How To Fix The Oscars

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Inside This Episode

Oscar Winners and Key Races

• The 2025 Academy Awards saw major wins for Warner Brothers, with One Battle After Another taking Best Picture and Sinners winning multiple awards including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Marina notes that studio heads Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy, who run Warner’s film division, received “lots of shout outs” on the night, having presided over a remarkable run of commercially successful films. However, the studio has just been acquired by the Ellisons, who plan to make 30 films a year – with the implication that AI may play a role – making this feel like a “high watermark.”
• The Best Actor race had appeared to be locked between Timothée Chalamet (for Marty Supreme) and Leonardo DiCaprio (for One Battle After Another), but Michael B. Jordan won for Sinners, playing twin brothers. Richard confesses he initially failed to realise Jordan was playing both roles: “I thought, well, they got somebody really, that’s like Michael B. Jordan to play his brother.” Jesse Buckley was described as “the biggest lock” and duly won Best Actress.
• Richard observes that the Oscar races have become highly predictable, comparing the phenomenon to Eurovision: “There’s so many people [who] know exactly what’s going to happen before it happens.” Both hosts praised the quality of this year’s nominees, with Richard noting there are “some actual fun evenings to be had” among the ten Best Picture nominees. Amy Madigan won for Weapons, which was celebrated as a victory for horror’s growing prestige within the Academy.

Timothée Chalamet’s Ballet and Opera Comments

• Chalamet became the de facto “villain” of the protracted Oscar season after comments he made on a live stream with Matthew McConaughey, in which he appeared to dismiss ballet and opera as art forms in decline. Marina emphasises the cardinal rule: “Don’t ever do anything on a live stream.” Richard is more sympathetic, suggesting Chalamet was simply doing “banter” in front of a live audience and forgot the world was watching.
• The ballet and opera worlds responded with impressive savvy, turning the controversy to their advantage. Richard highlights ballet companies offering discount codes: “If you ring up and quote the code Chalamet when you book, you get 10% off your tickets.” He observes that “in a weird kind of way, [it’s] been the best publicity ballet and opera have had for many, many years.” Marina also notes that Jesse Buckley narrowly avoided a similar villain arc after comments about rehoming her partner’s cats.
• Marina argues that the extended Oscar campaign season – which she estimates at around seven months – requires a narrative with a villain, and Chalamet filled that role. She expresses sympathy for him, noting the “oprobrium heaped on” him, and argues that part of the resistance to Chalamet is the Academy’s calcified culture: “You gotta be a certain age to get an Oscar. You can’t want it too much.”

The State of Hollywood and Box Office Reality

• Marina examines which Best Picture nominees actually earned out at the box office, concluding that only four of the ten did so in their theatrical window: Sinners, F1 (just about), The Secret Agent, and Sentimental Value. Two of those were “very low budget foreign films.” She asks pointedly: “What does that say about the supposedly still prime entertainment product?”
• Richard notes the absence of the kind of massive crowd-pleasers – Forrest Gump, Lord of the Rings, Titanic – that used to dominate the Oscars. He observes that “so much of that huge money has gone into animation, sequels, and still, you know, Marvel things.” Marina counters that Barbie and Oppenheimer showed it is still possible, but agrees the landscape has fundamentally shifted.
• Marina challenges the oft-repeated claim that a billion people watch the Oscars, calling it “a nonsense.” The US broadcast draws around 19–20 million viewers, which Richard equates to approximately 4 million in UK terms – “the equivalent of what the BBC London 6:30pm bulletin gets any given weekday.” Marina argues the real event is happening on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, not in the telecast itself.

The Oscars Moving to YouTube

• The Academy Awards will move to YouTube, which both hosts see as a positive development. Marina argues this is where “the buzz” actually lives, noting that the ceremony itself has become “desiccated” and “old and boring.” Richard points out that the ceremony suffers from too many stakeholders – the Academy, the studios, the actors – each refusing to give up their allocated time, resulting in an “interminably long” broadcast.
• Richard believes YouTube could be the first platform willing to enforce brevity and multi-feed options: “Sorry, this is not going to be three hours and 30 minutes long.” He envisions a format where viewers can switch between the main stage, backstage interviews, and watch-along content – “like a sporting event.” Conan O’Brien is praised as a host who would translate well to a YouTube-native format, alongside Amelia Dimoldenberg’s red carpet coverage.
• The advertising during the broadcast is telling: only one upcoming theatrical film (Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling) was advertised, with the remainder being streaming and television adverts. Richard notes that unlike the Super Bowl, the Oscars attracted no advertising from major tech or AI companies. Marina suggests that once the ceremony moves to YouTube, Google Gemini adverts will inevitably follow.

