Secret Oscar Voter 5: Ballot exposed with ‘Conclave,’ Karla Sofía Gascón, Ralph Fiennes
Here in the final stages of the 2025 Oscar season, several Academy Awards voters have revealed their ballots to Gold Derby, telling us who they voted for — and why. We promised to keep their identities confidential and their comments unfiltered. Now that voting has concluded, we will share a few of the no-longer-secret ballots with you. Below are the selections of Voter 5. You can also read the summary of secret Oscar Voter 1, Oscar Voter 2, Oscar Voter 3, and Oscar Voter 4.
BEST PICTURE: Conclave
I love supporting films that I believe in, and if it wins, great. If not, I’m still showing the respect. The team who made that movie earned it in my mind. I know there’s people who just say let me look at the Golden Globes, I mean look at the New York and L.A. film critics and all that. I only use them to help whittle down the number of films that I prioritize to watch. I think Conclave is an underdog as of now, but I just really think that the director kind of got shafted. Second place is Emilia Pérez. Third place is A Complete Unknown.
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BEST DIRECTOR: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Really tough category here. You know, it will be Brady Corbet, but my vote is going to go to Jacques. It’s just a crazy scenario to begin with, and to make it sympathetic and empathetic and to feel for her in spite of the fact of this brutal cartel guy. You know, the design and dynamic between them was pretty amazing.
BEST ACTRESS: Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)
It’s not as much of a lighthearted musical as the first part was, it’s a little more intense and dark. She does definitely get one hell of a performance this year, but the next one will also blow people away. You do have the sleeper of Fernanda Torres, who was quite good in that movie. But my choice really is Karla. It was an incredible performance, it really was, and I think the movie hopefully doesn’t get tarnished from all this [controversy] because it deserves the attention that it brings. [Edited to add: The first two sentences were about Wicked starring nominee Cynthia Erivo being eligible for the sequel next year.]
BEST ACTOR: Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
I think the momentum is going towards Adrien Brody, but my choice would be Ralph Fiennes. In the way Conclave has gotten overwhelmed by some of these other movies, and people don’t realize what an excellent film it was. The studio is working really hard to make sure that it stays in front of people and streaming now already.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Zoe Salda?a (Emilia Pérez)
Zoe Salda?a in my mind deserves it, and I hope that this controversy doesn’t hurt her. Not only because of the strength of the performance in this movie, as we know, awards usually are more for the film, but more of a body of work scenario. You couldn’t take your eyes off her on the screen.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
If I had my druthers, it would be Jeremy Strong. I knew of his despicable history every time, you know, and Jeremy just seemed to embody him. I think probably the distributor didn’t have the money to afford a a real campaign, because I would have had him everywhere opening supermarkets.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Conclave
Old-school, great movie, great storytelling, just kind of got lost in my thoughts there. So that’s what I would vote for,
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: A Real Pain
I am voting for A Real Pain and hope it wins. I like it a little bit better than September 5. It was a movie that I’m sorry it ended in a way, because the story was telling was really good, the acting was incredible.
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