2024-03-11 09:15:29
Will Sandra Hülser win her first Oscar? How many trophies does “Oppenheimer” win? The 96th Academy Awards remain exciting until the very end.
Some filmmakers should have acceptance speeches ready. Cillian Murphy, for example, is considered a sure winner at the 96th Academy Awards on Monday night. With his role as physicist Robert Oppenheimer, co-inventor of the atomic bomb, the 47-year-old Irish star has already won countless trophies in the current awards season. The historical drama “Oppenheimer” leads the race for the world’s most important film award with 13 nominations. Director Christopher Nolan and leading actor Murphy could receive their first Oscar ever.
Oscars “Made in Germany”
It would also be the first Oscar gold for Sandra Hülser, Wim Wenders and Ilker Çatak. Hülser, who comes from Thuringia and lives in Leipzig, has already written a piece of Oscar history with her leading role in the legal drama “Anatomy of a Case”. The 45-year-old is the first German actress to be nominated for Best Actress since the 1930s. At that time, Luise Rainer, who was born in Düsseldorf and lives in Hollywood, won two Oscars in a row for her roles in “The Great Ziegfeld” (1937) and “The Good Earth” (1938).
Wim Wenders has already been nominated for a documentary Oscar three times, but has always come away empty-handed. Now, at the age of 78, the German directing legend could receive the long overdue Oscar for his poetic film “Perfect Days”. The story of a man named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), who works as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, enjoys reading and listening to rock music, is in the running for Japan in the “International Film” category.
The Oscar in this category could also go to Germany with the social drama “The Teacher’s Room”. The 40-year-old director Ilker Çatak, who was born in Berlin and grew up partly in Turkey, turns a school into the scene of a complex conflict. At the center is a young teacher (Leonie Benesch) who wants to solve a series of thefts. The gripping film deals with prejudices, debate culture and the pressure on teachers.
A year after the sensational Oscar success of the anti-war epic “All Quiet in the West” with four trophies, including the foreign Oscar, German filmmakers are once again showing a strong presence in Hollywood.
Sandra Hülser in the spotlight
In “Anatomy of a Case” by French director Justine Triet, Hülser shines as a successful writer who comes under suspicion of murder after her husband’s death and has to defend herself in court. However, Oscar predictions give their US colleagues Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) the better chances. Gladstone would be the first Indigenous leading actress to win an Oscar.
But no other German actress has recently been in the international spotlight as much as Hülser. This was also the case recently at the awarding of the French César trophies, when the German woman, visibly surprised, won the award for best actress. She wouldn’t have expected that, especially not as a German. “On set, language and origin were not an obstacle, but an opportunity,” she said in French.
US trade publications are full of praise for Hülser. The renowned magazine “The New Yorker” dedicated a seven-page portrait to her. It also highlights her courageous role in “The Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glazer. Hülser plays the wife of concentration camp commandant Rudolf Höß (Christian Friedel), who lives with his family in a large house right next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Both Hülser films are each nominated for five Oscars, including the top category “Best Film”.