Hollywood’s Failure to Thank Its Fans

• Marina makes an impassioned argument that Hollywood stars should thank their audiences, noting that at music awards, “music artists talk about their fans all the time.” Michael B. Jordan was the sole exception on Oscar night, thanking “people who went out and saw this movie once, twice, three times.” Marina finds it “extraordinary” that the industry fails to acknowledge cinema-goers even as attendance declines.
• Richard argues this stems from Hollywood’s self-perception as an art form rather than entertainment: “When you’re on that size of stage … you also have to understand you are entertainment.” He suggests the industry’s resistance to acknowledging its commercial nature is part of what makes the ceremony feel calcified and out of touch.
• The discussion also features Richard’s trivia deep-dive: Michael B. Jordan is the first Oscar-winning actor with a country as a surname, and the first to win for playing multiple roles since Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou. Richard also runs the numbers on Oscar-nominated actors who appeared in Casualty (seven) versus The Bill (six), with Casualty winning thanks to Daniel Kaluuya and Keira Knightley appearing in both.

Love Story, Ryan Murphy and the Daryl Hannah Controversy

• Ryan Murphy’s Love Story, about the relationship between Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr., has become the most-watched limited series ever on Disney+/Hulu. The show has triggered a massive cultural halo effect, including boosting sales of a tortoiseshell headband associated with Bessette’s style. However, the series has sparked serious controversy for its portrayal of actress Daryl Hannah, Kennedy Jr.’s former girlfriend, as an antagonist.
• Hannah published a searing op-ed in the New York Times headlined “How Can Love Story Get Away with This?” She denies virtually every aspect of her on-screen portrayal, stating she has “never used cocaine,” “never pressured anyone to marriage,” and “never desecrated any family heirloom.” She reports receiving threatening messages from viewers who believe the dramatisation is factual, and argues that “when entertainment borrows a real person, it can permanently impact her reputation.”
• The hosts examine the broader “based on a true story” genre, which Marina traces back to 2016 and two landmark productions: Murphy’s The People v. O.J. Simpson and The Crown. Richard discusses several legal precedents, including Olivia de Havilland’s unsuccessful lawsuit over Murphy’s Feud (she was 101 at the time), and the settled cases involving the VH1 TLC biopic and Netflix’s Inventing Anna. Connor Hines, the showrunner of Love Story, stated that they didn’t want to talk to the Kennedys because “it allowed them to be objective.”
• Marina discusses the Baby Reindeer case, where the real person on whom the stalker character was based is suing Netflix for over $100 million. She predicts Netflix will settle, and the person “will get a lot of money.” The discussion touches on how long-form television requires more characters and larger arcs than a two-hour biopic, which inevitably means “bigging up” real peripheral figures into major antagonists. Marina describes Murphy’s journey from the careful humanising of The People v. O.J. Simpson to increasingly indefensible portrayals: “He’s really gone over to the dark side.”

Recommendations

• Richard recommends The Tony Blair Story the three-part Channel 4 documentary about Tony Blair, made by 72 Films and David Glover. He praises its access – featuring Blair himself, Alastair Campbell, Bill Clinton and Jeremy Corbyn – and its approach of letting subjects “answer at length” and allowing viewers to form their own opinions. Marina quips approvingly: “Documentary not commissioned by its own subject … Could it catch on again, please?”
• Marina recommends The Last Kings of Hollywood by Paul Fisher, a book about Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. She describes how these anti-Hollywood filmmakers each ended up making the most successful film of their era – The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars – and then diverged in fascinating ways. She calls it “so well written” and notes it’s “a perfect read for Oscar’s week.”

