and the 2021 oscar nominees are...
Everything is terrible so... let's talk for a quick moment about awards season.
Whew. I don’t know about you folks, but this past week was exhausting. As if returning to the grind after the holiday weekend wasn’t enough, there was the deluge of bad news concerning our nation’s failure to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
In the past week alone, the U.S. shattered the one-day record for new COVID-19 cases with about 68,000 new cases reported Friday. This marks the seventh time in 11 days that the U.S. has broken its single-day record for new infections. Meanwhile, our death rate is also trending higher. Three U.S. states — South Carolina — have higher infection rates than any other nation in the world. There’s also growing reason to believe the virus is airborne, which could mean some of our mitigation strategies aren’t enough.
We also learned from the CDC that the death toll for people under the age of 65 is twice as high for people of color compared to white people. A separate study released this week found that, through mid-June, Black Americans are being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 at a rate five times higher than white Americans. This pandemic continues to spotlight and exacerbate existing inequalities for BIPOC Americans to such a degree that it’s difficult to view the incoherent federal response to the virus as accidental.
Meanwhile, Disney World reopened to guests for the first time in almost four months on Saturday. And the Trump administration has responded to all this by moving to formally withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization and applying pressure to states to reopen their schools, and for its own CDC to loosen its school-reopening guidelines, even as the virus surges.
This week also brought far less significant COVID-related news: the release of Halloween Kills, the followup to David Gordon Green’s 2018 revival of the iconic horror classic, has been delayed a full year due to the pandemic. In the meantime, horror nerds and Judy Greer stans alike have this 32-second teaser trailer featuring Jamie Lee Curtis screaming, “Let it burn! Let it burn!!!” (a 2020 mantra if I’ve ever heard one) to hold us over until October 2021.
The latest delayed Hollywood release reminded me that we haven’t heard much chatter about everyone’s favorite season: awards. With production halted, many movie theaters still shuttered and studios hoarding their summer blockbusters and early Oscar bait like desperately starving squirrels, it’s hard to say what the year of 2020 in cinema will ultimately look like. So, I’ve taken it open myself to offer a chaotically neutral and complete baseless rundown of the current frontrunners for the 2021 Academy Awards, presented by Zoom and sponsored by Instacart, Purell and Clorox:
Best Picture:
Hamilton
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Scoob!
Brahms: The Boy II
Ben Platt Live from Radio City Music Hall
????
Have 10 films even been released so far this year? Honestly, Hamilton’s strategy to move up its release and stream via Disney+ seems to be a brilliant embrace of the times. Though the movie probably should land a nomination whenever whatever form of Oscar nods are announced, the Academy has reportedly already deemed it ineligible for consideration (at least in the documentary category).
Best Director:
Thomas Kail (Hamilton)
William Brent Bell (Brahms: The Boy II)
Barbara Białowąs (365 Days)
Chris Henchy (Impractical Jokers: The Movie)
Nicolas Pesce (The Grudge)
Brahms could play spoiler here (especially since it’s one of only two films in this category that arguably should have been made in 2020 in the first place), but you gotta hand this one to Hamilton at this point.
Best Actress:
Rachel McAdams (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)
Issa Rae (The Lovebirds)
Phillipa Soo (Hamilton)
Katie Holmes (Brahms: The Boy II)
Shania Twain (I Still Believe)
I’d like to live in a world where Rachel McAdams is an Oscar winner, what about you? Have many Canadians won Oscars in the acting categories? Anyway, just kidding, this one is Holmes’ to lose.
Best Actor:
Ian McKellen (Cats)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton)
Zac Efron (Scoob!)
The inanimate boy-doll (Brahms: The Boy II)
Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island)
I know Cats didn’t come out within the eligibility period, but I’m still so haunted by his convincing performance that I think it deserves a second look. Just kidding, give it to Lin and let’s go ahead and nominate Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom Jr. too. (But Brahms stays.)
So, what I’m basically saying here is maybe we should just skip the Oscars altogether? Honestly, let’s just replace it with four hours of Glenn Close’s amateur panoramic footage of outdoor scenery and dogs. And maybe I’ll continue to ignore paying my Writers Guild union dues because I can’t imagine what kind of screeners the studios will be mailing out this year.
All of that said, if Nia DiCosta’s Candyman remake gets delayed, too, we probably should just go ahead and cancel all the holidays. Please, wear a mask. Stay out of restaurants. Stay out of bars. Stay at least six feet away from your friends. We got this, if we stay smart.
***
Give, Watch: On the subject of film and representation, consider checking out and becoming a member of the Chicago-based Open Television, which is a phenomenal platform for queer talent. Especially recommended: Brown Girls, Brujos and Lipstick City by Shea Couleé.
Listen: In a shock to exactly no one, I can’t stop listening to Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? It’s perfect disco-lite and each song’s BPM works perfectly for a brisk walk around the neighborhood