Breaking Down the First Oscar for Casting: Who Should and Will Win

If it seems like only a few days since I was writing about the Actor Awards, well, this is awards season for you. But now that we’re on to the main event, the Academy Awards themselves, it’s time to get into the real nitty-gritty and delve into the five categories that matter to the readers of this site. For the first time ever, there’s a Casting Oscar category, which is something to be celebrated. We’ll start with this one, and then take a turn with each of the acting categories, which means you can settle in, because it’s going to be a fun week together.

Key Insights

The new Oscar category highlights how casting directors influence a film’s authenticity, chemistry and awards success.

Films with multiple acting nominations often signal strong casting work, giving those casting directors a natural advantage during awards voting.

Innovative casting, such as blending professional and non-professional actors, continues to shape how audiences experience realism on screen.

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The nominees for the very first Academy Award for Casting are Nina Gold, Hamnet, Jennifer Venditti, Marty Supreme, Cassandra Kulukundis, One Battle After Another, Gabriel Domingues, The Secret Agent and Francine Maisler, Sinners.

Wow. What a fabulous conflagration of talent here. Dozens of Emmy and Artios nominations between them, with at least two genuine legends in Gold and Maisler, two more on their way in Kulukundis and Venditti, and a brilliantly talented newcomer in Domingues. Each has more than earned their spot here, and it’s a genuine pleasure to write about them. Full disclosure, I have interviewed three of them (Gold, Venditti and Domingues), and thoroughly enjoyed each conversation. It pains me to some extent that I can’t give an award to each of them, nor can I try to sell the notion that they all deserve this award equally. I mean, they do, but that’s not why we’re here.

So with that in mind, and with apologies to those who aren’t going to get the hoped-for “Should Win” credit, let’s talk about it.

First and foremost, as much of a fan as I am of Gold, I sort of think the nomination for Hamnet is as much about the film itself as it is about her work on it. This is the first time this week, but not the last, that I’m going to admit that I didn’t care for Hamnet. Yes, the ending packs a big emotional punch, but I found the journey to get there excruciatingly dull. The movie feels like awards-bait nonsense to me, which makes sense considering its eight Oscar nods, but then, I’m not really the target audience. Still, with all that said, it’s not Nina Gold’s fault I didn’t like the movie, and the cast she put together is impressive, starting with probable Best Actress winner Jessie Buckley.

But as another legendary casting director, Kim Coleman, told me recently, “Spike Lee said to me, ‘I’m not hiring you so you can tell me to cast Denzel Washington. I’m hiring you to help me with everything else.” The rest of the cast is strong, for sure, but when you put it up against a couple of others, it doesn’t quite add up. The same goes, really, for One Battle After Another. Great cast (four acting nominations, and there could have been one or two more), but when compared to the depth and variety of the other three? I don’t think so.

Venditti peopled Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme with an incredible array of non-actors, a Safdie specialty. Aside from finding the fantastic Luke Manley, who had never acted in anything before, she brought in Abel Ferrara, found Shark Tank regular Kevin O’Leary a major role, put Tyler, the Creator in the cast, and peppered the rest of it with remarkable-looking people who fit the film’s 1950s New York setting. Honestly, it was one of my favorite pieces of casting work this year, but I don’t ultimately think it’s going to win.

To me, this is a two-horse race. It’s between Maisler’s amazing work on Sinners and Domingues’ on The Secret Agent. Maisler found Miles Caton, which is a big deal, considering he very nearly earned a Supporting Actor nomination himself, and when there are multiple acting nods for a single film (Sinners has three), that’s credit to the casting director. The cast of Sinners is, indeed, incredibly deep, and that doesn’t even count the dual roles played by Best Actor nominee Michael B. Jordan. I actually think Maisler is going to win, at least partially because I think the Academy hands out consolation prizes, and since One Battle After Another is probably going to win Best Picture, this is one of them.

But that doesn’t mean it would be my pick. Have you seen The Secret Agent? I mean, every single face in it feels like it belongs in 1970s Brazil. Like Marty Supreme, it’s a mix of professional and non-professional actors, and the seamlessness of it all is a remarkable feat, one that I think only fellow casting directors would have noticed. For that reason, I would be shocked if the rest of the academy picks Domingues over Maisler, but I’m hoping it does. I won’t be upset if Maisler takes it, mind you, and part of me is actually hoping for a Venditti upset, but overall, my heart is in Brazil.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Gabriel Domingues

WHO WILL WIN: Francine Maisler

Key Takeaways

The Academy Awards introduced a casting category for the first time, spotlighting the work of top casting directors shaping today’s most acclaimed films.

While Francine Maisler’s deep ensemble for Sinners may be the likely winner, Gabriel Domingues’ immersive casting for The Secret Agent stands out creatively.

This year’s nominees reflect the wide range of casting approaches—from non-actors and newcomers to carefully constructed ensemble performances.