Dear Gossips, 

The Directors Guild of America and the BAFTAs announced their nominations yesterday. Chloe Zhao, widely considered to be the frontrunner this season, and possibly a lock for Oscar, is now the first woman of colour to be nominated by the DGA. The name that really jumped out for me on the list though is Radha Blank! She was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director for her work on The 40-Year-Old Version, a film Sarah reviewed in October and LOVED. If you haven’t already, it’s on Netflix and it’s a must. Regina King was also nominated in the same category. 

 

That wasn’t Radha’s only nomination of the day. The BAFTAs nominated her for Lead Actress. Here’s her reaction: 

 

These are already wins. Because for Radha, The 40-Year-Old Version already opened so many more doors. And now, with the accolades, another boost, and the calls will come in, the meeting requests will come in, the opportunities will come in. 

There was another surprise, at least for me, with the BAFTA nominations announcement…Alan Kim. Last week, I posted about Alan as the breakout star of award season. The young actor from Minari is now nominated in the supporting actor category which makes a f-ck of a lot more sense than Jared Leto. Alan just won a Critics Choice Award on Sunday (also known as the day of the Television Event of the Year hosted by Oprah Winfrey and starring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) and if you haven’t seen it already, his reaction was the best: 

 

This happened, by the way, during the Oscar nomination voting period – not sure how many people were paying attention in the moment, like during the show since, you know, something else was on, but that clip went viral. And so, is there a possibility that Alan’s name could be called on Monday when the Academy makes its announcement. 

Right now, in the supporting actor Oscar category, it looks to be Daniel Kaluuya in the lead. The other four spots could be taken by Paul Raci, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Odom Jr, and Chadwick Boseman. And if that’s how it ends up, I don’t think anyone would be disappointed, especially not if Chadwick is a double nominee in both acting categories. It’s looking like he’s the overwhelming favourite in the lead actor race. The only maybe here is that his supporting work is for Da 5 Bloods which hasn’t been picking up much heat through the season while Minari’s momentum has been steady if not surging. So it’ll be interesting to see how the Academy sorts it all out. 

With or without a nomination though, at this point, it would be a shocking snub if Minari isn’t included on the Best Picture Oscar list, which means there will for sure be a reason for Alan to be invited to the Oscars. And I can’t imagine the show producers wouldn’t want this little dude to be part of the show. 

 

Here’s another angle of that moment, by the way. What makes it extra delightful for me is that you can hear his parents giggling – obviously they’re happy for him, but there’s also amusement. Like in the best way. It’s the sweet spot between endearing and funny, that’s where Alan is right now. 

Yours in gossip,

Lainey