vast shadow over two especially acclaimed awards season 2024-2025 performances aiming for major Oscar glory. Recent National Board Of Review winners for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively, Daniel Craig in “Queer” and Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl” (ironically, two titles being distributed by A24), are getting tons of buzz and are looked at as potential Oscar nominees. But will Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences voters actually go for such raw and highly sexual performances?
For Kidman in “Babygirl,” the risk there is a bit less severe. This is mainly because Kidman is an Oscar and film industry legend, as seen by her whopping five Oscar nominations and single win for “The Hours” in 2002. That precedent doesn’t guarantee her an Oscar nomination in any year, though, as her overlooked work in “Destroyer” and “To Die For” can attest. However, she’s also got a tremendous awards season legacy that can help win over some of the more chaste AMPAS voters. With 30+ years of delivering acclaimed work, “Babygirl” could potentially be looked at as another in a string of challenging Kidman roles rather than something too salacious to watch. She also won the Venice Volpi Cup for Best Actress, which helped kickstart her campaign for this season.
On the other hand, Craig may have a more difficult time getting AMPAS voters to take him seriously simply because he’s never been an Oscar nominee. The “James Bond” and “Knives Out” veteran is no slouch with indie and thoughtful performances, as seen by his trio of Best Actor in a British Independent Film nominations at the British Independent Film Awards in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Still, he’s never come close to an Oscar nomination before and didn’t even get much buzz at other awards season precursor shows when he was in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Without years and years of prior Oscar-friendly roles under his belt, it could be a tad more difficult for Craig to break through to AMPAS voters. Couple that with the film’s polarizing response since its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, and the chances are looking more grim for Craig.
If there’s anything that could help Craig in his “Queer” awards season journey, it’s director Luca Guadagnino and the lack of competition for Best Actor. Guadagnino is a well-respected filmmaker who managed to score Timothée Chalamet his first Oscar nomination for “Call Me by Your Name” seven years ago when he was a complete unknown. If a Guadagnino movie could get Chalamet his first Oscar nomination, there’s a chance Craig could also get a boost from this acclaimed filmmaker’s reputation. It doesn’t hurt that 2024 is turning into Guadagnino’s year, thanks to the releases of “Queer” and “Challengers.” Positive sentiments towards this filmmaker could lead to Craig’s “Queer” performance getting extra attention and flowers. As stated before, the Best Actor field is pretty solid for the first four spots with Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist“), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown“), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave“), and Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing“). However, that final slot is wide open for the taking, with only Craig, Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice” or “A Different Man“), Jesse Eisenberg (“A Real Pain“), Nicholas Hoult (“Juror #2“), and Kingsley Ben-Adir (“Bob Marley: One Love“) as likely contenders. Craig has the benefit of providing audiences with memorable performances as both a leading man and character actor over a career spanning well over 25 years. Given his reputation within the industry, he’s at the right point in his career where a nomination would make a lot of sense,
Aiding both of these performances in their Oscar chances are some external factors, like the Academy seemingly being a little more open to sexually explicit performances in recent years. Emma Stone just won Best Actress last year for playing Bella Baxter in “Poor Things,” a film with several sex scenes and a subplot involving Baxter becoming a sex worker. Fellow Yorgos Lanthimos leading lady, Olivia Colman, in “The Favourite” also scored a Best Actress win at the 91st Academy Award for anchoring that kinky and sex-filled dark comedy. It helps to have Lanthimos behind the camera, but more sexually fueled performances are no longer automatically D.O.A. with AMPAS voters.
It also doesn’t hurt that A24’s awards strategy team is handling both performances. In recent years, this indie studio has proven quite deft at getting multiple acting nominations in the same year. The 95th Academy Awards is a great demonstration of this, with A24 films such as “The Whale,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and “Aftersun” scoring high-profile Oscar acting nominations. For the 97th Academy Awards, A24 will juggle “Sing Sing,” “The Brutalist,” and “We Live in Time” in addition to “Babygirl” and “Queer.” However, history suggests that there’s a good chance this label can handle juggling all these titles despite some skepticism over their campaign strategies.
On the other hand, the greatest problem A24 may face isn’t even one related to carnal pleasures. Instead, it’s simply that it can be challenging to get performances involving completely original characters to Oscar glory. Craig actually has the genuine advantage of his “Queer” character being William Lee, A.K.A. William S. Burroughs, the author of the 1985 novella “Queer.” That’s a deeply famous literary figure that even non-movie geeks have likely heard of. Meanwhile, Kidman in “Babygirl” is playing Romy, a fictional CEO who starts an affair with one of her company’s interns. Given how half of the acting Oscar winners at the 96th and 94th Academy Awards were for performers playing historical figures, Romy might not be the kind of character the Academy bestows acting honors onto. Then again, none of the 95th Academy Awards acting winners were for actors portraying real-life characters. If anyone could break through a historical preference at this ceremony for actors portraying real-world figures, it surely could be Nicole Kidman, the woman deeply associated with movie theaters themselves after that iconic AMC ad.
Looking at things on a macro level, Craig and Kidman may be entering the 2024-2025 award season on equal footing after winning the National Board Of Review prizes yesterday. Both have virtues and drawbacks defining their respective sexually explicit performances. Something firmly shared between the duo, though, is that their scoring acting nominations would be an incredible historical feat, suggesting an exciting expansion of “Oscar-worthy” performances. Such recognition for two highly regarded actors would be more than deserving, considering the body of work they have given audiences over the years. Don’t rule them out just yet.
Do you think Kidman and/or Craig will be nominated at this year’s Oscars? If so, which one or both? 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.
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