Last night, the American Film Institute honored their top ten films and TV series for 2024. You can see the full list of honorees here, but it’s pretty much an Oscar/Emmy hit list, with such titles as Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Wicked in the mix on the film, and The Bear, Hacks, Shōgun, The Penguin, Abbott Elementary, and Baby Reindeer on the TV side.
The evening also included a tribute to the late David Lynch, and the celebrities at the event were all taking their photo with Los Angeles firefighter Tim Larson.
There’s not a top prize at the AFI Awards, they name their honorees for the year and that’s it, but this year’s event is being scrutinized in no small part because of the Emilia Pérez sh-tshow. Karla Sofía Gascón was not present, though she was named alongside her co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña as part of a “triple threat of today’s top talent”, so they’re not entirely pretending like she’s not part of the film. Netflix awards impresario Lisa Taback was also at the event, seated with Team EP, undoubtedly managing the everloving f-ck out of what’s left of their campaign, but at this point, they can kiss Best Picture goodbye.
Best Supporting Actress contenders Zoe Saldaña and Ariana Grande were on hand last night. As Lainey said, the Karla chaos is giving Ari a shot at the trophy, though I still think Zoe has the edge. She’s been working for a long time, she’ll have the support of her peers, some of whom might sympathize with her for getting caught up in her co-star’s chaos. The race is far from over.
To that end, a LOT of people were at AFI, including Best Actor nominees Adrien Brody, Colman Domingo, and Ralph Fiennes. I sincerely like and appreciate Timothee Chalamet’s laidback approach to Oscar campaigning, but in a competitive year, well…face time matters. Adrien Brody is putting in WAY more face time, once again, the race is far from over.
On the Best Actress side, it was a thinner crowd, with just Cynthia Erivo in attendance. I know there’s a lot of love and support for Demi Moore and her feel-good awards season narrative, but again, it’s far from over and do NOT underestimate the building goodwill for Fernanda Torres, especially as I’m Still Here is expanding in theaters and people are finally seeing the film, just as Oscar voting opens next week.
As for the TV people, they seemed a lot more relaxed than their film counterparts, maybe because AFI is a victory lap after the Emmys have already happened. Jeremy Allen White; Hiroyuki Sanada; Shrinking’s Harrison Ford, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein; Adam Brody and Kristen Bell; Ayo Edebiri; Quinta Brunson—they all seemed to be having a cool and groovy evening. Also, shout out to Michelle Yeoh and Jodie Foster for rocking great bobs.
Finally, this photo of Ariana Grande and Ralph Fiennes haunts me. What do you think they’re talking about?
