At the Oscars, category fraud is nothing new. When it comes to award shows, movies often campaign their actors in the wrong category just for a better chance of winning. Look no further than Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” or Al Pacino in “The Godfather” — both were nominated in the supporting actor category despite delivering clear lead performances. It’s an unfortunate trend that’s grown more popular in recent years, culminating in this year’s front-runners in the supporting categories: Kieran Culkin in “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña in “Emilia Pérez.” Culkin and Saldaña both give, at the very least, co-lead performances in their films, yet they’re both widely projected to win the supporting categories.
The simple truth is that leading actors have a better chance of winning an Oscar if they’re nominated in the supporting category. Performances that feature continuously throughout a film’s runtime leave a stronger impression on academy voters than, say, a performance that’s only featured in a film’s first half — regardless of the quality of the performances. In this way, it’s not uncommon for the academy to award the performance that delivers the most acting — both in terms of screen time and visible range of emotion. Subtler, less showy performances also tend to be overlooked.
Zoe Saldaña plays Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer hired to help an elusive cartel leader, Emilia Pérez, undergo gender-affirming surgery. Rita’s role in this story is similar to that of Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby” — she’s the audience surrogate from whose perspective most of the story is told. Her presence bookends the film; she’s the mediator between Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) and her ex-wife Jessi Del Monte (Selena Gomez), and it’s even through Rita that we meet our titular character. In this way, Saldaña delivers an undeniable co-lead performance right alongside Gascón.
In “A Real Pain,” Culkin’s character plays a bit of a different role. The film follows cousins David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji Kaplan (Culkin) as they embark on a Jewish heritage tour across Poland. The clearest case for Culkin as a lead actor here stems from his attention-demanding, memorable performance and his lengthy screen time. Though the film is admittedly told from David’s perspective, Benji is the impetus for nearly all conflict and conversation within the tour group. Ultimately, each cousin’s growth across the film informs the other, affirming Culkin’s status as a co-lead in “A Real Pain.”
When looking at award shows, we have seen the erasure of films with multiple leads because it lowers the chances of winning more awards. In reality, many films feature numerous lead roles — “A Real Pain” and “Emilia Pérez” are prime examples. The prioritization of winning awards over being true to a film’s story is both silly and harmful to the industry.
The trend means that films are often afraid to campaign two of their actors in the same category, particularly those in leading roles. In fact, the last time two actresses from the same film were nominated in the lead actress category was in 1992, when Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon were nominated for “Thelma & Louise.” Similarly, the two lead actors of “Amadeus” were nominated side by side in 1985. Of course, there have been plenty of movies with outstanding co-leads since the ’90s. Now, filmmakers are scared to have two or more of their actors run against one another. They need to return to this honesty. They pick one actor to stay in the lead category while disingenuously campaigning the other as a supporting actor.
An inspired choice for supporting actor this year would have been Adam Pearson in “A Different Man,” who brought the zany and charismatic character of Oswald to life. And yet, because Pearson only features in his film’s second half, he never really had much of a chance to be nominated.
At the end of the day, proper category placement is tricky. If Culkin and Saldaña do take home the gold, it’ll be one step forward for shameless awards-chasing studios and one step back for films with multiple leads getting proper recognition. While that prospect may seem grim, the academy can certainly take steps to amend this issue. They can stop basing nominations solely on a film or studio’s campaign preference, institute stricter guidelines and even create an appeals process. And although drastic changes seem unlikely, recent new category additions indicate that change might just be on the horizon.
Contact Leo Field at [email protected].