Did a wide-open Oscar race just get a frontrunner?
Sean Baker’s Brooklyn comedy Anora took top honours at both the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday night, catapulting it to Oscar favourite status with wins from a pair of closely watched Academy Awards precursors.
Hollywood’s award season has been uncharacteristically up for grabs with half a dozen films viewed as legitimate best-picture contenders. Some had pegged Anora as the frontrunner going into the season after the film, starring Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
But after a number of films took turns in the spotlight, including Golden Globe winners The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, Anora re-emerged in a big way over the weekend. Baker’s film also won best picture at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday.
Both guild ceremonies were held in Beverly Hills, Calif. The PGA’s top prize, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, has matched the Oscar winner for best picture in 16 of the last 21 years. Since 2009, when the guild and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences both adopted a preferential ballot to pick a winner from 10 nominees, they’ve corresponded all but three times.
The DGA is similarly predictive. In the past 74 years, 66 winners have gone on to triumph at the Oscars. That makes Baker the favourite for best director in a field entirely composed of first-time nominees.
The guild also named RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys best first film. Ross’s movie, nominated for best picture by the Oscars, is his narrative film debut.
Oscar voting begins Tuesday. Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez is the lead nominee with 13 nominations, but the Netflix film has seen its chances crater following multiple waves of backlash and controversy.
Another Oscar category also found clarity over the weekend. On Saturday at the Annie Awards, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot cleaned up with nine awards, including best film. The Wild Robot will be the heavy favourite to win best animated film at the March 2 Academy Awards.
When Anora director Sean Baker wanted to make his movie more accurate, he reached out to Toronto’s Andrea Werhun. Werhun is a former sex worker and author of Modern Whore. She spoke with CBC’s Eli Glasner about contributing to Anora and her own personal experiences.
