The Academy’s New Casting Category Reflects the Oscar Race — Analysis

The craft nominees for the 98th Academy Awards are both a little surprising and also extremely straightforward. There’s no “Wicked: For Good” and less “Avatar: Fire and Ash” than one might’ve thought, given the scale of both of those seeming juggernauts.

But it speaks to the robust health of 2025 as a year for good movies and a kind of confidence from the Academy membership that films we all may have thought had to be included, simply because of the scale of their productions, did not in fact need to be.

Our own Marcus Jones asked me earlier today for surprises and snubs, and I couldn’t really come up with much. While there are “No Other Choice” and “The Testament of Ann Lee” heads on staff who will be sad that those films been shut out, this year’s crop of craft Oscar nominees all feel earned.

“Sinners” leads the way with nine craft nominations out of its stunning 16 total noms; “One Battle After Another” and “Frankenstein” each claim six; “Marty Supreme” takes five and “Hamnet” takes four apiece.

There were welcome breakthroughs from international features, too, with “Sentimental Value” scoring a nomination for editing, “Sirat” taking its well-earned and historic nomination for sound, “Kokuho” and “The Ugly Stepsister” both breaking through in the hair and makeup category, and “The Secret Agent” getting recognition as part of the inaugural five Best Casting nominees.

In fact, if you look at those Best Casting nominees, you don’t just see great working casting directors and some of the giants of the industry — Nina Gold for “Hamnet,” Jennifer Venditti for “Marty Supreme,” Cassandra Kulukundis for “One Battle After Another,” Gabriel Domingues for “The Secret Agent” and Francine Maisler for “Sinners.” You see the overall shape of the Oscar race — the strongest Best Picture contenders and the more international, curious, slightly-less IP-attached shape of the Academy’s taste these days.

It is, in itself, a pretty strong argument for the importance of casting as a discipline. And if you get that part really right, you get a Best Picture nomination.

The categories where the Oscars perhaps branched out the most from the consensus picks were Hair and Makeup and Visual Effects, and both make sense as being a haven for outliers. Voters there are looking at the very particular challenges and achievements of doing, say, a Rock-sized transformation in “The Smashing Machine,” or the complexity of the wildfire in “The Lost Bus,” rather than the success of those films as a whole. “F1” chose the correct tire strategy (this is an F1 joke) of screening early and often, and its hard campaigning secured it a nomination for visual effects, editing, and sound.

It remains to be seen whether the craft winners will be a more varied bunch, or follow the general sweep of a “Sinners” or “One Battle After Another” (with 13 total nominations of its own). Some particularly strong one-off nominations to keep an eye on remain the cinematography nomination for Adolpho Veloso for “Train Dreams,” although both Michael Bauman’s joyfully intense camera on “One Battle After Another,” “Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s time-melting cinematography for “Sinners,” and some the best work Dan Lauston’s ever done for “Frankenstein” will all be difficult to beat.

“Sirat” might just go the distance in terms of sound, too, although the same big three films — “Sinners,” “Frankenstein,” and “One Battle After Another” all stand in the way.

The 98th Annual Academy Awards will be held Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. After his acclaimed performance last year, comedian Conan O’Brien will return to host the show for a second year. The ceremony will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu.