Oscars 2025: who really deserves to win the biggest awards?
With the biggest night on the Hollywood calendar about to get underway, it’s finally time to find out who will win big and who will crash and burn. Countless column inches, social media posts, and even the occasional honest-to-goodness real-life conversation have been dedicated to this year’s batch of Oscar nominees, and now the wait is almost over.
Will Emilia Pérez shake off the litany of controversies surrounding it and become the biggest Oscar winner in history? Who will triumph in the ‘Best Actor’ category? How about ‘Best Actress’? Which supporting stars will etch their names in history? Which director will be honoured by their peers, and which movie will be crowned ‘Best Picture’?
As with every year, the bookies have their favourites, and everyone’s friends and family will have shared their two cents. The film team here at Far Out Magazine have our picks for the night’s most prestigious awards, though, and we thought it was high time we shared them.
So, without further ado, here is who we believe should take home the six biggest awards of the evening. And no, we’re not backing Emilia Pérez to overcome its nuclear bad press – mostly because we don’t want it to.
‘Best Supporting Actor’
In the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category, it’s hard to look past Kieran Culkin, whose performance in A Real Pain played a huge role in making that movie work as well as it did. In lesser hands, the character of Benji might have come across as clichéd, or he might have skewed the tone of the film too much. Instead, Culkin walked the perfect line between mirth and pathos, carrying on strong work from his years on Succession into undoubtedly his best movie role thus far.
Deserving winner: Kieran Culkin
‘Best Supporting Actress’
Sometimes, there is room for the popular vote at the Oscars, and this year, Wicked is undoubtedly the most popular film in contention. Jon M Chu’s musical extravaganza is nominated in ten categories at the ceremony, and if Ariana Grande were to walk out of the Dolby Theatre with ‘Best Supporting Actress’, it would be a fitting reward for a star who surprised a lot of people with her performance. She already called the part the greatest gift of her life, and countless filmgoers worldwide rapturously received that gift.
Deserving winner: Ariana Grande
‘Best Actor’
Ralph Fiennes has been nominated for three Oscars in his career but has never managed to take home one of the little gold men. This is surprising when you consider the length and breadth of excellent performances he has given. However, we don’t just believe he should finally win ‘Best Actor’ as some kind of mea culpa for being denied before. Instead, we think his skilled, nuanced performance as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence in Conclave would deserve the trophy even if it were his first nomination.
Fiennes creates a fully realised character with depth and complexity in Edward Berger’s excellent papal thriller, and he brings audiences into the world of the film expertly. It could have been a dry performance in a po-face movie, but Fiennes ensured it was anything but.
Deserving winner: Ralph Fiennes
‘Best Actress’
Here at Far Out HQ, we’re big fans of body horror, and the fact that The Substance is nominated this year for ‘Best Picture’ is genuinely something we never thought we’d see happen. We’ve also been charmed by Demi Moore’s story with the film, as one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors finally seems to be getting her due. She has already won the Critics’ Choice Award for her performance, in addition to a Golden Globe, and there’s no reason to stop that train from rolling right on through the Oscars.
Deserving winner: Demi Moore
‘Best Director’
Brady Corbet is our pick for the rightful winner of ‘Best Director’, even though the category is stacked this year. Equal arguments could have been made for Coralie Fargeat and Sean Baker for The Substance and Anora, respectively. However, Corbet’s sweeping, three-and-a-half-hour epic The Brutalist is exactly what movies are made for, and it was, for our money, the most transporting film of this year. Corbet somehow managed to make the movie for less than $10million, which is astonishing when you behold some of the imagery contained within it.
Deserving winner: Brady Corbet
‘Best Picture’
In truth, there are a number of excellent candidates for ‘Best Picture’ this year. If Conclave, The Brutalist, The Substance, Anora, or even Dune: Part Two notched the win, we’d be more than happy. However, if Nickel Boys were to triumph at the biggest awards ceremony in Hollywood, it would perhaps signal that a new day is dawning. RaMell Ross’ captivating first-person POV drama is simultaneously harrowing and uplifting, and its format doesn’t come across as a gimmick. Instead, the film is formally inventive, lulling viewers into an almost hypnotic state as they watch. It should be strange and alienating to watch an entire film from that perspective, but it’s accomplished with such skill that it transcends any supposed limitations.
Deserving winner: Nickel Boys