Media Mentions

Films

• One Battle After Another
• Sinners (2025 film)
• Marty Supreme
• F1 (film)
• The Secret Agent (mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Sentimental Value (mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Hamnet (mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Bugonia (mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Train Dreams (mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro film, mentioned as Best Picture nominee)
• Weapons (film)
• Project Hail Mary (upcoming, starring Ryan Gosling)
• Nosferatu (2024 film)
• The Substance (film)
• Silence of the Lambs
• Get Out
• From Dusk Till Dawn
• Cat Ballou
• The Nutty Professor (referred to as ‘Norbert’)
• Splash (1984 film)
• Forrest Gump
• Lord of the Rings (film series)
• Titanic (1997 film)
• Barbie (film)
• Oppenheimer (film)
• The Godfather
• Jaws
• Star Wars
• The Social Network
• The Hurt Locker
• My Left Foot
• Quiz Show (film)
• The Hurricane (1999 film)
• The Lost King
• Oliver! (Ron Moody as Fagin)
• Garfield (mentioned in passing as ‘Garfield Too’)

Television Shows & Limited Series

• Love Story (Ryan Murphy series on Disney+/Hulu)
• The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
• Monsters (Ryan Murphy – Menendez Brothers)
• Feud (TV series – Joan Crawford and Bette Davis)
• The Crown
• Baby Reindeer
• Inventing Anna
• Pam & Tommy
• Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story (VH1 biopic)
• A Very English Scandal (Jeremy Thorpe)
• A Very British Scandal
• Quiz (TV series – coughing major)
• The Tony Blair Story documentary (Channel 4, 72 Films)
• Casualty (TV series)
• The Bill
• Silent Witness
• Pointless (TV series, mentioned in passing)
• Yellowstone (TV series, mentioned in passing)
• Bridgerton
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Saturday Kitchen (mentioned in passing)

Books

• The Last Kings of Hollywood by Paul Fisher
• Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

Music

• Crazy Sexy Cool (TLC album, referenced via biopic title)

Live Events & Awards Ceremonies

• Academy Awards (Oscars)
• Super Bowl
• Eurovision Song Contest (mentioned in passing)
• Grammy Awards (mentioned in passing)
• Brit Awards (mentioned in passing)
• League Cup Final (mentioned as analogy)

Prediction/Betting Markets

• Kalshi
• Polymarket

Hot Takes

• Richard on the Oscars’ place in culture: “There is still something great about them … even though we don’t want to care about them, it’s like the League Cup Final.”
• Marina on live streaming: “Don’t ever do anything on a live stream. That was his first mistake.”
• Richard on the Chalamet controversy’s silver lining: it has “in a weird kind of way, been the best publicity ballet and opera have had for many, many years.”
• Richard on Michael B. Jordan in Sinners: “He’s playing twins, which I didn’t realise at first. I thought, well, they got somebody really, that’s like Michael B. Jordan to play his brother.”
• Marina on Michael B. Jordan thanking fans: “If you go to any music awards, music artists talk about their fans all the time … You just don’t see it at the Oscars at all.”
• Richard on the film industry’s self-image: “When you’re on that size of stage … you also have to understand you are entertainment.”
• Marina on the Oscars telecast: “It’s desiccated, isn’t it? It is old and boring.”
• Marina on the ‘billion viewers’ claim: “It’s a nonsense and it’s not true.” The US audience of around 20 million is “the equivalent of what the BBC London 6:30pm bulletin gets any given weekday in our country.”
• Marina on the Best Picture nominees’ box office: only four of the ten earned out in their theatrical window, and “two of those are very low budget foreign films. What does that say about the supposedly still prime entertainment product?”
• Richard on Paul Thomas Anderson never having won an Oscar: “If Paul Thomas Anderson has not won an Oscar is crazy because he’s made some of the best Hollywood movies there are.”
• Marina on Chalamet and Academy culture: “You gotta be a certain age to get an Oscar. You can’t want it too much.”
• Richard on Love Story’s treatment of Daryl Hannah: they portrayed her as a “cocaine fuelled monster” despite her being “a living human being who’s just written an op-ed in the New York Times.”
• Marina on Ryan Murphy: “He’s really gone over to the dark side.”
• Richard on Murphy telling your life story: “This is a nightmare because you know it’s going to be” the worst thing in the world “and you know you’re going to have no control over it at all.”
• Marina on the ‘true story’ genre: just by claiming something is based on a true story “gives you a massive viewership bump.”
• Marina on the Tony Blair documentary: “Documentary not commissioned by its own subject … Could it catch on again, please?”
• Marina on The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola “is the soul of the true artist, really. It is so well written and it’s so interesting.”
• Richard on Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor Oscar snub: “Robbed. Absolutely robbed.”

