‘Saltburn’ could sizzle at the Oscars

“Saltburn” has screened at this year’s London Film Festival and it looks like writer-director Emerald Fennell has another hit on her hands after the success of her debut, “Promising Young Woman.” That film won her Best Original Screenplay (plus Best Director and Picture nominations) in 2021, but she’s stepped her filmmaking game up a gear with the ambitious “Saltburn.”

The film follows Barry Keoghan as Oliver, an Oxford University student who becomes obsessed with his rich classmate, Felix, played by Jacob Elordi. Oliver stays at the extraordinary manor of Felix’s family, where, without any spoilers, further drama plays out. The film is a funny, witty, knowing examination of the rich upper class and has plenty of touches of darkness, too to flesh out the picture. As a result, “Saltburn” feels like it could be a genuine Academy Awards contender. Here are all the Oscars we think “Saltburn” could be nominated for.

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Best Picture
Fennell was nominated for Best Picture for “Promising Young Woman,” alongside producer Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, and Josey McNamara. Those four filmmakers lost to Best Picture winner “Nomadland.” However, Fennell’s debut was still nominated for the top prize and this is an even more ambitious follow-up presented again in Fennell’s distinct tone and style. It could get in. “Saltburn” is currently outside of our predicted nominees for Best Picture: “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro,” “Past Lives,” “The Color Purple,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” and “The Zone of Interest.” However, it is very much on the precipice along with the likes of “American Fiction,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Air.”

Best Director — Emerald Fennell
Fennell had a great year with “Promising Young Woman” as she was nominated for Best Director, an award she lost to Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland.” Female directors are finally getting a little bit more recognition. Jane Campion won for “The Power of the Dog” in 2022, while Zhao won in 2021. Fennell and Zhao made history that year by becoming the first two female directors to be nominated in the same year. It’s a slightly more promising pattern for female directors and Fennell has such a firm grasp on her material here that she could land her second Best Director nomination. Our predicted nominees for this category are Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”). Fennell is actually quite a way outside of this predicted lineup.

Best Actor — Barry Keoghan
Keoghan has had a good time of late. He was nominated last year for Best Supporting Actor for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” losing to Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” He is a young star who is just coming into his own — voters like that in this category. Just look at recent nominees such as Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me By Your Name”), and Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”). Keoghan is on the precipice of a nomination and is just outside of our predicted five here alongside Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”), Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”), and Joaquin Phoenix (“Napoleon”). Our predicted five are Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”).

Best Supporting Actor — Jacob Elordi
Elordi has never been nominated for an Oscar before but the Australian actor turns in a delightful performance here with a spot-on English accent. His role as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola‘s “Priscilla” underlines his talent as an actor and a nomination seems about right for his work in this film. Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”), Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”), and “Poor Things” duo Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe are our predicted nominees here. Elordi is currently some way off, although younger actors have done fairly well in this category in recent history: Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”), Dev Patel (“Lion”), and Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) are all recent nominees.

Best Supporting Actress — Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Pike is one of the surprise treats of the film, popping up as Elordi’s rich, on-screen mother. It’s a joyous performance and Pike is clearly having a ball in the role. Colorful performances such as this one tend to do well in this category, too, with recent examples including Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis (Curtis won) in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” and Laura Dern (who won) in “Marriage Story.” Pike could take advantage of the up-in-the-air Supporting Actress category this year to land her second Oscar nomination. She was previously nominated for Best Actress in 2015 for “Gone Girl.” At the moment, however, our predicted lineup is Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”), Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Taraji P. Henson (“The Color Purple”), and Julianne Moore (“May December”). Pike is just outside those names, however, and is on the bubble alongside a bunch of actresses including Jodie Foster (“Nyad”), Penelope Cruz (“Ferrari”), America Ferrera (“Barbie”), and Viola Davis (“Air”).

Best Original Screenplay — Emerald Fennell
Fennell took home this award in 2021 for “Promising Young Woman,” in an Oscar pattern that has occurred repeatedly: they like a writer-director’s work but can’t give them Best Director so they give them a writing award instead. Could that happen this year? Biting satires like this, and comedies in general, tend to do well in this category. “Triangle of Sadness” (2023) and “Don’t Look Up” (2022) were both nominated while “Promising Young Woman” won and so, too, did “Parasite” (2020). “Saltburn” could be next. Again, however, along with “May December” and “Air,” “Saltburn” is only just outside of our predicted nominees here. At the moment, we think “Past Lives,” “The Holdovers,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Barbie,” and “Maestro” will get in.

Best Cinematography
Linus Sandgren is the director of photography here and the filmmaker captures the machinations of Keoghan’s Oliver expertly, creeping around corners and peering through windows. Sandgren also photographs the beautiful, haunting manor and its grounds wonderfully, helping to create the film’s exquisite atmosphere. Sandgren has only been nominated once — for “La La Land” in 2017 — but he turned that bid into a win. There’s a pattern here. “Saltburn” is again only just outside of our predicted nominees, which are “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Poor Things,” “Maestro,” and “The Zone of Interest.”

Best Film Editing
Victoria Boydell cuts this picture and she keeps the film moving along at a brisk pace, the unfurling story never slows to a halt nor rushes to confusion. It’s purposeful and controlled, and it culminates in a satisfying conclusion that owes large thanks to Boydell’s work. Boydell has never been nominated for an Oscar, although she did earn two BAFTA TV nominations: the first in 2010 for “Occupation” and the second in 2012 for “Great Expectations.” “Saltburn” will have to work much harder to get in here, however. It’s not even close to our predicted five nominees of “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers,” and “Barbie.”

Best Production Design
Last but not least is production design. Suzie Davies is the production designer while Charlotte Dirickx is the set decorator. The two have collaborated before and their work produced an Oscar nomination in 2015 for “Mr. Turner.” That is the only nomination both of them have received. They could be set for another Oscar bid here, however, as they bring to life the grubby student halls of Oxford University as well as the decadent splendor of Saltburn manor itself. There is so much to look at in the vast rooms and hallways of Saltburn, from books and artifacts to furniture and wallpaper. Their work turns Saltburn, appropriately, into a character in and of itself, which we know Oscar voters really admire in this category. “The Father” was nominated in 2021, “Parasite” was nominated in 2020, “The Favourite” was nominated in 2019, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” won in 2015. All of those films turned their locations — a flat, a house, a palace, and a hotel — into characters themselves. “Saltburn” does the same thing with its manor house. However, our predicted nominees here, who will be hard to topple, are “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “The Color Purple.”

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