It’s hard to believe the 97th Oscars will be next week. To get a good idea of what has a good chance of scoring golden statuettes, Variety gathered anonymous Oscar ballots from Academy voters and the findings were shocking. One discovery revealed that two Oscar voters did not vote for Conclave‘s Ralph Fiennes, mistakingly believing “he won before.”
Ralph Fiennes, known for his exceptional talent, led the Pope selection thriller drama Conclave. He recently won a SAG Award for his performance and is nominated at the Oscars. Oscar voting ended on February 18th, and the votes are now being counted.
When Variety decided to gather some intel on what Academy voters are going for this year, there was one shocking finding. While one voter described Ralph Fiennes as “one of the best actors who’s never stopped being great,” the British actor wasn’t the Best Actor pick for two separate voters. Their reasoning was because “he won before,” mistakingly believing Fiennes won for Schindler’s List back in 1993. In reality, the Harry Potter actor lost to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive.
Interestingly enough, they voted for Adrien Brody‘s performance in The Brutalist despite him winning for The Pianist in 2002. It proves that not everything makes sense in the voting selection.
What other findings came from the anonymous Oscar ballots?
In terms of Best Picture, a nominated film doesn’t need to have the most first-place votes. Even having a bunch of second or third-place votes would increase its chances. Unfortunately, The Brutalist’s passionate fans aren’t enough as many voters have placed the period drama at No. 5 or lower.
However, nominees like Anora, Conclave, Wicked, and A Complete Unknown have been showing up in No. 2 spots. Films like Dune: Part Two, The Substance, and Nickel Boys might face elimination due to receiving the fewest No. 1 spots. It looks like Anora or Conclave, featuring Ralph Fiennes, are pretty good guarantees.
There’s also a lot of unpredictability found within the votes. It’s possible that multiple films will win a couple of awards. The Best Picture winner might not even be the most-awarded movie of the year. Also, keep in mind that Oscar voters can and do change their minds. So, maybe in terms of Ralph Fiennes, SAG Award winner Timothée Chalamet, or Adrien Brody winning, we’ll have to see on March 2nd who will take the gold.
