Much has been made about how Warner Bros tried to bury Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2” by giving it a tepid 30 screen theatrical rollout back in October. Despite all that, it found an audience, and then went on top the VOD and Max charts.
Variety’s Clayton Davis has spoken to a wide array of Oscar voters, and he’s found a surprising conclusion: many of them are voting for “Juror #2.”
After speaking with voters, Davis reports that the film is gaining a lot of “admiration” from within the producers’ and directors’ branches. Many of the people surveyed see a vote for ‘Juror’ as a “symbolic gesture” towards Clint and a “middle finger” aimed at the direction of Warner Bros.
On the surface, this doesn’t make much sense given that ‘Juror’ didn’t get nominated by the PGA. Usually, the difference in nomination results between Producers and Oscar voters is limited. Then again, if you’re going to be doing a protest vote, such as what many of the folks Davis surveyed are saying, then you could potentially just be saving it for the Oscar ballot.
Warner Bros has not been campaigning “Juror #2.” It would probably be an utter embarrassment for them if it managed to somehow sneak into the Best Picture lineup.
Don’t believe Warners’ assertion that ‘Juror’ was originally intended as a streaming-only release on Max. A source tells me it’s just not true, and that Clint shot the film thinking it would be getting a robust theatrical run. Puck’s Matt Belloni has been hearing the same thing.
Meanwhile, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which is guaranteed a slew of Oscar nominations, might be getting a lot of votes purely based on admiration of ambition rather than voters having actually seen it.
Davis reports voters actually admitting that they “didn’t get to it” or “didn’t finish it,” citing its demanding 3.5 hour runtime. The same report occurred last year with Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” which was nominated in plenty of above the line categories, but failed to win a single Oscar.
This is why I’ve been saying that despite its recent frontrunner status on the Gold Derby Charts, I have a very hard time believing ‘Brutalist’ will win Best Picture. The last time such a lengthy film won Oscar’s top prize was 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia.”