Who’s Who

• Michael B. Jordan – Actor; won Best Actor for Sinners, playing twin brothers. Praised for thanking fans in his speech.
• Timothée Chalamet – Actor; star of Marty Supreme. Became the ‘villain’ of Oscar season after controversial ballet/opera comments.
• Leonardo DiCaprio – Actor; starred in One Battle After Another. Praised by Richard as a brilliant comic actor.
• Jesse Buckley – Actress; won Best Actress. Described as ‘the biggest lock’ of the awards.
• Paul Thomas Anderson – Director of One Battle After Another (Best Picture winner). Richard argues his lack of a previous Oscar was ‘crazy.’
• Ryan Coogler – Director of Sinners.
• Conan O’Brien – Hosted the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony.
• Amy Madigan – Actress; won an Oscar for Weapons.
• Ryan Murphy – Television producer and showrunner behind Love Story, The People v. O.J. Simpson, Feud, and Monster.
• Connor Hines – Showrunner of Love Story. Stated they did not approach the Kennedys to preserve ‘objectivity.’
• Daryl Hannah – Actress (Splash); wrote New York Times op-ed protesting her portrayal in Love Story.
• Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy – Fashion figure and wife of JFK Jr.; central subject of Love Story.
• John F. Kennedy Jr. – Son of President Kennedy; central subject of Love Story. Died in 1999 plane crash.
• Ted Sarandos – Netflix executive; the subject of a joke in Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue about being ‘in a theatre.’
• Mike DeLuca – Co-head of Warner Brothers’ film division; thanked at the Oscars.
• Pam Abdy – Co-head of Warner Brothers’ film division; thanked at the Oscars.
• Matthew McConaughey – Actor; hosted the live stream on which Chalamet made his controversial comments.
• Amelia Dimoldenberg – YouTube creator; handles red carpet coverage for the Oscars.
• Wumi Mosaku – Actress; Oscar-nominated for Sinners. Richard discusses her previous appearances on The Bill.
• Ryan Gosling – Actor; stars in the upcoming film Hail Mary.
• Lee Marvin – Actor; last person before Michael B. Jordan to win an Oscar for playing multiple roles (Cat Ballou).
• Eddie Murphy – Actor; mentioned for not winning an Oscar for The Nutty Professor.
• Cuba Gooding Jr. – Actor; cited by Richard as the only Oscar winner with a country as a first name.
• Olivia Colman – Oscar-winning actress; appeared on The Bill.
• Pete Postlethwaite – Late actor; Oscar-nominated; appeared on The Bill.
• Ron Moody – Late actor; Oscar-nominated for Oliver!; appeared on The Bill.
• Daniel Kaluuya – Oscar-winning actor; appeared on The Bill, Casualty and Silent Witness.
• Keira Knightley – Oscar-nominated actress; appeared on both The Bill and Casualty.
• Brenda Fricker – Oscar-winning actress (My Left Foot); appeared on Casualty.
• Kate Winslet – Oscar-winning actress; appeared on Casualty.
• Orlando Bloom – Actor; appeared on Casualty.
• Emily Watson – Oscar-nominated actress; appeared on Casualty.
• Riz Ahmed – Oscar-nominated actor; appeared on Casualty.
• Benedict Cumberbatch – Oscar-nominated actor; appeared on Silent Witness.
• Idris Elba – Actor; appeared on Silent Witness.
• Jodie Comer – Actress; appeared on Silent Witness.
• Daisy Ridley – Actress; appeared on Silent Witness.
• Nicholas Hoult – Actor; appeared on Silent Witness.
• Burt Lancaster – Oscar-winning actor; cited as having a city-based surname.
• Joaquin Phoenix – Oscar-winning actor; cited as having a city-based surname.
• Glenda Jackson – Late Oscar-winning actress; cited as having a city-based surname.
• Denzel Washington – Oscar-winning actor; cited as having a city-based surname.
• Vivien Leigh – Late Oscar-winning actress; cited by Richard in the city/place surname game.
• Olivia de Havilland – Late actress; sued Ryan Murphy over Feud at the age of 101.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones – Actress; played Olivia de Havilland in Feud.
• Joan Crawford – Late actress; subject of Feud.
• Bette Davis – Late actress; subject of Feud.
• Joan Fontaine – Late actress; sister of Olivia de Havilland, referenced in Feud discussion.
• Eduardo Saverin – Facebook co-founder; took exception to The Social Network.
• Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook co-founder; mentioned in context of The Social Network.
• Andrew Garfield – Actor; played Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network.
• Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid – Former manager of TLC; sued VH1 over biopic portrayal.
• Rachel DeLoache Williams – Vanity Fair journalist; sued Netflix over her portrayal in Inventing Anna.
• Pamela Anderson – Actress; felt Pam & Tommy was a violation but did not sue.
• Oliver Dowden – Former UK Culture Secretary; told Netflix to label The Crown as partly fictionalised.
• Guillermo del Toro – Director of Frankenstein; Richard mentions sitting next to him on a plane.
• Marcia Clark – Prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial; humanised in Murphy’s series.
• Taylor Sheridan – Showrunner of Yellowstone and its spin-offs.
• Shonda Rhimes – Showrunner of Bridgerton, Grey’s Anatomy, etc.
• Stephen Frears – Director; discussed in context of dramas using real people (The Queen, A Very English Scandal, etc.).
• Steven Spielberg – Director; subject of The Last Kings of Hollywood.
• Francis Ford Coppola – Director; subject of The Last Kings of Hollywood. Described as ‘the soul of the true artist.’
• George Lucas – Director; subject of The Last Kings of Hollywood.
• Paul Fisher – Author of The Last Kings of Hollywood.
• Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister; subject of the Channel 4 documentary.
• Alastair Campbell – Blair’s former communications director; appears in the Tony Blair documentary.
• Bill Clinton – Former US President; appears in the Tony Blair documentary.
• Jeremy Corbyn – Former Labour leader; appears in the Tony Blair documentary.
• David Glover – Producer at 72 Films; made the Tony Blair documentary.
• Tim Davie – Director-General of the BBC; referenced as having appeared on a recent Q&A episode.
• Norman Scott – Central figure in the Jeremy Thorpe affair; mentioned as still alive during Frears’ dramatisation.
• J.D. Vance – US Vice President; Marina makes a joke referencing him.
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis – Referenced in Daryl Hannah’s denial about comparing her death to a dog’s.

