It would be foolish to place a bet right now that both “The Testament of Ann Lee” star Amanda Seyfried and “The Smashing Machine” star Dwayne Johnson are absolutely, 100 percent, for sure going to be nominated for Oscars for Best Actress and Best Actor in the 2026 race, respectively. But it is fair to say their performances have already proven to be a cut above the rest.
Both films had their world premiere roughly a week into the 82nd Venice Film Festival, coming off what has been a mixed bag for critics, with highly anticipated films like “After the Hunt” and “Frankenstein” failing to make a splash in the major acting races. Perhaps it was a kind of apathy, or even a full disregard, for the films that came before them that teed up “The Testament of Ann Lee” and “The Smashing Machine” to over-perform with Venice audiences, but a closer look reveals that both Seyfried and Johnson fit some tried and true award season archetypes.
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Seyfried, who was previously an Oscar nominee for her turn as Marion Davies in “Mank,” leads an unconventional musical directed by Mona Fastvold, co-screenwriter of “The Brutalist,” which recently earned star Adrien Brody an Oscar for Best Actor.
The pair of women are already proving to be a formidable duo, saying all the right things to platform their film as one to celebrate. “How many stories have we seen about male icons on a grand scale? How many stories, again and again and again? Can we not get to see one story about a woman like this?,” said Fastvold at the festival press conference for “The Testament of Ann Lee,” in response to why she wanted to make an ambitious biopic about the 18th century religious leader.
On why she was set on casting Seyfried, she said, “Amanda has a lot of power. She’s really strong. She is a wonderful mother. She is a little mad, and so I knew that she could access those things. She could access the kindness, the gentleness, the tenderness, and she could also access this power and this madness.” Fastvold added, “At our age, there is something really exciting about exploring the combination of all of that, and I saw that Amanda had all of that, and that she was ready to really go full force into that.”
Another aspect of the film that impresses is how the religious Shaker music and customs are incorporated into the film. Watching the quasi-musical makes one feel like Daniel Blumberg’s Oscar-winning score for “The Brutalist” was just an appetizer for the meal that is his work on “The Testament of Ann Lee,” especially when paired with the choreography from Celia Rowlson-Hall. That’s where the film’s moments of brilliance are most clear, which bodes well for the actress’ awards chances, too. Well-executed musical performances are often a surefire way toward an Oscar nomination (see: Cynthia Erivo in “Wicked,” Lady Gaga in “A Star Is Born,” Emma Stone in “La La Land,” etc.).
Speaking to those creative collaborations that happened over the course of making the independent film, Seyfried said during the press conference that “the reason I was able to face these challenges as an artist, which there were many, was because I felt completely protected and held up and surrounded by people loving artists, and in a place where everybody knew the value of this, of making this, and understood Mona’s vision. And it’s just very rare, I have to say it, this was incredibly rare, and might never happen again.”
The newly-minted Best Actress contender also said, “This did feel like an opportunity where there was just no tethers to anything, basically, I follow Mona into the light and anything goes, because you’re there’s so much freedom, and the only threat is to not use that freedom to your advantage as an artist, go as far deep as you can go to make the craziest sounds. I’ve never been let loose in this way.”
“The Smashing Machine” star Johnson similarly shared how it was the collaboration with co-star Emily Blunt and director Benny Safdie that made the project, in which he plays pioneering UFC champion Mark Kerr, special. “I’m very close with Emily and shared a lot of everything that I’ve gone through,” he said during the film’s festival press conference. “And then Benny was on the other side of that saying, ‘Hey, I got you both,’ and ‘Let’s go for it.’ So that transformation could not have happened without my best friend being there to support, and encourage, and just say ‘You can do it.’”
Playing a biopic role tends to lead to awards attention (half of the last 10 Best Actor winners played real people), but “transformation” is also a keyword here. To achieve the likeness of Kerr, Johnson worked with makeup artist Kazu Hiro whose last three films were “Darkest Hour,” “Bombshell,” and “Maestro.” Not only did the Japanese special make-up effects artist receive Oscar nominations for all three of those films (winning for the two former), the leads he worked with all got Best Actor or Best Actress nominations (with “Darkest Hour” star Oldman winning).
There is a bit of cynicism in online circles about Johnson readying an awards campaign after a series of blockbusters that underperformed, but that should dissolve when more people see the film. The WWE superstar portrays Kerr as humble and vulnerable, playing into the idea of what Johnson may be like behind closed doors.
The extended standing ovation that “The Smashing Machine” received at its world premiere, with Johnson, Safdie, Blunt, and the real Kerr all shedding tears, called to mind another notable Venice moment two years ago, when Johnson’s “The Mummy Returns” co-star Brendan Fraser became emotional at the rapturous response his film “The Whale,” a fellow A24 release, earned.
He would go on to win the Volpi Cup during the Venice awards ceremony, and eventually, the Oscar for Best Actor. That means the studio already has an awards campaign blueprint for Johnson to follow.
