<\/p>\n
Focus Features killed it in Colorado with two \u201cJesses\u201d and one Emma Stone.<\/p>\n
On the ground, the story of what resonated \u2014 or flopped \u2014 at the Telluride Film Festival can look far different from the headlines. Still, one fact was hard to miss: Focus Features reigned over the mountains with Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 kaleidoscopic \u201cBugonia\u201d and Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s devastating \u201cHamnet,\u201d both receiving near-universal acclaim from critics and festival-goers.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Telluride has long been a launchpad for eventual Oscar juggernauts. Recent alumni include Barry Jenkins\u2019 \u201cMoonlight,\u201d Zhao\u2019s \u201cNomadland\u201d and Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cThe Shape of Water.\u201d If this year\u2019s best picture winner was present in the Rockies, Zhao\u2019s adaptation of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s bestselling novel feels like the strongest candidate. A win would deliver Focus Features its first best picture statuette.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Hamnet\u2019 is a masterpiece,\u201d one woman told Variety. \u201cIt could be one of the best movies I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n But in the Oscar race, momentum invites counterattacks. \u201cI talked to a lot of people who didn\u2019t like it,\u201d one strategist claimed from a rival competitor. \u201cThat\u2019s not the type of movie the Academy goes for.\u201d<\/p>\n History complicates that argument: best picture nominees and winners have embraced similar themes of grief and family loss in \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d and \u201cOrdinary People,\u201d as well as period dramas like \u201cShakespeare in Love.\u201d Zhao, already a winner for \u201cNomadland,\u201d could also join the ranks of auteurs such as Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n, who claimed two directing Oscars within five years for \u201cGravity\u201d and \u201cRoma.\u201d<\/p>\n Needless to say, \u201cHamnet\u201d is the one to beat and is the target of every competitor.<\/p>\n Netflix fared better stateside with Noah Baumbach\u2019s \u201cJay Kelly\u201d than it did in Venice. The film, a Hollywood reflection anchored by George Clooney, caters to Academy voters\u2019 love for movies about themselves (\u201cArgo,\u201d \u201cThe Artist\u201d) and a penchant for uplifting narratives (\u201cGreen Book,\u201d \u201cCODA\u201d). Critics may not crown it the season\u2019s darling, but, as the saying goes, critics don\u2019t vote for the Oscars.<\/p>\n Or, to borrow Denzel Washington\u2019s famous line: \u201cIt\u2019s not about what you know, it\u2019s about what you can prove.\u201d<\/p>\n At A24\u2019s late-night gathering, Jesse Plemons and Stone basked in admiration for their \u201cBugonia\u201d performances, still visibly surprised by the love.<\/p>\n At Netflix\u2019s party for \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup and Baumbach took in all the love from those who had taken it in only moments earlier. In a lively conversation, co-star Laura Dern gushed about working on the film, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s time for Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s great about an artist like Dern, she champions not only her team but the community at large. She echoed Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger\u2019s raucous introduction of \u201cJesse F***ing Plemons\u201d when we unpacked \u201cBugonia.\u201d That type of support goes far for artists like Plemons and even for Dern herself in an awards season.<\/p>\n Neon introduced its trio of international hopefuls to American audiences, including Jafar Panahi, the Palme d\u2019Or-winning helmer of \u201cIt Was Just an Accident,\u201d who takes \u201clooking cool\u201d to a new level, as one young festival-goer commented about seeing him many times with sunglasses and smoking a cigarette throughout the festival. Panahi was doing that exact thing at that moment he told us this story as we stood in line for food at the festival\u2019s closing picnic.<\/p>\n Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value\u201d drew big names to its Saturday screening, including Oprah Winfrey, who reportedly \u201cloved it.\u201d Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho\u2019s Brazilian thriller \u201cThe Secret Agent\u201d became a stealth hit, with Wagner Moura\u2019s performance and Filho\u2019s direction drawing raves. Many pundits may be underestimating its awards potential, which could follow the path of last year\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d (and perform even better) and emerge as a contender in acting, directing, original screenplay and best picture.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, best actor hopefuls made their presence felt. Colin Farrell, starring in Netflix\u2019s \u201cBallad of a Small Player,\u201d charmed everyone in his orbit, effectively becoming the town\u2019s unofficial mayor as we saw him chatting it up with the likes of Ethan Hawke and Oscar Isaac.<\/p>\n Jeremy Allen White, headlining Scott Cooper\u2019s \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,\u201d had Bruce Springsteen himself in the room \u2014 a boost that helped earn the film one of the rare standing ovations at Telluride. The film holds a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes after a dozen reviews, though opinions from the ground sound more tepid on the overall execution.<\/p>\n White\u2019s co-star, Jeremy Strong, made the rounds at multiple events, including Netflix\u2019s midday party, where he shared hugs and conversations with Isaac and Edward Berger.<\/p>\n At the same time, White himself kept a lower profile, skipping extended opportunities to mingle, such as the Patrons Brunch, where he didn\u2019t stay long. Campaigning may be unseemly, but in an Oscar race where only five slots exist, presence can tilt the scales.<\/p>\n The acquisition market showed signs of life. Daniel Roher\u2019s \u201cTuner\u201d drew comparisons to \u201cGood Will Hunting,\u201d while the documentary \u201cAsk E. Jean,\u201d buoyed by its subject E. Jean Carroll in full astronaut regalia at Neon\u2019s party, made a splash. Whether distributors will take the risk with a hostile administration in office remains an open question.<\/p>\n Claire Foy was on hand for her centerpiece work in \u201cH Is for Hawk\u201d with the help of producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, making the rounds to find a home for the moving British drama.<\/p>\n As Variety exited the picturesque town, a scene captured the festival\u2019s essence: Jessie Buckley, star of \u201cHamnet,\u201d strolling down the Main Street with her newborn strapped to her chest and her husband standing beside her. It\u2019s hard to say if she knows how often the words \u201cOscar winner\u201d trailed her performance this past weekend from nearly everyone we encountered. But after Telluride, it feels undeniable. She\u2019s the one to beat.<\/p>\n With Venice nearing its end, we forge ahead to Toronto International Film Festival on the next stop on the awards circuit, where Rian Johnson, who was also at Telluride simply to take in movies, will debut his next \u201cKnives Out\u201d entry: \u201cWake Up Dead Man.\u201d Even Margot Robbie was spotted walking the town, shopping and seated for several screenings, all just for the love of cinema.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the power of Telluride.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Focus Features killed it in Colorado with two \u201cJesses\u201d and one Emma Stone. On the ground, the story of what resonated \u2014 or flopped \u2014 at the Telluride Film Festival can look far different from the headlines. Still, one fact was hard to miss: Focus Features reigned over the mountains with Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 kaleidoscopic \u201cBugonia\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1992369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[310567,352727,310048,328980,32720,103955,343262,339940,307704,350537,36101,23191,339946,348741,358144],"class_list":["post-1992368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-adam-sandler","tag-chloe-zhao","tag-emma-stone","tag-focus-features","tag-george-clooney","tag-guillermo-del-toro","tag-jafar-panahi","tag-jay-kelly","tag-jeremy-allen-white","tag-jesse-plemons","tag-laura-dern","tag-netflix","tag-noah-baumbach","tag-oscar-isaac","tag-telluride-film-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jesse-Plemons-Jessie-Buckley-and-Emma-Stone-Won-Telluride-for.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1992369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}