‘Babygirl’: 5 reasons why Nicole Kidman will receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination
The Best Actress race is already extremely stacked as we get closer to the 2025 awards season, with at least 10 significant contenders about to battle it out for only five slots at the Oscars. But if there’s one performance that is going to make it in, I believe it’s Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl,” written and directed by Halina Reijn. Why? Here are my top five reasons.
1. The performance.
Kidman gives a ferocious tour-de-force performance in “Babygirl,” which played at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and is opening in theaters in December. Kidman plays a high-powered CEO named Romy who enters a relationship with an intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson) and in turn puts her job and family in jeopardy. Romy makes questionable choices throughout the narrative, but Kidman always keeps her grounded and empathetic in what I believe is her best movie performance since 2010’s “Rabbit Hole.”
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2. Academy favorite.
A major reason Kidman has a good shot at returning to the Oscars for “Babygirl” is that she’s been nominated five times in the last 25 years, first for “Moulin Rouge” (2001), and second a year later for “The Hours” (2002), for which she won the Best Actress trophy. She returned for her emotionally devastating turn in “Rabbit Hole” (2010), then again in the past decade for “Lion” (2016) and “Being the Ricardos” (2021). With it being more than two decades since her victory for “The Hours,” there might even be an overdue narrative campaign for Kidman to potentially win her second Best Actress Oscar. She has a ton of cred in the industry, and with five Academy Award nominations and one win behind her, along with all the press she is sure to do at the end of 2024 and into 2025 for “Babygirl,” do not underestimate Kidman going into the next awards season.
3. Venice Film Festival.
“Babygirl” has only been seen by a few festival audiences, but Kidman has already won a major prize for her performance — the Volpi Cup Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. In the last decade, five performers who won this prize went on to be nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, with Olivia Colman ultimately winning for “The Favourite.” Sure, Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup last year for “Priscilla” and only went on to be nominated at the Golden Globes, but in the three years before that, Cate Blanchett took the prize at Venice for “Tár,” Penéope Cruz won for “Parallel Mothers,” and Vanessa Kirby was victorious for “Pieces of a Woman,” and all three got in at the Oscars. That’s potentially great news for Kidman.
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4. December release date.
Following the rave reviews for “Babygirl” at Venice and Toronto, distributor A24 is releasing the movie in the United States on December 25, 2024, a prime date for an awards contender. Having “Babygirl” come out that day makes sense for multiple reasons, one being that it’s set at Christmas, and another being that it will have fresh eyes from voters as awards season heats up. Release dates in late December has also served Kidman well in the past, with “The Hours,” “Rabbit Hole” and “Being the Ricardos” all coming out then and leading to her Oscar nominations. Sure, “The Iron Claw” from A24 dropped in theaters Christmas weekend last year and led to zero Academy Award bids, but that film didn’t play at any major festivals and also didn’t have the kind of awards buzz “Babygirl” has right now and should continue to enjoy in the months to come.
5. The film.
One more reason Kidman will receive her sixth Oscar nomination for “Babygirl” is that the movie itself is fantastic, with a compelling story, superb cinematography, a banger soundtrack, and terrific performances from Dickinson and Antonio Banderas. “Babygirl” isn’t a merely good film — it’s a compelling and memorable drama that could do well at the box office, receive lots of positive word-of-mouth, and might get in at the Academy Awards in other categories like Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Whatever happens during the next awards season, count on Kidman to get another Best Actress Oscar nomination for “Babygirl.”
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