Jacob Elordi’s big boost

The Oscar nominees luncheon happened yesterday – and this year’s edition of the annual tradition was a bit more special because the luncheon was cancelled in 2025 due to the wildfires. Right now, as we enter the final stretch of award season, it’s actually looking quite competitive in three out of the four acting categories.

Jessie Buckley is the most legit frontrunner in the best actress race, and probably the safest bet, although I’m not sure we can completely count out Rose Byrne given how popular she is in the industry and how long she’s been campaigning (longer than all the other contenders). In the other three categories, though, it’s a tight race, which means that everyone is looking for any advantage.

That brings us to Jacob Elordi, nominated for his performance in Frankenstein, and the youngest nominee in the best supporting actor category alongside four industry veterans, Benicio del Toro, Delroy Lindo, Sean Penn, and Stellan Skarsgard. Stellan has some recent momentum but neither he nor Delroy are nominated at the SAGs. Jacob, Benicio, and Sean are the ones who are going into the Oscars with SAG and BAFTA nominations. Sean wasn’t at the luncheon yesterday, he hasn’t been as active on the circuit as the others but as a two-time Oscar winner, he’s always going to be a factor.

Jacob has a chance, even a good one. The Academy is resistant to awarding young(er) actors in the best actor category but more open to the idea in supporting. There is a real possibility that Jacob Elordi will be an Oscar winner and he’s getting an assist from the box office. “Wuthering Heights” opens this weekend and the current projection is that it’ll be a big Valentine’s Day haul, estimated to bring in around $40 million in North America and between $70-80 million globally. If those projections hold, this will be a headline coming out of the weekend (and hopefully credit again to Margot Robbie who also produces the film, another win after Barbie, which she also produced) and it’s beautifully timed for Jacob’s campaign, to be positioned as an Oscar nominee and current box office king.

That’ll be fresh in the minds of voters, the image of him both as the monster in Frankenstein and this generation’s Heathcliff, and there’s a certain connective tissue here too since the root cause of the monster and Heathcliff’s toxicity is, basically, daddy issues. And also the internet is horny for both, LOL. There’s a real possibility that Jacob Elordi could be an Oscar winner one month from now.