Netflix musical about transgender mobster breaks Oscar nomination record
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The Spanish-language thriller has dominated the 2025 nominations despite receiving a middling response from critics. Netflix’s musical drama about a transgender mobster has broken Oscar records to become the most nominated film not in the English language.
![[Demi Moore in ‘The Substance’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/12/substance.jpg)
Emilia Pérez proved divisive among critics but not so among awards voters, who have recognised the film in 13 categories – just one shy of the all-time record held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016) after a snub for supporting star Selena Gomez.
![[Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong in ‘The Apprentice’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/05/Awards_Season_64216.jpg)
The previous record for the most Oscar-nominated international film before Emilia Pérez was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001) and Roma (2018), which received 10 nods each. Emilia Pérez has also seen a historic nomination for the film’s lead Karla Sofía Gascón, who has become the first out trans star to be nominated at the Oscars.
Following close behind, with 10 nominations apiece, were The Brutalist and Wicked, while the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and Vatican thriller Conclave received eight nominations. All five of those films, as well as Nickel Boys, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Anora and The Substance, were nominated for Best Picture.
The Substance star Demi Moore, a fixture of blockbusters in the 1990s, received her first Oscar nomination for the body horror film, which also scored a Best Director nomination for French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat. The film, which prompted cinema walkouts last year, is a surprising pick for the Oscars given their previous adversity to the horror genre. By being nominated for Best Picture, it becomes just the seventh horror movie to earn such an accolade, joining The Exorcist, Jaws, The Sixth Sense, The Silence of the Lambs, Black Swan and Get Out in the prestigious club.
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