ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
It is Oscars weekend. Time to grab your ballot and mark your picks for best everything before Sunday night's Academy Awards telecast. What do you think for best picture? The green and pink witches musical, "Wicked"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED")
CYNTHIA ERIVO AND ARIANA GRANDE: (As Elphaba and Galinda, singing) Just you and I defying gravity.
FLORIDO: ...Or the trans drug lord musical "Emilia Perez"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EMILIA PEREZ")
SELENA GOMEZ: (As Jessi Del Monte, singing in Spanish).
FLORIDO: ...Maybe "Conclave," about choosing a new pope...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CONCLAVE")
RALPH FIENNES: (As Thomas Lawrence) This is a conclave, Aldo. It's not a war.
STANLEY TUCCI: (As Aldo Bellini) It is a war.
FLORIDO: ...Or Timothee Chalamet in either his Bob Dylan biopic, "A Complete Unknown"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN")
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET: (As Bob Dylan) I see no wants to hear what the kid wrote last month.
FLORIDO: ...Or his sci-fi epic, "Dune: Part Two."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNE: PART TWO")
CHALAMET: (As Paul Atreides) May thy knife chip and shatter.
FLORIDO: And that's just half the best picture nominees. Who better to talk us through the possibilities than NPR's movie critic Bob Mondello? Hey, Bob.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: It's good to be here.
FLORIDO: So before we go further, remind us of the other possible best pictures.
MONDELLO: You just hit most of the big box office hits, except for "The Substance," a body horror satire starring Demi Moore. There's also "Anora," a modern-day Cinderella story centered on a sex worker in New York; "The Brutalist," a 3 1/2 hour drama about an immigrant architect after World War II; "Nickel Boys," about two kids in a racist 1960s reform school; and the Brazilian drama "I'm Still Here," about coping with life in a dictatorship. It's a cheery little bunch.
FLORIDO: I remember last year "Oppenheimer" seemed to have best picture wrapped up weeks before the ceremony, Bob, is there a front-runner this time?
MONDELLO: Well, it's been changing. When the nominations first came out, "Emilia Perez" got 13 and was instantly regarded as the film to beat. Among other things, it had Karla Sofia Gascon, the first trans performer ever nominated in an acting category. But then some offensive tweets she'd made years ago resurfaced, and both the star and the film lost their luster.
FLORIDO: Did something else step up?
MONDELLO: People were high on the pope election thriller "Conclave" for a bit. If it wins, the timing will certainly be poignant with Pope Francis hospitalized, though it's worth noting that Oscar voting was completed before he went into the hospital. And lately, there's a lot of chatter about the sex worker Cinderella story "Anora," but only the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers knows for sure.
FLORIDO: Bob, besides handing out awards, the Oscars telecast is a show in itself. Conan O'Brien is hosting this year. What can we expect?
MONDELLO: Well, he famously steers clear of political material, so I'm guessing his monologue won't include a lot of Trump jokes. And then if I'm understanding correctly, they will not sing the best song nominees, but there will be - and I'm quoting here - "powerful musical moments that connect film's rich history to its bold and inspiring future," whatever that means.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the stars of "Wicked," will be performing, but none of the wicked songs are nominatable because they're from the Broadway musical. If it were up to me, I would have them sing the song "For Good," which will otherwise debut when "Wicked: Part Two" comes out at Thanksgiving. Remember, this first movie is just the first act. But it's not up to me.
FLORIDO: I wish it were up to you.
MONDELLO: (Laughter) Thank you.
FLORIDO: What about the best song nominees, Bob? They're just not going to do them?
MONDELLO: Well, it's sort of under wraps, but it sounds as if what they're thinking is to go behind the scenes a bit and talk to the songwriters. There will be other pop stars performing, though, including Queen Latifah and Doja Cat. I'd be surprised if they don't celebrate the work of musical legend Quincy Jones, who died in November. And there will also be some sort of tribute to the first responders who fought the fires that raged through Los Angeles just a month or so ago.
FLORIDO: So timing, Bob - do we need to tune in early?
MONDELLO: Yes, at 7 P.M., with the red carpet starting at 6:30 p.m., to ABC or Hulu. That's an hour earlier than usual, a strategy for getting more viewers to stick with the show longer, I guess. But 7 P.M. on the East Coast means 4 in the afternoon for the celebrities attending in Los Angeles. If all goes according to schedule, it'll just have gotten dark when the afterparties start.
FLORIDO: Early to bed, then. That's NPR's Bob Mondello. Thanks, Bob.
MONDELLO: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEVER TOO LATE")
ELTON JOHN: It's never too late for a wide-open slate. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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