This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences showed its listening, innovation and change in the Best Picture category through adjustments to the nomination criteria.

However, this year’s awards season is also facing scandals with nearly half of the nominees. First, despite being a big winner at the Oscar pre-awards and having 13 nominations (the most this year), Emilia Pérez is facing a wave of heavy criticism. It all started when the past statements of the main actress Karla Sofía Gascón were suddenly dug up. Accordingly, in many posts on social network X, Gascón made bad comments about the Muslim community and people of color, and she even criticized the 2021 Oscars for prioritizing political factors over the quality of the work.

More than half of the 2025 Oscar Best Picture nominees face criticism

The film, which received 10 nominations this year and won the most important category at the Golden Globes, The Brutalist, was also criticized. Specifically, the film’s image editor revealed that during the post-production process, the crew used AI to adjust the actors’ English pronunciation to be as true to their Hungarian origins as the script required. In addition, the film used about 10 seconds of AI to create construction models in the final minutes, causing the audience to consider this an unacceptable action for an art form that always emphasizes creativity.

Another work, Anora , rated R for adults only, won the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, also attracted controversy when the main actress Mikey Madison recently revealed that the film’s hot scenes lacked the presence of an intimacy coordinator. During the making of a film, this is an expert who ensures that sensitive scenes do not have a negative impact on the actors. Although Madison said she refused when director Sean Baker suggested adding this position, the audience thought that this was an urgent requirement and that a “private agreement” was unacceptable. Many also argued that, besides Madison, many other supporting actors also had similar scenes, so it was a big mistake for only the main actor to have the right to decide.

At the same time, the film Conclave, which revolves around the conclave to elect a new Pope, was also criticized for its one-sidedness, turning the process of electing the head of the Church into a struggle, filled with controversy and conspiracy… just to increase the suspense and sensational atmosphere for viewers.

In the coming weeks, the final round of voting for many awards will officially take place to close out the 2024 film season, and it is undeniable that this noise will likely have a significant impact on the final results.