2025 Oscars: Will Anora and Timothée Chalamet dominate? KIRO, KTTH pick this year’s big winners
Feb 28, 2025, 10:44 AM | Updated: 11:18 am
With one of the most unpredictable Academy Awards in recent history approaching, the cinephiles and cinema lovers of KIRO Newsradio, KTTH and MyNorthwest gave their thoughts and predictions on which nominees will reign supreme come Oscar night.
Best performance by an actress in a leading role
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Demi Moore, The Substance
Mickey Madison was perfect in Anora and should win. However, Demi Moore has all the momentum and this is an award for her career as much as it is for a single film. She will win.
Charlie Harger, KIRO: Demi Moore, The Substance
Great, challenging role. The movie is a social commentary. Demi Moore is going to win this. Bet the trailer on it.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: Demi Moore, The Substance
I haven’t seen any of these movies, but as a teenager, I was a big fan of Demi Moore when she (ahem) played a professional dancer. I’ll give her my vote here.
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Mikey Madison, Anora
Effortlessly sliding between the sole focus on screen to a background player, Mikey Madison steals the audience’s heart portraying a character so ferocious, yet so vulnerable. So conniving and charming, yet so painfully naive simultaneously.
It would be a stunning win for a 25-year-old going against some “career win” narratives, but Madison’s turn as Ani will quickly become one of the defining performances of the decade.
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Best performance by an actor in a leading role
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Who should win and who will win are sometimes in conflict. Sebastian Stan should win, but voters have mostly strayed away from him for fear of Trump’s wrath. Adrien Brody was outstanding in an otherwise average film, but he’s already won. Timothée Chalamet has momentum, is well-liked, is in a very popular (and decent) movie and is the future of Hollywood. I think he’ll take home the Oscar and make history as the youngest actor to do so.
Charlie Harger, KIRO: Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
While I won’t rule out Timothée Chalamet from winning for his performance as Bob Dylan, I think Hollywood may be growing tired of the Best Actor Oscar going to people playing famous singers (Jamie Foxx and Rami Malek most recently). Maybe the Academy wants to stick it to Donald Trump with Sebastian Stan’s performance in The Apprentice, but I think that movie has entered the race too late to get the win. My vote is for Ralph Fiennes. He does a solid job in Conclave, and I bet he’s the safe choice.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
He’s a one-of-one and a total boss, clearing the competition.
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
An actor matched perfectly with a role, the toll of life’s struggles for László Tóth is dramatically etched in Brody’s weathered face. He lifts every slight and subtle emotion from the page and breathes them into life effortlessly.
Whatever faults or flaws the film may suffer from never fall on Brody’s shoulders, as he delivers a career-best performance across the film’s 214-minute runtime.
Best performance by an actress in a supporting role
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Zoe Saldaña sings, dances and delivers a memorable performance. Despite the contrived controversy about the film from both sides of the aisle, it’s a standout and unique film with an equally standout and unique actress (arguably she’s the lead, but couldn’t win as a lead, so she’s slotted in the supporting category).
Charlie Harger, KIRO: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
The Academy will want to give Emilia Pérez a little recognition (it’s a wildly creative movie!) and this is Zoe Saldaña’s Oscar night. I think she’s a shoo-in.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
I haven’t seen Emilia Pérez and I don’t usually go in for musicals, so I won’t ever see the film, but hands down, Zoe Saldaña deserves this and gets my vote.
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
If I’m thinking Oscar politics, this is a great spot for the Academy to reward a 13-time nominated film that is drowning in controversy with each passing week.
As for the performance, it’s Saldaña showing off the most range of her career, and she’s excellent in it. For the record, I was entertained by Emilia Pérez — warts and all — and that’s primarily due to the work of the two lead actresses (even though Saldaña is listed under supporting).
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Best performance by an actor in a supporting role
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
This category has a lot of quality contenders. Kieran Culkin plays a wonderfully neurotic and complex character. He goes all in and it’ll earn him the win.
