Oscar best picture race is a free-for-all

Bob Dylan wasn’t being literal when he sang “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” but, looking at the weekend weather forecast, and with the Dylan-goes-electric biopic “A Complete Unknown” making hay with eight Oscar nominations, the song was on my mind. Some rain’s a-gonna fall, right? Can we Goldilocks it? Enough to ease our dry conditions but not too much to trigger mudslides?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. Baby, the rain must fall. Let’s get to it.

Oscar nominations finally arrive

“Emilia Pérez,” the irreverent musical about a Mexican drug cartel leader looking to transition into a woman, led the field with 13 nominations. You can see it on Netflix. Have you? I still haven’t met anyone working outside the industry who has watched it. But, boy, awards season voters love it, even if, as my old friend Gustavo Arellano notes in a column, many Mexicans don’t. Gustavo certainly doesn’t care for it, calling it “a wannabe ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ that replaces humor and genius with hubris and guns.”

“No wonder the film nabbed so many Oscar nominations,” he continues. “Academy members are always going to want their cinematic Mexico to be a pitiable hellhole in need of salvation and a reminder to change its errant ways, a trope that goes back to the days of Manifest Destiny.”

I woke up at the crack of dawn and covered the “snubs” and surprises of the day. The biggest surprise? Walter Salles’ excellent “I’m Still Here,” starring Fernanda Torres as a defiant woman holding her family together after a repressive regime takes her husband away, earned a best picture nomination. The film picked up noms for international feature and for Torres. Might Torres now be a dark horse candidate to win lead actress? The movie obviously has broad support, and the nominations will prod those voters who haven’t seen it to check it out.

Elsewhere, our Ashley Lee notes that “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón made Oscars history as the first out transgender woman to be nominated in an acting category. Ashley also offered some good news for the passionate fans of “Wicked”: The popular adaptation of the hit Broadway musical earned 10 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. And my pal Mark Olsen dialed Moscow to talk with Yura Borisov, nominated for his soulful supporting turn in “Anora.”

Other noteworthy news: “Emilia Pérez” and “I’m Still Here” were nominated for both best picture and international feature, the first time two films have pulled off that feat in the same year. Timothée Chalamet earned his second lead actor nomination, celebrated for playing Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” and could be on his way to becoming the youngest winner in the category. At the tender age of 29, Chalamet has now starred in seven best picture nominees, including two this year — “Dune: Part Two” and “A Complete Unknown.”

Now that the dust has settled, we are left with a best picture race that remains, at least for the moment, delightfully unsettled. I’ll be paying close attention to the producers, directors and actors guilds in the next month, though I think they could choose three different movies for their top prizes. And then where will we be? Perhaps on the edge of our seats when that final envelope is opened.

“Emilia Pérez” lead Karla Sofía Gascón became the first out trans actress to receive an Oscar nomination.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

‘Tidbit’ pays tribute to David Lynch

How many David Lynch movies have you watched in the past week? I took in “The Straight Story” and “Blue Velvet” last weekend, the latter starring Laura Dern, who was all of 17 when she made that film opposite Kyle MacLachlan, and newly minted Oscar nominee Isabella Rossellini.

For The Times, Dern wrote a loving tribute to Lynch, who christened her “Tidbit” while they were shooting “Blue Velvet.”

Writes Dern, addressing Lynch: “As we sat together in Sandy’s childhood bedroom on ‘Blue Velvet’ and you demanded perfect quiet to honor an emotional moment because you were happy with the take, you looked at me with such love and said, ‘Beautiful, Tidbit.’ And I asked you, ‘Why did you call me Tidbit?’”

“And you said, ‘Because you’re a tidbit — a little bit of tid.’ And I agreed: ‘Then that makes two of us.’”

Do yourself a favor and read Dern’s letter to Lynch in its entirety. It’s so beautiful.

That’s it for today. See you again Monday. Keep those umbrellas handy.

David Lynch directs Laura Dern in a scene for his 1986 movie, “Blue Velvet.”

(Courtesy of AMPAS)