Secret Oscar Voter #1: Ballot exposed with ‘Oppenheimer,’ Lily Gladstone, Paul Giamatti

Chris Beachum
·4 min read
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Here in the final stages of the 2024 Oscars season, several Academy Awards voters told Gold Derby who they voted for — and why. They asked us not to reveal their identities, but they were otherwise eager to share their views of the year’s best films. Now that voting has concluded, we’ll share a few with you. The comments below by Voter #1 for each category are part of the thought process in choosing these potential winners.

BEST PICTURE: “Oppenheimer”
I felt that it has the message that we look for in Academy films. He told the story very well, but it was a little tricky the way he bounces back and forth. And, at the end of the day, it’s always making you aware about the potential implications of what they were working on. Second place is “Poor Things.” Third place is “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

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BEST DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”)
Director is definitely Christopher Nolan. Both the picture and director check all the boxes. It’s an amazing accomplishment that he did, you know, to make such a great story. And then the level of storytelling of the cinematic technique that he brings to the screen is amazing.

BEST ACTRESS: Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”)
It was a pretty agonizing choice because it was really coming down to Lily Gladstone or Emma Stone. I really felt that the story being told in Killers of the Flower Moon was really important. And thanks so much to Lily for bringing that story to the screen.

BEST ACTOR: Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”)
There were a lot of a lot of points to be made for all of them for various reasons, but I’m ultimately going with Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers. I really felt that the film was another example of a lot of understatement and having a lot on its mind but not rubbing your face in it. And I think that the performance was critical to that and that it carried itself well. It was a close call to go for Bradley Cooper as well because I thought he did such an amazing job.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”)
That was one of the easier calls: Da’Vine Joy Randolph for being the emotional center of that movie and conveying so much power. And again, and I’m gonna say, holding her ground for every second and bringing the story out.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Downey, Jr. (“Oppenheimer”)
That was easy with Robert Downey. It’s such a memorable performance that’s very true enough. I did also think about Ryan Gosling a lot because I feel there’s a tendency that comedy gets overlooked, and I thought it was a very unexpected turn to Ryan Gosling. I think he did it so well and I think he’s very funny in it. But I think Downey just has a certain amount of momentum gravitas to it.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: “Barbie”
I went with Barbie because I felt it was brilliant what they did. And I didn’t get hung up in the adapted versus original screenplay. This is where the Academy slotted it. I thought it was genius what they put together based on the doll and the franchise.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “The Holdovers”
Well, I went with Holdovers because as I was saying earlier, the scenes of that film were very touching and powerful. I found it so moving.

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