Charlie Harger, KIRO: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Kieran Culkin is the only one I really remember here. The role plays to his strengths.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
I haven’t seen The Apprentice yet, but I greatly enjoyed Jeremy Strong’s work in Succession. He also has a very interesting acting style from what I’ve seen and heard, so he gets my pick on this one.
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Kieran Culkin is a lock to win this award as a way for the Academy to get in on celebrating the achievement that is Succession (because that show just didn’t win enough Emmys, did it?).
However, Guy Pearce is phenomenal in The Brutalist, and it’s the dynamic between Brody and Pearce that contains the film’s greatest moments. While Brody internalizes all of his anguish and challenges himself to emote naturally, Pearce is bursting at the seams with emotions on his sleeve. The Sonny to Brody’s Michael Corleone. In most other actor’s hands, the performance is too cartoonish, too simple, too obvious. But Pearce is able to grapple the intense, difficult part like a matador at the peak of their powers.
Best achievement in directing
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Anora, Sean Baker
What Sean Baker was able to do with Anora, particularly on a small budget, was astonishing. He knows how to frame a scene, draw out conflict and humor and, most importantly, emotion.
Charlie Harger, KIRO: James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
I think this is James Mangold’s year. He’s consistently directed high-quality films with broad appeal (even if there is the occasional misfire like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). A Complete Unknown is getting good buzz; this will be his first Oscar win.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
James Mangold is the winner here and, again, it’s because Chamalet is a boss.
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
The making of the triumphant American immigrant tale has been well documented, and it will play a key part in deciding this award. The three-and-a-half-hour epic took seven years to make on a budget of less than $10 million. Wicked cost $145 million, for reference. The daunting work to complete this project has been at the core of Corbet’s Oscar campaign; you could even see it on his daughter’s face when he won at The Golden Globes.
It’s the most directed of the films nominated here, and sometimes that trumps “best” at the Academy Awards. If voters can forgive some of the creative choices, risks and gambles Corbet makes in the second half of the film, he will walk away with the Oscar.
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Best picture
Jason Rantz, KTTH: Anora
While I fear the entirely mediocre Conclave may pull out the win because of its unbearably woke ending (though admittedly terrifically acted), the best film of the year was easily Anora. In a way, it’s an R-rated and highly evolved rom-com that does something different with the genre in its brashness, tone and style.
It’s an independent movie that feels so much bigger because it brilliantly connects emotionally with the viewer. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, thanks to really intuitive directing from Sean Baker and acting from Mikey Madison.
Anora and Flow are the best films of the year.
Charlie Harger, KIRO: Conclave
I had a lot of fun with the nominated films I saw this year, but this is one of those years where no particular movie screams, “That was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.” If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have told you Emilia Pérez is a shoo-in. But with the recent controversy surrounding that movie’s star, its prospects look dim.
What I didn’t know until recently is that the Oscars use “ranked choice” voting. My guess is a LOT of different titles will get voters’ No. 1 vote with no clear consensus. Conclave is a fine movie, has good acting, is beautifully shot and I think I will be a solid No. 2 vote from a lot of Academy voters. So that’s my guess. So many people will give Conclave their second-place vote, and it will become the default winner for Best Picture.
Jake Skorheim, KIRO: Dune: Part Two
My pick for this year’s Best Picture speaks to an overall problem I have with the Oscars for many years now. Nobody sees these movies. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but it’s hard to get excited about them when it takes so much effort to see them. BUT my pick for Best Picture is Dune: Part Two. It’s a beautiful movie and wonderfully directed. I truly felt transported to another world watching it.
Also, did I mention that Chamalet is a total boss?
Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Anora
No film controlled its audience the way Anora did in 2024. For just over two hours, you are simply a marionette to director Sean Baker’s puppetry. When the film wants to be funny, it becomes one of the best comedies in some time. When the film turns grave, it completely breaks your heart in devastating fashion. When it wants to create tension or anxiety, you’ll think a sequence directly pulled from Uncut Gems made it into Anora.
It’s a rollercoaster ride that unfolds masterfully and purposefully, and it’s the best the art form has to offer in 2024.
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News”on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon-3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
