What to know:
- Scandals surrounding Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist, and Anora have sparked debate, potentially influencing Academy voters’ decisions.
- The Brutalist’s use of AI for dialogue adjustments has drawn criticism, raising questions about how the Academy will handle AI in film production.
- Millions of dollars are being wagered on the 23 Oscar categories through platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
Controversy, fashion, political statements – they all play a part in the film world’s biggest night of the year, the Oscars. Every year, we wait with anticipation to hear which films, actors, and artists have captured the Academy voters’ attention.
The 97th Academy Awards are this Sunday, March 2, 2025, and Conan O’Brien will be hosting for the first time. Every year, the Oscars are welcomed with their own host of gossip and controversy circulating the internet.
Often, this speculation can affect Oscar predictions. Top prediction markets have been betting on the Oscars since October, and it’s not a small amount of money. Millions of dollars are being bet on the 23 categories on Kalshi and Polymarket.
Before heading into the Oscars on Sunday, here are three controversies that may affect the Oscar odds and outcomes.
Controversial tweets from 'Emilia Perez' star
Controversy can completely ruin a film’s chances of winning or losing an award. Netflix’s Emilia Pérez was riding an impressive wave of critical acclaim with an impressive 13 nominations at this year’s Oscars.
This followed a win for Best Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical at the Golden Globes. The lead, Karla Sofía Gascón, became the first openly transgender artist to be nominated in the acting Oscar categories.
Everything seemed to be on track for a record-breaking Academy Awards night. Unfortunately, the hype was cut short with Gascón’s resurfaced tweets. Her tweets contained racist and Islamaphobic language. She also criticized diversity efforts at the Oscars.
The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, has criticized the actress, and the entire cast and awards campaign have distanced themselves from her. While Zoe Saldaña continues to win awards and will likely win the award for Best Supporting Actress, Gascón’s controversies have likely ended any hope for the film’s Best Picture win or a Best Actress win for her.
‘The Brutalist’ used AI in film production
Did you think only Emilia Pérez dealt with some kind of controversy? Nope, there’s enough for everyone. The Brutalist landed itself in hot water when it was revealed that artificial intelligence was used in the film’s production.
The film had a budget of under $10 million, and AI was used to speed up some aspects of the production. In an interview with RedShark News, the film’s editor, Dávid Jancsó, spoke openly about using AI tools.
In the film, the two leads, Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, play Hungarian-Americans. This required them to speak English in a Hungarian accent. However, several times, they spoke Hungarian.
Due to the language being tricky, Jancsó spoke about using the AI tool Respeecher, an AI voice-generating tool, to help make the language more authentic. Jancsó imported his own voice and made small changes to Brody’s and Jones’ dialogue.
There was backlash to this in the industry, and the film’s director released a statement explaining the situation:
Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own…Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only…The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.
The question is whether the use of AI will taint Academy voters’ thoughts on the film itself.
‘Anora’ didn't use an intimacy coordinator
Yes, there’s more controversy – this time, it’s about Anora. In a conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors between Pamela Anderson and Anora’s lead, Mikey Madison, Madison spoke about declining the use of an intimacy coordinator.
The film follows the journey of a sex worker’s marriage to a Russian oligarch’s son (Mark Eidelstein). The film features multiple sex scenes, but Madison says she and Eidelstein didn’t want an intimacy coordinator.
Madison believes the experience was positive, and she felt safe. But to be clear, intimacy coordinators are a relatively new role.
In the late 2010s, more and more sets were hiring intimacy coordinators to ensure all of the cast and crew were comfortable physically and mentally during intimate scenes. However, they are not an industry-wide requirement.
Each set has a choice to have one on set or not – in this case, Madison did not want them. However, there has been some criticism of this decision.
Critics have said that an intimacy coordinator isn’t only for the two leads but for the extras and everyone else on set. Madison and Eidelstein can say no for themselves but not for everyone.
Controversy has always been a wild card at the Oscars, swaying Academy voters at the last minute. This year, Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist, and Anora all face backlash that could impact their chances. While frontrunners may seem locked in, history shows that when scandal enters the conversation, surprises can happen on Hollywood’s biggest night.
