But, if a perceived unseriousness didn’t stop, say, Emma Stone, former star of Superbad and Zombieland, from becoming a two-time Oscar winner, nor The Hunger Games and X-Men: First Class’s Jennifer Lawrence from collecting her Best Actress statuette barely four years into her big-screen career, why should it stop Chalamet or Elordi? Their leave-it-all-on-the-table performances have been widely embraced, and so it’s been a thrill to see them rewarded, not dismissed.
There’s also Michael B Jordan—slightly older at 38, but still, crucially, under 40 and often relegated to the “action star” category thanks to parts in the Creed and Black Panther franchises. With Sinners, the actor is now in his prestige leading man era, netting a flurry of critics’ prizes for his gonzo dual turn, as well as nods from the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and Actor Awards. A Best Actor Oscar nomination has followed, too—his very first, which has certainly been a long time coming.
Another contemporary of Chalamet and Elordi’s is 29-year-old Paul Mescal, who may have missed a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in Hamnet but was no less deserving of one. Yes, he’s already an Academy Award nominee, in 2023 for Aftersun, but to most, he’s still the Irish dreamboat of Normal People fame, who growled his way through Gladiator II. But, in the Academy’s new world order, he looks less and less like a pin-up who’ll have to wait decades for his Oscar (Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m looking at you) and more and more like someone who could win one imminently. (Lest we forget, he’s about to play Paul McCartney in the forthcoming Beatles biopics.)
Onlookers will also point to Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, who seemed to be the most in-demand attendees at the recent Golden Globes. True, but also, I’d argue, every awards season has its share of eye candy. Heartthrobs are and always have been a crucial component of the awards season industrial complex. What’s new, though, is that they’re now also picking up the big prizes.
It’s made me think a lot about Charles Melton, the smouldering May December star who came within a hair’s breadth of securing a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination back in 2024. He won a Gotham Award, and got Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Independent Spirit Award nods, and for a while, pundits wondered if he might in fact be on the road to winning an Academy Award. But alas, the film proved too divisive, got only an Original Screenplay nomination, and the narrative was put to bed. Before that eventually happened, there was also a fair amount of snobby chatter about Melton’s six-pack-baring low-cut suits and his past as an actor on Riverdale. I’d hope that now, just two years later, and moving forward, voters would be more open-minded.
