Room for One More? ‘Challengers’ At The Oscars - Awards Outlook
Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
Room for One More? Challengers at the Oscars
Dune: Part 2 was the first big awards heavy hitter of the year with Challengers arguably the second. The movie is beloved by critics and audiences and has tapped heavily into the cultural zeitgeist, all marks of an Oscars movie. The one drawback is having a release date in April, which was a problem last Oscasr season (and before), but lately has helped films build momentum. It worked for Past Lives last year, and worked very well for Everything Everywhere All at Once before that.
With ten slots available for Best Picture and Challengers being one of the more popular films released thus far, there is a great chance that it will be one the top ten, but it needs to remain in the conversation… which is no easy task. This is currently the movie that everyone on the internet is talking about, which doesn’t necessarily translate to Oscar nominations, but with a younger average age of the Oscar voter this could lead to success.
Even if Challengers ends up getting nominated for Best Picture, a Best Director nomination for Luca Guadagnino seems less likely with the only bit of evidence that he did not get a nomination for Call Me By Your Name, the more Oscar-y film. In the past, however, more creative choices have gotten nominations in this category and there could be a chance of that happening here.
Regardless of how anyone feels about this film, the one thing that everyone is talking about is the score which might be one of its most notable aspects. If it will be nominated for anything, this is the most likely. It was created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, veterans of the Oscars world who have become legends of writing musical scores with this being no exception. The two of them here have crafted an original song that starts playing in the credits and keeps your blood pumping while leaving the theater after such an intense and exciting ending.
When it comes to the performances, it's difficult to imagine any of them not getting nominated, but the most likely is Zendaya for Best Actress. She has been due for an Oscar nomination for a while now, has a dynamic performance in this, and she is the next level movie star that garners a great deal of attention. It’s obviously too early to tell, but she is very likely to be nominated and one of the leading contenders in this first half of the year.
Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist definitely deserve awards consideration as well, but it doesn't seem as likely for them as they are stars on the rise with plenty of talent, especially in this film, but are not Zendaya's level. There is also the problem of whether or not they will be in the Supporting or Lead categories and that confusion could end up being a hindrance for both.
The film getting a nomination for its screenplay will definitely depend on how much momentum it continues to have; if it draws a Best Picture nomination, a screenplay nomination could be likely. It definitely deserves the nomination as the story is told in two different times and has fun with the different time periods intersecting with one another.
Even after saying all of this, this film is still not a likely Oscar performer as it has that classic narrative of being too cool for the Oscars. If the momentum and narrative hits at the right time for this film, it could fill in the occasional spot in some of the craft categories, though. Best Cinematography normally goes to the look of the film, but Challengers also has some revolutionary angles and if there was to be a more original nomination, this would be it.
This is the type of movie that is designed to need some essential editing as it is told out of order with a high energy and this film could easily grab a Best Editing nomination. The film could also grab a sound nomination which can sometimes work in tandem with the score. Challengers does a fine job mixing the sound, but this will once again be a barometer of how much attention this film gets when it comes to nomination time and therefore these three nominations are a long shot.
Two craft nominations that this film should get, but definitely won't, are Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Best Costume Design almost always goes to a period or science fiction film… or sometimes both. The award often goes to what is more flashy and, not to say it's not deserved in those types of movies, but the costumes in the film are subtle from two different modern time periods and are still deliberate, noteworthy, and well researched.The Makeup and Hairstyle is even more subtle in this film, but it's necessary so that the viewer could understand where the characters are in the story. Therefore, while there is no chance of Challengers being nominated for these two awards, them being robbed will hopefully call attention to the problems in this category.
This film was originally meant to be released in 2023 at the Venice Film Festival but was canceled and moved to an April date of this year after the start of the Actor’s Strike. This was a strong move financially as having stars, especially Zendaya, promoting the film would help its success. It is always going to be interesting to wonder what would have been and if a festival run would have helped or harmed the film, but now the film is in this an interesting slot and with the proper campaigning from MGM, which has an unpredictable track record with Oscars promotions, it still could be a potential surprise.