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Bela Bajaria was already on her second cup of coffee when Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman started reading out the list of this year’s Oscar nominees at 5:30 in the morning. By the time they had finished with all 24 categories, Netflix had racked up 18 nominations, tying with Neon for the second-most among distributors.
“Frankenstein,” Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating passion project, scored nine nods, while “Train Dreams,” a lyrical period piece that Netflix acquired at Sundance, nabbed four nominations. Both films were nominated for best picture. The company also scored a best animated feature nomination and best original song nomination for “Kpop Demon Hunters,” its streaming smash about, well, the title says it all.
“I’m watching the nominations as a fan and supporter of these filmmakers,” said Bajaria, who serves as Netflix’s chief content officer. “So I’m texting and emailing all of them as it happens with lots of celebratory emojis and woo-hoos. Then later I follow up with phone calls.”
On paper, neither “Frankenstein” nor “Train Dreams” seem like slam-dunk Oscar contenders. Del Toro is a previous Academy Award winner for “The Shape of Water,” but voters don’t always embrace horror, and “Train Dreams” is a low-budget indie about grief and loneliness that could have struggled to get recognized among the crush of higher-profile contenders.
“This story has lived with Guillermo for 50 years,” Bajaria says. “[‘Frankenstein’] is really exploring what it means to be a monster and what it means to be human, and examining father and son relationships. There’s so much about those characters that connected with people…’Train Dreams’ obviously looks breathtaking. But [director] Clint Bentley and [co-writer] Greg Kwedar are also telling a story of family and memories and love.”
Though the top prize continues to elude the streamer, it marks the eighth year in a row that Netflix has fielded a best picture contender and the fourth time it’s had more than one film nominated in the category. Bajaria was also happy to see other Netflix features, such as the documentary, “The Perfect Neighbor,” score nods. She argues there are lessons from “Kpop Demon Hunter’s” outsized success with Oscar voters and subscribers.
“‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ came from such a culturally specific, really personal place,” she said. “And the songs have a lot of fandom of all different ages. We’re a global service, but we always have to start with stories that come from a very authentic place. And that goes back to having a voice and a vision.”
Though Netflix earned an impressive number of nominations, it was outplayed by Warner Bros., which tied its own record with 30 nods. The studio dominated the morning, earning 16 nominations for “Sinners” and 13 nominations for “One Battle After Another.” Netflix has a deal in place to buy Warner Bros. for $83 billion, and if the pact is approved by regulators, the streamer has said it plans to operate the studio as an independent distributor. On Thursday, Bajaria praised the studio chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy for their strong showing and said she expects the deal to inspire friendly inter-office competition.
“Mike and Pam had such a great year, and they’ve obviously been working with some great filmmakers too,” Bajaria said. “What’s fun about it is once this deal closes, both of us will have very strong slates, and continue to not only push each other, but also support each other. It’s going to be exciting.”
“There’s going to be some healthy competition,” she added. “That’s good for consumers, it’s good for filmmakers and it’s good for everybody.”
English (US) ·