A24’s ‘The Brutalist’ & ‘A Different Man’ Take Home Best Picture Awards

Award season has begun, and A24 has emerged as the frontrunner. It feels like award season never stops, and discussion on who should or will get an Oscar nomination seems to happen the day after the previous Academy Awards broadcast. Yet now, as 2024 is winding down, the race for Best Picture is on as the first batch of awards shows has now concluded. Both The Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle took place within 12 hours of one another, and the top prizes went to two films distributed by A24.

IndieWire reported that A Different Man won Best Feature at the Gotham Awards, a New York-based award show honoring Independent Cinema. Starring Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, A Different Man beat out other Oscar favorites, Anora, Challengers, Nickle Boys, and Babygirl. The movie follows Edward Lemuel (Stan), who is a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis that manifests as a disfiguring facial condition. After he undergoes surgery to reconstruct his face, he goes by the name Guy Moratz and begins to start a new life for himself, which becomes undone when Oswald (Pearson), another actor with neurofibromatosis, comes along and begins to have the life that Edward assumed he could never have because of his condition, leading to a jealous rage. A Different Man premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 21, 2024, and was released theatrically on Sept. 20, 2024.

The New York Film Critics Circle awarded Best Picture to The Brutalist (via The Playlist). Directed by Brady Corbet, The Brutalist is a three-and-a-half-hour epic that follows the life of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and immigrates to the United States. He meets a wealthy client (Guy Pearce) who will change László’s life for the better and worse. The Brutalist premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and is set for a limited release on Dec. 20, 2024. A24 distributes both A Different Man and The Brutalist.

The Road to The Oscars

The Brutalist and A Different Man winning the first major prizes of award seasons is good news for A24, but neither film is a lock just yet. It is worth noting that just because A Different Man and The Brutalist won these top prizes, that does not always translate to the Academy Awards. Critics vote at The New York Film Critics Circle, while the Academy Awards are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, which include directors, actors, producers, writers, and others in the film industry. The Gotham Awards are voted on by members of The Gotham Film and Media Institute, so there is some overlap between them and Academy voters. There is a good chance A Different Man and The Brutalist have a presence on Oscar night, and these wins will keep them in the conversation.

Award season will only begin to heat up as the Independent Spirit Awards, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, the various guild awards, and the Golden Globes are on the horizon, all culminating in the Academy Awards, which are scheduled for March 2, 2025. A24’s biggest competitor at the moment appears to be Neon’s Anora, which won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and has been earning rave reviews from critics. While many might have dismissed Wicked a few months ago, the movie’s strong word of mouth and incredible box office might make it the blockbuster nominee like past years’ Barbie, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Mad Max: Fury Road. Warner Bros. is likely set to put all their backing behind Dune: Part Two, a movie that might have been the frontrunner a few months ago but lost some momentum. Meanwhile, Emilia Pérez, Conclave, Queer, and Nosferatu are all also in the running. It is going to be a very competitive year, but The Brutalist and A Different Man have come out strong.