‘A Real Pain’ Strikes Oscar Gold
Update:
The 97th Academy Awards started on a high for Columbia film, as heavy favorite Kieran Culkin took home the night’s first award for his role in A Real Pain, executive produced by Jennifer Westin ’06.
In the film, Culkin plays the volatile cousin of co-star (and writer-director) Jesse Eisenberg, as they take a pilgrimage to Poland following the death of their grandmother, a holocaust survivor.
The category was announced by last year’s winner, Robert Downey Jr, who presented Culkin with the award for Best Supporting Actor. In his acceptance speech, Culkin was quick to praise his fellow nominee (and longtime co-star on HBO’s Succession) Jeremy Strong, nominated for the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, itself executive produced by Christina Wood ’20.
A Real Pain is currently streaming on Hulu, and find out where you can catch up on the rest of Columbia’s nominees here.
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Original: January 24, 2025
The 2025 Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning, and Columbia filmmakers have once again dazzled with an impressive number of nominations in multiple categories, including some of the most coveted awards of the night.
Landing an impressive eight nominations was A Complete Unknown, the 1960s-set Bob Dylan biopic co-written, directed, and produced by stellar Film alum James Mangold ’99. The film is competing for Best Picture and Best Screenplay; and Mangold—who is no stranger to the Academy Awards after a Best Screenplay nomination in 2017 for Logan and a Best Picture Nomination in 2019 for Ford vs. Ferrari—has been recognized this year with a nomination for Best Director. The film also raked in nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actress for Monica Barbaro and Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton as folk legends Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, and Best Actor for star Timothée Chalamet, who also passed through Columbia once upon a time.
Another ’60s-set drama competing for the vaunted Best Picture trophy is Amazon MGM’s Nickel Boys, produced by perennial contender Dede Gardner (CC ’90). The coming of age film follows two Black teens in an abusive Florida reform school during the Jim Crow era. The film, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. This marks Gardner’s towering eighth nomination in the Best Picture category since 2012, and she’s also the first woman to win the award twice, for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave and 2016’s Moonlight.
Also celebrating nominations is the team behind A Real Pain, executive produced by Jennifer Westin ’06. The film, about a pair of cousins visiting Poland in the wake of their grandmother’s passing, was recognized with nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin and Best Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg, who also starred, directed, and produced the comic drama.
Briarcliff Entertainment’s Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, executive produced by Christina Wood ’20, earned a pair of nominations for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Stan plays a young Trump getting his start in real estate with the help of Strong as controversial lawyer Roy Cohn. The drama earned headlines last year when President Trump tried to stop it being shown.
Documentary filmmaking also shined in Columbia’s nominations haul. Competing for Best Documentary is Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat (CC ’15) and Emily Kassie. The personal story sees NoiseCat investigating the Indian residential school where his father was born, and the fallout from its dark history.
Celebrating her second nomination for Best Documentary Short Film was Smriti Mundhra ’09 for I am Ready, Warden, which she directed and produced. The short follows a murder convict facing the death penalty, as he says goodbye to his family and reaches out to the son of his victim. Mundhra was previously nominated in 2020 for St. Louis Superman.
The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2 in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. See the full list of nominees here.