Yura Borisov, "Anora"

Kieran Culkin, "A Real Pain"

Edward Norton, "A Complete Unknown"

Guy Pearce, "The Brutalist"

Jeremy Strong, "The Apprentice"

Yang and Sennott will announce the list of contenders shortly.

Due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the academy announced several scheduling changes, including the cancellation of a popular awards season event.

The annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon, which was scheduled for Feb. 10, will not be held this year. 

The Scientific and Technical Awards, initially scheduled for Feb. 18, “will be rescheduled to a later date yet to be determined.”

"The Substance," a gory and lurid body-horror satire of Hollywood beauty standards and aging, doesn't exactly conform to our traditional understanding of "Oscarbait."

Yet the movie could be a dark-horse best picture nominee this morning, thanks to strong word-of-mouth and an acclaimed lead performance from Demi Moore, who nabbed a surprise Golden Globe for her role and appears to be a shoe-in for best actress at the Oscars.

"The Substance" has followed an unlikely path to awards season. It's an international co-production between France, the United Kingdom and the U.S., and it was written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, a French director with only one previous feature credit to her name.

The film was distributed in U.S. theaters by Mubi, a small art-house label, and quickly ginned up enough cultural buzz to turn it into a sleeper hit. It has grossed nearly $80 million worldwide, a respectable haul for a wild horror yarn that leans heavily into gross-out theatrics.

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig," a political thriller from the Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, appears to be a lock for a nomination in the best international feature category. It's likely to compete against "Emilia Pérez" (Mexico's submission) and "I'm Still Here" (Brazil's submission).

"Sacred Fig" is set in Iran and features a cast of Iranian actors, but it was decidedly not Iran's entry in the international feature race. That's because Iran's theocratic regime has forcefully suppressed the project and persecuted Rasoulof, a vocal critic of the country's repressive government. (Germany, where Rasoulof found safe harbor, submitted the film to the academy.)

In late November, I published a profile of Rasoulof, who made "Sacred Fig" in complete secrecy and then fled Iran to avoid a prison sentence for "propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran," according to his lawyer. He told me that he refused to be turned into a martyr for creative expression.

Read the full story here.

Days before the Oscar race officially kicked off off, one of the expected front-runners sparked controversy when the film’s editor admitted using artificial intelligence to enhance Hungarian accents in “The Brutalist.”

Director Brady Corbet’s post-World War II epic, which stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, follows an architect who survives the war and escapes Europe to America to rebuild his life.

Four men are safe bets for best actor nominations: Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor in "The Brutalist"; Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown"; Colman Domingo as a prisoner who expresses himself through stage acting in "Sing Sing"; and Ralph Fiennes as a Catholic cardinal digging into long-buried secrets in "Conclave."

The fifth slot could conceivably go to Daniel Craig ("Queer") or Hugh Grant ("Heretic"). But don't count out Sebastian Stan, who played the title roles in "A Different Man," a dark comedy about a struggling actor with a fascial disfigurement," and "The Apprentice," a scathing portrait of the early years of President Donald Trump.

In the best actress race, Demi Moore appears to have momentum for her performance as an aging star in "The Substance," a role that landed her a Golden Globe earlier this month. We'll also likely see recognition for Mikey Madison, who plays a Brooklyn sex worker in "Anora," and Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays a transgender Mexican cartel chief in "Emilia Pérez."

The other possible contenders include Pamela Anderson ("The Last Showgirl"), Cynthia Erivo ("Wicked"), Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Hard Truths"), Angelina Jolie ("Maria"), Nicole Kidman ("Babygirl"), Fernanda Torres ("I'm Still Here"), Kate Winslet ("Lee") and Zendaya ("Challengers").

The race for best picture is unusually wide-open right now — at least compared to last year, when Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" established a clear and early advantage. But there are a few films that seem to have momentum, including:

— "Emilia Pérez," a genre-smashing musical about a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender-transition surgery and reinvents herself as an anti-violence humanitarian. French director Jacques Audiard's defiantly unorthodox project won a leading four awards at the 82nd Golden Globes, including best musical or comedy film.

— "The Brutalist," a sweeping epic from director Brady Corbet about a brilliant Hungarian architect's efforts to rebuild his life in the United States after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust. It won best drama film at the Globes, plus best director for Corbet (who co-wrote the screenplay with his partner, Mona Fastvold) and best drama film actor for Adrien Brody.

— "Conclave," a thriller about a Catholic cardinal (played by Ralph Fiennes) who uncovers secrets and lies behind the scenes of a papal conclave to elect the next pope. It picked up just one award from the Globes, best screenplay, but positive reviews and the pedigreed cast (which also includes Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow) could make it a hit with Oscar voters.

"Conclave" was distributed by Focus Features, a unit of NBC News' parent company, NBCUniversal.

In Hollywood, the show must always go on — even when some people think it may not be appropriate.

As wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area, some on social media began to speculate whether awards shows would be forced to postpone or cancel.

Among the people calling for a pause to the glitz and glam? Golden Globe winner Jean Smart and author Stephen King.