Notable Numbers

• 4 out of 10 – Number of Best Picture nominees that earned out at the box office in their theatrical window.
• ~19–20 million – US viewers for the Oscars broadcast, far short of the claimed ‘billion’ global audience.
• ~4 million – UK-equivalent viewership of the Oscars, according to Richard – comparable to a BBC regional news bulletin.
• $120 million+ – Amount reportedly wagered on Oscar outcomes on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.
• $300 million – Ryan Murphy’s reported deal with Netflix for approximately five years of content.
• $100 million+ – Amount the Baby Reindeer claimant is suing Netflix for.
• $40 million – Amount Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid sought in her lawsuit against VH1 over the TLC biopic.
• $90–100 million – Amount One Battle After Another reportedly earned at the box office.
• 30 films a year – Number of films the Ellisons plan to produce at Warner Brothers.
• 9 films – Streak of opening weekend $30 million-plus grossing films at Warner Brothers under DeLuca and Abdy.
• 7 months – Marina’s estimate of how long the Oscar campaign season actually runs.
• ~8 hours – Approximate total running time of Love Story on Disney+/Hulu.
• 3.5 hours – Approximate length of the Oscars broadcast, which both hosts consider far too long.
• ~400 – Approximate total number of Oscar-winning actors in history, according to Richard.
• 7 vs 6 – Oscar-nominated actors who appeared on Casualty (7) versus The Bill (6).
• 101 – Olivia de Havilland’s age when she sued Ryan Murphy over Feud. She lived to 104.
• 10% – Discount offered by ballet companies using the code ‘Chalamet’ after his controversial comments.